“Is She Really Going Out with Him?” by Sophie Cousens is a delightful read that skillfully weaves romance and humor. The characters are so relatable and vividly portrayed that you can’t help but laugh and root for them. Cousens’ witty prose keeps you engaged from beginning to end, and the delightful plot keeps you guessing. This book is perfect for anyone looking for a lighthearted escape. I thoroughly enjoyed it and give it a solid 4 stars!

***Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for giving me a digital advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

The perfect mix of banter, spice, and ups and downs in the story line. I really love Sophie Cousens and she always finds a way to make me feel extremely connected to her characters! Highly recommend!

*A sincere thank you to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for providing the advance copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.*

My experiences with this author's writings has been great, so when I saw this available on Netgalley, I grabbed it, and I'm glad I did.

While the overall feel of this is a bit antagonistic between the two main characters, this feeds their incredible chemistry.

Anna has her hands full: somewhat newly divorced, mom to two kids, dealing with a changing workplace, and an up and coming co-worker, who seems to be bent on knit-picking her work.
Easy to connect with, and definitely relatable. It isn't as if Will has nothing else to do with his time, but needling Anna is his favorite past time, and hides (but not well) his growing admiration and attraction to her. There's absolutely more to this, but I won't spoil your read.

This is an engaging read, full of second chances, and finding your spirit, after a divorce, and I recommend this read and this author. I received my ARC from Netgalley (thank you) and voluntarily leave my review.

Synopsis: A divorced mom is tasked with writing a column about dates she goes on picked by her kids.
Thoughts: cute, original plot with a great women’s fiction aspect/character development/relatable mom content.
The ending and romance seemed unrealistic and unsustainable for my cynical self, but overall I enjoyed it and recommend!
Thank you NetGalley! Check it out when released next month!

This was a fun, quick read and I enjoyed it. It didn't blow me away by any means, but I liked it. If you need a palate cleanser, this would be a great one!

✨BOOK REVIEW✨

Is She Really Going Out With Him?

My only 5 star read of the month so far! I felt like I was inside this book and I fell head over heels for these characters oh my gosh.

The CHEMISTRY these two had!!! It was just the perfect amount of flirty banter and tension to make me never want to put it down. Anna and Will are both journalists and as office rivals, there’s no shortage of competitive spirit between them. But when the column is acquired by a higher exec, things become even more chaotic.

At first glance, this seems just like a really cute chick lit read, but I can’t convey how much depth this story and these characters truly had. I mean Will and Simon’s relationship was just the sweetest thing ever and hit really close to home…the monogram detail 🥹🥹 .Will in general was just the perfect man, I swear. And Anna was just the most imperfect, relatable FMC. She’s bouncing back from a divorce, balancing work and kids, and getting back in the dating scene (reluctantly). The google searches at the beginning of each chapter were HILARIOUS and there were so many LOL moments during her dates, you couldn’t help but love her. We all have those dating stories that we wish we could forget and I felt myself empathizing with Anna at every turn. I wish I could list all the little details and scenes that made me swoon so hard but you’ll just have to read for yourself and see!

Read if you enjoy:
-workplace romance & enemies to lovers
-witty banter and plenty LOL moments
-age gap
-single parent, divorcee
-dating life woes

While this is not a spicy read, the tension and chemistry that pops off these pages blows my mind. I mean that window scene!!! 🥵

This one is out Nov 19th and needs to be on your TBR! 💕 Thank you to net galley and Putnam for allowing me to be an early reader. All thoughts are my own!

This was a pretty good book! It was pretty cheesy and very very unrealistic so that took away a bit for me. Letting the children just set up the main character without truly vetting them, not realistic. The book was a quick read though, and other than that it was good!

Thank you to NetGalley, to the author, and to the publisher for this complementary ARC in exchange for my honest review!!!

Thank you to @netgalley for the ARC.

Anna Appleby is a new divorcee, navigating her new life. Her job as a columnist is changing and she needs something to spice it up.
She reluctantly agrees to allow her school age kids fix her up with dates for the column. Will she find love, or has it already found her?
This book was very charming. This is the second book by this author and I am going to look up her back List.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for my copy of Is She Really Going Out with Him? by Sophie Cousens in exchange for an honest review. It publishes November 19, 2024.
Sophie Cousens is back in action with this wonderful book. Totally readable and hard to put down, I loved the premise behind this book.
Cousens is very good at getting the reader to ask questions when imagining themselves in the same situation, and is also so talented at evoking strong feelings and emotions that many other books do not achieve.
If you’re a fan of her other books, you will totally love this one.

Wow! 5 Stars!

One, this was such a delightful read. I throughly enjoyed reading The Good Part, but this book was so much better. From the wittiness of the main character to crazy dates, it was just such an enjoyable read.

Two, I LOVED Will Havers. His character growth over the story melted my heart. Plus to see how much he cared about Anna and what was best for her was so endearing. He was an incredible MMC. I just adore him.

Three, the concept of this book was such a fun idea. I knew I wanted to read it by the synopsis alone, but to find it such an enjoyable read was even more worth it. Cannot wait to receive the book copy in the mail! I will be recommending this book to everyone.

Thanks to NetGalley, Sophie Cousens, & the publisher for an eARC in exchanged for an honest review.

I ended up really enjoying this book. I’ve gotten to read a lot of Sophie Cousens this year and I’ve really enjoyed her books! It took me a minute to get into this book at first because I was trying to figure out where she was going with it, which had me intrigued. I ended up loving the characters. I loved how relatable the FMC was as a mom and trying to find what she loves and enjoys. I loved how she was brought out of her shell doing the dates for her article. Overall, definitely another winner from Sophie Cousens!

If you, like me, find British moms dating after divorce to be oddly soothing, this is going to be right up your alley. We follow Anna, a single mum who works too hard at a local magazine as a columnist. As the magazine fights to stay afloat, Anna is asked to write about her dating experiences. This leads to her committing to going on seven dates with men her kids pick for her from their actual life, no dating apps allowed.
Anna is fiery, passionate, and completely exhausted. As her kids and her younger sister rally around her, she fights with her ex-husband (with his new, twenty-something girlfriend), her cocky co-columnist Will, and her depressed neighbor Noah, who’s very protective of their shared hedge. There’s an unlimited amount of hijinks and hilarious kid maneuvers, but it still manages to deliver quite a lot of heart.
I’d recommend this to anyone looking for a fun, fresh take on the single-mom romance and dating after divorce. Cousens blends Anna’s stress into the ridiculousness of her life so that every chapter has you equally nervous and excited for what’s about to happen.
Thanks to Netgalley and Putnam Books for the free advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

Loved the outcome, just felt some of the side characters a little too outlandish which felt strange.

I thought this was such a cute story! I have enjoyed Sophie Cousens’ other books and thought this was one of her best! I really enjoyed the story line of the kids picking her dates and navigating her post-divorce life. I loved the interactions between Will and Anna from start to finish and loved their chemistry! Thank you Putnam Books and NetGalley for this advanced copy!

I really enjoyed reading this book. It was a cute and sweet romance story. I enjoyed the different dates that Anna went on. I will definitely read more from this author. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Thanks NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for a digital advanced copy of this book!

3.5⭐️
I truly have loved every Sophie Cousens book I’ve ever read… That being said, this one did fall a little flat for me. The miscommunication trope was used a lot. I kept feeling like these characters needed therapy because they wouldn’t talk about how they felt. In the end, I wasn’t super convinced that things would work out long term.

But overall, this book had me feeling giddy and very excited to see how the story ended for our main character. I liked how we had a ton of very flawed but real feeling characters and we got to know them behind their masks on their dates. I also loved all the references to pop culture and music.

Rivals to lovers, workplace romance, reverse age gap? Yes please! This was such a sweet and laugh out loud read! I definitely recommend!

Loveddddd this one! Office rivals to lovers? Sign me up. This is my favorite Sophie Cousens book that I’ve read so far. Amazing tension and chemistry between the two characters. A slow burn and I loved every moment of it. I also appreciated how well-rounded the side characters were!

Columnist Anna Appleby pitches a new series in order to preserve her job - she will allow her kids to select seven dates for her offline, all to be written about in the column. But as dating mishaps ensue and Will Havers, the handsome co-worker Anna disregarded, shows her there is more to him than meets the eye, she begins to question what her endgame really is.

You know the books that are so good, you try to slow them down so they never end? And then as soon as you finish reading, you feel compelled to turn right around and reread it? This is one of those books. From just a few pages in, I knew this was going to be a winner, in large part because of Sophie Cousens’ pitch perfect humor. You will find yourself laughing out loud throughout.

While the plot is always solid in her books, her characters are the real standouts. They are always incredibly lovely, while also being completely relatable, and the situations in which they find themselves are those any of us could be in as well.

Anna is the every woman and Will, the quintessential book boyfriend. I simply could not get enough of these two. Full stop. I also loved the addition of Anna’s kids and ex-husband into the story, and all that chaos that ensues with modern blended families. Their roles felt like a welcomed addition to help us get a well rounded picture, and never a distraction from the main characters or the central storyline.

I cannot end this review without mentioning the insane level of chemistry Anna and Will have. For a book that’s primarily closed door, there are some steamy as heck scenes involving very little description. How Cousens pulls off these scenes so wrought with tension, while still maintaining a high level of subtly, is a mystery wrapped inside of an enigma, but I wish it was one more much more universally understood. I am thinking of one scene in particular involving text messages and a window that practically set the pages on fire (iykyk) 🥵

This book is the epitome of the romcom and I need everyone to read it immediately so we can discuss. And then I would encourage you to backtrack to her *backlist* because her writing is in fact, that good.

Read if you like:
▪️single parent romance
▪️dating catastrophes
▪️workplace enemies to lovers
▪️age gap
▪️the best banter

Pubs: Nov 19, 2024

Thank you Putnam for the advanced copy.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Columnist Anna Appleby has left her love life behind after a painful divorce. Who needs a man when she has two kids, a cat, and uncontested control of the TV remote? Besides, she’d rather be single than subject herself to the hell of online dating. But her office rival is vying for her column, and no column means no stable source of income. In a desperate attempt to keep her job, Anna finds herself pitching a unique angle: seven dates, all found offline, chosen by her children.

Overall, I enjoyed this book a lot. I like that there was a variety of different dates for our protagonists along with her attempting to form some sort of co parenting system with her ex and his new partner. I enjoyed the growth she experiences to stand up for herself instead of biting her tongue for the sake of keeping the piece. She has a young adult daughter and a younger son so obvi the daughter is going through a phase of irritating, but fortunately it's not a major focus point. You can tell the family is going through this transitional period of finding their footing. Like the love story and I would definitely rec this book to others.