This is billed as a rom-com, but frankly I don’t think it qualifies. The endgame love interest barely appears in the book and the main couple only get together in the epilogue, a massive episode of ‘telling’ which could and should have been expanded into the book - it would have been a much better story than half of what actually made it in. Sophia, the protagonist, spends a large part of the book in a relationship with someone else entirely. It’s more a story about Sophia coming to recognize how shallow she is (very, very shallow) and finally making some changes in her life in order to make herself into a person who’s actually ready for a genuine, long-term romantic relationship. I’d call it women’s fiction with some comic elements rather than any sort of romance.
There are some funny bits in there about Sophia’s use of dating sites, and any woman who’s tried to online date will find the unsolicited filthy messages she gets all too depressingly familiar, but anything funny was completely wrecked for me when Sophia made some transphobic jokes to one of her love interests. It was horrible and unnecessary, and cemented my dislike of her as a shallow, selfish little cow far too fixated on surface appearances. With some token gay friends and not one person of colour as a named character, this massively failed on representing the incredibly diverse city that London actually is. Having just watched Last Christmas this week (that’s the REAL London I know), I’d say give this book a miss and go watch the movie instead. It’s a lot funnier and has a much nicer heroine who doesn’t make horrible transphobic jokes. This is getting a one star from me.
Disclaimer: I received a review copy of this title via NetGalley.