This is a hard review to write, and I'm going to veer off topic for a moment, but before I do, you need to know that this is a 5-star book because it deserves to be one, not because emotion is coloring my rating.

Okay, I have long been a fan of Sophie Kinsella's books, and she is an auto-read (and auto-request on Netgalley) for me. When I got an ARC of her newest novel, I was thrilled. I noticed it was quite short - hmmm, odd and a bit of a bummer not to have something longer to read, but so be it. I saw something about it being her most autobiographical work yet, thought, "Cool," and didn't think more about it until I picked it up last night to start reading. In case, like me, you don't know this - Kinsella was diagnosed with glioblastoma late in 2022, and she went public with the news earlier this year (2024). In case you also don't know how dire and scary the prognosis is for glioblastoma, I'll give you a moment to go look it up. This book is about a successful rom-com author who is diagnosed with glioblastoma. Like Kinsella, Eve in the novel has a loving husband and five children. Me living in lala land and not knowing Kinsella's news led to me looking it up once I was a few pages into the book, then bursting into tears as I tried to tell my worried husband what was wrong. I think you should go into this book knowing about it, which is why I'm not marking this as a spoiler.

This book is very different from Kinsella's other works. It's told in a series of vignettes that mirror Kinsella's own journey through her diagnosis. The writing is remarkable, especially given the side effects that come with the disease, and Kinsella infuses the story with emotion, humor, and love for her family. It is intimate and personal and says so much in a very spare style. I will hope for advances in medicine that give Kinsella many more years, and I thank her for all the joy her books have given me through the years. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Random House | The Dial Press for a digital review copy.

Brave and Courageous!

“Write the book you would like to read yourself. Write the truth about life, whatever genre you’re in. Write what you know and do it convincingly.”
In a phenomenal story about luck and the irony of life, Sophie Kinsella wows us in What Does It Feel Like? While this is the fictionalized story of Eve, this is a story about Kinsella and her battle with having a grade 4 glioblastoma removed after an eight how brain surgery - and relearning the basics while dealing with short-term memory loss.

This is definitely a quick – possibly in one sitting – read, and it is so worth it. The raw emotions and the vulnerabilities seep into every page and will leave you thinking about life and how to achieve your own happy ending. I feel like I need to incorporate the concept of “normal plus” into my life as well!

On a more personal note, there is something for everyone in this novel and I think it’s important everyone reads it. When you are going through something, while it personally affects you – the truth everyone (family, friends, colleagues, are all involved in the ride as well). My uncle was a perfectly healthy lawyer, and the next day was found unconscious (encephalitis) and lost his whole frontal lobe and still, after 12 years, has no short-term memory. After having severe migraines an MRI scan showed I had a small (thankfully we found out benign, but it was a very long, stressful time period) brain tumor that I now have to watch for growth. . . and have multiple doctors and medicines. This book just tore at my heartstrings (especially dealing with the concept of guilt and why-me?, even though at times we have good luck and at other times bad luck).

What a powerful, poignant read. While fate may be in charge, this book just gives you a positive outlook on living each day to the fullest and I think this is a must read! An easy 5 stars. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for this inspiring ARC. All opinions are my own!

And let’s not forget from the author of the Shopaholic series: “If you buy the dress, the occasion will come.”

This book was fantastic. Making the connections to real life and opening up about the experience a person has after being diagnosed with a brain tumor. Another success for Sophie Kinsella

A memoir of sorts by the beloved author Sophie Kinsella. But fictionalize it and make it a novella.
It’s huggable, emotional and powerful all in one.

Is it about her journey through stage 4 brain cancer? Yes. Yes it is. But it’s told in the same wit and humour as we’ve come to expect from @sophie

The book never feels heavy in the way some memoirs are. But I suspect the author did it that way on purpose. And the purpose was to give a little gift to her longtime readers.
Unapologetically private that she is, Sophie opens up to snippets of her life where she started at the ‘top of the world’ and ended up fighting for her life.

I’ve been reading her for decades just like thousands in the world. She created stories with quirky and silly characters that were always endearing but fun. The little happily-ever-after beach read that was easy to sink into.

This is that but with a glimpse of her last year of struggles with cancer. It never goes too deep into the pain but most of us can read behind the wit…. If you love her books, you’ll love this one too.

Ps. Sophie: I’m with you on the “normal plus”. It’s never been the big things in life… it’s always been the “loving and being loved” as Catherine, the Princess of Wales just said last week.

Normal Plus is my new favourite phrase.

Fiction based on real experience. I really enjoyed this authors account of feelings and thoughts that were present during a serious illness. Thank you to Netgalley, the author and Random House Publishing for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

“What Does it Feel Like?” is Sophie Kinsella’s most autobiographical story and while the formatting and flow of the book is different from her tradition novels, this short story is filled with her signature humor. We meet Eve Monroe just as she’s sparked genious with the idea for her “Hey Big Spender” novel (aka Shopaholic). We see her during a normal day in her life, cutting to what could be considered her most successful point in life, moving directly into her life post diagnosis.

Kinsella writes beautifully and full of emotion. There’s no need for a lot of external characters or the hijinks we’re so used to in her books. The focus is on Eve and her family moving through life with terminal cancer. We experience her confusion and memory loss alongside her while grappling with the hardships facing her and her husband. Even though the story is short, you’re immediately there with Eve feeling her fear and hope for a cure. Despite Kinsella’s own diagnosis, she hasn’t lost her spark for writing a story that easily engrosses you.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group for this ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

If Sophie Kinsella writes it, I will read it (and almost always LOVE it). While What Does It Feel Like is different from Kinsella's typical style, it was still an enjoyable and moving read!

When a successful novelist wakes up in a hospital bed (on heels of publishing one of her most successful novels to date) she has absolutely no memory of how she got there. As she has to learn how to do many of the tasks she did before all over again (including walking) her husband has the heartbreaking job of reminding her that she had a cancerous tumor removed from her brain.

This novel, as I later found out, mirrors author Sophie Kinsella's own story. She too had a cancerous brain tumor removed, and like Eve she is also living through all of the treatments and scans that go along with it. This is a story of resilience and hope.

A shorter novel that we might expect from Kinsella, but very much worth the read. (I suggest catching up with The Burnout from last year, if you haven't read it yet.)

😭😭😭 this book hurt and I could literally not put it down. It’s one of those books that makes you want to appreciate every day.

Completely Blown Away.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

I am a huge Sophie Kinsella fan, she’s fun, witty, and somehow relatable in all her stories (and I’m thinking of twenties girl in that). This book is a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ read. It jumps around a lot, but that is part of the point of the story and it NEVER loses it’s cohesive thought process which I think is a huge shout out to Sophie’s talent as a writer. It could easily be choppy and dissatisfying but somehow it elevates and adds to the story. It’s such a brave and heart-wrenching yet optimistic book. I work in therapy and have had a few patients with the same diagnosis in this story and I saw a lot of the faces that they showed me in this writing. Cannot recommend enough, amazing, brave and bold.

If you are expecting normal Sophie Kinsella, you may want to look somewhere else. I am very proud of her for writing such an autobiographical book while having cancer treatments. It is impressive and truly explains why people say that they write because they must write; it's their way of expressing themselves. It was truly a beautiful thing to get to read.

To the people complaining that this book was only 121 pages or so, how about you try writing a book while you have cancer and are getting treatments? I was simply disgusted by some of these comments.
It's easy for critics to sit back and pass judgment without truly understanding the circumstances under which a book was written. The fact that Sophie Kinsella managed to pour her heart and soul into a book while battling cancer speaks volumes about her strength and determination. Writing is not just a hobby for many authors; it's a lifeline, a way to make sense of the world and leave a piece of themselves behind.

So, to those who criticize without empathy or understanding, I say this: walk a mile in the author's shoes before you pass judgment. Writing a book is no small feat, and doing so in the face of adversity is nothing short of remarkable. Let us celebrate the courage and resilience of writers like Sophie Kinsella, who continue to inspire us with their words, no matter the length of the book.

This novella may be small in size, but it packs a huge punch. It certainly puts you through all the emotions. It’s heart-breaking and funny and hopeful. It provides a close look at what it’s like to face a major, life-threatening illness and all the emotions that come with that experience. Kinsella describes the novella as her "most autobiographical book to date" and I truly can’t imagine facing a situation like this with as much optimism as she does. It also reads as a love letter to her husband. I love their relationship and how supportive he was.

When an author pours so much of themselves into their writing, I don't think I can give anything other than a 5/5 star.

Eve is a wife, a mother, and an author and she struggles with how a rare tumor and brain surgery will affect all of these aspects of her life (or if she'll even have much longer of a life) and what she wants her life to look like in the face of uncertainty.

I’ve been a Sophie fan since her first Shopaholic book and I have read everything she has written, many titles multiple times. I was heartbroken to hear about her diagnosis but when I saw she was writing a mostly autobiographical novel about her experience with incurable brain cancer, I knew I had to read it, if nothing else to bear witness to a friend’s story. And that’s exactly what this book feels like-a friend sitting down and telling you about this horrible thing that has happened. It is raw and real and beautiful. I highly recommend for anyone but especially fans of Sophie’s work. It comes out next month so make sure to grab a copy. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this advanced copy.

Oh what a book. I have always loved and read Sophie Kinsella. I appreciated this book and to see things from a different point of view was heartbreaking and eye opening.

This is a raw and real novella. Knowing that Sophie Kinsella said it was basically her story made it so real. Knowing that she could go through the things the main character went through and then write this book about it gave so much hope. Kinsella's books have been part of my life for decades and it felt so important to know that she faced this battled. I'd want to cheer for any person--especially a mother of five ( I could feel her emotions toward wanting to be there with her family), but, even though I don't, I feel like I know her in some way and she is a valuable person to our world!

Thank you to #netgalley and #randonhouse for my arc of this book.

This was a very short book - I read it in less than a day (and I'm a slow reader). Thanks to Sophie Kinsella for writing such an honest book about what it's like to have brain cancer - I hope her prognosis is good. I've read almost everything she's written and I didn't notice a big gap in the output when she was recovering so maybe she had a backlog of writing to issue. Anyway I was glad to read this version of her story. Thanks to Sophie and that's to NetGalley for this advance copy.

Eve is living her best life as a wife, mother, and successful writer to… until she’s not. Faced with an incurable cancer, Eve wakes up confused and scared. Where is she? What happened to her? She doesn’t remember, even though her family tells her every day.

This story was gut wrenching and gave me the feels. It was heart breaking to see Eve in shock as she struggled to remember, struggled to understand and then worried about the reality of her situation and the impact on her young family. A very sad read, but it was interesting from the very beginning. Make sure to read the author’s note at the end.

This book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this ARC.
This story was heart breaking, beautiful, raw, poignant, powerful, and an inspirational story. This is an autobiographical novella although some events and facts were changed by the author. I really enjoy Sophie Kinsella's books and had no idea she has cancer.
This was a very well written story.

I have been a huge fan of Sophie Kinsella since her Shopaholic series. She has written books I come back to time and time again. This book was a completely different style of writing and tone but the beauty of her ability to weave a story shone through.

This was a semi autobiographical book and it made the story that much more poignant and heartbreakingly beautiful. Eve as a character made me laugh, made me cry and made me feel every ounce of the emotions she was running through. Her relationships with her husband and children were so well written. I wanted every bit of happiness for the family as they navigated their way through.

This book is an absolute must read but could be very triggering depending on a persons experiences. The topics within it are handled with such grace and care but the realities are never ignored.

I absolutely recommend this book and it has further cemented my love of Sophie Kinsella in all that she is.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the ARC of this amazing book.