A feel good book full of humour.

Mara’s life is going nowhere and when her best friend let’s her down for a weekend away, she decides she is going to go anyway. While in Budapest she visits a clairvoyant who tells her she is going to meet the man of her dreams so Mara (who checked her horoscope before doing anything) takes this to heart and leaves everything to fate.

Full of fun this is a joyful book to read

A light, easy to read book, the perfect holiday book.
It was predictable, but I liked that.
I enjoyed the community coming together to help a
good cause.
love a happy ending.

Having read Lizzy Dent’s first book and really enjoying it, I hoped this would be enjoyable and it was.

Mara is a work in progress. She didn’t succeed in her dream career. Nor does she have a boyfriend. With an impromptu meeting with a fortune teller in Budapest, she believes her destiny is about to change.

She sets herself up by pretending to be a fortune teller and hoping an Austrian musician will be in her future.

She returns home to Kent and starts project Mara.

Will Joe the Austrian become her love interest or will Ash (her flat mate) be the one?

After absolutely loving The Summer Job I was really excited to be able to read an ARC copy of this book.

I ended up calling it quits at the 30% mark though sadly because I just couldn't get into it.

The main character of Mara was pretty immature for a 31 year old woman and the whole obsessing over a bloke she's spoken to for five minutes and knows absolutely nothing about (apart from the fact that he's a cello player) and then going on to social media stalk him on the daily and embark on a mission to makeover herself and her life just to make sure their "fateful" second meeting went ahead thing just really didn't sit right with me.

The writing felt very choppy and mixed up too and made it difficult to find any real flow when reading.

I was very excited when this book dropped through my door, I loved The Summer Job and love being part of Lizzy’s Lobster Army!

I ended up giving The Setup 3.5 stars. I was drawn in at first, but felt the second half dwindled a bit. I liked Mara, but at times I found her quite annoying. There were things she done which I just thought probably wasn’t a good idea. I loved the fact that she started concentrating on herself, making herself feel better etc.

I loved the character of Ash, and found him a very kind person. I also really liked Joseph, the gorgeous stranger, I loved the idea of him being in the orchestra, and I imagined him like someone’s from 2 Cellos.

I know who I was rooting for throughout the story, I wonder if you were or will root for the same person!

Thanks to Viking Books for my beautiful proof, and for asking me to be on the tour. Good luck to Lizzy for the release!

It was escapism at high level: an original rom-com mixing fun, astrology, and romance.
I had fun, rooted for the well written characters, and enjoyed the plot.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I loved this sweet, funny book. Although Mara is dizzy and impulsive it made me smile at her getting into different situations. A delightful rom-com for a perfect summer read. My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

This book is like a warm hug, and is the biggest pick me up if you are feeling lonely or lost in life. The Setup follows Mara who is feeling lost in life. Mara goes away by herself after her friend Charlie isn't able to go. There she goes to see a clairvoyant who tells her that she is going to meet her partner imminently. It all goes wrong when the clairvoyant goes into labour and leaves Mara to lock up the shop. While Mara is locking up, she tries on the veil, and in walks Joe, who is exactly what the clairvoyant described, she tells Joe to meet Mara at her local pub in the last week of August.
When back home she meets Ash her new housemate, they instantly get along and spend lots of time watching films. As she struggles with her friendship with Charlie she goes on a project to turn her life around. Over time Mara becomes closer with her work colleagues, and those in the town.
As her relationship with Ash blossoms she is still set on meeting Joe as she believes deeply in fate, as she struggles to trust her gut instinct.
Her work place the Lido is also facing being sold to development, so her and her work friend club together to save the Lido.
This book beautifully sums up what it is like to be an adult trying to find their way, and finding friendship in the most unlikely places.

Fab premise for a rom-com, so clever and intriguing, a great way to while away a few hours in the sun. Loved Mara, and the cast of quirky Broadgate, all of which leapt of the page in a riot of fun. Plus there were so many touches I identified with – so great to see the topic of going back to uni at a more mature age covered (yep, that would be me), travels in Vienna (though personally I’m more of a Café Central fan) and not really knowing what to do with your life despite allegedly being a grown-up (yep, me again!). Such a fun read!

Film school dropout Mara visits a fortune teller in Budapest, who tells her that she’ll meet a tall man who works with his hands but first she has to fix something. After the fortune teller goes into labour and rushes out, another client enters so Mara pretends to be the clairvoyant.
Joe is tall, single and plays the cello in an Austrian orchestra. This must be the dream man the fortune teller was talking about! Reading his palms, she informs him that he’ll meet an English girl called Mara at her local pub in August. Mara returns home to Broadgate, to her job as bookkeeper for the lido. She doesn’t notice that her new flatmate Ash is also tall and works with his hands as a plasterer. Instead, Mara throws herself into her plans to revamp her life, getting ready for Joe’s arrival. Will he show up?
This was a funny story about a girl trying to engineer fate but she must learn that she has to rely more on her gut instincts than her daily horoscope. I really enjoyed the side plot about the lido’s struggles to survive and the interactions with her colleagues.

💭 ᴍʏ ᴛʜᴏᴜɢʜᴛꜱ:
Although I think a lot of people will love this for an easy and light summer beach read, it fell a bit short for me. I loved the settings and the wittiness of all the characters, except for Mara. I just felt continuously frustrated with her character from the beginning. I really enjoyed the bit of fire that was added to her character a little later on. I generally liked the concept of this book, but it was a little bit too predictable.
⭐️⭐️⭐️

🤓 ʀᴇᴀᴅ ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ʟɪᴋᴇ:
Quick and light read 🤓
Witty characters
YA

ꜱʏɴᴏᴘꜱɪꜱ:
𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘢 𝘞𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘮𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘥𝘢𝘺 - 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘺 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳. 𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦, 𝘢 𝘨𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘢 𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯 . . . 𝘚𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘴 𝘢 𝘯𝘶𝘥𝘨𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴?

𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘢 𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 '𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦', 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘴. 𝘏𝘦𝘳 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘈𝘴𝘩 𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘹𝘺 𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭 . . . 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴: 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘺 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘰𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘱.

The set up - lizzzy dent

Well written and would recommend to anyone. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read it.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Penguin General, Viking for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.
I enjoyed this rom-com. It's the first Lizzie Dent book I've read and would read others she has written.
It's is a typical story line that you know what the ending is going to be, but still enjoyable.

This book follows Mara, a young lady who reads her horoscopes daily and believes in fate.

She goes on a holiday to Budapest and has her fortune read by a clairvoyant. She is told that she will find her man imminently. When a man walks into her life within minutes, she sets up a plan to meet her destiny at the end of summer
.
When Mara returns home, she puts her mind at making changes in her life before the set date.

Meanwhile with a new flat mate to get to know and big changes happening in her workplace, she starts to wonder if her fate is what she believed it to be.

Will she turn up to her date with fate? Or will other events make her believe otherwise?

I loved the idea of this book, as I am a big believer in fate myself. However, I don’t think that the way Mara goes about it is how I would do myself. I didn’t feel that I warmed to her character as much as I did some of the others in the book due to this.

The way the community comes together in this book is amazing, and it was great to see people fighting to save something so important to them.

This book is a lovely romance book and has laughs along the way, and a few awkward moments too.

Overall, a lovely romance where a lady must make a choice to follow her heart or her belief in fate.

I received an E-ARC with a request for my honest review.

I was a huge fan of Lizzy Dent’s debut The Summer Job and was very much looking forward to reading The Setup, and I’m pleased to say that it didn’t disappoint. This was such a fun read, one that was very difficult to put down.

The Setup is the story of Mara Williams, Sagittarius. Mara reads her horoscopes daily, using them to guide most things in her life. Yet she wasn’t expecting to be in another country when her destiny finally found her, in the shape of Joe. Joe is the handsome stranger Mara feels was prophesied to enter her life by the fortune teller she had just visited. But now Mara needs to nudge fate a little to get them to meet again…Yet as she gets ready for ‘the one’ the universe intervened in the form of Ash, her kind, funny and super sexy new flatmate. But now Mara has a choice to make, put her destiny in fates hands or finally trust herself to reach for the stars?

As a main character I liked Mara, she felt very real in that same messy and complicated way that Birdy did. Each of them can probably be described as hot messes and yet they are trying hard to figure out who it is they want to be, whilst working on themselves in the process. I also loved her love of films and the way this was woven into the story (my goodness I loved Serendipity too!).

I can, however, understand some of the criticisms directed at Mara in relation to her reliance on horoscopes and obsession with Joe and yet I actually felt more sorry for her than annoyed with her. It’s clear that she never really got over what happened at Film School and it lead to her not being able to trust in herself or her own choices and so instead she finds it safer to put her trust in outside forces. Her obsession with Joe, and failure to acknowledge/accept her growing feelings towards Ash (who is an absolute dream btw) felt more like a way to protect herself from the hurt that she was too scared to feel again, whilst still chasing a romantic fantasy. I do however agree that she could be too self centred and yet she comes to that realisation herself in her own growth arc.

Dent has this wonderful ability for writing such a seemingly rag tag cast of characters that you can’t help but fall in love with. She did it with the staff of the hotel in The Summer Job and again with those at the Lido and within the wider community in The Setup (with the exception of Gerry of course). I absolutely adored Samira, Ryan and Lynn, there were such brilliant characters who added so much to the story, especially Samira. I loved the friendship that developed between her and Mara and they way she both supported Mara but also held her to account.

On the topic of friendships, I really appreciated what Dent did in exploring the changing relationship between Mara and her best friend Charlie. I thought that this added a lot to the novel, especially the exploration of what it can be like to be a new mother and the isolation felt both by the new parent and the friend who feels left behind.

The only thing that felt missing for me was that I would loved to have seen more of a resolution of Mara’s relationship with her parents. My heart broke a little for her mum following her 60th and I was hoping for a proper family heart to heart, where they all gain a better understanding of where they were each coming from.

Overall, a really enjoyable read that I absolutely whizzed through. I encourage anyone reading this to also make sure to read Dent’s acknowledgment and Q&A. I can’t wait for her next book.

A nice rom-com read which was easy reading.

I liked the plot of saving the community lido which felt very sweet. But I struggled with the main romance of the story as Mara barely knew Joe who she though would be her 'one'. I did spend quite a bit of the book wishing she had done things differently! But I liked the romance with Ash and he was a well rounded character.

A good book if you want something easy to read this summer.

The summer job was top 5 of 2021 for me, so I had very high hopes for this book. Unfortunately it didn’t live up to my expectations, but I think this was more to do with how much I loved the summer job. Although the sentiment behind this book I could get on board with, I just found Mara a little lacking and extremely self absorbed. I did love lynn and samira! Even though I didn’t enjoy this as much as I did the summer job, I will definitely read Lizzy’s next books.

Thank you for the free copy of this, in exchange for my honest feedback.

Mara while on a short break in Budapest, has a brief (and quite funny) encounter with a handsome stranger. She suggests they meet in few months time and hopes that destiny will help them. While she waits on their meeting she begins ‘operation Mara’ to make improvements to her life.

If you are looking for a lighthearted romcom then this is the book for you. It was easy reading and I’m a sucker for romance so I enjoyed it. Mara did annoy me a little with her self pity and it felt like there were couple of storylines that could have been tied up better (especially with her family). Overall
Enjoyable.

Thank you for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to love this, but I found Mara tough to relate to. Her investment in a man she saw for all of 2 minutes felt unrealistic and immature for someone of her age, and when her self improvement list started with “nails” and “potential cosmetic interventions” I knew she wouldn’t be for me.

I also found her relationships with her parents and friends challenging because Mara is quite selfish. It was hard to see what Ash saw in her - I think more chances to see their chemistry would have been helpful.

I did enjoy the “save the lido” storyline and the community politics. I also enjoyed the reflections and commentary on being a new mum, through Mara’s friend Charlie.

In short: I think I’m not the right audience for this book. I’m not into astrology/fate. I think many people will love this and the easy to read writing, but I need more maturity in my leading characters.

Thank you for the ARC and chance to write a review. I had high hopes for this book, the synopsis sounds brilliant but it fell a little short in a few ways, Mara seemed a bit superficial with her obsession of star signs and fate, this blinded her to opportunities and made me want to reach into the story and give her a gentle shake to wake her up 😄

I would have loved for Mara to have been more ambitious in her hopes and really chase them, go after want you want girl!

The side story about Mara's colleagues is a spin-off we all need to see!