Sophie Kinsella books have something special that makes you both laugh and cry while ultimately warming your heart. I've enjoyed both her Shopaholic series and her stand alone novels like I Owe You One.

Fixie Farr has this irresistible impulse to fix things, whether its straightening the stock shelves at Farrs, her family business, or even when its sometimes overstepping by brushing lint off a complete stranger. To a certain extent, Fixie serves a 'doormat' for her siblings Jake and Nicole, picking up the slack for them at the family business and at home, unable to ever say no or speak her mind. During a visit to her local coffee shop, a gentleman asks her to watch his laptop while he steps out to take a phone call. Fixie agrees and ends up barely avoiding disaster. The gentleman is so appreciative he writes an IOU on a coffee sleeve and gives Fixie his business card. While she doesn't initially intend to call in a favor from a near stranger, circumstances change and Fixie finds herself rethinking her position.

Fixie is such an endearing character. It's almost like a romantic comedy where you cheer for her at times and then at other times, want to point her in the right direction. I really enjoyed this cast of characters and the way the plot unfolded. The family dynamic was well written and I enjoyed the interaction between all the characters.

I received this book courtesy of Dial Press/Random House through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Fun and charming story! I've read quite a few by this author and I can't say it was my favorite but it was enjoyable. I liked that it was a quick read and held my attention. I would still recommend!

First off, I had always enjoyed reading Sophie Kinsella’s earlier works like the Shopaholic Series, and The Undomestic Goddess (probably my favourite one). When she released Wedding Night, the books started going heavier on bedroom scenes and this book, unfortunately for me, continued the trend. There are scenes that I totally could have done without - I REALLY could have done without. Those bedroom scenes didn’t really drive the plot forward in my opinion but added something extra for readers who enjoy reading those kinds of scenes.
The book had some funny moments which were done in classic Kinsella style. I especially liked the figure skating scene where Fixie puts Whiny in her place after being insulted days before by the same.
The premise of exchanging I.O.U. notes between the main character and a stranger, after she saves his laptop from getting soaked by a falling ceiling in the coffee shop, was cute.
There is definitely growth in our heroine from the start to the end.
BUT…
The notes got old pretty fast, although kudos to Kinsella for being creative with keeping up the ploy and payback in unique ways which kept the story moving forward.
I liked Seb in the beginning but with him flip-flopping between the heroine, Fixie, and his ex-girlfriend who is extremely high maintenance (polar opposite to Fixie), lowered my opinion of him. What bothered me was that Seb didn’t confront Fixie or say, hey – what’s going on? Why is so and so saying this? Is it true? – after being lied to by Fixie’s ex-fling. Fixie had NO idea Seb was believing lies about her. He was quick to believe the guy even though SEB HAD FIRED HIM FOR LYING.
I also wasn’t convinced that Fixie’s mom would have stayed away several months, even though she was sick, without checking in more often with the family business. Fixie’s siblings were terrible (although we did see some growth in them by the end too but they were not fun people at the beginning), and should have been kicked to the curb earlier on in the story.
Even though Kinsella maintained my attention through wit, humour and turns of phrases, I was disappointed in the overall novel.
I received an ecopy from the publisher through NetGalley. All opinions expressed are my own.

I have loved every other Sophie Kinsella but this one sadly fell short. The story focuses on Fixie Farr, who works for her family business and has never moved on from her father’s death many years earlier. She’s obsessed with honoring his memory and is constantly bending over backwards for her other family members who use her over and over and never return the favour because her father always told her “family first”. A phrase which she repeats to a nauseating degree.
Normally Sophie’s characters are a little annoying but more in a relatable way so that you can still enjoy them. Fixie has OCD which is treated like a quirky personally trait rather than a debilitating mental illness. Also, every person in her life uses her to a borderline abusive extent.
Ultimately, she meets the one person who is decent to her and embarks on a mostly predictable and formulaic courtship.
There were a couple of laugh out loud moments but I can probably count them on one hand. It won’t stop me from reading the next Sophie Kinsella book but I don’t plan on ever re-reading this one or recommending it to anyone. 2.5 stars!

Another solid book from Sophie Kinsella, an enjoyable read! It was great to see Fixie grow as a character throughout the book and fight for what she wanted.

Another fun book by this author. I love how she always has so many emotions and a lot of humor going on in her books, which make her stories wonderful to read and original.
She often has characters that go through a lot of growth throughout the story and which make them very real and vulnerable.
This is a story of the Farr family who own a cookware shop Farr's, which is run by the mother and three siblings, Fixie the main character gets her name from always wanting to fix a problem, whatever they may be. It is of a a lost and found romance, about a brother and sisters who have very different perspectives on life and how they think the store should be run, which of course leads to many confrontations and compromises.
I always enjoy reading one of her books as it carries me away to another world.
I would like to thank NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the ARC of this book.

Very cute story, I couldn't put it down. Author has a following and this novel explains why. Remarkable characters and easily to read story that holds one's attention.

Fixie Farr is a people pleasing, family first type of gal. She is determined to leave her father's legacy, a family run store, in good standing. Unable to say no, Fixie finds herself in a precarious situation after a stranger asks her to watch, and ultimately save, his laptop in a coffee shop disaster. Now, Fixie and Seb have an IOU exchange that begins to spiral their "acquaintanceship" into something more. But naturally, Fixie tends to go too far with fixing things and this time she may have just overstepped her boundaries. Will Fixie be able to finally stand up for herself and find love? review: Sophie Kinsella is an author that I have read for years and anytime she has a new book, I make sure to scoop it up! I really wanted to love this book, but it fell really short for me. I found all of the characters to be incredibly annoying and whiny. I didn't think any of them had a redeeming quality about them. The book was a bit predictable and not what I was expecting, since I typically love the author! rating: 3 out of 5 ⭐️

Fixie is know for her compulsive need to fix things and following their family motto family first. Her family is Farr from perfect and everyone has some kind of issue that they need to overcome. Fixie has issues standing up for herself especially when it comes to her family and to her long time crush Ryan ( her brothers best friend). Things start out with a stranger asking Fixie to watch his laptop and Fixie saves it from being destroyed. He is grateful and writes her an IOU which they pass back and fourth a few times. They start a relationship and things fall apart abruptly which causes her to reevaluate some things and she becomes Ninja Fixie. This were the story takes off for me and I finally got into the story.

I really had a hard time with the first half of the book but did have strong feelings for all of the characters just not positive. The second half of the book was a lot better and I am glad I pushed through and finished it.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own.

After countless successes with this author, the latest release by Sophie Kinsella, I Owe You One, did not please me, at all; in fact, I told a friend, who also happens to be a big fan of the author's previous work, that it’s almost as if someone else wrote this novel. I made it through about 30% and put it down; unfortunately, I haven’t given it a second thought.

** spoiler alert ** ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!

Another fun read from Sophie Kinsella! I also think this would be a wonderful novel to read around the Christmas holidays!

This novel follows Fixie, a young woman who can't help but to fix things, even when she knows she shouldn't get involved! I really enjoyed how Fixie learned to stand up for herself and make her voice heard even though she was facing alot of pressure from her family, high school crush, and new guy in her life!

I will admit that I got a little frustrated at one point though when she just kept choosing to take Ryan back, and couldn't see that he was just using her but I'm happy she found her bearings in the end!

If you are looking for a fun read, would highly recommend!

This book was really cute. It wasn't an instant favorite or anything, but I enjoyed it to a point. There were a lot of times where I was really annoyed by how every situation was handled, and more so with this book than a lot of others I read, but I still enjoyed it!

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group for providing me with an advance copy of Sophie Kinsella’s novel, I Owe You One, in exchange for an honest review.

Fixie Farr has lived her life always putting her family first. After the passing of her beloved father, Fixie began to help her mother run their family store, which sells everything from small kitchen appliances to wrapping paper. Fixie’s mom has the opportunity to travel throughout Europe with her sister and she decides to leave the store in the capable hands of her three adult children.

Unfortunately, Fixie’s siblings do not share her passion for the family business and they have other ideas on how to improve the store. Fixie’s sister, Nicole, wants to push aside the merchandise to hold Yoga lessons, and her brother, Jake, thinks that the store should become more upscale. To make matters worse, Fixie’s mom has put faith in Uncle Ned to guide her children and he is content to hold business meetings at lavish London restaurants, soaking up profits. No one seems to understand the family store or its loyal customers. Fixie’s mission statement of putting family first is ruining the family business and she must figure out how to communicate with them, without becoming a doormat.

To further complicate her life, Ryan, Fixie’s teenage crush has come back to town. He uses her for sex and a place to crash, but Fixie is so smitten, that she constantly excuses his behavior. Fixie’s love life changes, when she helps a dashing stranger in a coffee shop and sparks fly.

I’ve enjoyed many of Kinsella’s previous novels, including her Shopaholic series, which was turned into a film starring Isla Fischer. While I would not consider her novels to be profound or life-changing, they are entertaining. Her novels are the perfect beach-read. Kinsella always creates memorable, relatable characters and I love getting swept away by her stories. She has a knack for writing humor too.

I Owe You One fits the mold of Kinsella’s previous novels. It’s light-hearted, but not without heart. Kinsella has given Fixie plenty of drama to contend with, including an exceptionally bitchy antagonist in Briony, the ex-girlfriend of Fixie’s romantic interest. I wish Briony has been given a larger role in the story, just because her clash with Fixie is epic.

As someone, who like Fixie, has a high-tolerance for putting up with other people’s bad behavior, I felt a sense of joy, as Fixie grows her courage and begins to push back. I think it’s easy to stay quiet and not make waves, especially when family is concerned, but Fixie figures out how to stand up for herself and fight for her family, without ripping them apart. Family is the biggest theme of the novel, with romance as a secondary theme.

I do not buy into Fixie’s relationship with Seb, the man that she meets in the coffee shop. It’s rushed and awkward. Their chemistry does not leap off of the page. They are an odd match. The family element resonates much stronger, than the romance parts of the story.

If you’re heading on a holiday, I recommend I Owe You One or any other Kinsella novels for a fun vacation read. Her stories are quick-paced, humorous and will often strike an emotional chord.

I enjoyed this one, but it was mostly just ok for me.

I hated her brother (and her sister was ridiculous, I almost hated her)...they pretty much redeemed themselves by the end, though. But they were awful. So was Ryan and because Fixie kept putting up with and basically idolizing him made me like her less.

The love story was cute, it just wasn’t super prominent. I prefer Sophie Kinsella’s novels where the heroine might be quirky but lovable, and the love story is the main focus. This was not one of those. Fixie wasn’t quirky, she was a doormat and it was so frustrating when she would think things in her head, but end up too weak to say them out loud. She did end up standing up for herself in the end in a big way and I was so proud of her...it just came way late in the book so I was mostly frustrated throughout the rest of it.

So overall, it was cute, but just ok for me.

This was memorable for me mostly because I had a hard time respecting the main character. She spends most of the book being a dishrag cleaning up everyone’s problems and soaking up their mistakes. In my head, I was screaming at her to grab a backbone and take charge of the situation. She is a smart girl and her potential was there but she want using it.

When she finally does exert herself, it is a triumph of sorts and something the character and the story desperately needed.

I was very excited to have the opportunity to read this book, as I've been a big Sophie Kinsella fan for years! This book lived up to my expectations; It's smart and quick and there's some stellar character development and arcs in the plot. Not necessarily my favorite by Kinsella, but a good and entertaining read nonetheless!

Sophie Kinsella does it again! Seriously, I have loved almost every book she’s written. Her heroines are people you relate to and root for. Fixie Farr definitely encapsulates those qualities. I loved how she finally took matters into her own hands and stood up for herself.

I really liked the "IOU" premise of this book and liked the family business concept, but I had a hard time with the main character of this book. I couldn't believe how horrible the people around Fixie were and how she had no backbone and did everything they wanted. It was really frustrating to read. Parts of the ending seemed super unrealistic to me, too. I definitely liked parts of the book, but it wasn't my favorite Sophie Kinsella novel.

Rating I Owe You One three stars is a reflection of my mixed reactions to Sophie Kinsella’s latest. This is the story of Fixie Farr, her family and their family business as well as her relationships with an old teen crush, her bff, and the man whose life she saves not just once but twice. There are some great moments and messages as well as a few touches of originality in this book. These were offset by more than a few clichés as well as eye rolls and shudders in response to behaviors and coincidences along the way.

I Owe You One is a light, readable romance featuring a young woman, whose nickname, Fixie, came from her uncontrollable urges to fix things. Once her fingers began twitching, she had to straighten out everything from messy display tables in the family store to smoothing out the road bumps her best friend and her husband face as the try to decide whether to have children. Then there is the handsome man she meets in a coffee shop whose laptop she saves from water leaking through the ceiling of the shop. This begins the thread of repaying favors when he writes her an IOU on a coffee sleeve to thank her for her kindness.

As is apparently Kinsella’s pattern, the main character undergoes a transformation – from being a complete doormat, in both business as well as personal relationships, to coming into her own and finding the courage to stand up for herself.

Overall, this was an entertaining romance. And while following Fixie’s romantic relationships seems a bit like watching a tennis match, the ends come together neatly in a satisfying conclusion.


FYI - I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Sophie Kinsella does it again.

I thought I had the conclusion figured out well in advance...and I sort of did, but the path taken definitely had some unexpected zigs and zags to get there.

A special thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC.