Love Your Life | A Total Miss

2/5 Stars

Ava has escaped to a writing retreat in Italy to finally finish her novel. While there, the writers are not allowed to reveal any personal details about themselves… not even their names. The focus of the retreat is entirely writing. Well, and romance. Ava finds herself on a whirlwind of a vacation romance with a mysterious man named, Dutch (real name is Matt). When the two return to London and try to continue their relationship, they realize that their everyday lives and personalities may not be as compatible as they thought. 

I wanted to love this. I always go to Sophie Kinsella when I want a light, fun read. This just didn’t work for me and it was mainly because I found the main character, Ava, to be very unlikable. She was quirky for sure, but her reluctance to compromise was infuriating. I really felt for Matt every time Ava’s dog tore up his clothes or behaved terribly. For a character that says she has no dealbreakers, Ava seemed to have a lot of deal breakers that Matt needed to fix. 

The pacing of the story was fine for the most part. There were two time jumps that felt a bit unnecessary. The book is pretty long for a contemporary romance and it felt like the hits to Ava and Matt’s relationship just kept coming. The resolution was really lacking for me. After seeing just how incompatible the couple was, I was expecting more personal growth for both of them that would eventually lead to their reunion. 

The story could have been really great, but I just couldn’t relate to Ava at all and as a result, this book didn’t work for me.