Fixie is the youngest sibling, and often feels overpowered by them. Jake dreams of being a mover and shaker, and Nicole is flighty and centered on the actuation of the self. Fixie feels a strong tie to her family and her crush Ryan, who is back in England after trying to make it in Hollywood as a producer. She tries to jump in and help everyone else, not thinking about what it would do for her. This even leads her to agree to watch over a stranger's laptop at a cafe and dive over it to protect it from a leaky ceiling; Sebastian is grateful and wants to give her an IOU, which she ultimately cashes in for someone else.

I feel so bad for Fixie as the book progresses through its first half. Her siblings continually leave her in the lurch, from putting down her viewpoint to her sister literally leaving in the middle of curling her hair and complaining that she needs to take care of herself instead of others. Even her crush Ryan leans on her for emotional and physical support, and at one point literally only seems aroused when Fixie tells him how handsome and important he is. She can't really take a stand, not when family is important to her, which I completely sympathize with. But she leaps to their defense when everyone else around her realizes that they take advantage of her. From chapter one, Fixie says her need to fix others is her flaw, and it really is. Her need to please others and make them happy does give her some pleasure in life, but it also stresses her out because her own needs are unmet.

Fixie's inner monologue is hilarious and relatable, much like Sophie Kinsella's other heroines. It's understandable that she has a hard time standing up to her older siblings, or realizing that her crush is a selfish flake that is using her. She and Sebastian get along fairly well, though they can still wound each other deeply with words, too. Fixie taking steps to assert herself more felt somewhat sudden, but a realistic kind of sudden. She had been pushed so far that "scorched earth" measures had to be taken. She's actually very good at what she does but needed a push. Everything falls into place for all of the characters because this is very much a feel good book. It closes at Christmastime, but it's not strictly a Christmas themed book. Still, it has the homey warmth you expect from the season and is as fun to read as Kinsella's other novels.

Fixie is a person that cannot let things be if she sees something that needs to be done. This is a complex personality trait that is both a blessing to others and often a disability to herself. At first, I thought her family nicknamed her Fixie as a negative thing, but as the story unfolds I found out that Fixie prefers this to her real name and it definitely suits her more.

This is a bit of a Cinderella story. She is the workhorse of her family’s business taking the model of her parents and is happy in that role. Her siblings take advantage of her and she lets it go, since that is her personality. She voices her feelings to herself and does not often let them out. She is often a doormat and lets things go without speaking up for herself.

Fixie has been head over heels in “love” with her brother’s friend Ryan since she was 10 years old and he was 15. This plays into the story. Ryan is another person in her life that accepts Fixie’s gift of wanting to make everything wonderful for her family and friends.

She is in a coffee shop and is asked to watch the laptop of a person at a nearby table while he goes outside to take a phone call. She notices water dripping from the ceiling and senses that danger is on the horizon. She jumps into action and saves the laptop from a flood of water coming down from the ceiling as it collapses. Once again being a “fixer” for someone else, and not caring what position that leads her in. She saved the laptop and was then soaked with dirty water from the downpour. The grateful owner, Sebastian, give her an “I Owe You” that he writes on a coffee sleeve.

While Fixie is still blindly attracted to Ryan and lets him guide her to do things she doesn’t want to, a friendship develops with Sebastian (Seb), who has an awful girlfriend (sad for Seb, great for Fixie!).

The story flowed so easily, was heartwarming and realistic. The characters are expertly developed. I loved most of them and of disliked a few, which shows how well they were formed for the book.

My heart was attached to Fixie almost immediately. I have that same tendency to want to fix everything also, so I felt a connection to her in the first paragraph. I also wanted to pull her out the book and try to talk some sense into her at quite a few points in the story.

This was a fantastic story! I enjoyed the journey of Fixie becoming the person she was meant to be. I love that she grew but never lost any of her core personality and goodness. I high recommend reading this book!

3.5 stars. I've read several of Sophie Kinsella's books and I always find them entertaining. I really loved Fixie, even if the name made me cringe a little. Kinsella, as usual, did a good job supporting her characters actions with an actual backstory that explained the way they were. I always appreciate that about her writing. However, Fixie's naiveté was really causing me anxiety. I was so looking forward to her eyes being opened--even if it meant she would hit rock bottom. There was one character who changed drastically by the end that didn't ring too true for me, but I was still satisfied overall with this sweet story.

I Owe You One, Sophie Kinsella’s latest book, is another delightful addition to her oeuvre.

Fixie lives up to her name, fixing things for her family and anyone else in her orbit. When she saves the laptop of Sebastian, a handsome stranger, he writes an impromptu IOU on a coffee sleeve. Through the rest of the novel, they exchange favors in an increasing game of one-upmanship.

In the meantime, the family business is on the verge of failing and Fixie’s siblings are making it much worse. They’re disasters. And her loser boyfriend who uses her…oy.

I have to admit, I didn’t know how Kinsella would redeem these characters in this book. Fixie’s siblings are HORRIBLE, to the point that I thought of them the same way I thought of the loser boyfriend: just dump them, already! It’s really clever, the way she is able to turn that storyline.

Not everything has to be tied up with a perfect bow, Sometimes a messy, stringy bow is just fine. Kinsella has achieved that quite nicely here.

Fixie Farr comes from a very strong willed and sometimes pushy family. One that she loves with all her heart and one that she would do anything for. Fixie is living at home, after a professional set-back, and working in the family business. Fixie is living her daily life to preserve her father’s memory and be a constant source of help for her immediate and extended family. The future looks bleak, without much excitement, for Fixie until fate intervenes and she meets Sebastian. Can one IOU change the course of her future? Will Fixie give love a chance and work on “fixing” herself instead of those around her?

“I Owe You One” is a fun, satisfying read. It’s not heavy or profound, but I definitely enjoyed myself as I read this book. At the start, I hated 100% of the characters, wondering if anyone in this universe understood how the world worked - but their arcs throughout the book eventually make up for the irritating start. Overall, it’s a good read, and I definitely recommend it if you’re looking for something fun and light (or to just escape the world for a bit).

(Review published on Goodreads and Tumblr on February 4th, 2019)

Fixxie is a woman who lives by the lemma of her father: Family first. After he passed away she took over with her siblings and mother the administration of her father's store. But she always cultivated a feeling of inferiority thanks to the adoration of her mother by her older brother and her stunning sister.
Fixxie is a typical chick-lit heroine, sweet, struggling that suffering all the time because she can not fight for what she wants. When she saves Sebastian, she ends up getting involved in a complicated friendship but he helps her face her worst demons.
I really liked her but I did not like Sebastian, always very dry and indifferent, distant and rude at various moments with her. I believe that this was the first time in my life as a voracious reader that I did not hope that the couple stay together. Seb does not deserve at all a girl like Fixxie, in the final part I even hoped that he would redeem himself and open his heart more, but what I saw was a girl succumb as she always did during her whole life to the appeal of the heart without a dialogue more strong, without a confrontation, without imposing herself and making herself respected by the guy. For me, he'd have to suffer more.
So she only managed to be strong in relation to one of her weaknesses in the plot, the love spot was very badly resolved with a quick and less emotional ending.

This is classic Sophie Kinsella! Fun characters and a plot that keeps you wanting more. Fixie is so relatable and you are rooting for her til the very end! I highly recommend this to anyone looking for a quick, uplifting read.

I have read many Sophie Kinsella books and always really enjoyed them. Sadly, I Owe You One, was a complete miss for me. The only thing I enjoyed was the writing style and the general idea of the novel. That loving someone shouldn't come at the cost of your own self-respect. If you love someone who help them be the best version of themselves, not fix their mistakea and make excuses for them.

I felt like this story could have been wonderful but I had so many problems with it. Let's start with Fixie. I immediately though she would be a lovably quirky character but in reality she was a spineless doormat. Her brother and sister were complete sh*t to her, and she let them. While she constantly told the readers things she wanted to say but never actually did. She let them treat her horribly yet still talked about how perfect and amazing they were. Then we have our "hero" Sebastian who gives Fixie confidence in herself. He was sweet and kind but his character and backstory fell flat, probably because we were seeing it from Fixie's point of view. The best parts of the story were the last few chapters, when Fixie finally took charge and her and Seb getting to start over.

I'm not writing off reading more Sophie Kinsella books and hoping the next is better.

From the first page, I wanted to hug our main character, Fixie, which is considered an endearing nickname from her father. Her brother and sister use Fixie's desire to fix problems to walk all over her and their family owned business. Part of the story is Fixie finding a voice to stand up to her family especially with her snotty brother.

Fixie's old crush, Ryan, comes to town and she's blind to all of his faults. During this time she meets Sebastian who is a great love interest with one problem: he has a girlfriend. A horrible girlfriend that is like every horrible girlfriend the nice guy puts up with until he meets the main character. I always have a problem with these type of characters because it's obvious that the girlfriend has to be horrible in order for me to be fine with the love interest bouncing from one relationship to be with the main character. I'm not supposed to think that the evil girlfriend being rude to Fixie as understandable when Fixie obviously like Sebastian more than a friend. As soon as the evil girlfriend breaks up with Sebastian (because according to cliche rules he can't do it) the main characters get together proving the evil girlfriend's point of not trusting Fixie. Minor point in the overall book but when there is the third act breakup (of course there is one) Sebastian gets back together with evil girlfriend making me think that he needs to take a break from dating if he can't consider being alone for more than a day.

There are some things that you can always count on. The sun will rise in the morning and set at night. Clean sheets feel wonderful when you first climb into bed. You will cry at Hallmark movies. And, you will never not be entertained by a Sophie Kinsella book. She is pure escapism in it’s best form. I actually was reading this while that “exciting” game was on yesterday and it made time go by somewhat quicker.

Fixie Farr fixes things. She can’t help herself. It makes her nervous when something is not in it’s right place. Her family and the family store are a huge mess right now. Her mother, who runs the store, is off to Spain with her sister after medical issues. Her brother, quite the big shot, is trying to turn the store into something it’s not. Her sister is a space case. Her childhood crush Ryan is back in town and those feelings are stirred up, even if he is a douchebag. But things really start to get going when she saves a laptop for a guy in a coffee shop. Sebastian “Seb” tells her that he owes her one because all his work was on there. He writes on IOU on the coffee sleeve. This IOU goes back and forth throughout the story.

As any good Sophie Kinsella book goes, you will want to reach in the page and shake up a few people. Not that her writing makes you violent and even though you know there will be an inevitable happy ending (and what is wrong with that?!), there are those characters that deserve it! Fixie being one of them at times. Her heart is always in the right place but her actions might not be. She is a great character to root for and you will. I loved her interaction with Seb. It really brought me back to reading the Shopaholic series.

If you are looking for something to just read and enjoy and not worry about the heaviness of it all, pick this one up. I am all for happy endings and Sophie Kinsella.

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House for a copy of this delightful book.

"My nickname isn’t Fixie for nothing."

This wasn't a terrible book but I didn't enjoy it as much as many other books I've read by author Kinsella.

The story takes place in London and centers around a family all-purpose store named Farr's. The main character is youngest daughter Fixie Farr. And she could be quite annoying, a very wishy washy type person who was always trying to "fix" everything but never stood up for herself.

She has a pompous older brother and an airhead older sister that are supposed to work at the family store but instead dump everything on Fixie.

There are good moments in the story and that's why I rated this three stars instead of one - and Fixie finally does get some backbone and stand up for herself. The romance had good moments and not so good.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is - if you're a big Kinsella fan and want to say you've read all of her books, go ahead with this one. Otherwise try out one of Kinsella's other much better offerings.

I received this book from Random House through Net Galley in the hopes that I would read it and leave an unbiased review.

Of the several books written by Sophie Kinsella that I have read, this one is my favourite.
I like Fixie and her mother who seem normal and sensible, but find Ryan, Jake and Nicole self centred. Fixie Farr has always lived by her father's motto: "Family first", but her brother and sister really test this motto when their mother goes to Spain for health reasons and leaves the three siblings to manage the family business.
When Fixie saves a man's computer, he writes her an "I owe you one" which she keeps but doesn't plan to use.

I read this light and entertaining standalone novel of family, love and empowerment in one setting. Novels written by Sophie Kinsella always put me in a good mood and make me laugh. I highly recommend I OWE YOU ONE to anyone looking for a fun quirky read.

Thank you to author Sophie Kinsella, NetGalley, Random House Publicity and The Dial Press for a digital ARC of I OWE YOU ONE and the opportunity to write this unbiased review.

Posted February 3, 2019 on Goodreads, and NetGalley

Sophie Kinsella has a knack for quirky, odd, fun characters, and I Owe You One is no exception. In one review, a reader did not care for Kinsella's unbelievable characters, but I simply find them charming and fun, and I especially cannot take the fiction seriously or to heart; I consider Kinsella's books to be highly entertaining and a great way to escape life's more serious escapades. The main character Fixie gets her nickname honestly; she always feels a need to "fix" things and it often gets her in trouble. She has a heart of gold and cannot stand to cause controversy, although her aggressive brother, flighty sister, and user-loser boyfriend cause plenty of over the top controversy for poor Fixie. Enter a chance encounter with a handsome stranger, and Fixie's life changes course.

I found it fun, very entertaining and a great way to get lost in a book.

Having read and liked Sophie Kinsella books in the past, I was very excited to receive this ARC from Random House & Netgalley. Unfortunately, it fell a little flat for me. The story follows Fawn, aka “Fixie” (because she...fixes everything) as she tries to keep her family’s shop afloat and deal with her troubled brother. She saves a stranger’s laptop from a water accident at a cafe one day, and he says he “owes her one,” hence the title. Through a series of events, Fixie and the stranger (named Seb) wind up continuing to cross paths and trade off IOUs. A love quadrangle develops between Fixie, Seb, his on/off girlfriend, and Fixie’s high school crush turned grown up fling. While the IOUs-turned-relationship is obstensibly meant to be the plot driver of the book, I felt it detracted. Seb honestly seemed like kind of a limp rag and somewhat scummy (a lot of REALLY rapidly going between Fixie and his on/off lady...kinda ick). My favorite parts happened when Fixie was at her family’s shop, surrounded by a very quirky and colorful group of employees and patrons - those characters were entertaining! I have to give this one 2.5 stars.

3.75*
If there is one word to sum this book up with, it would be...“cute”!

Fixie matches her name perfectly. She has an intense drive to always fix something if she feels it’s out of place. An itch that unless scratched will dive her crazy. Sometimes this obsession will get her in way over her head.

Sitting in a coffee shop she saves a strangers lap-top from a sudden rush of water seeping from a collapsed ceiling. Which introduces Fixie to the lap-tops’ owner, Sebastian. He’s so grateful he immediately writes an IOU on her coffee sleeve.

Fixie never really considered cashing in the IOU, but when an old crush, Ryan comes waltzing into town desperate for a job...Fixie wants to help. It’s what she does. It’s who she is. She immediately seeks out Sebastian to cash in her IOU for Ryan.

Do you believe in fate?

It was sweet, it was cute and oh so endearing! While it was somewhat predictable, that was ok! I mean most rom-coms are! That’s why we love them! As the story-line unfolded I grew to love Fixie and all her quirks!

This was my first ever read of Sophie Kinsella and I am a new fan! I will definitely be watching for her next release!

A fun buddy read with Susanne!

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Publishing House and Sophie Kinsella for an ARC to read and review.

There are so many Sophie Kinsella fans out there -- she's been writing for a long time, and readers of one of her books tend to enjoy all of them. This new one is no exception -- great appealing main character and lots of introspective humor and fun romance. A treat for a cold winter day and all year round. Will definitely be recommending this title to my library patrons.

this was okay. it was cute, passed the time well enough, but i didn't love it. i've read a few of the shopaholic books plus a couple others by Kinsella. I loved my not so perfect life and i was so excited for surprise me, which unfortunately fell flat for me. but i thought maybe it was because of the plot or the fact that the couple was married in that one. so i was excited about this one because it sounded like more of a traditional romance in a boy meets girl kind of way, but unfortunately it was a bit of a mess. i expected it to be more about them, but the love story is only a small small part - in fact, they don't get together till like, what, the last quarter? maybe? because there is another guy for Fixie and another girl for Seb.. not my favourite but I can handle it - what I don't like is the fact that he got back with the other girl after he and Fixie split. What?! what the actual fudge. i don't care if he thought she was back with whatshisface. but apart from that, this is a typical Kinsella book in the sense that the characters all misunderstand each other or refuse to communicate, and stupid shit happens as a result. Fixie was definitely a doormat and i wanted to shake her, but like other Kinsella books, she does grow as a character. it just wasn't enough for me. The ending was definitely adorable.

Overall, I feel like you could have taken out the OW/OM drama. it was unnecessary. Fixie's family and the shop and Seb were all enough. It sounds like I hated it, I didn't. It was cute, it was totally enjoyable in a pass the time kind of way.

Fixie Farr lives within a dynamic family: Family First as the family motto goes.

Mum is as peaceful and loving as they come. She’s the supermom that you could only ever dream to become.

Dad was bigger than life before he passed away, leaving an empty hole and an empty chair at the dinner table. He was the man in charge in their family business (Farr’s) but when he passed, Mum worked her tail off to keep it thriving.

Jake, big brother, is a posh, temperamental achiever who strives for bigger, better, more.

“Power. Profit. Potential”

With the power and money to go big, he constantly undermines Fixie at every turn and makes changes to the store and to their lives that could potentially bring them under.

Nicole, the yoga guru, the animal personality wizard and one terrified of things such as her marriage and the coffee maker. Ambitious and flaky, you love her and hate her. She isn’t the perfect older sister but she’s there and there’s hope in that.

In a family such as this, when does the line blur between putting family first and putting yourself last?

Fixie the fixer has a flaw. She can’t but fix things and most the times it ends up going south. Ever since she was ten, she was madly in love with a boy named Ryan Chalker. He was a star, bound for Hollywood, bound to make waves and watch the world follow behind. Naturally, he and Jake became the best of friends and waves turned into tsunamis and in her eyes, Fixie could never compare. She was a failure. She failed at skating, she failed at her own catering business, she fails to see the flaws in Ryan and she keeps her head down with the family business.

"I draw breath, telling myself that this time I’ll do it; this time I’ll really have my say. But as I look up at Jake’s intimidating face, it happens again. My nerve collapses. The ravens have started flapping around me."

Enter Sebastian Marlowe. Founder and CEO of ESIM (Ethical Sense Investment Management). He has woodland eyes and the cure for the ravens but when they meet in unexpected circumstances, they later wish life could be reversed.

"You can’t go back in time and do life a different way. That’s not how it works."

When Fixie’s world comes crumbling down, she doesn’t have the strength to carry on. Where Sebastian was once a stronghold, he is no longer and Fixie is left to fend for herself. Family First.

But when does Family First cross a line? And why should Fixie always come last?

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I gave this book 3 stars (3.5 stars but I didn’t feel like I should round this one up to 4 stars). It wasn’t a bad book but it wasn’t a 4-star book either. It was funny, cute and quirky. I was willing to stay up late finishing it but once done, realized I would have rather had my sleep and finished the next day. I wouldn’t recommend it per se but I do feel like it would be a great beach read; something you fly through quickly.

I got frustrated a lot at Fixie because of the allowances she gave other people, especially her brother. The brow-beatings she got on a constant basis were annoying and you really just wanted to smack them all. Mum disappears for a long time and you truly feel the absence (which I'm sure is intentional but it feels very obvious that she needed to be out of the plot to make it work). The ending was tied up quickly with a nice little bow but at least it left you happy.

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Thank you to NetGalley, to Random House Publishing Group and to Sophie Kinsella for the Advanced Copy in exchange for an honest review. Looking forward to future books!

My Not So Perfect Life was the first book from Kinsella that I read. And very minor issues aside I loved it. Then along came Surprise Me, which I didn't love. Now there's I Owe You One which falls somewhere in between. While the book wasn't close to perfect it wasn't horrible either.

Fixie Farr is a fixer. If anyone has a problem or there's something she see's as a problem she's there to fix it. I guess this is a good quality to have but at times it seemed as if Fixie just went too far or was just too oblivious to the fact that you can't fix everything. Name in point: Ryan. This character was an absolute jerk and I'm not sure why nobody could see this. I was sick of this character soon after he made his appearance and couldn't wait for him to be done with. On the other hand, I liked Seb and liked the chemistry between him and Fixie from the beginning. I liked how their relationship progressed and how genuine he was. He seemed the most genuine and normal person in the book.

As to the story itself I found myself liking it from the start and didn't want to put it down. Then I found it a bit tedious to read. The actions of Jake and Nichole, Fixie's siblings, got on my nerves and I didn't really feel connected to them at all. This made the story a bit boring at times and sometimes the dialogue seemed to border on rambling. The premise of the story seemed to be a good one but in my opinion the book could have been edited down a lot and been just as good, if not better.

So with three Kinsella novels on my "read" list, I've decided she's a hit-or-miss author for me. If you've never read anything by her don't start with this book, it's not her best. Grab a copy of My Not So Perfect Life. You may even find that you owe me one.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley and was not required to write a review. All opinions are mine.