Confessions of a Forty-Something F**k Up
by Alexandra Potter

An extremely well written book about a woman in her forties who’s life has fallen apart at them seams and she goes back to her former life to discover she has nothing in common now with her friends who are now happily married with children. She is none of those things. Follow Nell on her journey to rebuild her life and the new friendships/enemies she makes along the way as she picks herself up and dusts herself down. There is even a romance . It is a fun laugh out book with laugh out loud moments . Much enjoyed 4.5/5

This title follows main character Nell who is as it says on the cover - a self confessed F up. She’s not got much going for herself having to flat share and having a her engagement come to a tragic demise. She starts to pick herself back up again and decides to start a podcast along the way.

Along her journey to re-self-discovery she meets new friends, new enemies and a new love. I listened to this on audiobook which again I’d recommend. It’s a fun, relatable and sarcastic listen and it made me laugh out loud!

I remember reading Alexandra Potter years ago when I first started to pick up chick lit or romance. Titles like Calling Romeo and Going La La are books that randomly pop into my head. If you’ve not read anything from Alexandra I can definitely recommend a few books for you to start with - especially if you’re fans of Paige Toon or Jane Green.

I have had this book on my shelf for a while and I’m sorry I didn’t read it sooner. It was light, funny and in some parts totally relatable. It had so many laugh out loud moments and was the perfect read for the sunny weather. Nell was a character you couldn’t help but love and I loved all her gratitude entries. I definitely think we could all be more Nell. I definitely recommend this if you have it on your TBR. In fact even if you don’t have it, get it. Looking forward to reading the next instalment soon.

A fun and relatable read for anyone over 40. Perfect summer beach read. Bridget Jones for the 2020's.

Full of lovely characterisation. Could easily have different books for a lot of the characters.

A Bridget Jones for the 2020's.

A fun and relatable read for anyone over 40. Perfect summer beach read

Full of lovely character's. I'd love to read a book about Cricket (not the one with a bat) alone.

As a 40plus woman I just knew I would love this book, I could totally connect with the book and the writing. It did make me giggle

What an amazing book. It made me cry and laugh in equal measures.
The writing style is so fun.
A funny yet poignant read and will resonate with lots of readers

Nell Stevens is pathetic. That sounds super harsh. But it is true.

She moved to America with some bloke, when their business failed their relationship followed suit and so she returns to England single and broke. When she left she had a promising career as a writer, now the only job she can get is writing obituaries on a low budget paper. She gets into some daft fallouts with her mates, which really could be sorted with some basic communication but Nell prefers to be passive-aggressive and sulky.

When Nell meets Cricket, the widow she has to interview for one of her obits, the two strike up an unlikely friendship. Cricket is fabulous, awesome, life-affirming and amazingly tolerant of Nell’s bullshit. Nell spends an outstanding amount of time bemoaning her life rather than actually changing it.

Nell then reaches moments of amazing clarity about life, herself, her friends, her place in life and the world in general. Things that I figured out in my twenties, so it was super annoying to read. I found myself frequently thinking ‘How are you only figuring this out now?’ Nell is some weird sort of adult-child and she is just so irritating. If it hadn’t been for Cricket this book would have become a DNF because even though it’s not badly written, Nell just is not likeable as a character. If you read this book be prepared to roll your eyes so much you get dizzy.

Cricket is delightful and is the reason for my rating.

Nell has just moved back from America having broken up with her boyfriend, and her business failing.
During her time away her parents have started using her bedroom for air b and b.
Jobless and homeless, nell is forced to find a place to live and a job....easier said than done.
Eventually she rents a room in london, sharing with Edward who is extremely keen on cutting bills by not using heating....and has a dog who Nell is in charge off over the weekends.
She lands a small job writing obituaries and after her first comsion develops an unusual friendship with Cricket who is mourning the loss of her husband but still has a zest for life.

This is a heart warming read, written over the space of a year, of friendships, new and old, alongside family dynamics as well as expressing what its like to be a 40 something confused woman, not quite sure where your purpose in life lays.

For me, the book did not need the last page or so as it left me confused, but just personal preference.

WoW!!!!!I Laughed out loud with this book "Confessions of a Forty-Something F**k Up" by Alexandra Potter and I loved it! Just what i needed to cheer myself up! after the last few years!!! This book is wonderful especially as it over 500 pages and so worth it! it also made me realise that everything is not perfect Life is what you make it! So go out there and enjoy what you have! You only get one life and enjoy it, wether you spend Saturday evening listening to music drinking a bottle of rose and eating crisps to sitting in your garden watching the sun set. You are breathing! thats all that matters!


"This is a book for anyone who’s ever worried life isn’t going to plan, Confessions of a Forty-Something F##k Up by Alexandra Potter will make you laugh and it might even make you cry. But most importantly, it will remind you that you're not alone, because we’re all in this together."

I just had to go out and purchase it when it came out as well.

Thanks to Pan Macmillan the publisher and Netgalley for my ARC in exchange of a review.

I haven't read an Alexandra Potter in years and this book was as good as I remembered. It was funny, sad and true to life and some of the characters were very familiar! A brilliant book to make you realise you're not alone and hitting the big 40 isn't always so bad.

Not up to Alexandra Potter's usual quality at all.

It took me a while to get into it, and it was missing that magic ingredient that made me eager to keep going back to the book and reading on.

It's not a bad book at all, I did quite enjoy it, but it took ages to get going and although I had kind of predicted who Nell would end up with, I just didn't really feel their chemistry at all.

It's an ok book, it's great to have seen a new release from the author but not one I'm particularly enamoured with.

What took me so long to read this book?! I listened to the audiobook read by Sally Phillips and it is BRILLIANT!! Couldn't ask for a better, funnier story, more perfect narrator or more beloved character than Nell.

I adored everything about Confessions (omg, Cricket!!) The dirty language is so appropriate and endearing, the dialogue is absolutely stellar and the theme resonated so much with me!

Lots of life lessons to take from this story. I'm off to reassess my life!

Alexandra Potter has been a favourite author of mine for some time and I have all her books. This one is a little different to her others but just as enjoyable. It is laugh out loud funny and so very relatable. Confessions of a forty something f##k up is a must read.

If you're looking for something both moving and funny, as well as inspiring, thought-provoking and very entertaining, I can definitely recommend this book. Written diary-style in the first person, it charts a year in the life of forty-something Nell. It's a well written story with wonderful characters. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
With grateful thanks to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

The story of Nell, forty-something, just returning to the UK following the break up of her relationship. Her friends are all settled with families and she is starting afresh with no job or money. This is the story of Nell finding her way in life and realising what it takes to make her happy. I really enjoyed this book.

What a great book!! I loved the way it was written and it was a delight to read. I found I could relate to many parts of it and imagine that could be the case for many of us who are of a similar age. It has some real laugh out loud moments too so it leaves you feeling good after reading. I really enjoyed this book and I would highly recommend it.

What an absolutely fantastic book - all about life, love, death and friendship. I couldn't have written a better book if I'd tried and really loved Nell from the start!

'Confessions of a Forty-Something F**k Up' follows the protagonist, Nell, after her relationship with her fiancé breaks down, and she is forced to move back from San Francisco to London, with no job and nowhere to live. After arriving in London and staying with a friend for a few days, she agrees to a house-share with some very unusual quirks; her landlord, Edward, lives in the house during the week for work, and returns to his family in the country on weekends. And, in return for a reduced rent, Nell agrees to look after his dog, Arthur, whilst he is with his family. Nell soon takes a job writing obituaries for a newspaper, and although the pay isn't much, there are some perks of the job: mainly, that Nell meets Cricket, an eighty-something widow who introduces Nell to life drawing classes and true crime podcasts.

The novel takes place over the course of the year, broken up into sections for each month. I found the beginning of the novel to be a little slow, as it took me a while to get into the writing style and the author's frequent use of hashtags which I found a little annoying. Much of the first half of the novel follows Nell as she tries to fall back into her old life in London, catching up with old friends who have moved on, gotten married and had children, leaving her behind. Whilst I could relate to Nell's struggle to fit in with her old friends, I found the rivalry between Nell and her best friend's new best friend, Annabel, a little childish and cliché, particularly when Annabel 'forgets' to invite Nell to a party. I was frustrated that Nell didn't speak to her best friend about what was going on, as it seemed like these women were behaving more like teenagers than grown adults.

However, the second half of the novel drew me in much more than the first. I loved the development of the relationship between Nell and Cricket, which reminded me a little of the granddaughter-grandmother relationship depicted in Beth O'Leary's 'The Switch'. I found the relationship very sweet, and I liked how the author handled the depiction of Cricket's grief after the death of her husband, which made me really like her character. I wasn't completely invested in the romance aspect of the novel, although this did offer a lot of entertainment and I found it very relatable.

I have to admit that I am probably not the intended audience for this kind of novel, as this may appeal more to women who are at a similar stage in their lives and of a similar age to Nell, but there were a lot of aspects of this novel which I really appreciated. As someone who doesn't really know what they are doing with their life, I found it reassuring to know that someone like Nell, whose life had not gone as she had hoped or expected, could still find happiness and work things out. Overall, I gave this novel a rating of 3 stars out of 5.

Such a funny read and at times so relatable. I really enjoyed this book. Some really funny laugh out loud moments. I loved this book.