Love Your Life by Sophie Kinsella

‘I love you . . . but what if I can’t love your life?

Ava is sick of online dating. She’s always trusted her own instincts over an algorithm, anyway, and she wants a break from it all. So when she signs up to a semi-silent, anonymous writing retreat in glorious Italy, love is the last thing on her mind.

Until she meets a handsome stranger. . . All she knows is that he’s funny, he’s kind and – she soon learns – he’s great in bed. He’s equally smitten, and after a whirlwind, intoxicating affair, they pledge their love without even knowing each other’s real names.

But when they return home, reality hits. They’re both driven mad by each other’s weird quirks and annoying habits, from his eccentric, naked-sauna-loving family to her terribly behaved, shirt-shredding dog. As disaster follows disaster, it seems that while they love each other, they just can’t love each other’s lives. Can they overcome their differences to find one life, together?’

Hello my lovely bookish family, the time has come where we have reached the time of year that… SOPHIE KINSELLA HAS A NEW BOOK OUT! As you are all very aware now, I am quite the fan of Sophie’s and I wait in desperation every year for the newest book. Thanks to the very lovely Becky Short I received an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

You just can not possibly go wrong with a Sophie Kinsella book, her books are the perfect escape (especially in 2020), always guaranteed to genuinely make you laugh out loud and can promise to leave you wanting more. Which is exactly what Love Your Life has done to me, I was genuinely quite upset at the thought of leaving behind my new friends. I had only just got to know them and in typical me fashion I devoured the book whole.

Love Your Life is all about Ava, Ava has absolutely had it with online dating. It never seems to go right and men just lie… for example there is that guy with the eyes… One of Ava’s best friends, Sarika, however relies heavily on online dating and statistics in order to find the most perfect man. She truly believes that the most extensive questioning and outlining of EXACTLY what she will and will not accept, will truly find her the most perfect man. For example; he must absolutely under no circumstances live more than ten minutes from the train station. Whereas Ava is horrified by this and believes love means allowing compromising in order to find your soulmate.

Ava has her hands fingers in many pies, she wants to do so much in life and always has multiple projects on the go at any one time. One of those projects being a book, Ava is writing a book and decides to go along to a writing retreat in Italy. But going to the retreat means leaving her most beloved Hector behind, Hector is her rescue Beagle, who can do no wrong in Ava’s eyes. Her best friends have to reassure her that he will be fine and force her out of the door.

The writing retreat isn’t your typical writing retreat either, of course it isn’t. Ava has managed to book herself onto a retreat with an incredibly strict mentor who doesn’t allow anyone attending to reveal one thing about themselves to each other. This is in order to focus entirely on the writing process and not get distracted by real life. Each day they will write alone and come together and discuss their writing only, no personal details at all. On the first meeting with the group when they are introducing themselves with their new names, three new people end up joining the group, after their martial arts group was rescheduled. These three people chose to stay on a whim and give the writing retreat a go. One of the guys, who introduces himself as ‘Dutch’, instantly caches Ava’s eye.

Ava and Dutch begin a holiday romance in Italy, they agree to share absolutely no details with each other and only allow each other to ask one personal question a day. But they are so caught up in each other they never really tend to ask each other the serious questions like… their names, where they live, their ages etc. The two of them fall madly in love with one another, with only a few hiccups on the holiday! As the writing retreat comes to an end Ava realises she has fallen completely in love with Dutch, she doesn’t worry at all about when they return to England because love is all that matters, none of the details will change how they feel about one another because love conquers all, right?

Only when Ava and Dutch, or Matt as we soon discover, hit real life, they soon discover that not knowing anything about one another isn’t as smooth sailing as they expected. They each have baggage and they each have things going on in their lives that the other struggles with. Mix that in with the pair of them having a real eclectic and somewhat colourful bunch of friends, all with strong opinions and crazy demands (Maude), Ava and Matt soon wonder whether they will be able to make things work!

I LOVED THIS BOOK! I loved every character so much that I desperately need an entire series, with a book for each character. I just am not ready to say goodbye, I want to know so much more about them all. I even want a book all about Farida, the woman in charge of the writing retreat! Ava was brilliant, absolutely ditzy and in complete denial about the behaviour of Hector, which really made me laugh because that dog was a nightmare, but she was so in love with him that she refused to see any bad sides to him. Much like how she lived the rest of her life! Matt was dreamy… when he was carefree and not obsessing over work. He works for his family business and is pretty much at the mercy of his demanding family, something he refuses to acknowledge or change in anyway. He also struggles with Ava and her need to rescue pretty much anything! As for their friends, they were some of the funniest parts for me. Matt’s friends were WEIRD and yet I loved them so much. I have a HUGE soft spot for Topher and very much need a book just of him. Ava’s friends were her biggest supporters and believed in her so much, it was impossible not to adore each of them. Maud and her constant favours honestly made me laugh so much, no one sees her coming (a bit like Hector when someone has some food).

It probably feels as though I have told you most of the story, but I really haven’t. In fact I have barely told you any. I knew I would regret reading this story too fast and yet I still found it utterly impossible to put down and take my time with it. I made friends with a group of misfits that I don’t want to leave.

Sophie is the Queen of romantic comedies, she writes books that will have you genuinely crying with laughter one minute and feeling warm and fuzzy the next. Love Your Life is perfect, completely and Utterly perfect, I can’t keep claiming every book she brings out is her best yet, but she just gets better with every single book! You cannot argue with facts!

There is genuinely nothing better in life than a new Sophie Kinsella book and Love Your life is hilarious, fun and the perfect read for this winter. I urge you all to go and buy a copy the second it is out, which is the 29th of October!