I might post a fuller review later (or maybe not!), but I have to say this, this book does follow a very *specific* formula, ( familial growth and growing a backbone) and for 3/4 of the book, I hated ALL of the characters. Even the female lead Fixie. I know that this book was about change and family but I have never despised so many people in a book (even the supposed good guys) - I wanted to throw my Kindle out of the window at certain points in this novel.

Yes, the family does come together at the end, but was the journey to that point worth it?

Sophie Kinsella is one of my favorite authors and though I was excited to read this new book, it fell a bit flat for me. While I still enjoyed the book, it wasn't one of my favorites. I didn't find the characters likable - Fixie especially - and the plot was a bit unreal for me. This would be a fine beach read. Our library will still purchase this book as our patrons are huge fans. Thank you to the publisher for the advanced copy.

I LOVED this book!! But really I love all Sophie Kinsella books...this book is about a girl who always puts her family first and not herself. I love how she finds herself with the help of some amazing friends and a little tough love. Fixie is my hero!!

If you've ever felt like the underdog in your own family, had a crush since high school, or felt that fate could change the course of your life forever, this is the book for you. A chance encounter at a coffee shop opens a can of worms in one woman's life. Her path will twist and turn in unexpected ways, but her greatest discovery will be the one that was inside of her all along. Another fabulous and funny page-turner from master storyteller Sophie Kinsella.

I am a big fan of Sophie Kinsella and have read all of her Shopaholic books. Your can always expect a light, fun read from her. Her books follow the same basic formula and are kind of like a Hallmark Christmas movie meaning if you’ve read enough of them, you know what’s going to happen before even starting the book. (With that said - it doesn’t keep me from watching the movies or reading the books!)

This one, however, was not one of my favorites from Kinsella. I just found it so hard to relate to or even to root for Fixie. Seb said it best in the book when he called her a doormat. Fixie’s siblings and her crush Ryan were completely awful, I would cringe reading most scenes with them in it. I couldn’t even feel bad for Fixie or her business that she was allowing them to run into the ground. I knew Fixie would eventually grow as a character and all would right itself, but it was quite frustrating reading how she let family/friends walk all over her.

The book did have a really cute ending and I will still continue to read Sophie Kinsella’s novels. Thank you netgalley for allowing me the opportunity to read and review an advanced copy of this novel.

Another hit from Sophie Kinsella! Humorous, romantic, and emotional; I read it one weekend. Fixie is the star and like other characters in Sophie's book, Fixie is relatable, touching, and quirky.

4.5 Stars. Fixie is a fun character! I love the storyline of owning their own family story and how the siblings must work together. Doesn't every family have a Fixie, a Nicole and a Jack? Seb was a great character too and it was perfect to have the storyline of the IOU on the coffee sleeve. Great to see Fixie grow and develop over the book and some laugh out loud moments too. This is why I enjoy reading Sophie Kinsella books, always a great read, enjoyable, and entertaining! Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the opportunity to read this book. I will be recommending to friends.

I have been wary of trying this author because I've heard mixed reviews on all of her books. I decided to take a chance on this new novel and it didn't turn out the way I hoped.

Where do I start with this novel? This really was a bit of a mess.

Should I begin with Fixie's character? Wow... talk about annoying, having men walk all over her, and making ridiculous decisions because she's so blinded with wanting a man that badly?

Fixie is a character that tries to "fix" everyone but yet she is such a giant hot mess that the entire novel she let's people walk ALL over her. Fixie is presented with a situation of trying to save the family business.. .but can she do it instead of focusing on fixing everyone else?

All of the characters in this novel were SO beyond basic. Can I talk about how much of a douche bag Ryan was? Seb? Ok... seriously I felt like the conversations were robotic between Fixie and Seb. The author tried to add a romantic aspect between Seb and Fixie... What was that? YIKES.

The downfall of this book was characters. So surface level and there was zero feeling to any of the characters. I was beyond disappointed in this book. This book definitely wasn't for me.

2 stars for me on this one.

Huge thank you to Random House Publishing and Netgalley for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

Publication date: 2/5/19
Published to GR: 12/2/18

Fawn Farr, 27, is known as “Fixie” because she sees problems and can’t stop herself from trying to fix them. She works in her family shop, a housewares store in Acton (a suburb of London) called Farr’s, started by her late father. She and her mum do most of the work: “Mum runs the family, the home, the business . . . basically everything. She’s our CEO.”

Her pretentious and obnoxious brother Jake and her beautiful but flighty sister Nicole are supposed to help but don’t. Jake is always working on some “deal” with “posh” people, and Nicole is busy with yoga and “self-improvement.” Nevertheless, Fixie feels like a total loser compared to them (aided in part by Jake’s constant reminders that she is).

Moreover, she always defends them: “Family loyalty is a big thing in my life. Maybe the biggest thing. Some people hear the Lord Jesus guiding them; I hear my dad, before he died, saying in his East End accent: Family is it, Fixie. Family is what drives us. Family is everything.”

One day in a coffee shop, Fixie helps save a guy’s laptop when the ceiling caves in dumping water on everyone. She learns he is Sebastian (“Seb”) Marlowe, a CEO of an investment firm, and he tells her he owes her one, and writes the IOU on a coffee-sleeve for her to prove it.

She has no intention of cashing it in for herself of course. But then a situation comes along she wants to “fix.”

Ryan Chalker, on whom Fixie has always had a crush, is Jake’s good-looking friend from high school, and even a bigger egotistical jerk than Jake. Fixie doesn’t see it, however. In any event, Ryan left for Los Angeles to take advantage of his looks and self-proclaimed talent. But now he is back, and in need of a job. He said he met was a bastard and took advantage of him, and now he is out of money.

Fixie asks Seb if he will take on Ryan in his firm as payment for the IOU. Seb reluctantly agrees. Fixie is ecstatic: maybe Ryan will return her feelings now.

Meanwhile, Mum is hospitalized with heart trouble, and her sister, Aunty Karen, takes Mum with her abroad to relax on a beach holiday. It is up to Fixie, Jake, Nicole, and the eccentric staff of Farr’s to run the shop.

Jake decides to focus on cultivating “partnerships” for “aspirational” products. Nicole decides to be the “face” of Farr’s on Instagram, as well as insisting on clearing out merchandise so she can have yoga classes in the shop.

Everything unravels, with Fixie taking the brunt of it. Seb confronts her: “I know, Family first. When did they last put you first, Fixie?”

Fixie finally realizes she must fix herself first, before she can hope to help anyone else.

Evaluation: Once again Kinsella writes with heart and lots of humor, highlighting both family and romantic relationships often to comic effect. In this book, however, some of the characters were so awful, and Fixie was such a clueless doormat, it was harder than usual to warm up to this main character. I was mainly wanting to shake her.

Still, I find Kinsella’s writing delightful, and often laugh out loud while reading her books.

Despite some terrible characters this was a pretty fun read. I only wish Fixie wasn’t so spineless. How can she be called Fixie when she never fixes anything for herself? The character was just way too much of a door mat allowing anyone and everyone to walk all over her.

At least she sort of tries to speak her mind later on in the book but is there really character growth? For an adult Fixie sure acts like a tween.

As I said before this was not without problems but is overall not a bad read.

This was my first book by this author and I found it endearing and enjoyable. However the beginning did seem a bit slow but then it took off. I will definitely look out for more from her!

I really wants to like “”I Owe You One” because I loved the Shopaholic Series and a few other of Sophie Kinsella’s books. I just couldn’t get into this one. I seemed slow and drawn out. Fixie was only mildly interesting and it took a long time to know where it was going.

That said I loved Fixie’s dedication to family first.
I hope at some point I can come back to this book and love it as I have loved others but it doesn’t seem like right now.

I loved this book so much! This book reminds me of other great books by Sophie Kinsella, like “I’ve got your number” or “Can you keep a secret?” . So if you love SK’s books go ahead and order this one. There is always the meet cute but there is so much more to the story and characters. What they’ve gone through before they met and how they bring the best in each other, it’s light but still touches deep family issues and how everyone deals with loss, fails and unconditional love. I devoured the book in a week. I have to say, I love happy endings when everything comes together, people have matured and developed, and I definitely got it with “I owe you one”. I’m pre ordering a paper copy and planning on reading it again as soon as it comes out!

Thank you Netgalley and Ramdom house for providing me with a copy of this book for an honest review.

Most of the characters were kind of annoying and it had some poor decision making skills. But as a fluffy beach read it would be eminently decent.

I Owe You One by Sophie Kinsella
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group - Random House :The Dial Press
Publish Date: February 5, 2019

Thanks to NetGalley and publisher Random House: The Dial Press for the ebook ARC of I Owe You One by Sophie Kinsella in exchange for an honest review.

Fixie Farr has always lived by her father’s motto: “Family first.” But since her dad passed away, leaving his charming housewares store in the hands of his wife and children. Fixie spends all her time picking up the slack from her siblings instead of striking out on her own. The way Fixie sees it, if she doesn’t take care of her father’s legacy, who will? It is simply not in her nature to say no to people.

So when a handsome stranger in a coffee shop asks her to watch his laptop for a moment, Fixie not only agrees - she ends up saving it from a certain disaster. Turns out the computer’s owner, Sebastian is an investment manager. To thank Fixie for her quick thinking, Seb scribbles an IOU on a coffee sleeve and attaches his business card. But Fixie laughs it off - she’d never actually claim an IOU from a stranger. Would she?

Then Fixie’s childhood crush, Ryan comes back into her life and his lack of a profession pushes all of Fixie’s buttons. She wants nothing for herself- but she’d love Seb to give Ryan a job. So Seb agrees, until the tables are turned once more and a new series of IOUs between Seb and Fixie - from small favors to life-changing moments. Soon Fixie, Ms. Fixit for everyone else, is torn between her family and the life she really wants. Does she have the courage to take a stand? Will she finally grab, the life, and love, she really wants?

I give this book a rating of 5 stars and I highly recommend reading it. As soon as I saw this book, I knew I had to read it! Sophie Kinsella is one of my favourite authors and this book is just as addicting as all of the others. I really liked the story line and about half of the characters. The book was so hard to put down and I felt so many emotions throughout the book. Everything came together really well and I can’t wait to read more from Sophie Kinsella.

Oh what a fun book! I loved this story about Fixie and how she saves a laptop and the owner, Seb, feels indebted. So he tries to even the score and then she helps rescue him from an alley beating! Of course the plot thickens when the IOU has been written on a coffee sleeve - I will never look at a coffee sleeve the same way again! So she asks him to give her boyfriend a job, as Seb owns his own business - what a walking disaster that turns out to be.

During all of this commotion Fixie is trying to keep her family store up and running and making a profit while her mother is off to Spain. This creates more problems as Fixie's siblings are spoiled self centered brats.

To complicate matters Fixies starts to fall for Seb , but Seb is in a relationship with snarky Briony.

This plot keeps you turning the page, but my favorite part?? Is when Fixie and Briony are at the same ice skating rink, and Fixie gives the crowd an outstanding performance, while Briony skates flopping her arms around trying to keep her balance - this was a laugh out loud moment!

OK, you know Sophie Kinsella loves surprise endings, so I will leave the story there and it will be up to you to buy this book and catch the glorious heart wrenching ending.

A real treat for yourself or as a gift. ENJOY!!!

3.75 stars. An enjoyable read- reminded me more of JoJo Moyes than Sophie Kinsella's past novels. If you are looking for a fun, easy read, pick this up!

This was a nice, easy read...a little predictable though. Wished it had gone a little deeper rather than just dragging out the "owe" in a silly way.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40651462-i-owe-you-one" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="I Owe You One: A Novel" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1538686141m/40651462.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40651462-i-owe-you-one">I Owe You One: A Novel</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6160.Sophie_Kinsella">Sophie Kinsella</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2609233884">3 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
Slogging through a recent political bestseller, I had a sudden yearning to read something that didn't make me so <i>angry</i>, so when the opportunity came up to read and review Sophie Kinsella's latest, <i>I Owe You One</i>, I jumped at the opportunity. Kinsella is, after all, the undisputed reigning Queen of Chick Lit. Her <i>Shopaholic</i> series alone has firmly established her title.<br /><br />And so she carries on in the same vein with <i>I Owe You One</i> which follows the story of Fixie Farr, a not-so-successful woman in her twenties who has a compulsion to set everything -- and everyone -- in her life straight. When family matters take an unexpected turn, Fixie is presented with her biggest challenge yet: taking over the family business. But can Fixie handle it without falling apart herself?<br /><br />In the midst of her crisis, she meets Sebastian Marlowe, a mysterious stranger with his own issues. Fixie is compelled to help him, too, and this sets up a series of IOUs between them that prove to only further complicate Fixie's life. <br /><br />As often happens with Kinsella's novels, the storyline is predictable and somewhat formulaic, but her characters are engaging and entertaining. You can't help but root for Fixie as she struggles to grow a backbone and stand up for herself. Seb is a somewhat cardboard love interest - I wish Kinsella would flesh out her male characters a bit more than she does, but that's a minor quibble. <br /><br />The secondary characters in this book are more interesting than I usually find in Kinsella's books; I was especially interested in the character development of Fixie's siblings. I wish that their arcs had been dealt with in more depth, and for me that was the downfall of this book. I know that this was Fixie's story, but the secondary stories wrapped up a little too neatly and for some reason, for me that took away from Fixie's own growth. I simply wanted more for everyone involved.<br /><br />I Owe You One was provided by Netgalley and The Dial Press and is scheduled for publication February 19, 2019.
<br/><br/>
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/4878765-tanya">View all my reviews</a>

I've read quite a few of Sophie Kinsella's novels but I could not finish this one. Fixie was a character that I didn't particularly care for - she seemed like a bit of a wet blanket & I had trouble liking her (I'm sure eventually she would experience some growth and learn to stick up for herself). I gave this one about 30% but unfortunately it was just tough to read (after the first sex scene I gave up - it was particularly unpleasant).