Reading Experience?
I felt as if I was watching a British rom-com but it was all in my head. I read it in July but I feel like it is one of those books that you should read in December-January. Maybe this is because everything starts on New Year’s Eve…

Relatable Main Character?
Okay so, I can’t relate to the main character because I’m neither in my late twenties nor I have been in a long term relationship that then turned into a nightmare/disaster.
But apart from that, I find Josh (the MC) to be like Ted Mosby from How I Met Your Mother. Fate is not on his side but either way, he still is a hopeless romantic who has very “relatable” experiences and has a humour that goes along with it.

Also, I found it so funny/entertaining that he was flipping a coin for every decision he made during an entire year! The commitment!

Bonus: I love the friendship in this book!

Will YA readers like this book?
If you mostly read contemporary YA and if you love watching rom-coms (like me), then you’ll definitely like this! It has neither a very quick or really slow pace and just because the characters are not ‘young adult’ it shouldn’t mean that you should not at least give it a try.

Struggles?
There was this one scene that I found sad and at the same time unnecessary (almost towards the ending) but apart from that, no struggles!

A Cliché?
I wouldn’t think of this book as one but aren’t all romantic comedies in one way or another a cliché? It might be in some way predictable but it still is a heartwarming story

As anyone who has heard me gush over The Flatshare can tell you, I love a unique twist for a romance setup. The Flip Side certainly follows this theme with an adorable romance set up including fate, Van Gogh, extensive travel, postcards and art galleries. The unique aspect of this title comes in Josh’s New Year’s resolution to flip a coin for all major decisions across the upcoming year. This interesting concept is once you’re certainly not going to forget as this book melds comedic aspects, as he originally flips it for all decisions to the point of doing it seven times before 9 AM, and the serious as it directly impacts his relationships and, slightly obviously, his decisions.

As a lover, and at times defender, of How I Met Your Mother I would say this book is certainly for fans of that slightly naïve romantic man doing whatever he possibly can narrative. I certainly feel like Ted would give coin flipping a try if he met Josh. Similarly, to the show, there is certainly some instalove in here and, while I found it a little jarring, it will certainly appeal to some well-versed romance readers. Looking past this, however, I found the romantic dates the two characters experienced to be adorable and lovely to read. I laughed out loud whilst reading this book. The standout moments of comedy were also quite interesting ideas like Josh wearing a unicorn horn and it is treated as a dangerous object upon entering a London art gallery.

It’s quite refreshing to read a romantic contemporary both set outside of London and written from the male perspective. The setting, in particular, was such a pleasant surprise for me as a Bristolian currently living away from the city. I’ve also thoroughly missed browsing art galleries far more than I expected during lockdown. The inclusion of Kings College London, Bristol University (the universities I’m currently working on applications for), Paris and Amsterdam also brought smiles to my face. The overall detailed settings proved to be like warm hugs throughout the narrative.

The realism of Josh’s bad luck, losing his girlfriend, job and flat in the space of one night, was very relatable especially the struggles of searching for a new job which I’m currently experiencing myself. However, I’m very glad to report that this did not overwhelm the narrative and I could still enjoy my reading experience without being reminded of my own difficulties too much. There are just enough excellent escapism episodes throughout the narrative to lighten the mood whilst maintaining the relatable experiences. You are certainly gripped and drawn in with anticipation to find out what is going to happen next in Josh’s experience.

Whilst I enjoyed the comedic threads throughout the writing, I found myself experiencing the writing style and more of a means to a narrative end rather than relishing the writing itself. The pacing was quite slow between the high impact opening New Years scene and the key London Marathon. It was only after this London Marathon scene, when the key Sunflower Girl was introduced, that I was truly gripped. However, this felt a little too long waited for and caused the intriguing later narrative aspects, namely the Instagram account created for Josh, to pass by a little too quickly.

As refreshing as it is to read from the male perspective, I think the narrative could have benefited either from an increased inclusion of the two key female characters or the inclusion of their perspectives. I don’t think this would need to be as heavy as a fifty-fifty split, however, perhaps just a couple of chapters or passages would have given the girl’s stronger narrative voices, experiences and impact. This also would have increased the tension in the two key conflicts which the girls are included in which, in the book itself, do appear quite unexpectedly. Especially given the UK cover design and the title I was expecting more of a balance between perspectives and experiences.

Overall, I enjoyed the romcom, comedic experience of reading The Flip Side. Whereas there were some instalove and conveniences which drew me out of the story slightly, I cannot deny the warmth of reading about Bristol, art galleries, travel and a genuinely lovely to read romance. I simply wanted more development from Josh and his key love interest to read more of what I was enjoying. The Flip Side is ideal for fans of charming romcoms, particularly How I Met Your Mother and those intrigued by leaving things to chance.

Josh has had a dreadful end to the year with his girlfriend refusing his proposal. No longer trusting his own decisions, he starts flipping a coin for every decision going forward believing that it can be no worse.
There were highs, lows and laughs all the way through.
I loved the tender moments between Josh and Pap, when they just took a few minutes away from everything.

Josh is dumped by his girlfriend just as he proposes to her. Then it’s boy meets girl, complications arise, boy finds girl again. I’m afraid this novel didn’t grab me in any way, a fairly standard romantic story.

Firstly a big thank you to the publishers for my copy on netgalley and having me on the tour.

I gobbled this up from cover to cover .what a fantastic debut .

I loved the fact its by a male author and as a woman its always insightful to get into a mans mind especially when it comes to all things love and romance.

Its smart,witty and romantic. Its a love story for the modern times .

Its about life not quite going to plan and giving you a wake up call… and leaving you with a choice how to move on.

I really enjoyed this and highly recommend. I wish him every success and look forward to reading more!

Published 20th August and do check out the other blogs taking part in the tour.

I loved the premise of the book as soon as I read the blurb. It was also put forward as the new Flatshare of 2020 this got me really excited as I ADORED the Flatshare so I had high hopes.

The book is focused on Josh. He hasn’t had the best of luck I mean the book opens on him proposing to his girlfriend of three years on the London Eye at Christmas. I mean what could go wrong. Everything apparently. Josh’s now ex-girlfriend said no, so now not only is he single, he’s lost his job and his home as no surprise there they were his ex-girlfriends parents. The only good news? He got custody of the pet rabbit.

The book opened with a bit of sadness however it was portrayed in such a way that I was humorous, I mean it’s sad that Josh was dumped but the book opened with a bit of a bang. Josh is now down on his luck he’s had to move home with his parents AND they are hosting him an engagement party that’s turned into a party. The embarrassment is real let me tell you.

The writing style was really easy to read and I love how the dynamic of the characters worked well together. James Bailey definitely brought something special to the book with this as I love how the characters interacted with each other.

So let’s talk Characters shall we Josh is down on his luck. He’s had to move home but he has a plan, he has a 50 pence piece that is going to change his life. He is going to flip the coin to help him make decisions, I mean they are helping him decide what he wants to eat and wear. Will the tossing of the coin help his love life?

The secondary characters in the form of Josh’s friends Jack and Jessie are great and I really liked them. They added a little thing extra to the book and the interactions between them all definitely brought a smile to my face when reading.

Josh goes on a journey of discovery throughout this book with a few hilarious trips along the way. It wasn’t all plain sailing on the way to love or sorting his life out but it was fun to go on the adventure with him!

This was a really enjoyable and fun contemporary read for me. It got me out of a slump and I really do think that James Bailey has done something special. The book held my attention throughout and found all the characters engaging. Some of the events that happened you could feel yourself cringe at as you know you have also done this before (fancy dress). Highly recommend this cute and fun read.

What a superb laugh out loud romantic comedy! I just didn’t want to put this book down, I devoured the whole book in just two sittings.

Josh feels it is the right time to propose to his girlfriend Jade, they have been together a while now, share a flat and even have a pet rabbit Jeremy. Josh couldn’t think of a more romantic propsal, it’s New Years Eve, he’s booked the London eye with the full works and an evening at a night away, the most perfect proposal until he’s turned down.... but where did he go wrong? He did everything right? After a couple of disastrous dates, now living back with his parents and out of a job, Josh finds a 50p coin, you know what they say about finding a penny, maybe now he will have fifty times more luck? And now decides to leave all his decisions down to the fate of a flip of his coin! But just how far will his flip of the coin take him? Would you be prepared to let the flip of a coin control the future of your love life? A hilarious, uplifting love story you don’t want to miss out on. A perfect summer read. A cracking debut read, I can’t wait to read more by James Bailey.

4.5 STARS

Josh is a 28 year old guy who proposed on New Year's Eve to his girlfriend and she rejected him. Not only that, but they break up and walk their seperate ways. Since Josh was working at her family business and he was living at her place, he ends up unemployed and homeless. Since he's on this tough road he decides to make decisions for the rest of the year based on a coin he tosses. This current situation, plus his coin decisions will definitely affect his life and the route it's going to take.

At first his story sounds very typical and maybe common, but as it progresses we face very unique situations and the scenes are hilarious! I found some things over the top, like his parents and their unique characteristics that kept going until the very last pages of the book. I felt like they were fun at first, but at some point that we had gotten the drill, I wished that it would tone it down.

However, this was such a pleasant story. The secondary characters and their sennanigans were a blast, the dialogues were amusing and the romance was adorable as well. To be honest, it surprised me, because I didn't see it coming. For some reason, I thought it would walk on another way, so I was pleasantly surprised, when it didn't. I loved Josh and his adventures, his crazy family and his best friends who stood by him whenever he needed them.

Definitely recommend this one. You will smile, you will laugh, you will feel all kinds of emotions. Such a cute read that it left a smile on my face in the end.

Being dumped by your girlfriend on New Years Eve whilst trapped on the London Eye is not the best way for anyone to start the coming year. That’s exactly what happens to Josh whose plans for a romantic proposal to girlfriend Jade, complete with champagne and chocolate does not have the happy outcome he expected. Sad, alone, homeless and jobless Josh at least has the comfort of his two best friends Jessie and Jake who are determined to get him back in the dating game. Josh’s lack of faith in his own judgement leads him to adopt an unusual method of decision making in the hope of finding love and happiness in the future. From now on the flip of a coin is going to decide his fate, much to the consternation and mockery of Jessie and Jake. The results of which turn a hopeless beginning into a heartwarming uplifting and hilarious, enjoyable read.

Always in a novel of this genre the characters need to be larger than life, lovable, perhaps slightly bonkers or quirky and most importantly there has to be that cute factor surrounding one or both of the main leads. You most definitely get this in the form of Josh’s character, since I felt sorry for him from the very beginning. At nearly thirty, suddenly living back with his parents, losing his girlfriend and job and home in one foul swoop how can you not want this young man’s luck to change and for him to find true love? His obvious love for grandfather Pap melts your heart quicker than an ice cream on a hot summer’s day, making him the perfect male lead for this romcom. I understood his resolution to use the flip of a coin to make any future decisions as what has he got to lose? Perhaps allowing heads or tails as a method for choosing socks is taking the concept a bit to far but it’s amusing to see the mixed fortunes this has at various points in the narrative . Poor hopeless Josh is basically an overgrown moody teenager but I loved him.
Equally adorable is Josh’s mum who is just plain bonkers. Her belief in horoscopes and reincarnation, her attempts at matchmaking and reverting to treating Josh as a little boy may make her a cliche of a motherly character but she is so likeable due to her streak of quirkiness.
Jessie and Jake are the epitome of best friends, loyal to a fault, equally invested in helping their friend in his search for the Sunflower Girl, using everything in their power to prevent her becoming the one who got away. With such a wonderful cast of characters it’s easy to get swept up in this make believe happy ever after world.

I absolutely loved the humour in this novel. The Quizlamist Extremists is just a great name for a pub quiz team, nearly always triumphant over the All-Jays and the scene at Jessie’s yearly fancy dress party is hilarious. However it’s unlucky in love Josh’s dating experiences that really had me laughing out loud. His awkward fish and chip supper with hairdresser Emma and his non birthday pizza date with Olivia were brilliantly written and absolutely priceless. They read like a comedy of errors. I do think the comedic value was slightly lost once Josh embarks on his mission to find Sunflower Girl. For me that’s when the romantic element overtook the witty one liners but despite the chance in a billion of finding her, I was silently cheering him on. After all who doesn’t want the underdog to come up smelling of roses??

The Flip Side is a sweet charming and often funny romantic read, sure to delight and brighten any day. It’s straightforward, lighthearted and full of warmth and laughter with a main character who brought out the motherly instinct in me; I just wanted to give Josh a big squeeze and a sloppy kiss and remind him that he’s one of the good guys . The Flip Side is the ideal book to escape into, to lose your head in the clouds for a few hours, leaving you with a warm fuzzy glow inside. My rating reflects the fact I didn’t think Josh’s love interest held the same amount of appeal to elevate them to the kind of perfect couple found for example in The Flatshare but that is me being super critical. Perhaps Josh’s character is more rounded given this novel is written from a male perspective?
Predictable ✅ Cheesy✅ Ridiculous (but in a good way!)✅ Laugh out loud funny✅ The author has delivered on all counts and I shall look forward to his next offering.
My thanks to the publisher Penguin for the invitation to read an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Imagine the heartbreak. You've planned for what feels like forever, and finally got the girl of your dreams in the place of her dreams, with a ring waiting in your pocket, the privacy of an empty pod on the London Eye, and it's New Year's Eve to boot.
Then she says no.
This is precisely what happens to our hero, Josh.
He finds himself jobless, homeless and girlfriendless to boot.
After moving home to his parents, a 27-year-old failure, he decides the flip of a coin will be the best way to make all the choices about his life for a year. After all, making them on his own hasn't worked out that well.
Will it help him find love? A job? A new home?
What follows is a gigglesome account of what happens when a small disc of metal dictates what you do next.
I enjoyed the story, though possibly a little unrealistic, but it made for an easy read.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Michael Joseph UK for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Flip Side is a quirky, sweet and uplifting story about following your destiny. Josh has planned the perfect proposal. It's New Year's Eve, he's on the London Eye with his long-term girlfriend, Jade, and he has chocolate truffles and champagne on ice ready to toast their engagement. Except, things don't really go to plan. Jade turns him down, and not only that, she also announces she wants to split up and tells him she has met someone else. So, things couldn't really have gone any worse. Except that he is now homeless and jobless, as he works for Jade's father.

Finding a 50p coin on his depressing walk home, he makes a decision. From now on, he's going to let the coin decide his fate. Every decision will be made on the flip of a coin.

Drifting through life he feels lost. Until he meets a girl. Randomly bumping into her in a queue for an art gallery they have an instant spark. But when they get separated before he even finds out her name, it seems that their story is over before it's even begun. But the coin tells him to search for this girl. With little to go on except that she works in a book shop near Van Gogh's Sunflowers somewhere abroad, he narrows the possibilities down to a few possibilities. With a little help from his friends, he begins his mission.

After travelling to Munich and Amsterdam, he is starting to feel that his mission is doomed to fail. But he finds her in Paris. Once again, things don't quite go to plan. But Josh is determined not to give up on this amazing girl and goes all out to prove his worth to her.

The perfect romantic escape for difficult times, I loved this sweet story of daring to try again.

The flip side by James Bailey was such a fun and great story to read.
I enjoyed the writing, the characters and the overall life experience of Josh with his turning point in life when the decisions he has to take aren’t quite the best thing he ever has done in his life.
I loved the banter and how reliable the situations are, how sometimes he left a downhill moment to take over his life and how the author has managed to show both sides of the coin with the good and bad things that can come from that fear of taking each chapter as it comes.
I highly recommend this book and it’s just perfect for the long summer nights.

First of all , thanks to NetGalley, The Publishers and The Author for providing me with ARC!

When I read the description, I thought "well ,that sounds interesting" and I wasn't wrong. The first half of the book was a bit slow-paced and the events were just so repetitive. But the rest was really hopeful and more positive. I am glad that everything turned out good in the end. After all, we all face ups and downs in life. Overall it's 3.5 stars.

The Flip Side by James Bailey follows Josh whose life crashes down when he proposes to his girlfriend and they break up. Feeling as if he cannot be trusted to make his own choices Josh decided to leave it up to a coin he found that fateful night. Each time a decision needs to be made he will flip the coin and follow through with the decision made for him.

This book was a lot of fun. I am pleased to report that it made me laugh out loud on several occasions. A really fun read. Josh was surrounded by great friends. You really route for him throughout the story. It made such a nice change to read a book from a male protagonist in this genre. More please.

One coin, one year and one new shot at love.

Josh thought he was doing everything right.

He found a girl. They adopted a rabbit. He finally found the perfect moment to propose.

She said no.

On the London Eye . . . On New Year's Eve . . . Suspended 443ft in the air . . .

Now they're awkwardly eating truffles and praying they'll be back on the ground soon.

Realizing he can't be trusted to make his own decisions, Josh decides to spend a year putting his faith in, well, fate.

From now on, every decision will be made by the flip of a coin. And maybe, just maybe, the coin will help him find the girl of his dreams.

After all, who says you can't take a chance on love?

Thanks to Netgalley for a review copy of this book.

As a bit of a geek I loved that Josh and his friends Jake and Jessie met up regularly for a pub quiz, and this is a theme that carries on throughout the book. The characters in this book are loveable, especially Josh's Mum.

The idea that a 50p coin could decide all of your life decisions is a fun one and it definitely made me think..

This book is an excellent debut for this author and I look forward to seeing what he produces next. Overall a fun, poignant, comforting read that I will be recommending to others..

Unfortunately I couldn't finish this book. It started off so good with great humour and a good male POV. However it started getting a little ridiculous and I didn't like all the lying the character did on a day to day basis. I just got tired of it and didn't feel the want to continue.

Not your typical rom-com, being told from the male perspective, this brings a new modern feel. Follow Josh as he uses a 50p coin to decide on all his moves and tracks his sunflower girl. Fabulously feel good fun.

Thanks to Michael Joseph and NetGalley for letting me read The Flip Side in advance! After reading a bunch of serious experimental fiction, I was really craving something light and romantic - it wasn't quite as rom-com-esque as I'd hoped but I enjoyed this nice and engaging novel.

Josh is 28 when he proposes to his girlfriend on the London Eye on New Year's Eve. She says no. It's unfortunate because she also owns the flat they live in, and her dad owns the hotel they both work at. In one sweep, Josh is single, homeless and unemployed - and with no significant prospects of anything changing. In a moment of desperation, he decides that for his New Year's Resolution, he is going to allow a coin flip to determine all his decisions.

It's a nice conceit for a novel, although it doesn't always live up to its potential. Josh is likeable and easy to root for, even if some of the situations he ends up in do seem a bit too ridiculous - but one of my favourite parts of this book were his best friends, Jessie and Jake, who are lovely! The writing's definitely at the higher end of very commercial fiction, so I would recommend this if you fancy picking up something light and entertaining, but not unintelligent. I think the best bit of the book for me was the London Underground-themed fancy dress party, which yielded some of the most inventive costume ideas I've ever heard of. 3.5 🌟

This book is just what I needed! Amazing! Reading a romantic comedy where the guy is the centre of attention and unlucky in love is a style I’ve barely come across so this was refreshing and brilliant.

I loved Josh and his group of friends, I laughed, I cringed and I may have cried a tiny bit. Perfect debut novel.

Such a great summer read, loved the story and found it really interesting looking into Josh’s new life of flipping the coin!