Thanks for the opportunity to read this one. Sadly couldn’t get into it but with the author and publisher the very best.

On New Year's Eve, inside a London Eye pod, 443 feet above ground, surrounded by spectacular 360 degree views of the city, Josh gets on one knee to propose to his long term girlfriend. A romantic setting with a long-term partner, who could say no? Well Jade, tells Josh no and drops the bombshell that she’s seeing another guy behind his back. The pair then spend the rest of the descent to the ground in silence, and a few weeks later when living at his parents with no job, no money, and a rabbit called Jeremy, he decides that all his life decisions should be made by flipping a coin. These decisions range from what drink to have in the morning, what pair of socks to put on, and whether to chase down a girl from a chance-encounter without knowing her name.

A story of fate being decided by the flip of a coin intrigued me greatly, but this felt a little lacklustre. His decision to make the decisions with the flip of a coin seems disjointed from the proposal story, and then from his hunt to find a mysterious girl he had one encounter with. Usually the appeal of a good chick-lit or romance story is a sense of believability but this had none. The over-the-top quirkiness of Josh's family and the events that happened felt a little cringeworthy. I think that whilst this is meant to be a romance story, the romance doesn't happen until the latter half of the book, and even then we never really get to know the love interest. Instead this was a story of a white man having a quarter-life crisis.

There are some stand-out amusing moments like a birthday discount faux pas and a Tinder date involving Josh's parents, but otherwise I felt like the humour was a little too try hard for my liking. Whilst it was great to read a romance story from a male perspective for a change, I would have preferred if Josh's character was developed a little further and the kookiness needed to be tamed back a little.

In theory, this book had components to succeed - a cute cover, an intriguing premise and what seem to be interesting characters - but it fails to deliver to its full potential.

3.5 stars.
This book was an easy read where we follow a male main character for a change.

With the ‘London Eye’ moment at the start, I felt for the main character straight away. I enjoyed the concept of flipping a coin to make decisions for you, sometimes it would make life easier and if things didn’t work out or went wrong - the coin could be blamed!

This book made me laugh. I loved the fancy dress party themes and spent too long distractedly staring into the distance thinking of Tube station ideas! 😆

I enjoyed reading a romance story from the male main character’s perspective for a change!

I received an advanced copy of this book from the publishers in exchange for an honest review. These opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this book.
This story was full of humour and laugh out loud moments.
It was refreshing to read a book that was from the male perspective.
The book contained lots of details and great description about the places travelled to,

Josh had a great relationship with his grandparents and this was highlighted in his desire to find the one

A great read and would gladly recommend it if you want a giggle

When I started reading this book, I’d trawled through my TBR pile, looking for something light-hearted. This looked like it would fit the bill and I wasn’t disappointed.
Josh picks himself up from the mortifying experience of having his proposal rejected and decides that his decision-making skills are seriously impaired, so he undertakes to base all his decisions on the flip of a coin. The results lead him into a few difficult situations, but mostly they are comical.
He’s blessed with great friends, Jessica and Jamie who, along with Jamie’s boyfriend – also named Jamie - make up the quiz team the four J’s. Forced to move back into his parent’s house, he’s now jobless as well and he seriously needs a change of fortune.
There are several awkward dates, a whole host of well-meaning family members and the 50p coin which holds his fate all leading up to a European adventure searching for a girl who he met only briefly but occupies all his thoughts.
I found this tale to be amusing and a perfect palate cleanser between a few different genres. Josh is somewhat hapless, but his desire to find happiness is strong. Jessica and Jamie are the kind of friends that we all would want in our corner, supportive but willing to offer ridicule at the drop of a hat. Whilst this story isn’t a blockbuster, it sits happily in the rom-com genre and is an enjoyable quick read.
So, if like me, you enjoy a little light relief, from time to time, this book shouldn’t disappoint. An entertaining 3 star read.

After quite a dramatic proposal and rejection on the London eye, from here, Josh finds himself suddenly single, homeless and jobless... he starts to question his life choices and decision making and comes to the conclusion he should make all decisions going forward by flipping a coin.

The flipping leads Josh to do things he never normally would and makes for an entertaining read. I enjoyed seeing where the random decisions would take him and thought it was quite entertaining overall.

Thanks to NetGalley, Penguin Michael Joseph and the author of an ARC of this book.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Michael Joseph UK for giving me an advanced copy of this book.

This was a really wonderful, light-hearted romance that I rather enjoyed. It's unusual for me to pick a romance with a male protagonist, but it was a welcome change.

I really enjoyed following newly single Josh on his hunt for sunflower girl, with the aid of the 50p coin that was helping make his decisions.

It was charming, funny and just an all round great quick read!

A fun light read with an interesting premise and written from a male point of view. It provided a few laugh out loud moments.

When Jade says no to Josh’s proposal on New Years Eve on the London Eye he loses his girlfriend, home and job in one go. He moves back in with his parents along with Geoffrey the rabbit and decides that he will let the flip of a coin decide his fate this year.

What follows is a year in the life of Josh letting the coin make all the decisions for him, some not as good as others. When he meets ‘Sunflower Girl’ what will the coin decide?

Josh is a likeable character but none of them really grabbed my full attention pulling me fully into the story. It is however a nice romance with some amusing moments. A quick read for a dull day.

Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin for the ARC

This book was actually a lot of fun. Josh's perspective was just incredibly humourous and the novel as a whole was written in such a unique voice that felt like one of the more representative tones of the modern Brit.

Some great one-liners and randomness. It was the cringing awkward weirdness that was reminiscent of a British Comedy - but better (probs because I'm not a huge fan of British Comedy).

Despite my raves about voice, and uniqueness I didn't rate it higher because actually there was a chunk of time where I'm wondering where this book is actually going - what it's gearing up towards. And when things do start snowballing, we're almost halfway through the novel, and on the tail end it felt like the author really wanted to tie up every loose end, so the ending drags a bit too.

Still, I enjoyed, and I would recommend for a quick laugh and a strangely accurate portrayal of a certain kind of British life.

I loved this book - it was a perfect uplifting read during these dark winter months and I'm so looking forward to more from James!

I’m sorry to say I just could not get into Josh’s crazy world, where he comes up with the idea of making all his decisions in life on the flip of a coin. Having been rejected by his girlfriend during his romantic proposal on the London Eye, his entire life subsequently collapses around him. He has naively relied on his now ex-girlfriend for his job and his home. He now has none of these ( although this completely disregards current employment laws, which does not allow an employer to sack someone solely on the whim of his spoiled daughter!) He is forced to move back into his family home.
Moving on from this, descriptions of Josh’s life seems to become ever more daft. The cousins all with names starting with P, his mate Jake with the new boyfriend - also called Jake! Really? How unimaginative does an author have to be, not to be able to come up with different names for their characters? Maybe it was intended to be quirky, I just found it irritating.
I’m sure many people will enjoy this book, but it is not for me.

My thanks to the publisher and Ndtgalley for my advance copy of this book.

So I actually loved this. It was very romantic, soppy etc and sometimes I can be a bit unsure about that but I loved this. I just imagined it happening and there was moments I was just like noo 😭 it was full of emotions but I felt every single one.

It was written so well and it felt such an easy read! It was so free flowing and fast paced.

I loved Josh. So much. And his friendship with Jessie & Jake 🥰 honestly it just got my heart. Then 🌻 girl. Well that is on another level 🤭💗 such a beautiful book and id definitely read it if you want a romantic, soppy read!

A lighthearted, fairly entertaining, quick read that didn't quite pull off the rom or the com that it's billed as. The comedy was definitely a miss for me and the romance didn't really kick in until half way through the story.

The premise of the story definitely interested me, and I was looking forward to reading from a man's point of view (which you don't often get in this genre). Unfortunately I feel like the story was trying to do too much and never really executed any of those well.

A romance that didn't happen until the latter half of the book, and even then we never really got to know the love interest.

A comedy that seemed to be based around a 'down on their luck' story, but all we got was a whiny 29 year old man who sounded and acted like a teenager.

A mid life crisis, find yourself book that saw no character growth and who took his friends and family for granted.

A fun travel story that didn't take advantage of the various European cities he visits to enhance the story. No real mention about the culture, food, people etc

Overall the story just fell flat for me.

I really wanted to love this one as I loved the synopsis! However this book just fell flat for me as I just could not get into the story or feel any attachment to the character or plot.

The book started out strong but then I found myself just losing interest and starting to skim read the book.

I'm gutted as I was really looking forward to this one but dont let me review impact on if you pick this one up as so many people really love this book!

This debut book from James Bailey is an absolute breath of fresh air and I loved it. It's rare for me to actually laugh out loud at a book but, with this book, I did on multiple occasions!

I thought the story was just so different to other stories I've read; a seemingly bad decision to propose on NYE sends Josh on a different course as he makes the decision to flip a coin to see if this makes him make better decisions for the next year. His friends think he's crazy but will it pay off?

The characters in this book are great and they really do jump off the page and come to life. From Josh's friends and family all the way to Josh's pub quiz team's quiz enemies, they all brought something wonderful to the story. I can definitely see this being made into a film!

There's plenty of travel in the book too and great descriptions of places that Josh ends up visiting! With Rome being my favourite city, I also loved that it ended up here!

Having finished the book, I've realised that it is actually quite unusual to have a romance told from the male perspective and this added an extra dimension.

This book isn't just funny, it's sad, thought-provoking, romantic, fairytale like and real all at the same time. The perfect book to curl up with this winter and escape the difficulties that 2020 has brought us!

It's really hard to believe this is a debut novel! James Bailey has a bright future and I, for one, can't wait to read more!

2.5 stars!

I really wanted to like this and be completely swooned off my feet but honestly it just wasn't for me, there was something that felt off all throughout.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Josh has just broken up with his long-term girlfriend, lost his job and his house and his now forced to move back in with his parents and try to reinvent himself and figure his life out. In the midst of his chaotic life, Josh decides that he will leave the next year of his life up to fate and will make every decision with the flip of a coin.

In theory, this book had everything to succeed. A romantic comedy style, intriguing premise and what seem to be interesting characters. It was did quite funny and entertaining at times, however there were certain things I just couldn't look past.

The main thing that "ruined" this book for me was the fact that the whole second half of it is based on Josh finding what he believe is the "love of his life". Now, I'm all for romance. In fact, I absolutely love romance and will always fight to have romance in a story, but this story just wasn't romantic at all. The whole "romance" plot line is based on Josh being head over heels with this perfect girl whom he only met once and had about a 15 minute conversation with. After that, he is lost to his love for her and will stop at nothing to find her. That includes travelling to several countries across Europe to try to figure out where she is working and see her one more time. This whole plot line just didn't sit right with me, I found it creepy. Perhaps if the characters had had a more deeper connection being shown I would've felt differently about it but as it stands I didn't see how Josh was so completely in love with this girl after meeting her once that he would travel Europe to track her down. Also, again, slightly creepy and stalker-y, not at all a great romantic gesture in my eyes.

I can definitely see why people would absolutely love this book though. It is well written and fast paced, there are a lot of interesting passages about art and also some really funny moments.

Overall I just feel this wasn't a story for me but it could absolutely be a great story for someone else!

The flip side is an adorable rom-com following Josh as his proposal is rejected on New Year's Eve. This leads to a list of things going wrong in his life and this leads him to make the resolution of flipping a 50p coin to make every decision he has to make for a whole year. This leads him to some interesting places and leads him to moving on and finding new love. I thought this was an amazing concept for a book, leaving all decisions up to fate? what could lead to more chaos? I found reading from Josh's perspective really fresh and new as I haven't read many rom-coms from the male perspective. I loved watching him travel around Europe and seeing all of the destinations he visited had me itching to get on a plane and visit some of them! I guess that will have to wait for the moment. His love interest was fun and although for most of the story we don't know much about her I was really rooting for them. I loved that this followed Josh for the whole year and we get to see how much life can change within a year. I think reading this towards the end of this year was just the perfect timing it feels very suited to this time of the year. I enjoyed all of the side characters and thought that their team quizzes were a super cute and fun element to the story. Overall I really loved this and would love to pick up more from James Bailey in the future.
4 out of 5 stars from me.

Josh is suffering from a quarter-life crisis. He's just broke up with his girlfriend, lost his job and moved back in with his parents. Josh starts questioning all his life choices. Maybe he'd be better if he just tossed a coin. After all, careful planning has made him homeless, jobless and single. After all he doesn't have anything to loose.

I liked that this was told from a male's perspective. It's heartwarming and filled with humor. It's also quick and easy to read. Josh is a likeable character as were his constant companions, Jessie and Jake. I cant imagine myself flipping a coin to make all the decisions in my life but it worked in the book. This is a really good debut novel.

I would like to thank #NetGalley, #PenguinUK #MichaelJoseph and the author #JamesBailey for my ARC in exchange for an honest review

I enjoyed this book. It is well written with a good plot and I liked the main character Josh. I liked that it wasn’t predictable, it really could go anywhere. I thought the conversations flowed well for all the interactions and it was a believable storyline. I will be looking out for more from James Bailey in the future. Thank you #netgalley.