This is an okay book. I wasn’t thrilled with it on a couple of points. I was expecting a more carefree read and it was a bit darker than I was expecting.

this was a fast, easy read. just saying is my first read by Sophie Ranald and i'll definitely be interested in reading more from her. i related a lot to some things in the story, but i did found some others to be bit off.

Ok the one thing I found irritating in this book is how much they all spend in pubs and drinking, and drinking, and drinking.
Alice is living with Joe and madly in love. She lost her job and so ends up working at the local pub.
While her and Joe are out they bump into his ex and not to long after that Joe tells Alice that the ex, Zoe needs a place to stay and can she be their roommate. Well I would have said HELL NO. But oh no Alice says yes and that was another of her mistakes. Later on we learn Alice has a secret and what happened to her was wrong but again , drinking was involved. I am not surprised Joe doesn't call her out for being an alcoholic. I mean really every single day. This was getting old real fast.
I received the ARC from NetGalley and Bookouture for review.

It's somewhere between 3-3.5*.
I enjoyed the book quite a lot, although if you'll expect something very funny and very romantic, this won't be it.
The romantic plot is a little bit different from what I'm used to read about in these kind of books - Alice and Joe are already together and happy in love.. or are they? Will their relationship survive Joe's ex Zoe living with them? Soo it's not about falling in love but how to stay together even when your significant other is going through a change. And as I said in the beginning - we don't get many romantic or sexy scenes, but I didn't mind it much.
Instead you get a lot of British words and slang :D.

My favorite parts were from when Alice was in the pub, working, meeting others, etc. I also liked most of the characters, except for Zoe.

There are many subplots in the story, one of them containing theme of sexual assault, so be warned if this is something you don't want to read about in your light-hearted rom-com (which I totally understand). From my point of view it was handled quite fairly but it's true it felt out of nowhere.
The ending was very quick.

Very much enjoyed this, Ranald is going from strength to strength. Great characters, fantastic dialogue, good plot. A fabulous, light summer read.

This sounded like the perfect easy Summer read and it was a good Summer read. I enjoyed the writing style and thought everything was paced really well so it was enjoyable and nothing felt too slow or rushed. I liked the characters, but felt one in particular was prone to self-blame where I felt she could have stood up for herself a little more (as I personally prefer however it did fit where the storyline ended up going).
But, it did feel a little cluttered sometimes - i thought there was too many small side-storylines that felt a little distracting or unnecessary and a few of them didn't feel totally wrapped up at the end.
I was really drawn to the cover of the book; but, the tagine and picture didn't end up fitting the story at all to me.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the e-arc of this book!

Oh, want a fun read. I knew that I will like this book as soon as I saw it and I am glad that I got approved for it. It was such a fun read. Modern settings and relatable characters. Each character has its own flaw but they carried it gracefully. They were just so relatable. It was a perfect blend of emotions, romance, jealousy (that comes under emotion I realized, but I loved the J-Factor and omg, it was so so fun) and humor. Do read if you want some fun read and take a break from monotonous life!

I was given this ARC by netgalley and publisher for honest review and opinion.
Three is a company but what about 4?
Alice meets Joe the perfect bf for her. They have a great relationship going on and she believes that nothing can go wrong in it.
Until one day they run into Zoe, Joe's ex. Something is up with them but she can't figure out what. Not wanting it to ruin the relationship they go on only for Zoe to reach out to Joe because she needs a place to stay.
Two goes to 4 quickly when Zoe moves in with her cat.
Alice finds that now she is competing with her to keep joe because everything about alice is showing that she is perfect.

This book was a little more serious than the cover leads you to believe. Alice gets assaulted at work by her boss and loses her licence to practice law. Because she needs $$ for rent, she starts bartending when her boyfriend Joe suggests his ex Zoe moves in with them to help with rent. Jealousy and self-doubt ensues as Alice discovers how perfect Zoe appears to be.

I loved this book.

It took me back to my barmaid days, a great read with a feeling of nostalgia. Some of my best days were spent working in the pubs and this book had me wrapped up in those days.

Great summer feel good read.

An easy breezy read that was perfect for a day off from work. I enjoyed the story and the main character. The writing was fun, and I recommend this for a summer beach day!

Alice Carlisle's life is all starting to fall into place. She is on track to qualify as a solicitor with a job already secured at the end of her training. Dating Joe (also a trainee solicitor), living together and looking forward to the future. Sure the hours are long and Alice's heart isn't 100% in law but it's a respectable job.

A scandal at work involving her future boss leaves Alice without a job to go to once her training is over. It appears that Gordon has been sexually harassing female staff members and is currently under investigation. **Trigger warning for sexual assault references and the #MeToo movement**. Alice leaves after a meeting with HR to discuss her future which leaves her feeling shocked and overwhelmed. A passerby comes to her aid as she makes her way home and takes her for a sweet sherry. She ends up staying all afternoon and helping out behind the bar.

Whilst bar work might not have been what she had in her life plan, she is finding it more fulfilling than her time training to be a solicitor. With a drop in income, Joe suggests that they get a lodger to cover her share whilst she thinks about what she would like to do in the future. One problem, a big problem actually... It's Joe's ex-girlfriend from Uni, someone that he once loved - would he fall back in love with her whilst they are under the same roof.

I liked that the book touched on Alice having problems in most areas of her life, just like the rest of us. Although, whilst it was an easy-ish story to follow, I wasn't enthralled enough to want to see what happened next.

I was kinda disappointed that this wasn’t filled with humor as i expected. I also really didn’t like the idea of cheating on your significant other so i was kinda dreading it to happen.

But the writing style in this was nice, i wish i liked the story more

Couldn’t get along with it, posted an extract for the tour instead felt different to what the blurb described! Ended up not finishing it unfortunately just not my thing!

I loved this book!! Alice is let go from her lawyer job and decides to help out at a local pub. As she works at the pub more she adores it more. At the same time her boyfriend Joe runs into an old girlfriend, Zoe, and after talking with Alice, Zoe moves in with them because she needs a place to stay. Alice is suspicious of Zoe’s intentions. Joe and Alice run tin a bit of a rough spot as Joe can’t understand why Alice does not want to go back working as a lawyer and Alice becomes more emotionally invested in the pub.

The story is told from Alice’s point of view and for the most part is in the present. There is something haunting her from her past that has flashbacks throughout the story. I loved the feel and the writing of this book. I could picture the story happening in my head as I read it. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves Sophie Kinsella books. You will not be disappointed in this amazing book!

AIlce is a woman on a mission - she has all her ducks lined up - great job and will have a promotion soon, a great boyfriend, a great place to live and friends that she can count on. However, everything comes to a crashing halt when the partner in her law firm who promised her the promotion is fired. What to do now? Alice re-examines her life through a temporary job at a local pub to decide what to do next, while trying to hold on to the great boyfriend. Additionally, there is flashing back to a night that changed her life in a way that many women can relate to.

A great read - I never felt lost or bored and I am looking forward to reading more books by this author.

Would you ever be desperate enough for cash to let your boyfriend's ex move into your spare bedroom?

Well, it looks like Alice and boyfriend Joe would! After losing her job, Alice goes to work at the pub down the street, but bartending just isn't bringing in enough money to cover everything. Just as expected, jealousy rears its ugly head when Zoe moves in. That jealousy begins to drive a wedge between Alice and Joe, but is that really the only cause?

What starts as a light, fun read takes a bit of a turn and tackles a tougher issue - one Alice never shared with anyone... The author handles the topic with grace and does a fabulous job giving the viewer a front seat view of sexual assault victim's feelings and their eventual growth. Alice is a fun character and as you continue to read, she continues to grow and develop.

Zoe on the other hand is characteristically a villian. Joe seemed to be an afterthought to the main plot. While the story revolves around a romantic relationship, it feels as though it's more about Alice than the her relationship with Joe.

Thank you Netgalley and Bookouture for allowing me to read this and give my honest opinion.

*Trigger Warning* for sexual assault

I received a free copy from Netgalley for and honest review.

This was an okay book. From the snippet on the cover that says "Who needs a boyfriend when you have a bottle of wine" confuses me. That doesn't go along with anything in this book. The romance, what part there was, could have been better. Alice and Joe spend over half of the book not talking to each other, one because of their work hours and two because of Zoe, Joe's ex girlfriend, living with them.

It was nice to see Alice choose a different career chose that made her happy, but she made some really stupid decisions in this book. There were times I wondered if she ever used her brain.

#justreleased #netgalley #arcreview
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Just Saying - Sophie Ranald @sophieranald
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📝 Alice & Joe ...
This book made me laugh, cry and relate in some ways with the main characters 😊.
My steno notes: #metoo , old bar, love, drama, heartbreaks, adult romance, friendships.
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It’s an easy read, well written, love the settings and characters that are in this book interacting and growing 🙌🏻💕 well done.
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Blurb;
I almost gave up on love. My ex, who called his private parts ‘Nigel’, was enough to put me off men forever. But then I met Joe.

Alice thought she’d found Mr Right. Her blue-eyed boyfriend Joe gives her butterflies, makes her bacon sandwiches when she’s hungover, and doesn’t have a nickname for any of his body parts.

She should have known it was too good to be true. Because one day, Alice and Joe bump into Zoe. According to him, Zoe’s ‘just an old friend’. But Alice saw the way they froze, and heard the strange note in Joe’s voice when he said her name.

Then, out of the blue, Zoe needs a place to live. And Joe has the bright idea of inviting her, and her fluffy ginger cat Frazzle, to stay with them.

Alice tries her hardest not to feel threatened. But the thing is, Zoe doesn’t survive off microwave meals, or go days without washing her glossy copper-coloured hair, or accidentally get mascara in her contact lenses.

Joe’s ex might be pretty much perfect, but there’s no way that Alice will let Zoe steal him. She’s on a mission to prove that three (four, if you count the cat) is definitely a crowd…

This fabulous, feel-good page-turner is for anyone who has ever got a little too drunk and checked out their partner’s ex! (We’ve all been there…)
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Genre adult romance, fun, drama
Stars: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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#justsaying #adultromance #bookreview #bookstagram #book #reading #tbr #creative #advocate #barowner #switch #lifestyle #love #drama #adventure #lovedit #photography #booksleeve

A single sitting read for me.

This is the story of Alice and how her life is going in one direction, but then it ends up going in a totally different one. She has a wonderful boyfriend in Joe and a job at a law firm, but then her boss has been fired for inappropriate behaviour and because of that she no longer has a position. The fallout is slightly more dramatic than anyone probably considers, or perhaps Alice even realises, at the time. Feeling slightly adrift Alice decides pulling beer is exactly what she needs to do just to give herself time to figure everything out. It won’t be forever.

The character of Alice really resonated with me. Once upon a time I worked in a law firm and then gave it up because I needed to do something different, that something different just happened to be pulling beers in a pub listening and watching the ‘old boys’ and finally feeling a part of something. Alice has a similar experience and really finds herself in the ''Old Nag'.. She is in control and she is pushed to learn new things and face challenges on her own.

While this book seems light and airy on the surface there is a lot of tension simmering – a possible new beau, a flighty brother, the boyfriend’s ex moving in, the gentrification of a neighbourhood and possible loss of yet another job. Alice handles it all with aplomb and her true strength is revealed.

This book goes a long way to show us that sometimes the things we think we want, aren’t actually what we need. Lovers of contemporary romance novels, or a good rom-com, will enjoy this one.