Last Summer I had the pleasure of reading Sophia Money-Coutts’ debut novel The Plus One which I adored. Having fallen in love with Sophia’s writing style and her her first book ticking all those must-have chick lit boxes ,I’ve been awaiting another novel’s appearance on the horizon. Fast-forward to a earlier this year and I was absolutely thrilled to be contacted by HQ who kindly sent me the ARC of Sophia’s forthcoming release What Happens Now?. Quickly forgetting my teetering TBR pile I jumped straight in and today I’m sharing my thoughts with you!
Synopsis
‘I was pregnant with the baby of a man I had met once.
What was one normally left with after a first date? A bad case of thrush?’
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…
Review
Lil is 30-something, living in a shared house with a pair of Aussie hippies that she can just about afford and single. Having been dumped by her long-term boyfriend for a slimmer, younger model the thought of dating again is the last thing she wants to do. However, after some encouragement from best friend Jess to ‘get back in the saddle’ she has downloaded a dating app and finds herself heading out on her first date in over eight years.
Lil’s date is Max is a well-renowned explorer who just so happens to be in line to inherit the title of Viscount and is looking for nothing more than a little fun. Also fresh out of a relationship a one-night stand is pretty much all he anticipates, but thanks to some dodgy food cooked by Lil’s friend Clem the night before her date they both end up with more than they expected from their one night of fun! The question is how will they cope with this unexpected situation considering they know nothing about each other?
Having adored The Plus One I had high hopes for this latest offering and I wasn’t disappointed. This is a wonderfully light-hearted, easy read that perfectly combines serious life changing issues with humour to create a real page turning read. I fell in love with Lil’s character instantly and empathised with her throughout as her emotions swung wildly out of control thanks to her pregnancy hormones. Max though left me contemplating how I felt about him until the very end and even now I’m unsure how things would actually pan out if we followed the couple’s journey into parenthood? – I would actually really like to see a second instalment to find out!
Like her previous novel I really love Sophia’s refreshingly honest take on women’s sexual encounters and she also applies this to Lil’s pregnancy and labour. As a Mum myself I often find descriptions of pregnancy and labour in books frustratingly ‘simple’ compared to the realities of real life, but this book offers a warts and all view which made for a fantastic and at times hilarious read.
When reading I do have the awful and somewhat annoying habit of second guessing the ending of a book and was pleasantly surprised to find What Happens Now? didn’t follow the cliché happily ever after ending I’ve come to expect from chick lit. I adored this title and finished it in less than 24 hours, I just couldn’t put it down and I would highly recommended!
About The Author
Sophia Money-Coutts is a journalist and author who spent five years studying the British aristocracy while working as Features Director at Tatler. Prior to that she worked as a writer and an editor for the Evening Standard and the Daily Mail in London, and The National in Abu Dhabi.
She writes a column for The Sunday Telegraph called Modern Manners and often appears on radio and television channels talking about important topics such as Prince Harry’s wedding and the etiquette of the threesome.
What Happens Now? is her second novel, following her debut, The Plus One*
What Happens Now? is available to pre-order now from Amazon*
Fraser’s Fun House 