After reading "Love Me Like You Do" recently that was a fantastic and realistic rom-com this book just was not up tp par. Yes, it is one of someone that has it all and has many setbacks and learns to deal with it, but that type of scenario happens in many books. I also found Alice to be annoying, pity=party character despite that the writing was good. Perhaps, I will re-read this after publication and feel differently but this was no my favorite rom-com. Still recommend it for other people who love rom-c0ms.

Thanks to Netgalley, Sophie Ranald, and Bookouture for an ARC in exchange for an hone review.

/Available: 7/3/20

I'm not sure exactly where to start with this one. This was by no means a bad book, I just personally found it very boring.
Alice is clearly on a journey of self-discovery and after reading the blurb, I expected something else from this book than I got. The blurb suggests the other girl, Zoe would be a vocal point/issue and she wasn't. I felt like this book was more about Alice figuring out what she wants in her life and how she plans to achieve it, or stumbles around to make it work. For that reason, I think the blurb comes across a bit misleading because I went into this book thinking it was going to something more chick-lit and lighthearted than I thought.

However, Sophie's writing is great. I would definitely pick something of hers out again. I think the only reason this book didn't speak to me is that I feel like I've read it a thousand times already which makes this unmemorable for me. I think part of the reason I found it boring was that I found Alice a bit stiff and dull. I like my protagonists to have a bit of grit to them - and well, I wouldn't be friends with Alice if she was real, I'll tell you that much. I couldn't help the few eye-rolls at some of her choices. I also didn't think much of Joe, her romantic interest. He felt just as plain as Alice so I guess they are kind of suited.

Overall, I can see why readers would enjoy this book however it didn't do much for me. I don't think I'd pick it up and read it again or recommend to others.

3 stars.
I received this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I’m a big fan of Sophie Ranald’s books as I feel they include real life topics such as LGBTQ, Brexit, MeToo etc. This is refreshing in the romance genre which can be very whitewashed.

If you are a fan of Anna Bell’s books, you should love this book! The character of Alice is great and has depth.

As the story begins, Alice seems like the girl who has it all. Hard to keep reading when it's all good to start. The book picks up when Alice's life goes from perfect to nothing going her way. Job loss, ex-girlfriend, and a not so glamours new job brings her "new normal" to life.

Seeing how her dynamic with Zoe (the ex-girlfriend) plays out and the jobs brings laughs and understanding to her character. This was my first time reading Sophie Ranald and I would read more from her.

Trigger warning: sexual assault

So this was a bit off to me through my whole reading. I thought that this was setting up to be a funny book about a woman Alice who has a career set-back who now has to live with her current boyfriend's ex. Instead the whole book is full of a lot of angst, the author throws in a me too movement plot point and Alice and Joe (her boyfriend) barely talk in this book. Honestly 90 percent of the issues in this book would have been resolved if they had an actual conversation. Also I am not a fan of cheating in romance books so I started to dread this book the entire time I read it. I am disappointed though that unlike with her latest books, this one has no ties into previous books or characters. I wonder if Ranald would have been better off developing a story surrounding one of the women we have been reading about through her other books like "The Truth About Gemma Gray", "Sorry Not Sorry", "It's Not You It's Him", and "No, We Can't be Friends."

Alice and her boyfriend of two years Joe 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. Instead of saying [expletive] no, Alice agrees 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.

So Alice. I don't know. I liked parts of this character, but think Ranald didn't develop her very well. I liked the other leads in her books I mentioned earlier because those characters were always upfront with the readers via the way the story is told. Ranald doesn't tell us everything that is going on and then we get thrown a curveball that changes up the whole story. I didn't even know what to do with it since it felt like we couldn't get a handle on that before jumping off to Alice still being threatened by Zoe and stressing over Joe. I also wish that the Alice and Joe just talked. There is an opportunity for them to talk but neither do but just do passive aggressive mess to each other. I will say that Ranald does a good job of showing us why Alice loves Joe and they make sense as a couple. I just wish we got more time of the two of them on their own before the specter of Zoe.

Ah Zoe. Nope, didn't like her at all especially when we get the whole confrontation thing finally. I thought Ranald per usual let a character off the hook when they have shown to not be trustworthy. She did this mess with the character of Adam in "Sorry Not Sorry" and the character of Bianca from "Sorry Not Sorry" and "No, We Can't be Friends." Sometimes people are terrible and you cut them out of your lives. I really feel like shouting that from the rooftops.

We don't get much development of other characters. Ranald throws in a side plot about one of her pub regulars that I just went are you serious? It made zero sense to the overall story and think it should have been cut.

The writing felt off to me a bit. I liked the other books which I think did tackle some serious stuff but with humor and romance. This one really didn't I thought. We had I think three love scenes with Alice and Joe and we kept reading about how hurried they were (in two of them) and how Alice misses Joe since they don't really make love anymore because of his hours at work and her hours at the pub. The me too subplot was jarring I think. The whole book took a dark turn at that point. I was definitely not prepared to read about a sexual assault and my insides flipped around. I also didn't like the resolution to it either. It felt like it was inserted, important for a bit, and then we get to see what became of said character and the book moved on.

The flow was up and down since we have parts of Alice hidden from us until the full reveal about everything. And honestly I got bored reading about her working at the pub and the things she was doing. I don't know. It read similar to me when Nora Roberts went on her whole decorating fit in her books and every book was focused on renovating, painting, decorating and us readers were like please stop. No one cares about crown molding this much. Not even people on HGTV.

The ending read as very incomplete to me. It just kind of plops out and I went is that it? So yeah, after loving the other books for the most part, this one is a strong 3 star read.

Alice is mere steps away from completely here training to be a lawyer, has a great job secured, a fabulous live-in Boyfriend in Joe - life is good. Then she comes to work one morning to find her boss, Gordon, has been suspended for inappropriate behavior towards women. Alice now has no job and isn’t even sure she wants to be a lawyer. To make matters worse, Joe asks his ex-girlfriend, Zoe, to move in with them to help with the rent.

Alice finds her way in the local hole in the wall pub- down in her luck. Nag’s Head is on its last leg. The menu consists of frozen microwave meals, bagged crisps and the patrons are barely keeping the place alive.

Alice decides to work at the pub to make ends meet and pay her part of the rent on the condo. What she finds working at the pub surprises both her and may just be the best for the community.

I honestly adored this book. While it was not the most complex story, it was still a great read. The characters were believable and well fleshed out, the plot was cute and well done, the romance was cute, and the social issues it touched upon was done well.

I loved reading all of the characters, they all felt like real people and I loved reading about them and getting to watch them interact with the main character. While the main character didn't have any discernable hobbies and much of a life outside of work, I still found her super relatable and believable. Each character was different from the other and well done. Sometimes, authors only develop the main characters and the others just feel like background noise but that certainly wasn't the case.

I loved the self-discovery character arc that Alice went through. I was really glad that this novel did not only focus on the romance and showed the main character having a life aside from the man in her life. Seeing her go from her job as a future lawyer to a passionate pub owner was amazing.

The romance and the whole conflict with Zoe were done pretty well. I wish there was a little bit more conflict with Zoe; because the only real scenes where I was feeling the conflict or jealousy was the scenes the authors showed when she first moved in. After that, Zoe was almost forgotten, only to mentioned every couple pages and then suddenly at the end. The relationship between Zoe and Alice was nice, I am so glad there was no female on female hate between the two over Joe. Talking about Joe, I loved him. Sometimes authors are so busy writing whirlwind, passionate romances they forget to make them believable. Alice and Joe's relationship was sweet and beautiful. The cheesy moments were perfectly balanced by the more serious aspects of their relationship, making it seem like a real and not cringey relationship. I honestly wanted to see more of their interactions before and after their relationship was intruded by Zoe cause they were so heartwarming to read.

I loved the serious notes the book hit on: Brexit, sexual assault, #MeToo, LGBTQ+ relationships, immigrant rights, etc. The author did them so subtly, believably, and beautifully. I loved reading the issues that Alice was struggling with and her coming to terms with what she had gone through and being able to confront it.

I am honestly only docking a star because there were times where the story fell flat because of the lack of conflict between her and Zoe or lack of conflict period, the hard to keep up with time jumps, and the super convenient ending (in terms of with what happened with the pub).

Nevertheless, I want more books like this right now.

Thank you, NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of an ARC for my honest opinion in return.

--4 stars --

This was a delightful romantic comedy that I literally couldn’t put down. The characters made me laugh and cry, and the storyline was well developed. Highly recommended!

Thank you Bookouture and Net Galley for providing me this ARC.

I have read a few of Sophie's books and they have all had me laughing this one is no different.

Alice and Joe are trainee solicitors, Alice ends up losing her role thanks to Gordon and ends up working in a grotty pub which she absolutely loves. To make up the rest of the money they get a lodger in only to be Joe's EX and her adorable cat.

Can you be friends with your boyfriend's Ex and can you live with them and work with them??
Poor Alice has all three.

This is just as good as the others and had me laughing all the way though, full of humour and fun, A total joy to read during these difficult times.

Alice and boyfriend Joe are both trainee solicitors. They live together in a small comfy flat.
Alice has an offer of a permanent position in her law firm at the end of her training, but suddenly her boss is suspended and her job offer is withdrawn. She finds herself working behind the bar in a pub to make ends meet.
To help with the rent, Joe invites Zoe (his ex) to live with them as a lodger. Alice turns out to be one of those annoying ex-girlfriends that are beautiful, a great cook, well-travelled, annoyingly perfect.
What can go wrong?
Just Saying is the first Sophie Ranald book I have read, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I felt a heartfelt whirlwind of emotions as I read this story; it made me cry and laugh out loud.
I want to thank NetGalley, Bookouture and author Sophie Ranald for a pre-publication copy to review.

3.5 stars

This turned out much better than I'd been expecting after the first couple of chapters didn't impress me much. But I think that may have been simply due to the fact that it's been so long since I've read a a book that's firmly in the chicklit category. There's nothing wrong with the genre, of course, because about 10 years ago I devoured one chicklit book after the other but then I kind of lost interest and started branching off into different genres.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book, though. It follows Alice and Joe, who've been together for about 2 years and work at the same law firm in central London. Something happens at the office that causes Alice to lose the job offer she had gotten there and to be able to continue to afford the house they currently live in, Joe suggests renting out their spare room, so they can cover some of the loss of Alice's income. Only, the person who's moving into their spare room is his ex-girlfriend, Zoë, and Alice can't shake the feeling that Zoë still has feelings for Joe and is possibly plotting to get him back.

I was very invested in Alice and Joe and their relationship. I'm a fan of established relationships and I think what this story did best of all was show what can happen in a two-year relationship when you sort of start to take the other for granted. Alice feels threatened by Zoë's presence, Joe is working crazy hours, she herself is trying to figure out where her life is going, ... it's easy to get lost and lose sight of the relationship in light of what life throws at you. The biggest selling point for this book, in my opinion, is how realistic it all seems. I didn't feel as if I were reading about fictional characters at all, rather about real people that I knew who lived in London.

Alice's struggles with her career feel real, not knowing what she wants out of life at 27 and never really having had "a dream" of what she wants to do felt very familiar and I could relate. I liked seeing her start to help out at the pub and discover that she liked taking over there and trying to bring in more business. I LOVED her friendship with her best friend Heather and how much page-time that got, that was excellent.

I was less fond of how the whole Zoë storyline was being handled, particularly at the beginning when Zoë seems little more than a pretentious hipster who's every dialogue scene made me cringe. That did get better as the story progressed, though. I could also understand how and why Alice was starting to feel insecure in her relationship with Joe as a result of many things and not just the Zoë aspect.

The only other thing that's bringing down the rating slightly is that I felt this could've been shorter, there were parts where the story started to drag a little bit, but on the whole I really enjoyed this!

Thank you to Netgalley and the pusblisher for providing a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I feel like I have to start this by saying that I LOVE Sophie Ranald, having read all of her books. Her style of writing is brilliant, fast & funny and you fall in love with her characters- particularly the protagonist. Just Saying is one of my favourite Ranald novels, you’re drawn in from the start and the thought of an ex moving in is so frustrating & hilarious that you will tear through the book to find out the outcome. Absolutely brilliant.

I have never read anything by this author before but I absolutely loved this book ,so I am now looking for more from Sophie.

Alice has finally met her ideal man; boyfriend Joe. Life is perfect; a great boyfriend and a great job as a trainee lawyer with a promising future ahead of her. What could go wrong?

The couple bump into Joe's ex girlfriend from his Uni days and she later moves in with them along with her cat when Alice loses her job.

The local pub becomes a massive part of their lives. The owner of the shop next door is of interest to Alice.

I thought this would be predictable but I was wrong. The story flowed perfectly and I couldn't stop reading. I was hooked from the very beginning. Characters were all very believable too.

Highly recommended for the perfect summer read.

Many thanks to netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy.

This was my first Sophie Ranald *gasp*.It was surreal! This book is about Alice and her man Joe who loses her job as a solicitor only to find herself working behind a bar *gasp* and also Joe invites his ex and her cat to move in with them *drum roll* . You probably are thinking you know what happens next but nope.This book touches on societal issues that affect us all. Definitely worth picking up. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for my copy

This book was great! It was so easy to lose yourself in the story, and kept you turning pages to see what happened next! Will definitely be recommending!

I haven't had a great deal of experience with the romantic comedy genre. When I thought of the term 'rom-com', I imagined something that would give the happy, carefree feeling you'd get sipping from a glass of pink gin (or pink lemonade, your choice) in the sunshine and laughingly saying "oh, go on, then" to a chocolate-loaded dessert - and so I didn't entirely know what to expect when I opened up Sophie Ranald's Just Saying other than that I hoped it would be funny, sassy, and sweet, and sure enough, it was!

Upon settling down with the book, the reader is dropped instantly into the mind of Alice, a twenty-seven-year-old trainee solicitor who seems to have a bright future stretching ahead of her - that is, of course, until her boss is investigated for sexual assault, causing her to lose a position all but guaranteed to her. Lost, upset, and faced with newfound uncertainty, a chance encounter with a friendly stranger leads Alice to the Nag's Head, a grotty old pub run by a landlady grateful for Alice's impromptu offer to lend a hand behind the bar.

Ranald taps expertly into the narrative voice of a British twenty-something woman, and the result feels very true-to-life and relatable. I may have only popped down to London once in my life, but it felt recognisable here, as did the Nag's Head as every local pub where the floor's a bit worn, the taps in the toilets don't work quite right, and you're sure the same regulars have been sitting there since before you were born. I could easily picture it - and, at one point, smell it - and I felt like I'd met the characters before. They flirt with familiar tropes (the ex-girlfriend determined to get back with her old flame, the nice but predictable partner, the exciting new guy who offers a shoulder to cry on) but never fall into those archetypes. While the tension between Alice, Joe, and Zoe takes a back seat to Alice's own personal growth and her work at the pub, I found myself invested in each of the relationships, eager to see what would happen next and waiting to see if it would all work out.

As well as bringing a regular smile to my face, Just Saying gracefully tackles some serious issues relevant to today's life, including the struggles of those wrongfully detained during the Windrush scandal and the importance of speaking out about sexual harassment in light of the Me Too movement. There was an excellent balance of levity and gravity, all culminating in an epilogue that had me going a little bit blurry-eyed.

Overall, this was such a good, cosy read, and I'm seriously considering adding some of Ranald's other works to my basket!

Just Saying is a delightful read. It makes you cry and it makes you laugh out loud as you read. Filled with instantly connectable and engaging characters, it's a brilliant summer read.

Just Saying is the first Sophie Ranald book I have read and I really enjoyed it.
It’s the story of Alice and boyfriend Joe. Both trainee solicitors until Alice finds out the company she works for has put a hold on recruitment so she is out of a job.
She finds herself working behind the bar in a pub and Joe invites his ex girlfriend Zoe, and her cat, to move in with them!

This book is so much more than that synopsis though. It covers serious issues like the Windrush Generation, the Me Too Movement and Homosexuality.........had I read that ahead of reading this book I would have been put off. Who wants a chick lit book covering serious issues like that when we just want escapism right?........Well me it seems! What Sophie Ranald manages to do is write an escapist chick lit book that covers serious issues with sensitivity and tact, winding them in to the story.
This book is definitely not the usual romance novel but that is what I found myself liking most about it.
It also has an excellent cast of characters, I especially like Shirley the landlady of the pub, in my head she was a mixture of Eastenders Shirley Carter and Peggy Mitchell.
Just Saying reminds you to cherish what relationships you have and see the value in true friendships.

Thank you to NetGalley for gifting me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Three and a half stars.

Alice seems to have it all. A promising job as a trainee solicitor, an offer of a permanent position in her law firm's Intellectual Property department at the end of her training, a fabulous boyfriend Joe and a small but charming flat. After Joe plans a perfect birthday celebration Alice thinks everything is perfect, and that's when it all goes to pot: her boss is suspended from work; her job offer is rescinded; and Joe's ex-girlfriend Zoe appears on the scene.

Almost by accident Alice finds herself working at the local grotty boozer (you know the one with sticky carpets in a swirly pattern, the same defeated-looking regulars, and a menu which went out in the 1980s). Then, to help with the rent, Joe invites Zoe to live with them as a lodger! Suddenly Alice is confronted by this beautiful woman wandering around their flat half-dressed, bonding with Joe over things that Alice has never enjoyed (like computer games). Alice is that super ex-girlfriend of our nightmares, beautiful, exotic, a brilliant chef, well-travelled, and all over Joe.

Is Alice taking a break from real life to run a run-down boozer or has she realised that the sensible job in law is not the career for her? Is her perfect boyfriend really perfect, or is there someone else waiting in the wings? What is the truth about Alice leaving her law firm?

I enjoyed reading this and I flew through it in less than day. However, I think the blurb is kind of misleading because the Alice/Zoe conflict isn't really central to the plot. Also, I think this novel will date quite quickly because it references a number of recently topical news stories (Brexit, the Windrush generation, #MeToo). More importantly, I felt that the novel trivialised these issues, as though they were easily solvable or not really worth worrying about (deliberately being vague to avoid spoiling the plot).

I was struggling to classify this novel, it's not your usual chick-lit, it's not romantic comedy, it's not women's fiction. Then I checked out another Sophie Ranald book I had reviewed Out with the Ex, In with the New and realised that this is a bit of a Bildungsroman, a voyage of self-discovery for Alice who finds out what is important to her.

A fun read which touches on some social issues, perfect holiday reading.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

I liked the premise of this book, what do you do when your boyfriend's ex-girlfriend moves in. The characters were mostly likable and it was easy to understand their predicament. My stumbling point was that I didn't feel the chemistry between the two main characters. Up until the end, I felt like they could end up together, or not, and I wasn't invested in either outcome. The writing was fine, but didn't elicit any big feelings about the characters, their story, or the outcome.
I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.