This author always deals with real topics, and they are dealt with sensitively and in a way that breaks the taboo around subjects. What drew me in was that I knew I could understand how it would feel to be a childless woman in a world where it seems like everyone I know is becoming a mother or has plans to become a mother in the next little while. First of all, to be fair to the author, she doesn’t go down the whole probably won’t have children, but might just save it at the last minute (! All her single friends are now married with children, sky-high rents force her to rent a room in a stranger’s house and in a world of perfect Instagram lives, she feels like a f**k up. I have read countless books about mothers - post natal depression, mums struggling to cope, mums struggling with society’s expectations to be perfect.

It’s a story about learning to love yourself a little later in life and realising that there is still so much life left to live even when you feel like the best years have gone. There are also other characters that I loved reading about but I’m not going to mention everyone and their roles.Bits of this also reminded me of the movie, Bridesmaids but I didn't care because I love that movie. Penelope or Nell as she prefers has moved back to the UK after breaking up with her American Fiancée. Life, like us, is a sum of moving parts, and if we’re lucky, we get to keep f**king up, figuring it out and laughing in the face of it all. She sets out by writing 5 things she’s grateful for (well just one for now, she’ll have to work her way up to 5). Că fericirea nu e ceva ce îți dau alții, că îți poți îndeplini obiectivele din tinerețe (soț, casă ca în reviste și copii la școli private) și tot sa nu fii fericită.

The Narration by Sally Phillips is stunning- funny, sad and able to penetrate even the most depressed soul.But when she starts a secret podcast and forms an unlikely friendship with Cricket, an eighty-something widow, things begin to change.

As an Asian woman who’s suffered from anxiety for several years, I’ve experienced all kinds of prejudice throughout my life. I really enjoyed this format and I think it worked well to situate the reader in the unfolding story. Michaelides seems also to be dipping into the world of Edgar Allan Poe, offering an unreliable narrator who feels more like a literary exercise. We revisited our favourite friendship duo Nell and Cricket, went in a trip to LA, saw a couple of weddings, babies and navigated ‘love in later life’.He also owns a dog, Arthur who also becomes Nell's companion in a way as Nell spends a lot of time with Arthur and takes him on walks. Că societatea îți impune un anume model chiar dacă nu ți se potrivește și, de-a lungul timpului, te face să te îndoiești de tot ce crezi tu că ai realizat. With grateful thanks to NetGalley, Pan MacMillan and Alexandra Potter for my advance ebook in exchange for an honest review. And by “everything” she meant an Instagrammable idyll: husband, children, beautiful home, and, somehow, the body of a bikini model. series (233) Canadian (190) contemporary (179) blog tour (160) new release (117) Top Ten Tuesday (82) chick lit (82) Christmas (75) debut (70) challenge (66) historical (65) mystery (64) cover (60) Chick Lit Plus (59) author post (55) young adult (52) favourite (48) Canada (45) Etc.

Că trăim într-o cultură în care a fi ocupat e un modus vivendi, suntem mereu așa de ocupați ca nu mai avem timp de prieteni, de întâlniri, de comunicat real cu oamenii, comunicare înlocuită cu mesajele pe whatsapp (la un moment dat Nell își sună o prietenă sa refuze o invitație pentru că i s-a părut aiurea sa refuze prin mesaj și prietena o întreabă dacă a sunat din greșeală).Celia Walden, Telegraph The story of Nell Stevens’ struggle through her imperfect, messy life doesn’t just make brilliant fiction, it’s turning into a cultural revolution! It was the perfect way to have Nell reevaluate herself after finding peace with her life in the first novel.