"'You two looked good together,' said Jemima as she gripped the side of the rink. 'He looks like drama,' said Meagan before skating away. 'Everyone's drama. We just have to decide who's worth it,' Simi said tottering behind Meagan before easing into a wobbly glide."
★★★★✩
When Simi breaks up with yet another boyfriend, Meagan and Jemima are there to pick up the pieces as usual. The usual advice is batted around as the three women compare their current dating experiences. One of the girls suggests they should pick dates for each other in future. They all have a good laugh, but, after sleeping on it, realise it might be quite fun. Cue hilarious dating stories for perpetually single author Jemima, #BossLady Meagan with her five year plan, and bounce-from-one-boy-to-the-next actress Simi.
The main thing I loved about this book was the characterisation. All three women were wonderfully flawed, well-developed characters, and they really felt like my personal friends through a lot of the book. I started off despairing with Simi, but she ended up being my favourite character out of the three - I loved her development throughout the story, and her own personal happy ending. I think I recognised a lot of myself in the three women as well (haven't we all had our fair share of dating disasters!), and I love being able to see real life attributes in characters, particularly when it's not always that flattering!
The plotline is sort of second nature to the characters, as they really drive the story forward, but this isn't a book just about dating. It's about friendship, self-love, and learning more about who you are as a person. I really enjoyed that aspect of it too.
If I'm honest, I didn't totally love it. There's a section in the middle (no spoilers I promise!) where everything just felt a little bitter, and it was so at odds with the rest of the book that I didn't think it really fit! There was also a lot of back and forth with each character as they made decisions that it felt like it was often drawn out just for the sake of writing a few extra pages - I think it could have been slightly shorter and still just as enjoyable.
However, this was exactly the warm and fuzzy read that I wanted, and I would definitely come back to this time and time again as a cosy summer read! A wonderful debut from Andi Osho, and I'm looking forward to reading more of her work in the future!
Content warnings: discussion of stalking, absent parents, dating disasters
Buy this book on Hive, Bookshop.org, Blackwells, or Waterstones, or your local!
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