I'm a huge fan of Sophie Kinsella, so had high expectations for this book. Unfortunately, I was in for a disappointment. I'm giving it 3 stars because it's not a total disaster, Kinsella is too good a writer for that, so the book still manages to entertain. Unfortunately, that's just about it.
In my opinion, Kinsella is actually not that great at writing romance novels, which is weird considering that's where she's pivoted. It's no surprise that her most successful book, Shopaholic, is NOT a romcom. But onto the book at hand.
One of Kinsella's most glaring weaknesses is that every one of her heroines is a version of Becky Bloomwood, and every one of her male protagonists is a version of Luke Brandon. I don't mind this so much in the case of the men, as I happen to find serious, workaholic corporate men who wear suits personally attractive (though I realize it might not be everyone's cup of tea and she could switch it up a bit). But in this case, the male lead (Dutch/Matt) was just thoroughly uninteresting. I found his friends much more compelling than this absolute bore of a man. He has a bit of backstory, but nothing that would explain the heroine's infatuation (bordeline obsession) with him.
As for Ava, well. Sophie Kinsella heroines are usually immature, somewhat childish and not at all intellectual or career-driven, because the point that Kinsella makes is that they're emotionally intelligent women who are perceptive and warm and not everyone needs to be aces at their job to be worth talking about. I get it, I do. But Ava is, frankly, an utter moron. She's so childish and irresponsible and basically takes a summer fling to extreme levels. Why are you, as a woman in your late twenties/early thirties, loudly proclaiming you love a man you know nothing about? Again, I get that it's the whole point of the book, but can anyone really be that dumb?
And now we come to the hook of the book. These people fall in love, know nothing about each other, and chaos ensues. But frankly, the way the idea is executed is really frustrating. Firstly, if you claim that this couple has nothing in common and the only thing binding them together is amazing sex, how about like... showing the amazing sex? I know Kinsella is pretty chaste when it comes to writing sex scenes, but the first rule of writing is show, don't tell. Don't tell me they're having amazing sex, SHOW me, and then I might actually believe why they would embark on a relationship while being utterly incompatible.
Secondly, the cast of supporting characters was far more interesting than the main characters. I'd take a romance book about Nell, Maud and Sarika and Topher ANY DAY over Ava. They all seemed to have a far more developed personality than she did.
Overall, it was not Kinsella's best book. I've Got Your Number, Surprise Me and even I Owe You One are all far superior in my opinion. This book is fun, light and well-written (hence the 3 stars), but the premise and main characters will frustrate you to no end. I come to Sophie Kinsella to be entertained, but I'm tired of seeing her female protagonists reduced to immature morons and her male characters being A Man in A Suit. Kinsella is so much better than this. If this is your first experience reading one of her books, I urge you to persevere and read all the other much better ones out there
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