Penny wise or pound foolish? A heartbroken young Brit decides to turn his love life over to the flip of a coin—in this delightfully British rom-com in the vein of Jenny Colgan, Rosie Curtis, Nick Hornby, and David Nicholls.
To coin a phrase, Josh is suffering a quarter-life crisis. He just broke up with his long-term girlfriend, lost his job, and moved back home with his parents (shudder). Welcome to rock bottom in Bristol. As Josh starts questioning all his life choices, he has a mad thought: Maybe he would just be better flipping a coin. After all, careful planning has landed him homeless, jobless, and single.
What starts as a joke soon becomes serious and Josh decides to start putting his faith in the capriciousness of currency. He doesn’t have anything to lose.
But when the chance of a lifetime and the girl of his dreams are on the line, will the coin guide him to a rich love life or leave him flat broke?
When I saw this book, I immediately felt drawn to it. I can’t really explain it, but I had to know what it was about. Something about the cover promised me a good time. And then I got even more excited – it sounded just like my kind of book! So naturally, I was over the moon when I could sign up for this blog tour – so big thanks to Michael Joseph (and especially the lovely Sriya!).
When I started reading The Flip Side, I knew my insitincts hadn’t let me down. From page one I felt drawn to the story and wanted to know how it would go for Josh. The poor guy had just lost his girlfriend on New Year’s (no, she didn’t die, she said ‘no’ to his proposal), and that after he had planned everything meticulously. The rings, the words, the place, Josh had poured his heart into that moment, but the girl already had other plans for their future – it would be spent separately. Not only that, Josh then had to spend almost 30 more awkward minutes with his now ex-girlfriend on the London Eye.
I absolutely adored every single page in this book. Every line is perfect, every word chosen with precision, and yet it feels easy and light and flowed nicely. I loved Josh’s quirky, funny family that offered one laugh-out-loud moment after the other.
After going home because he can’t take spending the night in the flat Josh had planned to spend with his future-wife, Josh has to endure an awkward engagement party – after all, the invites had been sent out already! He feels like his mother has invited the whole village…and he might not be far off. Even his childhood babysitter is there!
I also adored Nan and Pap. Josh’s whole family, but also his friends are awesome and great secondary characters. I loved their shocked faces (well, reading of them at least) when Josh told them that from now on, he would flip a coin for every decision in his life. While other people decide to lose weight or stop smoking in the New Year, this is Josh’s resolution. After all, his decisions so far seemed to have been terrible, so why not let a coin decide his fate?
After a while though, the coin-idea that seemed so weird to them at first starts growing on them. On his journey through the new year, Josh is growing – while making mistakes, getting hurt, but also by finding himself face to face with more and more opportunities, Josh is living his life in a much more fulfilled way, and maybe, just maybe, getting dumped on New Year’s Eve wasn’t the worst thing that could have happened to him.
This is one of those rare books that I want to have on my shelf. It’s not just a one time read – I know that I will want to reread this funny, quirky, deep and yet quick and easy book again and again, so I will get myself a copy even though I have the ebook. If you are looking for a romantic, funny, uplifting book that deals with heartbreak, friendship, family, love, and a journey to self-discovery, I highly recommend The Flip Side to you!
5 glorious, charming, heart-warming stars from me!
Thank you all for reading!
xoxo
Noly
