This book was provided by net galley, in exchange for my honest review.
The book is second in the series, but I didn’t read the first book and didn’t find it hard to follow. So, it can be read as a stand alone.
Strong 3 stars here. Love a happy ending but this story was predictable and nothing that really kept me interested.

Please note: I received an advance digital copy of this book through NetGalley from Bookouture in exchange for a honest review. This does not influence my opinions in any way.

When Tansy’s boyfriend Renzo tells her he loves her and subsequently dumps her on the same day, Tansy is determined to win him back. In fact, it’s her only New Year’s Resolution. So how does she go about achieving this goal? By enlisting her roommate slash friend’s help tracking Renzo’s movements, of course. And once she‘s figured out where he’ll be, all she has to do is show up at those said locations dressed in her finest. And maybe bring a new boyfriend along to make him jealous. How could he possibly resist her?
While I found some of Tansy‘s actions ridiculous, like texting her ex while drunk and stalking them on social media, her behaviour reminds me of my heartbroken friends. (Yes, I’ve never been heartbroken myself. Only because I haven’t been in a relationship. Sad? I know.) Also her dire financial situation is very relatable and really made me feel for her. I did struggle with her using people though. < spoiler > She leads a clueless Josh on to make Renzo jealous, which isn’t cool. Not how I like to see the fake relationship trope play out and that was mainly why I picked up this book. < / spoiler >
I liked how we learned more about Renzo, Tansy’s ex, through the flashbacks. He started off seeming like a nice guy who reacted badly to Tansy’s confession. < spiller > Which, while I don’t fault him for since it was shocking, he didn’t need to humiliate her in front of his colleagues. That badly done. < / spoiler > But as we learn more about him, we alongside Tansy become less and less enamoured by him.
And Josh, my dear sweet Aussie man, I wish we got more scenes, more time with him. There were flashbacks to his and Tansy’s high school days, before he moved to Australia, where we see them navigating their insecurities and the social hierarchy. In the present, he’s a confident, funny, charming, and kind young man. < spoiler > Who’s understandably hurt to discover Tansy’s using him to make Renzo jealous. < / spoiler > There was good conflict between him and Tansy that could’ve been explored in great depth. But I felt it was brushed aside and then easily resolved.
I honestly felt at one time the story was trying to juggle too many plot-lines—working as a fashion buyer under a toxic boss, her desire to help out an upcoming designer, her dire finances and inability to help her mother with expenses, her eating disorder—-that her romance with Josh was buried under it all. Don’t get me wrong, those are important issues, it just felt like too much happening and not a lot of attention was being paid to these individual plot-lines. And I haven’t even mentioned her yearning to get back with Renzo, which took up more than 60% of the novel.
I did love the London setting and the occasional mention of Italian culture. It reminded me of Europe and made me long to go back on another holiday. I loved Adam and Freezer the cat, who were simply adorable.
So while I did end up enjoy parts of the story, I believe this book is incorrectly marketed as a romance when it’s not. This read more like a women’s fiction or chick lit. It’s almost trying to do too much. But I’d definitely pick up another book this author some day.

This book was just okay for me. I'm not sure if it's my thriller brain, or this was just too far outside my comfort zone. The main character whined a lot. Her ex boyfriend was garbage. It all ended cutely enough but I was just bored.

I feel bad, because normally I love Bookouture books. I just wasn't a fan of this one.

Living the London dream and negotiating the relentless rat race of life is tough for a single girl. The step by step guide to living your best life is an exhaustive list consisting of a glamorous high flying career, a heart throb boyfriend, a social life worthy of a hefty Instagram following and the figure and wardrobe fresh off the latest runway. How ever is a girl to keep up?

Tansy is a newly single girl trying to climb the echelons of life and find her place in the world. Her initial vulnerability is endearing and heartwarming and I was instantly drawn into her world of heartbreak and loss. Her quest to win back the heart of heart throb Lorenzo takes us on a journey to reclaim self love and assurance.

The writing is warm and engaging and pulled me head first into the narrative from the word go. I was caught up in Tansy's quest for love and couldn't stop reading until the concluding sentence. This certainly was an all encompassing journey that I didn't want to end.

It's Not You, It's Him is a burst of life that jumped off the pages and made me smile. It spoke of life and that journey to self love with a warm and witty style that had me enchanted throughout.

A fun quick read! Thank you Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book! I enjoyed following the trials and tribulations of Tansy as she navigates single life going into a new year. Tansy works in fashion and also mentors an up and coming designer. In addition to her busy work life, she has a new male roommate from her past entering her life again. Following the life of Tansy shows that what you think you want may not be what you actually want or need in your life anymore.

<i>Thanks to NetGalley for this Advanced Readers Copy.</i>

Normally, chick lit wouldn't be in my regular wheelhouse. I am, however, really surprised at how great <b>It's Not You It's Him</b> is.

I do have a soft spot for romcom's and Ranald definitely hits the entire RomCom bingo here.
Let's start with the premise - I admit, looking at it from a glance made me question just how the plot would play out. It didn't seem like a strong enough starting point.

It works well here because of the quirky cast of characters you meet with - each with their own set of issues. A great character-driven story that's just fun, hearfelt, and just right for a modern audience.

4.09 / 5

I was almost giving this a middle-of-the-road 3 star rating until the very end.

Renzo, Tansy's boyfriend of six months, has broken up with her following a secret being divulged by Tansy. She vows to win him back but I hated her character at this stage, the lengths she was willing to go to and the sheer desperation. Renzo is a prat. That's all there is to say about him.

I did love the secondary characters and their relationships and Tansy really won me over in the end. The plot was good and I liked that issues such as anorexia, gambling/financial abuse and the usage of sweatshops in the fashion industry were touched upon.

This is the second book I’ve read by Sophie Ranald and she has cemented herself as one of my favorite romance and chick lit authors that I’ve read! I literally just went on Amazon and bought every book I could purchase. Her characters pull me right in and I can’t put them down until I know how it will all turn out!

About the Book
Tansy got dumped. Recently. It has been just under two weeks since Tansy opened up to her boyfriend Renzo and shared a shameful part of her past with him. And just under two weeks since his fury led him to dump her on the spot, just before the holidays.

Now, Tansy is holding together ok, though she misses Renzo. So sure, maybe she has texted him a few dozen times with no response. That doesn’t mean it is over! And besides, all of the turmoil is making her diet much easier to stick to.

But things are rough in Tansy’s life. Her roommate and friend Charlotte is happily off traveling the globe with her new love Xander, and her mother could use a bit of money to make ends meet, which Tansy is happy to send her, if only she can find a way to scrape some money together herself.

But there is her new coworker Felicity to get to know—a woman who is beautiful and has that ‘it’ factor. And Josh, the son of her former boss, moves in temporarily to Charlotte’s vacant room. Between her other roommate Adam, Josh, and Felicity, Tansy may have everything she needs to win Renzo back. Stage a few casual run-ins, leak news of a (fake) boyfriend, and Renzo will surely realize he loved Tansy all along.

But what if Tansy begins to realize that maybe Renzo isn’t what she wants after all?

Reflection
Though there is a lightness to Sophie Ranald’s books, there is also a depth to them that has me leaving each feeling like I saw a character grow right in front of me, and maybe I grew a little bit too. And she does all of this without hitting you over the head with any blatant moral coaching. Her books are about women learning to respect themselves and know they’ll be ok, single or in a relationship. What more could we ask for?

Tansy was a character in the last Sophie Ranald book I read, Sorry Not Sorry. That book was Charlotte’s story, but here we truly get Tansy’s story. Tansy may seem outwardly shallow—she’s tall, beautiful, blonde, and works in fashion. But when we see Tansy’s story, she is not the girl she appears to be.

Tansy is authentic, filled with love, and wants to help others even to her own detriment. From her mother, to her former boss Debbie, to a young unknown designer Chelsea, we see Tansy lead with love for others time and again in this book. I absolutely adored her by a few chapters in!

I won’t spoil any of it, but Tansy’s back story makes her so relatable, and also makes you forgive her for loving someone like Renzo. It all makes complete sense. And he does treat her well for the most part. It’s not a terrible relationship at all. But what we get to learn along with Tansy, is that she is perfect in all of her flaws. Her heart is so pure. I am so excited for readers to get to learn more about Tansy in this book, because she is a character that will stay with me!

And the whole ending left me SO satisfied. While I want to read more about Tansy, I also felt like her story was left open in the best way. She is truly a great character and I know readers will love it!

Thank you to Bookouture for my copy. Opinions are my own.

The story of Tansy, the second book in this series, so we already know some of her background.

She has recently been dumped by her boyfriend Renzo, and all she wants to do is get hime back. She ropes in her flatmate as her fake boyfriend to try and make Renzo jealous, but will she even want him if she gets him back?

Entertaining read.

Tansy’s adventure of self discovery!

I found the start of this book was very slow, but once it got going, it was really fun. Tansy thought she and Renzo would be together forever, but one honest heartfelt exchange and he dumps her! But even after that humiliation, she wants him back! That was my first clue that Tansy wasn’t mature enough. Then she enlists her friends’ help to try to win back a man who wasn’t right for her. I can understand her reluctance to let Renzo go, but I also found it incredibly frustrating! I did find myself routing for Tansy and enjoying watching her mature and grow as a woman. This is a fairly light woman’s fiction (more than rom-com in my opinion).

I received an ARC copy of this book courtesy of NetGalley and Entangled Publishing and am voluntarily reviewing it. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely.

It’s Not You It’s Him is the story of Tansy…when Renzo told he loved her, Tansy felt the same but just had to tell him about her past….he dumped her there and then leaving her to rerun the scene over and over in her head.

Her flat mates are having a quiet evening to see in the New Year…..with lots of Prosecco flowing, she makes a New Years Resolution, she’s going to get Renzo back…….but after 26 texts (some drunken……we’ve all done it!!) and no response….she starts to make her plans…

She gets herself in a bit of a mess with her finances, but carries on her plan, arranging to be in the same places as Renzo by ‘accident’…..when this doesn’t work she starts to realise, maybe the problem is not her but him…

Tansy starts to grow up and realise the special someone may be closer than you think …

An amusing read but also it touches on the more emotive subjects of eating disorders, gambling and the exploitation of low paid workers…..thoroughly entertaining.

Thank you to Bookouture, the author and NetGalley for a free copy of the ebook. This is my in honest, unbiased review.

Very funny, true-to-life characters in amusing situations. A quick. light read.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

This was a fun lighthearted story full of friendship, fashion, and angst. I am so grateful we did not have texting when I was young and dating, I would’ve been the queen of drunk texting. I remember many a night looking for a quarter so I could make a phone call and say ridiculous things in my drunken state to some stupid guy, imagine if all i had to do was pick up my cell phone? Yikes! So Tansy, I get it girl! However it doesn’t make it any less pathetic, LOL! Tansy is heartbroken because she is convinced that she lost “the one“. Renzo the Love of her life broke up with her after she revealed a deep dark secret to him. Determined to get him back she will stop at nothing, and I mean nothing! Over 26 drunk texts, running into him whenever possible, running up her credit card, and sacrificing her pride. But the biggest scheme of all was her pretend boyfriend. At the same time she was going through some work and family drama.There really was a lot packed into this book a diva boss, a gambling brother-in-law, a blast from the past, and a clever cat.

Tansy was such a real and relatable character, I think everyone will be able to see a little piece of themselves in her. I really loved her relationship with her quirky roommate Adam. Really all the secondary characters in the story were fantastic. Josh was a great character, he seem like a good guy, I wish we had a little more time with him. Renzo, I think I may have spent too much time with him! There were some flashback scenes to when Tansy and he were together, wow what a pompous ass! You could really tell her friends weren’t too keen on her trying to get him back, but the heart wants what it wants. And sometimes the heart does not know what it’s doing! Loved all the character growth in Tansey throughout the story and I was satisfied with the ending, even if I thought it was going to take a bit of a different direction. A perfect summer read!

*** many thanks to Bookouture for my copy of this book ***

5.0 out of 5 starsVery good book!
June 19, 2019
Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase
I really enjoyed the amazingly realistic characters in this book. The situations were definitely true-to-life. This book brought all the emotions - I laughed and I cried! I received a complimentary copy from NetGalley and the publisher and this is my honest opinion.

This is not only a romantic story but a personal success story, Tansy thinks that her ex-boyfriend is the best man in the world and is ready to do anything necessary to return with him. The only problem is that this “best” man in the world is not as perfect as she thinks and she should be happy being free of his influence.
I am a little ambivalent about this book, I liked the story, but I didn’t like much the characters. Tansy values more money and success than respect and friendship; of course during the book she will see how wrong she is. But it was not nice seeing how she was treated by Renzo (her ex-boyfriend) and knowing that she would do anything to return with him. I don’t think she really values herself, she is being used and disrespected all the time but thinks that he loves her. I would not say anything about Renzo, I didn’t like him at all.
Tansy will have to change her way to see herself and how people should see her. Her way to act is a result from a bad experience when she was a teenager. Because the story is told between Tansy’s memories when she was a teenager and all her delightful dates with Renzo.
The story is funny and likeable, but I really can not understand how she can accept to be so underestimated and didn’t complain at all. The good think is that in the end she understands what has real value in life and what is worth the fight.
Sometimes It’s Not You It’s Him, you only have to see it.

⚠ Content Warnings: Body image issues. Self esteem issues. Eating disorders. Ethical and environmental fashion violations.
⚠ Read if: you just got out of a relationship, and/or if you love fashion-related stories.

This is my first read from author Sophie Ranald. First off, I have to say I actually did enjoy the whole journey this book has brought me. As quite common in the subgenre "chick lit" (which frankly I wish should be called something else), the story revolves around little things in the life of the heroine and focuses on the inner workings of her mind.

Tansy, a fashion buyer, was dumped by her boyfriend Renzo, because of her past job. (This alone bothered me a lot and I so wanted to punch Renzo in the face.) But Tansy loved Renzo so she wanted to win him back.

Her flatmate Adam, who works with Renzo, comes to the rescue and helps her concoct a plan. Then, Josh Valentine, son of her mentor moves in from Australia and memories of their childhood past muddles Tansy's brain. Work problems also arise, as well as family problems to top it all off.

All in all this book is a person's holistic journey to finding peace and self-love. The variety of stories in all parts of her life made the romance less out of focus, but I still enjoyed the story. I wish the endgame hero/love interest was not who it was though -- my heart was captured by somebody else, but I guess he will have his own story to tell.

I enjoyed this book in its entirety and I'm looking forward to read the first book, Sorry Not Sorry, as well as the author's future works.

☁ THE CRITERIA ☁

🌻 Blurb:⭐⭐⭐⭐
🌻 Hero:⭐⭐⭐
🌻 Heroine:⭐⭐⭐⭐
🌻 Support Characters:⭐⭐⭐⭐
🌻 Writing Style:⭐⭐⭐
🌻 Character Development:⭐⭐⭐
🌻 Romance:⭐⭐⭐
🌻 Pacing:⭐⭐⭐⭐
🌻 Ending:⭐⭐⭐⭐
🌻 Page Turner:⭐⭐⭐
🌻 Book Cover:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

☁FINAL VERDICT: 3.64/5☁

Had a great time reading this. The way this poor girl tries to undo a wrong, with sooooo many more made it hilarious and relatable (maybe not the stalking, but hey, no judgement if it don't hurt anyone). It was definitely an unexpected trip of self discovery that she was surprisingly (to her) on. A work in progress of finding who you are and what you really want is something that I think probably never really finishes and this book made it seem like that's okay. I received an advanced copy of this book for my honest review.

"It's Not You It's Him" is the story of Tansy, who works for a discount fashion outlet and can't get over the ending of a significant relationship with her boyfriend of six months. Renzo indulged Tansy in a life of luxury and excitement and she is smarting at the way he ended things. She is also dealing with a hostile work environment, her parents' precarious financial situation due to a gambling addiction, and even childhood bullying that resurfaces. This novel was definitely a lot meatier than your typical women's fiction! There was a lot of issues and some sadness, but it didn't feel heavy, just showed a person with a complicated situation. As the novel progressed I was happy to see Tansy grow as a person, improve her self-image, and learn her self-worth. Fans of women's fiction will enjoy this book.

Thank you NetGalley for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review.

This book really surprised me, in that it started out rather hard to get into, and I was afraid it was going to be a quick read. It turned out to be a lot more then that. I ended up REALLY enjoying it, and recommend it.

I give this one a 3.5. The beginning is a bit depressing. It was upsetting how Tansy let everyone walk all over her. But she was really sweet. I skimmed over some stuff here and there that didn't really add anything to the story. It got better about halfway through and I enjoyed the rest of it. I was happy with the ending and everything getting resolved.