This cute, adorable read surprised me.

While the initial presentation seemed the things we’ve seen over and over again, this book does it in a new way. For one, it’s from a males point of view, which I find quite rare. But also, the man’s life has fallen apart, having proposed and losing his job.

But the introduction of the coin was brilliant, unique, and enjoyable in ways more than just laughter.

I snorted at his first date post-breakup, I felt for him at the next date, and as the story kept going so did my love for it. I’m so happy I got the chance to fall in love with Josh (and want to give him a hug). Especially him and his coin.

It’s a super enjoyable read, a perfect bit of romance to spice up your day, and a plot filled with humour. This is going to be a book you will pick up many times, the humour and loss of a man who thought his life was planned out is relatable as hell.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, the publisher and James Bailey for bringing this to my life.

Josh is 28 years old and has just been dumped by his girlfriend after proposing to her on New Year’s Eve and now they’re trapped in the possibly the longest ride on the London Eye. Ouch. Not the best possible way to start a new year, right? Moreover, Josh has been working at Jade’s family business, and living in her flat, so now he’s not only girlfriendless, but also jobless and flatless. But he gets the rabbit that he gave Jade, back. Moving with his parents again is the only possibility right now. His best friends Jessie and Jake are determined to get Josh back in the dating game, however Josh, with his lack of faith in his own decisions and judgement, and despite his friends mocking him for this, decides to flip a 50p coin to make any decision for the next 12 months. What he doesn’t know is that this may change his life completely. But for better, or worse?

The story was filled with absolutely brilliant characters! Even though Josh was not the best well developed character in the world, I liked him from the very beginning. Yes, his lack of plan was irritating, and flipping the coin somehow takes the responsibility away, right, and I mean, he was almost 30 year old, ah, you can’t always live like Peter Pan but he was funny, down – to – earth and really good at heart, and the situations he put himself with flipping the coin were brilliantly hilarious. He was a relatable and likeable character and I really enjoyed the way his journey has been unfolding.
His friends Jessie and Jake were absolutely brilliant. They stood by Josh no matter what and it was so heart – warming to see. They were so loyal and supporting and I loved how invested they were in Josh’s search fort he Sunflower Girl.

This book was full of embarrassing moments, brilliant one – liners – just like comedy of errors and also a road trip with Jesus and probably one of the best dialogues ever that followed that trip. Even though there were moments that it looked like the author has tried too much, still I loved his sense of humour, so dry and sarcastic, totally right up my street – it was probably one of the strongest points of this book because, let’s be honest, Josh’s voice was not strong enough to carry this book alone and Lucy, well, there were too many ambiguities about her, and yes, some of the scenes were there only for the sake of being in the book, and I found some of the things and events simply over the top but those are details and I’m sure James’ next book will be more polished. He was lucky, Mr. Bailey, because he managed to grasp this crucial moment that the book stayed funny before it stopped being funny, he knew when to tone it down a bit.

The author has really well balanced the funny and the more poignant moments, I was surprised with the depth he has added to his novel. Still, it was not too overwhelming and altogether it was a light – hearted and easy book with a simple plot – but does the plot always have to be complax and complicated? Absolutely not, and I truly enjoyed the lightness of the tone. It made me wonder how it would be really flipping a coin when I’m not sure what to do, maybe I should try. It kept me glued to the pages and invested in the characters’ lives. It’s a book that will make you smile and feel so optimistic, it’s full of surprises and unpredictable – well, you never knew what the coin is going to say, right? Absolutely one of the funniest books I’ve read this year and I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled for more frome James Bailey.

When I first started reading this wonderful book, I was going through a rough patch, and today, my spot on the blog tour, I have had some pretty bad news. However, this books really has brightened up my dark days!

I loved the concept of this book, I would usually associate this type of story with a female protagonist but, I really enjoyed hearing this story coming from a male protagonist! Josh was totally relatable and I really felt for him at times.

I really did enjoy the writing style and the story was fast paced and gripping. I really did not want to stop reading at times!

If you are looking for something light hearted, well written and fast paced to brighten up your day, pick this book up! You won’t regret it!

When you look at a book and know you will love it, and that then also comes true, it's a very rare moment. I experienced that with The Flip Side though. I absolutely adored every single page in this book. Every line is perfect, every word chosen with precision, and yet it feels easy and light and flowed nicely. I loved Josh’s quirky, funny family that offered one laugh-out-loud moment after the other.
Josh’s whole family, but also his friends are awesome and great secondary characters. I loved their shocked faces (well, reading of them at least) when Josh told them that from now on, he would flip a coin for every decision in his life. While other people decide to lose weight or stop smoking in the New Year, this is Josh’s resolution. After all, his decisions so far seemed to have been terrible, so why not let a coin decide his fate?
This is one of those rare books that I want to have on my shelf. It’s not just a one time read – I know that I will want to reread this funny, quirky, deep and yet quick and easy book again and again, so I will get myself a copy even though I have the ebook. If you are looking for a romantic, funny, uplifting book that deals with heartbreak, friendship, family, love, and a journey to self-discovery, I highly recommend The Flip Side to you!

Enjoyed this book. A nice light-hearted journey with a simple hook - making decisions on the basis of a coin toss for a year - to keep things ticking along nicely.
It's difficult to be ground-breaking in this genre and this doesn't pretend to be, yet with the unique hook it's given a different flavour and certainly keeps it interesting.
Also, Bristol, which is close to me, Amsterdam and Munich being the main locations - these are all cities close to my heart which further made it interesting to me personally.
The characters were likeable and the humour between Josh and his friends was great.
There's nothing to complain about from me with this book!
Solid 4 stars and recommended.

Mmm, if I flip a coin how many stars will I give this book - 1 for heads, 2 for tails... tails wins.

I so struggled with this book, its the kind of one that I should have enjoyed reading but I just didn't. Seemed to take me ages to read too as I just wanted to avoid reading it as I wasn't enjoying it at all.

I thought this started off really well with Josh having just being dumped (after proposing on New Year's Eve) and I was really intrigued to see where this would take him next but about a quarter of the way through, I just lost interest. I didn't find it that funny though many people seem to have found it hilarious so maybe I'm just missing something? A good premise and likeable characters but just not for me.

I really loved this book; it was funny, exciting and adventurous. The humour between Josh and his friends literally made me laugh out loud at times. One of those moments in particular was the fancy dress scene, when everyone was dressed as London underground stations.

I liked how the coin flipping idea went through some trial and error before Josh settled on an idea on how to use it. It made for some particularly amusing moments, too.

Josh and Lucy's relationship was a little too-good-to-be-true but having said that, I 100% wanted them to be together throughout the book.

I highly recommend this book, it's really funny and heartwarming, with a romance that you want to succeed throughout the book.

I thought the plot for this book was really different and interesting. Josh is rejected by his long-term girlfriend after proposing on the London Eye on New Year’s Eve. In the process he loses his home in Bristol, which was owned by the girlfriend and his job, working for his girlfriend’s father. All this leaves him broke, unemployed and having to move back in with his parents in Cadbury, a small village a few miles from Bristol and uncertain what to do next. Josh has good friends and belongs to a quiz team mainly competing against the Quizlamic Extremists and usually coming second. One of these friends, Jessie, is running the London Marathon and Josh travels with another friend, Josh, to London to support her. While he is in London, he meets a girl and instantly falls in love. Unfortunately, they get separated and although they have spent some time together, he hasn’t even asked her what her name is. The rest of the book is his quest to find this girl and knowing she lives abroad has to travel to a number of cities to try and find her. The title of the book refers to the fact that after his girlfriend’s rejection Josh decides to make all his future decisions based on the toss of a coin. At first, he uses this method for all his decisions but realises this is totally impractical so then only uses it for important decisions such as whether he should pursue the girl who is referred to as ‘Sunflower Girl’ due to the fact that he meets her when she is studying Van Gogh’s painting. I really enjoyed this book partly because of the idea that someone would try and find someone based on the flimsiest of information about them, which I thought was quite original. The portrayal of Josh is inspired. He comes across as a really decent young man who is very family orientated and loyal to his friends. There is plenty of laugh out loud humour and also some bits that are quite sad. A very creditable first novel from James Bailey and a lovely summer read. Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me an ARC of this book.

I found this novel hard to engage with, although I respect the author for his attempt to create multi dimensional characters. Fans of typical romantic comedies may find something beautiful and different in this book.

The Flip Side is the story of the slightly annoying and aimless Josh, dumped on New Year's Eve by his girlfriend when he proposes to her, leaving him single, homeless and jobless.

He decides that - as his decision-making so far hasn't been leading him to happiness - he will allow the flip of a coin to make his decisions for him for a whole year.

Right away I'm thinking, ok, so kinda like Yes Man by Danny Wallace. I've read that before (a few times actually, it's great!) but still, it's a slightly different take on the concept, as long as it's funny, what does it matter?

The problem is though, i just didn't find this funny. I'm so sorry. i hate to leave a negative review, but it just wasn't for me. I could tell some lines were meant to raise a chuckle but for me they were kind of well-trodden lines. Obvious lines. I wanted to be laughing out loud as promised by the reviews i had already read; but that's not what happened to me. Maybe i'm dead inside. (But seriously though, Yes Man... that did have me laughing out loud in public places and everything.)

Anyway, I kept going. Even when it really stopped trying to hide the Yes Man-nish-ness and brought out the same conundrum that Danny faces when he's going to have to sleep with someone that he doesn't really want to and has to break his pact. I had to sigh at that point.

Some of the characters were quite nice - i liked Josh's friends. but Josh was just a bit wet and immature. and Lucy - LUCY. I mean, her character was all over the shop!

She's quirky and individual! but she's just (yes, just recently!) discovered and become a fan of the multi-million record-selling and most well-known and bland musical artist in the entire world, Ed bloomin Sheerin! Come on, please tell me that was a place-holder that the author forgot to come back to. *note - look up names of obscure and cool bands before sending back to editor* *ah crap, nevermind*.

And then she says she's never read the end of a book before. ok, fine, a bit annoying (and potentially lifted from Anna Kendrick in Pitch Perfect's oh so quirky Becca who never watches the ends of films?), but then she reveals she did a freakin English degree! ok maybe she means English language. benefit of the doubt. Nope she mentions a literary work she studied during her degree. Definitely literature.

OK so right, she's got through (successfully) a GCSE, A Level AND degree in English literature without reading the ends of any books.

I have done all 3 of these things and can say that is an impossibility. At school we read every single line of every set text in the classroom, together, with the proverbial fine-toothed comb. absolutely no chance of keeping those things unspoiled. Degree level, i mean possibly, if you avoided going to seminars where the books were discussed (but surely would result in being asked to leave the course). I can't imagine the quality of essays would be that great if you couldn't comment on the entire story of anything you're writing about though. Not to mention the entitled downright annoyingnance of having someone on your course that would probably end up with a better degree classification than you despite never finishing a whole book. That person would be getting tripped up at graduation.

By the end i really just wanted to hurry through it when Lucy started to really bug me. But then Jake and Jessie were pretty good characters.

Josh's new year doesn't get off to the best of starts. Turned down by his girlfriend when he proposes on the London Eye on New Year's Eve, he loses his relationship, his job and his flat in less time than it take for the wheel to rotate (cue one very awkward private capsule). Deciding that he can't be trusted to make decisions anymore, Josh decides to leave this year to chance - making every decision with the flip of a coin. Can fate help him find a new job, a home that isn't with his parents, and a relationship that isn't ruined by missing wallets or unwanted dinner guests? More importantly, can it help him #FindSunflowerGirl?

The Flip Side is a fun, heartwarming read with a cute romance and a great hook.

There are more awkward, laugh-out-loud moments than I could possibly count, making this an entertaining read from beginning to end. There's also romance, heartbreak and trips to European bookshops, as well as plenty of appearances from Van Gough's Sunflowers (which I now kind of want to see all five public versions of... I think this book may prove more expensive than its RRP!)

I loved Josh's friends, Jake and Jessie, their quiz nights (this novel is also full of a lot of interesting facts), and Josh's wonderful (and incredibly embarrassing) family.

The Flip Side is a reminder that life is short, and that sometimes you have to trust your instincts and take a plunge into the unknown - even if that does mean spending all of your money searching across Europe for a girl you don't even know the name of!

I was provided with an advanced copy of The Flip Side to review.

This is a fabulous rom-com from debut author James Bailey. The star of the story is Josh, who I am sure everyone will either fall in love with or see parts of themselves in him. He is an ordinary guy, sweet, caring and confident that this is the right time to propose to his live-in girlfriend but he couldn’t have got it more wrong. With his self-esteem totally shattered he decides to really leave any life choices up to fate using the toss of a coin to guide him through the next year, including any romantic choices.
Josh has amazing friends who at first take the Mickey out of it all, tossing a coin for every choice isn’t the most practical so with a little tweaking ground rules are laid. The story follows Josh and his ever-supportive besties, his family, who are at times the weirdest people with heats of gold and a mystery girl.
I loved the suspense, yes there is plenty of that especially with his track record as far as the ladies’ go, the humour which just flows so natural from the pages and the new friends he makes on his quest to ‘find the one’. This is a light-hearted read with a character who I cheered on. There are little side stories around Josh as normal life continues but influenced now by a 50p flip of the coin.
This is a lovely book to settle down with, be it on a beach or in a favourite chair, it is uplifting, different and very entertaining.
I wish to thank NetGalley and the publisher for an e-copy of this book which I have reviewed honestly.

Whilst I read this quickly, I found the pace a little slow, but it did have its charming and chuckle-enduring moments as Josh navigates his failed marriage proposal to living his life by the flip of a coin. An easy read that has a few tender moments in it, but I would have enjoyed it more if they’d packed that emotional punch. Bailey is an author I’ll be keeping an eye out for.

This is a lovely feel good book about a young and quite adorable broken hearted man named Josh and what happens when you leave fate to guide you.
We meet Josh proposing to his girlfriend on the London Eye but when she says no and he loses his girlfriend, job and home in one stroke, Josh makes an unusual new year's resolution - leaving all his decisions to the flip of a 50p coin.
This story is funny, touching and just made me smile repeatedly. I also loved that it was set in Bristol, somewhere I've lived myself and remember fondly. I would recommend it wholeheartedly.

This was a slow burner for me. I couldn’t get into it but after halfway I just ‘clicked’ with the characters.. A simple plot with laugh out loud moments and heart warming sections.
Would you make your life altering decisions with the flip of a coin....thats just what Josh began doing. Predictable in places but a great first book.
Very refreshing to read from the point of the male character. An easy rom-com by this debut author.

When Josh gets dumped on New Year’s Eve after proposing to his girlfriend on the London Eye, he thinks his life is over and when subsequently this means he has to move back in with his parents, he realises something has to change. Despite some initial mocking from his two best mates, Josh decides that with nothing else left to lose, he will flip a 50p coin to make any decisions for the next 12 months and the events that follow may just change his life forever.

I absolutely loved The Flip Side, it was a contemporary romance with heartfelt honesty and hilarious moments. As a 25 year old I found the characters were so relatable and Josh’s constant companions Jake and Jessie were the best sidekicks and their friendship was just so normal and entertaining.

The storyline was a real page turner, because I always wanted to know where Josh’s coin flipping would take him and I really like the fact this character left everything down to fate, it actually had me thinking about the aspect of fate for ages after I finished this book. I’d love to be able to revisit these characters in another book, they just seem to have so much more to give and I’d love to read more from Bailey, as I really liked his writing style.

For those looking for an enjoyable easy read which will make you laugh out loud, with relatable and likeable characters then this is for you. Go and read it, I’d highly recommend!

Thanks so much to @michaeljbooks for the gifted digital copy of this book and also including me on the blog tour.

I really enjoyed this book. I really enjoyed following along on Josh’s journey using the flip of his coin to pave the way for his future decisions.

When Josh meets THE ONE in a museum only to later lose her in a crowd having not even got her name he sets out on a mission to find his true love again only leaving all of the decision making to the flip of his coin.

An endearing story, with a lot of fate and aligned stars thrown in.

The story of Josh. He proposes to his girlfriend on new years eve, but not only does she turn him down she also tells him she has met someone else.
Soon after he finds a coin in the street and comes up with a plan that as his decisions can't be trusted he should flip a coin to decide what to do.
This eventually leads him to meet Sunflower Girl, who he decides is perfect, but loses her before he finds out her name. Encouraged by his friends he sets out to find her.

An entertaining read.

I completely understand why this is getting compared to The Flatshare as it definitely had a similar vibe to it which I am always here for! I adored the writing style in this book, it was so easy to read which I know isn't easy to write. I flew through the book and read it completely within a few hours. This is pitched as a rom-com and it definitely is that but the romance for me wasn't the forefront of the book. One of the things I really liked about this book and that drew me in from the first couple of chapters is that it's all from our main males perspective which is rare in rom-coms.

There were so many things I loved about this book but I want to keep it all spoiler-free for you. But I will say, I loved the bunny rabbit! There is one very awkward yet hilarious first date and each coin flip brings a decision and many funny and witty moments. I loved the journey we follow our characters on. Josh's friend group bring a lot to the story and I wouldn't mind more books about this group.

The journey Josh goes on, over a period of a year, to find the girl of his dreams isn't easy but it was very enjoyable to read and follow along with and I have to say, the ending was perfection. And at a few points in the book, I didn't actually know how it was going to end.

This book is an extremely impressive debut and I can't wait to read whatever James writes next!