Review: The Plus One

The Plus One, the debut novel from Sophia Money-Coutts, was an absolutely delightful, laugh out loud rom com for my generation. We're the ones who were a bit too young for Bridget Jones and Becky Bloomwood when each series started but read them anyway. Polly Spencer, Money-Coutts' heroine, is also English and gets herself in almost as many scraps as Bridget and Becky did. The result? A thoroughly enjoyable read.

Here's the synopsis:

The Plus One [n] informal a person who accompanies an invited person to a wedding or a reminder of being single, alone and absolutely plus none
Polly’s not looking for ‘the one’, just the plus one…
Polly Spencer is fine. She’s single, turning thirty and only managed to have sex twice last year (both times with a Swedish banker called Fred), but seriously, she’s fine. Even if she’s still stuck at Posh! magazine writing about royal babies and the chances of finding a plus one to her best friend’s summer wedding are looking worryingly slim.
But it’s a New Year, a new leaf and all that. Polly’s determined that over the next 365 days she’ll remember to shave her legs, drink less wine and generally get her s**t together. Her latest piece is on the infamous Jasper, Marquess of Milton, undoubtedly neither a plus one nor ‘the one’. She’s heard the stories, there’s no way she’ll succumb to his charms…

I read this book in one day and the majority of it was read on a train on the way to and from a book event. Normally my train ride isn't too bad but I knew it would be longer than usual due to construction (ugh..the worst). I barely noticed. I was that engrossed in this story. 

Now, all that gushing aside, this is not the world's best book. The story is solid but there were times where I felt Money-Coutts rushed through scenes. For example, Polly and Jasper head to the country for a weekend. There were two significant and fleshed out scenes but the rest of the weekend was entirely skipped over. It was like, Arrival. Scene 1. Scene 2. Departure. With no mention of the in-between. It's a hard thing to explain and you probably can't totally understand but basically, the writing wasn't super smooth.

Polly was really unsure about her best friend's boyfriend from the start so, the reader was also unsure of him. But after the engagement it was like he wasn't an issue any longer (which I suppose I can understand because most people wouldn't say anything negative about a fiancé as the relationship then is a wee bit more permanent) and Polly stopped being wary of him and the relationship. It was odd and sort of unresolved in the end. 

As I said at the start, Polly and her life reminded me a lot of the good ol' days of chick lit. She had a lot in common with Bridget Jones which I really enjoyed. Probably because a lot of women have a lot more in common with Bridget than we think. Polly is smart and realizing her life has become a bit...stuck. She's not unhappy but she's pretty sure she could be happier. Somehow. And she's also a hot mess of a 30 year old and really enjoying getting pissed with her friends, even if the hangovers are way worse than when she was 20 (I'm also speaking from experience here...). She's close with her mum, which I loved, and has a really solid group of friends. But her life is missing some romance - which is the whole point of this story.

So. The romance. I thought I knew where Money-Coutts was going with it. Then I wasn't sure. I flipped back to the original thinking but then she change things up again. I loved it. I'm really glad the Happily Ever After wasn't completely obvious from the outset because it allowed me to be surprised right alongside Polly. I'm also thrilled with how it all ended up!

Chick lit fans need to read The Plus One. Sophia Money-Coutts has written a really enjoyable, fun, and smart rom-com, one which will really appeal to older Millennials like me. I'm looking forward to seeing what Money-Coutts' second novel is like.

*A copy of this novel was provided by the publisher, HarperCollins Canada. in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*