Just Saying is an easy and fun read. Alice is in such a good place in her life. She’s deeply in love with her boyfriend Joe, and has a career that’s going places. Suddenly her life is overtaken and it’s all gone off the rails. She’s got Zoe (Joe’s ex-girlfriend that she’s only just heard about) and Zoe’s rescue cat Frazzle staying in their spare room. She’s not sure whether Joe still has feelings for Zoe, but she’s pretty sure Zoe still has feelings for Joe. It would just be a lot better if there was nothing likeable about Zoe or Frazzle, but that’s just not the case...

When your life is on the fast track and suddenly it all changes. The life you had planned you realise is not the one you want. Job changes, show cracks in your relationship. Highlight how one change has a knock on effect on other areas of your life.
A well written enjoyable story that could easily happen in real life. I will be looking out for other books by Sophie.

This is my fifth Sophie Ranald book, having previously particularly enjoyed the witty romances of Sorry Not Sorry and Out with the Ex, In with the New. These novels are properly British which is part of their charm. Additionally, the success of these books as engaging romance novels hinges on the heroine and their antics and how well Ranald balances this with shedding light on more serious issues in the narrative. In 'Just Saying' we meet Alice when she has just left a post at a top law firm, instead earning money working behind the bar of the local watering hole 'The Nag's Head'. Her story, revealed alongside the #metoo movement being spotlighted in the narrative, brings with it anxiety, trauma and angst, added to when her boyfriend moves his ex-girlfriend Zoe into the apartment. Do not be fooled by the pink cover and marketing as a fluffy romance - whilst the sparks of romance and fun are certainly there in the narrative, the struggle to put your life back together as a survivor of abuse is prominent within Alice's story.

Throughout the novel, we see Alice's journey with the backdrop of 'The Nag's Head'. As the pub becomes more successful and prominent in the local community, all it needed was some sandwiches and a poetry event, we see Alice also grow and feel better, a wonderful synergy of people and places. Ranald has captured the importance of a local community perfectly and highlights how these spaces are vital for wellbeing for people from a spectrum of experiences. I have a particular soft spot for the group of men playing dominoes everyday - a home away from home for these committed bones players!

All in all, to define 'Just Saying' as just a romance us undermining Ranald's timely references to the #metoo movement, struggling local businesses at the heart of communities and The Windrush Scandal. For me, the main drawback of the writing was that the balance between exciting romance and serious angst wasn't as well handled as in Ranald's other novels. However, she has promised that she will be revisiting this eccentric cast of characters in her upcoming novels. This is a solid introduction to a new world (after experiencing the joy of The Daily Grind in each of her last four novels) and I cannot wait to see who is featured next: Zoe, Drew, Heather, Maurice, Wesley... I'd happily take any of these please! I look forward to seeing what is to come.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher who provided an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to the publishers for sharing this one. It's the fifth book I've read by Sophie Ranald and I'm hooked. This one isn't part of the series that her last four novels were, and I did miss the characters from Sorry Not Sorry etc. because they have come to almost feel like old friends, but Just Saying is a great novel in its own right. Content warning- sexual assault. My full review appears on Weekend Notes.

Enjoyed reading this, but didn't love it. There was a part of me that wanted Alice and Archie to get together, but I also did really appreciate that it showed that relationships can go through rough patches and the couple can come out stronger on the other side.

This book was just okay for me. Alice is living with her boyfriend of two years, Joe. She has a career set back and can no longer pay for her half of the rent. Joe suggest that Zoe, HIS EX GIRLFRIEND, move in with them. I am floored that Alice was okay with this. My answer would be a very big F no and I would consider leaving the jerk for even suggesting it... But that's me.

So Zoe now lives with them and Alice is second guessing everything(shocker). She thinks Zoe is trying to get Joe back. There are alot of up and downs and I got just a little bit bored. We also do not get a whole love of Joe and Alice.. which was weird to me. This book also takes a dark turn with sexual assault and I was not prepared for that at all. So trigger warning there.

Over all I think this book was entertaining.. was it my favorite? No. But it was okay. If this is your first Ranald book and you didn't like it, I highly suggest picking up any of her other books. They flow alot better than this one.

I'm a big fan of Sophie Ranald. Her books are entertaining, romantic and impossible to put down once you start reading them. They also have very realistic protagonists you can't help but root for.

Alice Carlisle is about to complete her lawyer training and has already been promised a job in an important law corporation. She also has a great family, best friend, and above all, her own Mr Right, who happens to work in the same company. Jo understands and accepts Alice like nobody else. Everything is going really well for Alice, but it only takes one day for her perfect life to change. Alice loses her job through no fault of her own, but she can't help feeling she's let everyone down. Now Joe and Alice might not be able to pay the bills or live in the flat they've liked so much. Alice stumbles into a temporary job in a local pub which might help her weather the storm. Joe aslo has a solution. His ex-girlfriend Zoe, who they recently met accidentally, is going to move in with Joe and Alice and help with the rent. Seems like a great idea. If only Alice didn't feel Zoe might still have feelings for Joe...

Alice is such a sweet character. She tries to be fair and give everybody a chance. At the end of the day, the only person she is hard on is herself. She even sees the situation from Zoe's point of view and tries to understand her feelings. There's a lot of emphasis on trust, communication and being faithful (including emotionally). I felt the book dealt really well with the issue of drawing and crossing (or not crossing) lines between being friendly and something more than that. Perhaps, Zoe's character isn't as well-developed, but I was too focused on Alice's story to mind that.

Apart from relationship issues, there are other serious and important topics in the story. Not least of which is the matter of sexual harrassment at work that partly explains Alice's insecurities and perhaps even the way she felt about her job. My heart went to Alice when she finally talked about the sexual assault she experienced and its consequences.

Overall, this is extremely engaging and entertaining book and I'm really grateful for having been given a chance to read it. Sophie Ranald is my auto-buy author who I can rely on for a great story with unique, but relatable characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC provided in exchange for an honest opinion.

Rating: ****

Synopsis: Alice thought her life was perfect - the dream job, the lovable boyfriend and the best friend who makes you laugh all the time - until something at work causes her to re-evaluate her life. With a new life road to take, Alice has to decide what she wants and what she wants to fight for.

Review: I loved this book! It gives the feeling of being a light hearted summer read - which it is - but there is a story beneath the surface that builds throughout which is deeper and more seriousness.

Ranald writes beautifully, the story filled with witty one liners, romantic moments and some heart tugging scenes.

The characters did not disappoint. Alice is semi-lovable; she has her flaws but overall she is a character who you want to be happy. I resonated with her in the sense that I too am about to embark on my traineeship and one fear I always have is getting that dream job at the end of the two years.

Heather is the sort of best friend everyone needs - honest, funny and a genuinely lovable person. And Shirley - well she remind me slightly of Babette from the Gilmore Girls. You just want to get a hug from her!!

The only reason this book did not get a 5 stars is because I felt that the darker story was not really "finished". I mean it is explained but I don't feel that the way it ended was the right way (in my opinion anyway). This could be down to trying to keep the book more light hearted which I get.

Overall, a fantastic read - I could definitely see myself sitting by a pool flicking through this in no time (I wish I could be beside a pool reading right now!!).

This book just wasn’t for me sorry, found it so slow and it couldn’t hold my interest at all. It was implausible, I mean what woman would accept her boyfriends ex moving in even when broke. The sexual assault aspect of the story needs a warning, hope it gets one before published.
Plenty of others liked this, but just wasn’t for me

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

Another excellent book from Sophie Ranald. I’ve never been disappointed by this author and am enjoying her writing style and characters so much. Great book

I’ve read several of Sophie’s books and this one was just as adorable as the others! I enjoyed the sweet rom-com feel. I enjoyed the characters, and likes that the story left a bit of a suspense as to how it was going to end.
I look forward to see what Sophie writes next!!

3.5 stars

So this is my third book by Sophie Ranald, and one thing has become crystal clear with her writing and characters, she always sucks you in with this humorous and light-hearted writing at first and then BAM she smacks you with the real world situations that literally hits you in the feels.

Everything seems to be going right for Alice. Her and her boyfriend Joe are both lawyers at the same law firm and have been happy in their relationship for the past two years. But all good things must come to and end, and for Alice, everything just seems to go wrong at the same time: she loses a job offer from her firm, she’s no longer able to afford the rent in the house that she shares with Joe, and Joe decided to rent their spare bedroom to his ex-girlfriend Zoe. Talk about a sh*t storm.

This book tackles a myriad of serious topics such as sexual abuse allegations and the MeToo movement with grace.

I will be honest, I was very hesitant with the whole Alice, Joe, and Zoe storyline. I understand that their living arrangement transpired out of desperate circumstances, and the author does a fantastic job of not romanticizing this. Instead she shows how relationships can fall prey to failure when open and honest communication no longer becomes the focal point.

Overall, this is another great read by Sophie Ranald. Don’t go into this one thinking that it will be a fluffy read. Ranald writes characters with grit and interlaces real world problems with a bit of humor.

Thank you to Bookouture for the blog tour invite and for providing a review copy. This did not influence my review. All opinions are my own.

I was drawn to this book because of the cute cover and the blurb sounds amazingly fun and hilarious. I loved that there was more depth to the story than just what I was expecting. The books discusses sexual assault in the work place and the me too movement, homophobia and coming out and deportation.

I really related to the main character Alice in a number of ways, in particularly her decision to leave her job as a lawyer after years of study and hard work to peruse a career that actually made her happy but may not have ‘looked good’ to everyone else.

I did think what kind of complete crazy person would agree to having their boyfriends stunningly gorgeous ex girlfriend move in with them but I guess that was all part of the fun of the book.

One thing I I did struggle with is there seemed to be a lot of storyline’s going on throughout the book but they all tied up nicely in the end. I loved how the Just Saying ended in a completely different way than I expected (and a much better way than I was expecting).

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ebook arc I received of this book. I will be posting my review to my bookstagram on the pub day 3/7/20.

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. I like all types of books but when one is marketed as a light hearted romantic comedy - that is what I am expecting. The main characters were a bit too sugary for me as well. This isn’t a bad book - it just wasn’t up my alley

Loved it. This is my third Sophia Ranald book and my favorite so far. After back-to-back mysteries and thrillers, I needed a change of pace, a palate cleanser, and this hit the spot. There are plenty of light moments that will make you smile and chuckle quietly to yourself, but it’s not all romance and humor. An unexpected plot twist sets this book apart from the usual romance/humor novels.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the arc.

This was a good, cute, book. It held my engagement and was likeable, but not loveable. The beginning was probably my favorite part of this book. From there it did seem to drag slightly.

* I received the book by the publisher in exchange of an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are unbiased. *

Just Saying by Sophie Ranald revolves around Alice and her boyfriend of two years Joe who are living together. When Alice has a career set-back and can’t afford to pay her share of their rent, he asks about his ex Zoe living with them. Alice agrees unwillingly and the whole time wonders if Zoe is doings things in order to get back with Joe. Alice starts working at local pub and starts to wonder about what she really wants. Complicating things a bit is the next door brewery owner named Archie that she is starting to feel something for over their games of Scrabble. On top of all of that, Alice has a secret that she has kept from Joe that she worries about throughout the book.

The plot was like a roller coaster ride it had many ups and downs in terms of engagement and interest. It began on a simple and plain note then suddenly surprised me by the unexpected twists and then again became too plain and uninteresting. Overall, it was quite hard for me to invest myself solely in the plot due to it’s fickle nature.

The characters were quite interesting to read about however, to me they seemed to depend on the plot too much and had no spark of their own. Alice’s character had no developments and throughout the book she was shown to care only about her falling relationship while Joe had no idea about his girlfriend’s insecurities. While Zoe on the other hand no personality which was worth the scare for Alice.

The writing style was the only thing that kept me engrossed in this book as I love Sophie Ranald’s old books. I am familiar with her writing style and was glad to have a chance to read it again!

' Just Saying ' is an emotional ,heart warming novel with plenty of love and laughter.

When your boyfriend wants to share your flat with his ex girlfriend - shouldn't you have something to worry? Well I found myself siding with Alice so much throughout the story. I am happy she didn't turn mad living with her boyfriend and his long lost ex girlfriend - the one who still has hots for him.


Joe is my new favourite. I was rooting for Alice and all the right choices she made and mentally scolding her for doubting Joe and keeping secrets from him - understanding , such caring and supportive soul.

I liked the raw emotions felt from the characters in this book, given the situations were very realistic. We are flawed beings and it is quiet normal to feel insecure and jealous. I also loved the way while Alice got pushed out of her prestigious job ,she found something she actually loved , instead of something she felt she should.

This is not actually a rom-com there was this bitter undercurrent to the whole book and left me a bit anxious while reading the book amd the fact that the female protagonist was living with the ex of her boyfriend left icky feeling in my mind - it was funnily weird (if that makes sense).

Trigger Alert: This book contains Scenes of Sexual Assault in Workplace and the mental trauma one has to go through.

Overall it was a okay-ish read . It was not like the other books by the author - I found it less funny though.

I am grateful to NetGalley and the publisher to provide me with the review copy.

Although this was a quick read and I enjoyed a few moments, most of the time I was annoyed. Annoyed about what, you wonder? about the main character. This is just a book about a girl being paranoid.

Bonus points because despite containing some heavy topics that I didn't expect in this book I liked how they were handled.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

Thank you so much netgalley and bookouture for this digital arc!
I read it in two days! I enjoyed how the writer dealt with a women’s insecurities when it comes to dealing with ex girlfriends ! Alice is all set to become a lawyer along with her live in boyfriend Joe - also lawyer bound !
Out of nowhere she is told she is no longer employed at her firm as her boss is currently under some “investigation” .
She is devastated and lost ! To save money on rent - Joe suggests his ex - girlfriend Zoe moves in to help share the cost!
I was proud of Alice but also was like no way girl — this isn’t going to end up well !
This is a story of trust, love and following your heart ❤️
I can’t wait to read more books by this author ! I’m becoming a huge fan of rom coms !