3 STARS
I must confess that initially, I was convinced that I was going to give What Happens Now by Sophia Money-Coutts a solid 4 STARS. It saddens me a wee bit that I after finishing this novel, I can only give it 3 STARS.
It’s not a bad thing, trust me.
I going to keep this review pretty, pretty. No mess – I hope. . .
First a word from the author. . .
After eight years together, Lil Bailey thought she’d already found ‘the one’ – that is, until he dumped her for a blonde twenty-something colleague. So she does what any self-respecting singleton would do: swipes right, puts on her best bra and finds herself on a first date with a handsome mountaineer called Max. What’s the worst that can happen?
Well it’s pretty bad actually. First Max ghosts her and then, after weeing on a stick (but mostly her hands), a few weeks later Lil discovers she’s pregnant. She’s single, thirty-one and living in a thimble-sized flat in London, it’s hardly the happily-ever-after she was looking for.
Lil’s ready to do the baby-thing on her own – it can’t be that hard, right? But she should probably tell Max, if she can track him down. Surely he’s not that Max, the highly eligible, headline-grabbing son of Lord and Lady Rushbrooke, currently trekking up a mountain in South Asia? Oh, maybe he wasn’t ignoring Lil after all…
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As soon as I finished reading What Happens Now by Sophia Money-Coutts, I tell my husband. His go to question after I inform him of any book I’ve read is, “Did you enjoy it?”
That’s sweet, right?
I tell him, “It was alright. A bit long winded at times. It was over 400 pages and a good 150 pages of that wasn’t needed.” After which, he gives me a little shrug of the shoulders and goes back to whatever he was doing beforehand.
Not so sweet anymore.
If I’m being honest, which I endeavor to be, it was an unnecessarily long book. There was a lot of stuff that should have been edited out. At least a good 100 pages if not 150 pages had no business there. There was at minimum 16 conversations that didn’t have on iota to do with the story. It got to the point where I just schemed through some of it.
My biggest pet peeve was the ending because, it just ended without a real conclusion. I can’t stand when authors do this without at least giving an epilogue. Think about it. I just invested hours of my life into a story that doesn’t even finish. Like, WTF! Rude! If you want to just cut me off, fine, but at least do this girl a favor and tell me how they are doing a year from now or something.
My second largest issue was the fact that there was zero chemistry with the supposed to be couple. That could have a lot to do with the fact that the author only has the two of them interacting with one another for about 20% of the book.
I felt a little bit duped. When I read the synopsis, it presented itself like a romance story, yet it was more about someone coming to terms with having to raise a baby on their own. If that’s what it is, don’t portray it like a romance book. I wasn’t a fan of the led on. Clear click-bait, but whatever. It is what it is.
What did I enjoy about the book?. . .
It was simple and I needed something simple because I’m going through some personal shit right now and an overly complicated book would not be good for me at the moment. The synopsis tells you everything you need to know about the book. There is truly nothing more to it. There’s is zero need to even go into the plot of the book in this review.
No lie, I’m having trouble coming up with any other reason why I like it… Shit… There has to be something else… I know, it wasn’t boring, as I read it in one day. If I was bored it would have taking me longer to finish it. So that’s something, right?
Let’s get to the two most important questions.
Do I recommend this book? Yes and no. If it’s one of my die hard reading friends, I don’t think so. If it’s for someone who doesn’t read a lot, sure.
Will I read another book by this author? Yes, she seems like the kind of author who will get better with time.
I hope I didn’t get too messy and kept it pretty for you. I don’t plan out my reviews. I blog how I talk. I’m not a writer.
TTYL!
Remember to follow all things messy. . .
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I always enjoy your reviews, Danielle, even if it’s a book I will never on this earth read. I don’t need “pretty” but I do appreciate truthful and real comments. I trust your opinion and tend to agree with you, so I have at least one of your recommendations on my TBR list and have trashed another you didn’t like. Thanks! Makes this bookaholic’s life easier. – Virginia
Thank you loads and loads, Virginia! I’m glad you like them. Sometimes I feel bad because I don’t want to discourage others from reading certain books but I also don’t want anyone to waste their time and money. This book was floating around social media so I gave it a go. I wish someone would have told me that it ends so abruptly.