Sophie Kinsella is one of my favorite authors. I’ve read everything she’s written and she is my most owned author (not counting multiple copies of Harry Potter 😏) So I was super excited to receive this advanced copy of I Owe You One!
Fixie is asked by a stranger in a coffee shop to watch his laptop while he runs outside to take a phone call. While he’s gone, the ceiling collapses, but Fixie saves the laptop. The stranger is so thankful and tries to buy her coffee or a muffin as a thank you, but she declines. Instead, he writes out an IOU for a favor in the future. It starts a exchange of favors back and forth.
If you like Sophie’s other books, this will fit right into your collection!
Thank you to @netgalley for the advanced release copy in exchange for an honest review. This book will be released on February 5th! #netgalley #bookreview #ioweyouone #sophiekinsella

I Owe You One is the latest novel by Sophie Kinsella. While you are never going to read one of her stories and think it will go down with the classics, they are always entertaining. This one is no exception.

The story centers around Fixie, a thirty-ish year old woman who has yet to actually grow up. She compulsively feels the need to be involved in pretty much everything and, as her nickname would imply, fix it all. Or fix them all, as the case may be. She just cannot leave well enough alone. Moreover, those around her take full advantage or her obsession.

As the story progresses, Fixie experiences painful lesson after painful lesson. Knowing she cannot continue to be the world’s doormat, she ultimately realizes that she has to stand up for herself. How does one change such ingrained, lifelong patterns and find happiness? That is the real problem that Fixie will need to fix.

I can always count on Sophie Kinsella to provide an entertaining chick lit novel. I was excited to get my hands on this copy since I've read most of her other books, and it didn't disappoint.

Our main character Fixie, whose real name I won't reveal but was a bit of a let-down, is a fixer. She has the itch to fix things and attempts to make things better with her fixes; she doesn't always succeed. Her father has passed away, and his "family first" motto is constantly running through her head, but it isn't always a good thing. She's a lovable character but also frustrating in that she's basically a doormat. She's hung up on a crush from her childhood day, trying to run the family store, and dealing with loads of family drama.

While I was frustrated with most of the characters throughout the book, including Fixie, I adored the ending. It was cute, and I liked how it all came together. Another sweet book from Sophie Kinsella!

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the ARC.

This is my first Sophie Kinsella novel and I have to say I was disappointed in the character development and plot.

Fixie was known as a “fixer” and people pleaser but, she was lacking in charm and depth for my reading preference.

The love stories made Fixie out to be a bit of a doormat and I struggled to relate to her story. I personally was not a fan of how it all wrapped up in the end...it left me unsatisfied.

Fixie Farrs is the girl behind the curtain: she runs the show (aka she runs the day to day for her family business in London) but is never in the spotlight. Before her father passed away, he drilled into her the importance of family loyalty. Fixie lives by this mantra even if most of the time it backfires.

One day, Fixie saves Sebastian Marlowe’s laptop in a coffee shop from a ceiling collapse. Turns out he’s a CEO of an investment firm, and the laptop is very important to his business. Sebastian insists on repaying Fixie somehow, and writes an IOU on a coffee sleeve. Right in the midst of this event, Fixie’s forever crush, Ryan Chalker, moves back from LA and is supposedly asking around about her.

Fixie is a character impossible not to love! She’s quirky with her constant need to fix things (she admits plenty a time that it’s her “flaw”). She’s devoted to her family (though they drive her bonkers - her brother and sister are SO irritating)! And something always happens that never works in her favor.

This was a seriously fun, witty and light read for me. Sophie Kinsella’s writing reminds me of Jojo Moyes - an added bonus!

I Owe You One was delightful. Sophie Kinsella brings us another great character, and as someone who is always taking care of everyone else (at my own expense), I connected with this book. Overly trusting, running to make everyone happy even while things seem to fall apart around her - Fixie's character was believable and relatable. True to form, Kinsella puts Fixie in a few situations that are truly cringe-worthy, there are misunderstandings and disappointments, and in the end, Fixie pulls it together.

This truly was a feel-good read (and I appreciate that it doesn't say that on the cover.)

I've always loved a good Sophie Kinsella book, but this wasn't one of them. Don't get me wrong, it was okay...but not the Sophie of Shopaholic days. The main character was overly silly and just plain irritating. I guess the clueless female doormat just isn't my thing.

I am a big Kinsella fan and always read her books. I appreciated the evolution of her writing and character development in her latest releases. I Owe You One is the story of a family, but it’s not a particularly likable one for the majority of the novel. The lead character, Fixie, allows herself to be a veritable “doormat” (frustratingly) for the majority of the book and has toxic relationships with men. Maybe it’s a 2018 reader’s response analysis, but I needed the empowerment and growth to happen much sooner! Still, as with all of the author’s books, lessons are learned, and the end is happy. I’ll be back for more. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

This was a wonderful light hearted read. All of the characters were very relatable. Fixie and her family and friends were a great group to get to know. I was completely involved in the storyline and routing for everything to work out in the end. This is my first book to read by this author but I will definitely be picking up more of them.

Ms. Kinsella hits,another one put if the ball park with I Owe You One. It follows her tried and true formula, but, hey, it works! I enjoyed getting to know the characters and their flaws, and it was lovely to see the main character blossom into the strong, forthright person she was meant to be.

The romance was believable and engaging. The family relationships were flawed and dysfunctional, just like in real life. And I can always count on a happy ending. I need some happy endings these,days! Please keep em coming, Ms. Kinsella. I can't wait for your next novel!

"I Owe You One" was quite an emotional ride. I laughed, I cried, I yelled in frustration, and I really enjoyed the journey. Kinsella has a way of making you completely adore characters who will also frustrate you to the max, and Fixie is no exception. Fixie works for the family business, Farrs, a shop which their father ran until he died, and then her mother and the kids took over. The shop does well, but Fixie and her mother do all the work. Fixie's siblings are a bit of a terrible mess- her sister Nicole is all about yoga and avoiding her husband who is in Abu Dhabi while also trying to 'diagnose' everyone's spirit animal, and her brother James is the seemingly sleazy businessman who has been working on his MBA for forever and insists on trying to make Farrs into something it's not.

Fixie got her nickname (Fixie) from the fact that she always has to fix everything- she can't let anything imperfect go. This often gets into trouble. Her biggest flaw is forgiving everyone every single thing and often letting them walk over her in the name of peace. This comes into play with the guy she has had a crush on since she was 10, Ryan, who is back in London after failing in LA.

Cue the meet-cute. While Fixie is at a coffee shop, she is sitting across from an important businessman (Seb, short for Sebastian) who is taking work phone calls, and when he realizes his calls are being noticed, he asks Fixie to keep an eye on his laptop. The subtle drip from the ceiling breaks and Fixie dives to cover and protect the laptop. Not having backed anything up, he is incredibly grateful to Fixie for saving it and offers her an open-ended IOU to be redeemed for anything.

After Fixie's mother leaves town, Fixie is left scrambling to keep the family together, the company running, and figure out her love life with the horrible Ryan. In a series of cringe-worthy events, Fixie faces the realities of her life. The reader has to have endless patience for the frustratingly bottomless empathy she has for the terrible people in her life (I would have appreciated earlier changes, but I loved Fixie anyway). Considering how likable she is, I found I definitely wanted to hang in there with her and see Fixie get there on her own. While there's a cute/sweet romance, the bigger theme of the book is about dealing with family- obligations, conflicts, and unconditional love. The epiphanies in there were more than worth hanging in there, and overall I really enjoyed it.

I think Kinsella fans will enjoy this new book and laugh and cry along with Fixie in this entertaining new book. Please note that I received an ARC from the publisher through netgalley. All opinions are my own.

I have loved every single one of Sophie Kinsella's books. I enjoyed reading I OWE YOU ONE and I liked it. Fans of Kinsella will like it as will fans of British Chic Lit in general. It was a little less cheery than most of her stories and there were several characters I wanted to whack on the head for treating Fixie, the main character so poorly. Quick, easy and enjoyable read.

I love Sophie Kinsella and was thrilled to see that she had another book coming out! I Owe You One is a story about Fixie trying to find her voice. I definitely cheered Fixie on as she was struggling to tell her family her own ideas. But I kept finding myself frustrated by her inability to see things as they actually are. This book also lacked Kinsella's trademark humor. Fixie had a few jokes but they often felt flat or were overshadowed by a frustrating situation. This book was a quick and easy read - I finished it in a day. Overall it was not terrible, it just was not the Kinsella novel I am used to reading.

I'm always a fan of Sophie Kinsella's deft wit and satisfying storytelling. Her latest book, "I Owe You One," has these strengths and a few weakness less evident in the early Shopaholic books. While introducing an engaging protagonist, Fixie, who needs some fixing of her own, the story line isn't as smoothly developed as I would expect. Fixie's brother changes his bad ways too suddenly to be completely credible; a slower course of self realization would have been a better storyline. Fixie's transactional relationship with love interest Seb is interesting as an exploration of what we expect from others/what we owe others and why it makes sense not to maintain an accounting. Overall, a good choice for Kinsella fans. If you are reading her work for the first time, though, I would recommend Twenties Girl or Shopaholic, two of my favorites.

Thank you for the early copy.

I've been a fan of Sophie Kinsella for years now but I have to say that this her best novel yet. I loved the main character, Fixie, and was rooting for her the entire time. Kinsella did a great job of creating Fixie's world and family that made me want to keep reading until the end. And most of all the romance and the love interest were her best ones. I recommend checking this out even if you're not a fan of Kinsella, it was a great read!

I’m
A big Sophia Kinsella fan. I love love love her storied. I really enjoyed this story. I thought it was really unique and it’s one of my top 3 of her books. Keep up the great work!

Fixie Farr is dedicated to her family (family first!) and continuing the legacy of her father's retail store, which she and her mother work together to run. When she saves a laptop belonging to Seb, a handsome investment manager in a coffee shop, from being destroyed, he writes her an IOU. Fixie dismisses it as a joke - she would never actually cash in an IOU from a stranger. But when Fixie's childhood crush Ryan reappears in the UK after his business in LA going bust, Fixie is desperate to find him a job to make sure he stays in the UK with her. Seb agrees to give Ryan a job and then a series of back and forth IOUs ensue between Fixie and Seb. Meanwhile, Fixie's mother has gone on an extended vacation and her siblings are each trying to revamp the family store. The business is quickly becoming unstable, the family is slowly pulling apart, and Fixie can't figure out how to fix it all.

While I have loved many of Sophie Kinsella's recent books (My Not So Perfect Life, Surprise Me) and am familiar with the format of the flawed heroine who grows and becomes self-assured by the end of the book, I was less enamored with this one that I have been her past work. I found Fixie to be borderline irritating in her simultaneous desire to fix things and yet acting like a doormat and never standing up for herself. Her siblings came off as unbelievable caricatures of overly used tropes - the vapid sister, the success-at-any-cost obsessed brother. The main conflict and resolution of the plot also fell a little flat for me.

The good news is that the book was a quick, easy read - Sophie Kinsella's story-telling voice and writing style are consistent and her books extremely readable. I'm a big fan of Sophie Kinsella and look forward to reading her next novel, but Fixie Farr and I Owe You One just didn't do it for me.

My favorite thing about the past several Sophie Kinsella novels - and it's not something I usually care about - is the new style of leading man. Dry-witted, arrogant Mr. Darcy-esque love interests, usually described as "terrifying" and "scarily intelligent," are officially a thing of the past. Luke, Jon, and Ed have been replaced by Alex, Dan, and now Sebastian. And I couldn't be happier about it. I adore these sunny, outgoing, emotionally vulnerable male leads and I find myself falling in love with them right along with the heroine - no small feat for a lesbian reader.

Meanwhile, Kinsella's latest heroine is, somewhat unfortunately, more of the same girl we've met about ten times now. She's plucky and spirited, eager to please to the point of seeming to have incredibly low self-esteem, though of course that changes with the narrative arc. This particular iteration, Fixie, embodies the typical trait of "excessively helpful" so much that it's even changed her name.

I'll be honest, I was not terribly invested in Fixie's story at first, feeling like Kinsella was really over-recycling this particular character and the family who doesn't appreciate her, her inability to be assertive, the rapidly hemorrhaging small business (why do they all own their own companies or work for really small ones?), etc. But I can never resist this author's writing for long. Fixie's quirky siblings and Seb's boyish good-heartedness and the feel-good story of overcoming all kinds of adversity on a personal level, while all more than familiar by now, sucked me in and I was smiling for most of the book, feeling like I was wrapped in a big cozy blanket. Nothing about the formula has really changed in this book (aside from the shift to a more sensitive love interest), but maybe that's what makes Sophie Kinsella's writing so pleasant to long-time readers, like me. It takes some amazing writing skill to reuse these themes and character types over and over again while still making them feel fresh and vivid and warm each time, and the mix of the familiar and the new somehow makes me feel like I'm watching a Disney movie that I haven't seen in so long it feels brand new, yet cozy and comforting. And in a literary world that's currently focused on post-apocalyptic horror and gruesome psychological thrillers, that feeling is exactly what I need.

If you are a fan of Sophie Kinsella then "I Owe You One" is right up your alley. I recommend snuggling up to this over Winter Break for a nice escape and happy ending.

This is the typical “woman who is trying to get her life together and solve various problems while also falling in and out and back into love” kind of book. I liked this one much better than Sophie Kinsellas last book, Surprise Me, but it still has her trademark characteristic of a woman doing really dumb, nonsensical things and it’s kind of annoying at times. I’ve said before that I think I’ve outgrown her books and that’s still true, but this was more pleasant than I expected.