I really thought I'd like this one...the premise of people starting over always appeals to me but sadly, this one didn't live up to expectations. I also feel bad when I have to give negative feedback because I'm well-aware of how hard it is to write a book and really appreciate how much time and effort goes into it.

I can see many people enjoying it, it just wasn't for me. The 30-year-old main character's constant issue with her dad being a normal human in his own house was insufferable as was most of her journey throughout the book. It often felt more like she was a 20-year-old instead of 30 who still acted like a teenager around her parents and only cared about men. From someone in their 30s starting over it would've been a lot more interesting to learn more about her job, career, select friend group... instead, there were pages and pages of repetitive descriptions of a woman trying to find lust (because it was all about that and very little about personalities) and whinging about her father.

I thought of giving up on this many times, it actually took me months to read this and, these past few days, I couldn't put it down mainly because I couldn't wait to get it over with! I find it really difficult to "DNF" a book because I always wonder if it'll get better...it very rarely does.

I was hoping for some sort of realisation at the end but there was none. In fact, the end felt like yet another development of the middle.

I'm keeping this review off other websites as I don't like to discourage other readers from reading books I didn't like - they might!

Square One was an easy and quick read Following a job loss and break-up, Hanna finds herself living with her Dad who annoys her and she doesn't pull any punches in letting him know so! I did find it hard to warm to Hanna at times. Whilst we can all feel rudderless, I felt that Hanna was annoyingly negative. Her constant self-recrimination grated on me, and I wished there had been more of her embracing her chance of a fresh start, rather than wallowing in her misery.

The closing chapters did bring some light relief, and sense of optimism, which was much needed.

A really charming read!
Hanna's story is by no means unique at the moment, making this super relatable, and I enjoyed the brutal honesty and despondency of Hanna's situation. No point in sugar coating what so many 30 year olds are going through!

That being said, there is a lot of dry humour in this story and I particularly enjoyed the character of Hana's dad.

Heartwarming and satisfying, this was a great lazy afternoon read.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A must read!

Hilarious, relatable and raw. There’s a part of Hanna in every woman.

This book explores relationships in all of their naked glory, it’s difficult to put down.

Oh my gosh, where do I even start? This book is brilliant, sort of heartbreaking and often hilarious.
I completely related to Hanna, having also lived with my dad in my early thirties. This honestly made me laugh so hard and also cry at times.
I honestly think it's one of my books of the year. Definitely a good read if you've ever found yourself wondering how your life got so off track. Hanna made me feel less alone.

Great book for taking on holiday as you can dip in and out and easy to associate with the characters.

Found this book slow and a bit long winded. I didn't feel like I connected with the characters enough to fully enjoy this book - however, it was funny in parts and quite relatable.

I wish I liked this more than I did.

I was looking forward to this book but I am afraid I found it just didn’t interest me and found it was a bit long winded.

Hanna has broken up with her long term boyfriend and moved in with her Dad. We see what happens to her over the course of her time she lived with him. All she wants is to find someone to love and also think about having a baby as that is what all her friends seem to be doing.

I just didn’t connect with the characters in the book.

Square One by Nell Frizzell

This is a sharp and funny novel on hitting 30 and realising the foundations you built for being an adult have crumbled while everyone else seemingly has their lives on track.

Hanna goes from living in London with a boyfriend to fitting her life in a van, heading back to Oxford to move into a single bedroom in her father's flat, having broken up with her boyfriend. All of her expectations for her life have gone.

Life is not heading in the direction she thought and starting from scratch seems like the worse thing. Hanna needs to push her life in the direction she wants rather than society's expectations. Yet, this isn't a depressing read... It's funny and full of great observations and really capturing those break downs when you're trying to heal for a long, significant relationship.

Nell Frizzell delves into the complicated feelings with moving back to your home town and trying to overcome the feeling of life moving backwards. I wish there were more books where the character development comes out the other side, saving herself.

I also loved Nell's nonfiction book, Panic Years and I'm absolutely looking forward to her new book.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ebook version of this book!

After a break up, Hanna finds herself back living with her dad. She hoped to have it all by now and instead she has to watch at everyone around her playing happy families. I did find Hanna a bit annoying as she has a lot to moan about The story was funny and totally relatable.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

This book speaks to the experience of a generation of millenial women who were told they could have it all and discovered that that's not actually possible unless you're rich. The passages about trying to find somewhere to rent that neither horrendously under-maintained or hideously overpriced were particularly identifiable. I also liked the ending, which didn't wrap up the plot in a neat bow. Hanna is a character that will be familiar to anyone between the ages of 25 and 40.

When I saw this book and read the synopsis I was hooked! It sounded right up my street! However, I was about to be disappointed...I just could not relate to the main character hannah, the synopsis said light hearted rom com. I found it long winded to get to a point, it didn't make me laugh out loud and I found it boring!

Thanks to Netgalley and The Publisher for this eARC!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and found it funny and relatable. I thought this was a romcom when I requested it but it isn't. However, it was a really interesting story about someone who finds herself being 30 years old and completely lost!

This is a debut fiction novel by Nell and I thought it was really good. At first i found it to be a bit slow but once I got into it I found myself flying through the pages. Square one was unique in that Hanna had the bf, the job etc and then her relationship breaks down and she finds herself having to move in with her dad. Life in reverse. Hanna was a lovely character and I enjoyed reading about her. Her dad on the other hand was really annoying he was just too much of everything(to say what I mean would be spoilers) I’m looking forward to reading Nell’s non fiction book Panic Years and I’m already looking forward to her next fiction book.

A fun book that was easy to get into.

Hana had a failed relationship and moves back in with her Dad who also has failed relationships so they are both on the dating scene.

Laugh out loud funny in parts

A light and funny story of Hanna who is back living with her Dad after her relationship breaks down, who is also on the dating scene himself.
Really liked the characters especially Hanna and her dad and how the relationship worked between them and there was some real funny moments which I laughed about and felt sorry for Hanna.
Would recommend for anyone who wants a funny everyday story about relationships.
Thanks to NetGalley & Random House UK, for a advanced copy.

💭 ᴍʏ ᴛʜᴏᴜɢʜᴛꜱ:
I don’t know what to say about this one to be honest. This was not the light Romance or inspiring story about picking up your life again from square one that I thought it would be. I did not need to read about every disgusting bodily fluid or noise in detail for 300 pages. It was super depressing and extremely negative. The only thing I did like was the snarky comments here and there and the last 2 chapters.
⭐️

🤓 ʀᴇᴀᴅ ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ʟɪᴋᴇ:
Short chapters
Disgusting humor

ꜱʏɴᴏᴘꜱɪꜱ:
𝘉𝘠 𝘛𝘏𝘐𝘙𝘛𝘠, 𝘏𝘈𝘕𝘕𝘈 𝘌𝘟𝘗𝘌𝘊𝘛𝘌𝘋 𝘛𝘖 𝘏𝘈𝘝𝘌 𝘐𝘛 𝘈𝘓𝘓 (𝘖𝘙 𝘈𝘛 𝘓𝘌𝘈𝘚𝘛 𝘚𝘖𝘔𝘌 𝘖𝘍 𝘐𝘛)
𝘈 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘧𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘳
𝘈 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩𝘺, 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨-𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘮 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱, 𝘮𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨
𝘈 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦 (𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘢 𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘵) 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘸𝘯

𝘉𝘜𝘛 𝘐𝘕 𝘙𝘌𝘈𝘓𝘐𝘛𝘠, 𝘚𝘏𝘌'𝘚 𝘉𝘈𝘊𝘒 𝘈𝘛 𝘚𝘘𝘜𝘈𝘙𝘌 𝘖𝘕𝘌...
𝘚𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘱 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳
𝘍𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘸𝘦𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘺 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴
𝘜𝘯𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘧𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘸𝘯, 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘦𝘳 (𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨) 𝘧𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳

There's a lot of people who think that you should reach certain goals by 30/40/etc. Unfortunately life happen and some things are not meant to be.
I like the story of Hanna and how she evolved becoming a more mature persone.
I liked the style of writing and the characters, the author is a good storyteller and delivers a well plotted story.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

As someone married and approaching forty, I think I might just not be the target audience for this book. I really wanted to like it, and I gave it a really good go, but I just couldn’t connect with the main character - Hanna. Similarly to Hanna I don’t feel like my life is sorted, and there are some societal pressures that will always weigh on a woman despite her age, but I found it hard to sympathise with her at times.

The writing feels a little bit laboured at times, like the author is trying so hard to be funny with their turns of phrase that it feels heavy handed. I really don’t like being negative about books as I know the author will have put their heart and soul into it, but just wasn’t for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

"Everyone moves at different paces, but Hanna's life is in reverse." I was drawn to this storyline...turning thirty and nothing really going according to the plan you had in your mind!

I did enjoy the novel, it did take a little while for me to get into it though so I went for 3 stars. Hanna is our main character, very likeable and relatable, we meet her as she is leaving the home she has shared with her no ex-boyfriend. She has to move back in with her Dad...who is also single and now on Tinder! Their relationship was definitely my favourite and a great source of dry humour in the storyline!

If you're looking for a novel that will leave you feeling like everything will work out just as it is meant to, this is definitely worth a read over the summer!

Thank you to @netgalley and @randomhouse for the opportunity to review. Out now in the UK.

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