Amy suddenly has to prepare herself for a surprise holiday with her boyfriend. He’s even ordered a limo to pick them up. Blindfolded, Amy can barely contain herself for what she thinks is going to be a proposal. However, a dreamy vision of a proposal holiday is soon turned into a nightmare - as Amy realises she has been left alone on a TV set. Jamie has taken her here to dump her. As if a break up isn’t hard enough, Jamie makes sure Amy is as publicly embarrassed as he can.

Amy and five other dumped women soon discover they are on a new reality TV show called ‘The Shelf.’ The goal is to win the program through a series of challenges that prove their compatibility and motherly instincts. By a public vote, one of them will be crowned The Keeper. An inherently sexist premise of course, but I gathered this was the point.


With many parallels to Love Island - The Shelf puts its female contestants through a hard time, with constant rolling social media coverage featuring the public’s opinion of each candidate. Winning the public vote is harder than it seems. Will the women realise they are better off without their exes who had the nerve to dump them on a reality TV show? Each candidate is put through a series of challenges designed to test them - from plastic babies to hosting the perfect tea party.

This is a compelling, re-interpretation of the ‘chick-lit’ genre. Unlike the standard women’s romance novel that results in the leading female character happily in love with her dream man, this novel illustrates the importance of a happy ending that doesn’t have to depend on finding love - but loving yourself.

Amy, the protagonist, has put herself through two years of slog in her relationship with Jamie, endlessly hoping that he would pop the question. She had grown used to his taunts about her body, her neediness and other ‘faults,’ but had placed them to one side in the hope they would get married and have a happy future. Throughout this time, she had lost parts of herself - it takes the entire duration of the novel for her to realise this.

Single over thirty is like an illness that’s too awkward and depressing to talk about.”

Instead of aiming to become the male ideal embodied by ‘The Keeper,’ she decides to portray an important message to women. That you are always enough on your own, and you don’t need anyone else (but especially a man) to complete you. For me, this is where the important, feminist message comes across. In having a character like Amy as the protagonist, the novel really thrusts to the forefront the significance of women being their own person and not succumbing to societal pressures.

Amy is the modern day Bridget Jones with an essential twist, she ditches the yo-yo diets, marriage expectations, and the fairy-tale Mr Darcy, replacing these with a new appreciation of herself and living life the way she wants to. I found this feminist take incredibly refreshing and much needed in this social media driven age, where everything is about women comparing themselves to others. It is so easy to get sucked into the highlight reels of others, that we forget to be ourselves. And this is exactly what the novel is commenting on.

Life on a reality TV show is peppered with the glare of social media all over the contestants, each are judged 24/7 by the timelines fulled by the public. The setting is incredibly similar to Love Island. If I’m honest I found some of the similarities, such as the baby challenge, very cliche, which detracted from the novel’s more poignant message. Although I enjoyed the read, even laughing out loud from some of Amy’s comical one liners, I did find the plot predictable from the start. I think basing it on the parameters of Love Island, meant it was bound to be predictable in some ways.

The show is dominated by old fashioned, male chauvinists who believe women should still be a 1950s housewife, much to most of the contestants dismay.

“Selfish Jackie! Distant Gemma! Bitter Kathy! Desperate Amy! Boring Hattie! And last but not least, Easy Lauren!”

However, having a lead character like Amy is central to this book as it goes against the very grain that the TV show setting creates. Amy does not let herself be lured into society’s pressures on women - but uses the experience to go against this, and against what she previously thought her life should value. This is a part of the book that I really liked. Amy’s strength of character and likability really drives the novel and reveals its best parts and the central message to women.

“I am my own keeper…Be your own keeper. Each and every one of you.”

Above all, I admire this book because it’s message is an imperative one that puts contemporary feminism at the forefront of the social media, digital age. Amy goes through a journey of self discovery and realises she doesn’t need a man to make her happy. The societal pressures on getting married and having children is a false one, which can distract women from being their best selves. This ideal is often glamorized in the romance genre - I am very thankful this book did the opposite.

This book is different to anything I usually read but it certainly ticked a lot of boxes. It made me laugh out loud, I loved the main character, and appreciated the important message it conveys to women about self love. However, it didn’t blow me away, because I found the plot quite predictable and cliche. The ending was also disappointing and I was left wanting to know more. That said, I definitely enjoyed reading this book and was drawn in by the initial strange events when Amy realises she is not, in fact, going on a dreamy romantic holiday.

The Shelf is a book full of passion and originality. It's extremely topical and relevant, shining a light on how much we rely on social media and compare ourselves to those around us. It's a story about discovering who you are and remaining true to yourself.

‘The Shelf’ is a fast-paced, hilarious book about six women who have been broken up with by their boyfriends/husbands on a reality TV show. The six women are then thrust into taking part in this ‘Big Brother’ style TV show where they must win over the public and be voted ‘The Keeper’ in order to win one million pounds.

Although the main character of this book, Amy, is the sole focus of the book, we are also introduced to six other women, Jackie, Gemma, Flick, Hattie, Kathy and Lauren. Each one of these characters was completely different from each other and I felt like I got to know them all individually. I really loved the friendships that these women found with each other throughout the course of the book.

‘The Shelf’ is a fun read but also touches on a lot of deeper subjects throughout. This book shines a light on how women can be whatever they want to be, whether that’s a DJ, a lawyer, a nurse or a full-time mother and how women should not be judged for the choices that they make. The main topic of this book is how to acknowledge what makes a healthy and unhealthy relationship, as many of the women in the book were gaslighted or humiliated by their partners but felt like they had to stay with them. I loved seeing Amy notice how her unhealthy relationship with Jamie affected her and watching her being able to grow and become her own person again, whilst also being able to love herself for who she is, rather than because someone else loved her.

I flew through this book in one day as it was so addictive and I could not put it down. I absolutely loved this book and I already want to reread it again.

Amy Wright is very excited, her boyfriend Jamie is taking her away but won't tell her where they are going and she suspects he is about to propose.
Imagine her shock when he actually takes her to a TV studio and dumps her on the set of a new reality show - The Shelf
Amy finds herself in a house with 5 other dumped women. Jackie, Lauren, Hattie, Gemma and Kathy, all very different women but with one thing in common. They have all been unexpectedly dumped live on air and are now on The Shelf.
The premise of the program is to show the women where they went wrong and how they can come out of this as better potential wives and mothers and be better prepared for future relationships.
The women all know the idea is totally sexist but are willing to go along in the hope of winning the £1million prize.
How will they cope being cooped up with each other for 4 weeks and with the strange and sometimes humiliating tasks they are set. Will they turn on each other or work together to bring out the best in each other.
I loved this, it’s original, funny and inspiring. To me a good book will have you rooting for at least one character and getting angry or feeling happy on their behalf and this book did exactly that.

When Amy's long term boyfriend Jamie tells her they're going away, Amy thinks he's finally going to pop the question and can't help but imagine how her life is going to play out. No matter that Jamie seems to be more in love with his start-up company, Headspace, and himself, than Amy. When they set off on their surprise trip, the journey is shorter than Amy expects, and when Jamie kisses her and leaves her - well, you can imagine how confused Amy is feeling...it turns out that there is no surprise destination or proposal, Jamie has set Amy up on a new reality show called The Shelf, where he surprisingly dumps her on tv, and she has to decide whether to cut her loses and leave, or stay on and possibly win £1,000,000.

The Shelf was a refreshing and fun read - I really liked Amy, she really came across as her character is described - the ultimate girl next door. She was kind and fun and friendly, and a delight to read. Her fellow housemates were all fantastic, especially Gemma, an instagram influencer whose family see more of the top of her head than her face these days. The story flowed well and kept me interested, and it was great to see how Amy and the others realised that maybe things weren't quite as perfect as they may have thought...

I'd definitely recommend The Shelf as a cute and quick summer read!

The premise of this book really intrigued me as I hate Love Island and how the woman are portrayed etc. So I was interested to see what this book's take on the sort of reality television is. While I did have some issues with the book, overall I did find it amusing and loved the overall message that it tried to convey. Would recommend!

Light-hearted and humourous, but with an important message, I really enjoyed 'The Shelf'.

The book tells the story of Amy, a thirty-something woman who is simultaneously dumped as well as becoming the first contestant on the new reality TV show, The Shelf', rather than going away on holiday (with a proposal at the end of it) with her boyfriend of two years, Jamie. Contestants on 'The Shelf' are given £10,000 for contending, with the winner, aka 'The Keeper ' receiving a million pounds. However, the women have to prove themselves to be 'The Keeper' by becoming the perfect woman for men, and working out how to improve themselves in order to do this. Angry and humiliated, Amy is persuaded to stay as a contestant with the dream of using the money and her new-found freedom to travel the world.

I did worry that this book might be a load of sexist rubbish, but I'm happy to say that this book was the complete opposite. The author highlights the sexism around being the perfect woman for your partner by using sassy and honest characters, who I absolutely loved.

Funny and relevant to today's society, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend 'The Shelf' and I look forward to Acton's next novel!

With an unusual premise, since finishing The Shelf I have been backwards and forwards on how I feel about it. Amy is a woman in her mid-thirties, seemingly settled down with her boyfriend, Jamie. Except she's not settled down, because they don't live together, and he won't actually commit to her. It's clear to the reader that Jamie's an idiot, and isn't in this for the long haul, despite Amy thinking that he is about to propose. The holiday that they are supposedly taking, where Amy is sure he is going to pop the question, actually turns out to be a nasty trick; he's signed her up for a reality show called The Shelf. She's dumped, and now she has to undergo a series of humiliating challenges to learn how to be a better girlfriend, become 'The Keeper', and ultimately not get left on the shelf. Taking part in the show guarantees her a fee of £10,000, while winning would net her £1 million, which is how we are convinced that she actually agrees, rather than getting as far away as possible from these awful people.

I've never watched even a second of Love Island, but I was a fan of Big Brother, so one half of the Love Island meets Big Brother premise was familiar to me. It actually brought back plenty of early 00s memories to see these people in a house, their every move watched and judged by the outside world. But 2020 is a vastly different world to 2001, so these women, all of whom have been humiliated and dumped on television, are also judged in real time on social media as well.

Ultimately, though I think this book had plenty to say about how modern men can be the absolute worst, and how the most important relationship anyone can have is with themselves, I didn't quite get on board with it. Of course it's fantastical, but the very idea of there being a show like this was utterly ludicrous; while I believe that there are plenty of people out there who think that women are on the shelf if they are unmarried at 32, it's not something that I appreciated reading over and over again. The book was incredibly white - there was but one woman of colour amongst the characters - and everyone was cishet and able-bodied. There was also that classic thing of a size 12 woman being the voice for the body positive movement; her boyfriend tried to make her feel like she was fat, but she was actually fine!

The writing wasn't entirely to my liking either; if there's one thing that gets on my nerves more than anything, it's constant pop culture references. Of course, a book like this exists within a certain time; it expects its audience to be familiar with Big Brother and Love Island, but I don't need references to the Kardashians and This Morning, especially when they sit alongside references to a dating app called Love Market (why not just go with Tinder if you're going to refer to 'swiping'?). And my biggest bugbear throughout the whole book was the decision to have the character from the northeast of England say 'fooking'. Swearing wasn't a problem, the f-word was used copiously throughout, but for some reason, Lauren used 'fook' instead of 'fuck.' She was also the book's only concession to non-straight sexuality when she mentioned that had slept with the entire male and female population of Newcastle - her bisexuality is quite literally never mentioned again.

All this being said, I did finish the book, and I didn't actually hate it. It was entertaining enough, but if this show was actually on the television, I would avoid it like the plague.

This book was hilarious. I saw this reviewed by a fellow reader and I knew that I would enjoy it. There are so many pop culture references that made me laugh. The plot was in the style of big brother and that was just what I needed to watch. The characters are easy to get to know and the writing style was well detailed. I would read this again and recommend to a friend. Overall this was an enjoyable contemporary novel.

This book started strongly with 'slim but squidgy' brunette Amy Wright being convinced her wasteman boyfriend was about to propose and shying away from her old friends' baby-related content on the socials. So far, so relatable. When Amy was dumped in a reality TV show instead of Soho Farmhouse or Lime Wood, I wasn't sure what to think at first, but the author won me round again in a few pages with the introduction of more lovable characters - bouncy lawyer Jackie, Geordie DJ Lauren and perfect housewife Flick. Like a comedy version of Only Ever Yours mashed up with Big Brother and Love Island, The Shelf is fizzier and more original than I was expecting and does itself a lot of favours by going for extreme scenarios rather than the middle ground, and prioritising self-growth and female friendship over romance. Hurrah for The Shelf!

I've just finished reading this laugh out loud, shout at the book (in the way you would the TV) fantastic read in just under 3 days and when I wasn't reading it I wanted to be.

This is a book about the bond women have with each other and how they can empower each other. It is a warm and funny book about learning to love yourself.
Can’t wait for more from this author!

I initially thought this might be a bit too light for me, but I was wrong. The Shelf has a firm overarching message - you are enough, love yourself. You are the most expensive and beautiful thing you will ever own.

Out of the blue, Amy finds herself faced with a difficult decision after her ex-boyfriend Jamie cruelly nominates her for a reality television show that a) publicly dumps her for him and b) aims to teach her how to be a "keeper".
The woman crowned "The Keeper" wins £1,000,000. For participating alone, she gets £10,000. For that, Amy could travel, explore, write...do whatever she wants. So she stays.

I could relate to a lot of what Amy feels, and I could picture all the cast of the show really clearly thanks to Helly Acton's writing. I loved the witty, wry commentary on how the media STILL speaks of/portrays women and a great context for a novel about self-acceptance, the importance of female friendship and self-development and love.

I would definitely read more from Helly Acton.

The Shelf by Helly Acton is a book with a message; you don't need to follow social norms to be happy, learn to love yourself and go from there.

It is a truly relatable story. I'm sure everyone has at least once felt like they weren't meeting the expectations of their family, friends and/or colleagues. Amy the main character is at this stage in her life, where she feels she should be getting married and having babies because her friends are. At the start of this book, Amy is convinced her boyfriend of two years is about to propose to her on holiday, when in actual fact she's been taken to a tv set and dumped live on TV, and asked to participate in a new reality TV show called The Shelf.

Amy decides to stay and continues with the TV show. Where other contestants arrive and a variety of challenges are set, meant to help contestants learn how to be desirable to men. I think Amy and the contestants each learnt something important whilst filming The Shelf, from each other and the in house therapist.

This book was really enjoyable, reading about someone who steadily grows emotionally is a real positive experience. I look forward to reading books from this author in the future,

A lovely story that kept me on my toes the whole time. The storyline was exceptional and the characters engaging and believable.

I’d been hearing great things about this book on social media and now that I’ve gobbled it up in one day I can see why!

The Shelf is a reality tv show that Amy ends up in after being dumped- the idea is to learn and grow into the best versions of themselves and win some money in the process. Unfortunately the whole game is constantly peppered with putting women down, belittling them and generally the host being an absolute knob.

This is a book about female friendship, a laugh out loud, warm and funny book about learning to love yourself. It’s exactly the kind of book I’ve been wanting to read for ages and Acton has done an amazing job. Superb!
Can’t wait for more from this author!