Ivy Edwards knows exactly what it’s like when trying to be an independent woman!! I was saying yes all the way through as she was going through my life. From not having cigarettes to the overbearing mother. Such a good read

I loved this one and I can’t wait to read Tovey’s next book. It’s heartfelt and compelling and utterly warm throughout!

Oh boy. Well I didn't hate The Education of Ivy Edwards but I didn't love it either.

The Education of Ivy Edwards is about a woman called Ivy whose life unceremoniously falls apart when her fiance dumps her. So you are made to feel sorry for Ivy pretty early on, yet as the novel progresses her choices are so frustrating that she becomes unlikable pretty quickly.

There are some good aspects to the story. Her sisters struggle with fertility is interesting as is the failing health of her grandfather. Ivy's relationship with her mother deserved more attention than it was given.

I really did fail to connect with this book and felt that the redemption or the 'education' of Ivy Edwards came far too late in the novel to really turn my opinion around.

The Education of Ivy Edwards by Hannah Tovey is available now.

For more information regarding Hannah Tovey (@hannahctovey) please visit www.hannahtovey.com.

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This book was very easily digestable. I absolutely flew through it, once I'd started I couldn't put it down. It made me laugh out loud, and Ivy was incredibly relatable.

A gem of a book .... Ivy is engaged starting to plan her wedding to Jamie then out of nowhere he dumps her ... slowly Ivy’s life starts to spiral out of control. Living in London she returns home to her family in Wales and here we are introduced to her family Mum Dad & Gramps ... Ivy support network along with sister Anna and her husband Mark who are experiencing their own heartache after numerous failed IVF treatments . This book has it all love laughter death grief I was rooting for Ivy all the way and I think this book is very relatable in many ways ... really enjoyed and would definitely recommend

I don't know if I'm a prude but the strong drug use and abuse in the book was too much for me. Ivy's friends and family don't really intervene until about 3/4 of the way through, which I thought way too late to be a sort of redemption for me. Ivy and her friends in London often read as much closer to early 20s than early 30s.

I loved her family, especially Ivy's relationship with her grandfather. The inclusion of Welsh colloquialisms was also a lovely touch – though "mun" did often confuse me as I thought it was Jamaican!

One family member I didn't like, though, is Ivy's mother. I found her completely overbearing. As well as this, Ivy's mother has a spending addiction that is never addressed, only winks and nods and "don't tell your father." It's something I really wish would be discussed in depth throughout the book.

However, it is really well paced and a very fast read. I think I had just expected something different from it.

Even if I found some parts really funny I didn't like the MC and the story didn't keep my attention.
Not my cup of tea.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

THE EDUCATION OF IVY EDWARDS by Hannah Tovey is a witty, gritty and enjoyable read, and a reminder to be kind to yourself. Being an adult is hard! 🤪 Ivy is one of those characters who is relatable and fun, but her life is a bit of a mess and she deals with some very tough situations in maybe not the most responsible way. 😬
The dialogue was sharp, fresh and at times, filthy.😏Tovey touches on some difficult and taboo subjects, yet it felt very genuine and added more depth to the story. The last few chapters were excellent and I found myself laughing and crying (sometimes at the same time 😂) which resulted in me eating a tub of Ben and Jerrys Phish Food ice🍦 It just felt right...don’t judge me 😉 Definitely a book I would recommend to my friends as it has lots of heartfelt moments mixed with a lot of fun and mayhem too. I was rooting for Ivy all the way! A fabulous debut.👏🏻

In “The Education of Ivy Edwards” we meet the main character, Ivy, at a bit of a low point, when her fiancé leaves her, she hates her job and she lives far away from home. She finds herself struggling to cope with everything that comes her way and so she turns to partying hard, drinking hard and drugs.

The problem was that I completely couldn’t engage with the character and her decisions. For me it was as if she wanted the things to happen, she was taking the easy way out. Yes, she was young but she simply acted without thinking and it annoyed me incredibly. I soon lost my hope that I’m eventually going to start to like her because she was not likeable and I wanted to punch her in the face, to shake her. Yes, I’m much older than Ivy but I still say that jeopardising your job, your health, alienating yourself from friends and family and wallowing in self – pity is not a solution. Really, the repeating itself and endless descriptions of Ivy bringing herself down by drinking wildly every night quickly started to feel boring. And I hate using the word “boring” in my review. Actually, this must be the first time I’ve used it at all.

I think the synopsis has misdirected me a little as I was expecting something different, witty, humorous, but what I’ve got was totally something different and I found myself skim – reading the book without a feeling that I’m missing something, opposite, what I read made me feel even more irritated with the character and the story. Yes, it was realistic, down – to – earth and probably authentic but simply not for me. There isn’t enough depth to care for Ivy and even the end couldn’t save the book for me. I might not be the right target for this story as the book only made me feel annoyed at myself for reading it, to be honest. Truly sorry that the story didn’t work for me.

A quirky book about depressive and destructive behaviour – and that makes it hard to figure out.

CW: heavy alcohol use, drug use.

First off, the good bits. Ivy, who has just been broken up with very suddenly by her fiancé, she feels real. She is bubbly and human and flawed and makes terrible decisions, but she feels real.

The parts set in south Wales were very relatable, and as a reader in Wales I enjoyed picking up on Welsh things such as Joe's ice cream and mentions of Calon Lân, as well as snippets of Cymraeg.

It's a quick and simple read, due to the fairly simplistic writing style. As well as being quirky, it's fairly colloquial, with lots of short simple sentences. It's not particularly elegantly written, but that's fine!

As mentioned at the beginning, I don't know where I stand on the bubbly nature of destructive alcohol use and spiralling – yes it makes it more relatable but it also skims over the gravitas of Ivy's journey. It's not until fairly late in the book that people try to have a serious intervention rather than enable and make light of what is clearly serious alcohol abuse. It seems that unless it's an old man in a pub at opening time, people refuse to call alcoholism what it is.

My other stumbling block comes with Ivy's mother's excessive spending, which again is played off as a joke throughout the book. But unless I missed something (and I may have!), there is no explanation given to where the money comes from, and it does worry other family members, although in an eye-rolling "oh she's at it again!" kind of way.

But I did enjoy this book. It's not perfect, but it's a fun... is fun the right word?... journey of self-discovery that deals with some heavy subjects along the way.

I really liked this one! I found the book really witty, funny, dark in places and enjoyed the ending. Overall, a great book I'll be recommending to my girlfriends.

I liked this book a lot and found the characters easy to udnerstand and relate to. The writing was great and I enjoyed the storyline and plot points. I would recommend this book for sure.

Really enjoyed this book. Steady paced, great characters, I was absorbed throughout. Will be reading more books by the author in the future!

The Education of Ivy Edwards started out a bit like yet another would be Bridget Jones, but as I found myself getting drawn into it, I felt myself feeling more and more engaged with the character of Ivy.

She's a hot mess in her early 30s, living in London, recently dumped and in a job that doesn't excite her. The story follows Ivy as she tries (and often fails) to get to grips with her life and its current events, while life throws a few more curveballs her way.

Having lived in London since my early 20s, I can honestly say that Hannah Tovey has done a fantastic job of capturing that busy, panicked, existential crisis riddled feeling a lot of us go through. While I never went as extreme as Ivy did trying to cope, I definitely found myself nodding along and picturing the same grotty Shoreditch pubs and nights out that should have been nights in.

I also found the character of Ivy not unlikeable but not likeable either, which actually made her more realistic for me. I wanted to see her get out of her spiral and have a better life, but at the same time I wouldn't want to spend time with her. I also thought the secondary characters in Ivy's friends and family were really well rounded. A lot of stories tend to use them for comic relief or to drive the story on, but Tovey made each of the people Ivy encountered into real, three dimensional people in their own right.

Overall, while the idea of "woman has breakup and freaks out" isn't a new one, I think this particular story had a lot more depth to it than the usual and I'm glad I got the chance to read this.

This is 100% for fans of Fleabag, anything coming of age/adult but during your late 20’s/30’s. I thought Ivy was relatable and hilarious! Granted I can’t relate to the drugs but her general lifestyle was fun to read about and relatable in that I think we all feel a bit of a mess in our 20’s & 30’s. I loved her friendship with Mia and think her family were bonkers, just like families are in real life!

I wanted to enjoy it but sadly this book just wasn't for me. The humour was quite vulgar in places and I found myself wincing at the over-the-top details. I think the plot line was good and the mum memorable but apart from that not my favourite.

A nice fun read which I have enjoyed. This has been a good and easy read. I have liked the authors style of writing and haven’t been disappointed by this book.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy of this one in exchange for an honest review.

The Education of Ivy Edwards was exactly the kind of light contemporary read I needed. I didn't expect anything groundbreaking from it but it had a bunch of sweet and heartfelt moments, with a satisfying ending.

The main thing that put me off was that I found a large portion of the characters very off-putting, MC included. It was, however, a quick and fluffy read and would be perfect for summer.

The Education of Ivy Edwards is all about Ivy, a girl in her early thirties who hates her job and has just been dumped by her fiancé. A depressing read, you might think, but it's really anything but! I loved Ivy's relationship with her family (Gramps in particular), and her character arc.

The dialogue and sense of voice is fantastic – I loved the banter between Ivy and her friends and family. They're all really quick and witty and sound like great fun to be around. I actually think that this would translate really well onto the screen, as well. I'd love to hear the dialogue aloud rather than just in my head!

‘The Education of Ivy Edwards’ is a funny, relatable, quick read which I really enjoyed. It deals with many different forms of grief in a very realistic way but manages to be light and funny at the same time.

This book reminded me of ‘Almost Adults’ by Ali Pantony and also a little bit like ‘Bridget Jones’ Diary’ by Helen Fielding but with lots more strong language, explicit sex and drug use. I enjoyed these parts of the book but if you do not like reading about these topics then I don’t think this book is for you.

‘The Education of Ivy Edwards’ is very character driven and there’s not a huge climactic ending or anything too dramatic. If you’re looking for a quick, easy read to take your mind off of things I would definitely recommend this book.