It was confusing. I did not finish because of the grammatical mistakes (not too many but enough), and the fact that I'm American so I understand all of none of the slang. I'm sure if I took my time and tried to understand I would like it however as I type, I did not like what I read and I do not recommend it. Also I'd recommend splitting it into like 2 book because people get scared by huge books.

DNF - did not finish; stopped reading at 39% mark.

I was so excited to read this book, and was totally disappointed by it. It was just really boring. It was marketed as a f/f romance, but really it was just a m/f breakup… And is even be okay with that if it focused more on the MC’s, Edi, personal growth, but I just don’t think that’s the direction it was going.

One star, since I did not finish.

Thanks to HQ and Netgalley for this advanced readers copy.

I hate to say this but this book just didn’t hit the spot. I struggled to relate to Edi and just found myself getting annoyed at her and annoyed at the storyline. I found it rather unbelievable and just so far fetched that I was quite detached from the story. I enjoyed the group of supportive friends and that Edi decided to explore a gay relationship but just felt it was all rushed and abrupt. I really wanted to like this book and I really tried but unfortunately, it was just wasn’t for me.

The Break Up, contrary to what it says in the acknowledgements or what the cover let transpire, is NOT a rom-com.
It's the story of Edi Parcell's engagement to a (shit) man and how they end up breaking up. It's about a (cliché) group of friends and it's about dating for the first time. However, I repeat, it is NOT a rom-com.

I read this super fast, like in a day fast, and at times, I could even forget all the flaws and let the story carry me, BUT, there were many flaws.

The best part for me was the scenes with the group of friends centered in this book, but, once again that was when I forgot all its flaws, with the fact that they had the angry feminist one, (that everyone was always annoyed at for bashing men and wanting to "smash the patriarchy) and the gay one and the "want to get married and have babies before 30" one. I have absolutely no trouble with those characters when they're well written, they just were not. Also, the other ones were just there and I could not tell them apart for the life of me.

Don't even get me started on the trash man that gets forgiven and that the mc keeps insisting that it's not its fault, I saw fucking red for a lot of that, it was just so uggggggghhhhhhhhhh, so frustrating and enraging and not in a good way, like the dude was homophobic and <spoiler> and a liar but that wasn't enough for her??? And how is it not his fault??

It was just too two-dimensional for me and I had trouble finding the layers in any of the characters.

The "romance" part of this book also felt rushed and started so late in the book and wasn't at any point the main focus of it, and, honestly, Fred was as flat as the other characters.

I also didn't appreciate the transphobia, in a scene we found our MC on a date while she checks her date app messages and finds a dick pic, she and her date go on about how that would be very deceptive and other transphobic shit. It left a bad taste in my mouth, just like the end of the book, with an artistic showcase that was meant to center femininity and is all about wombs and vulva and whatever else.

So, yeah, not good, escape, don't trust the cover (there wasn't even a cat in the story!!!) and go read actual sapphic rom-coms instead?

I went into this book thinking it was a light, sweet romcom, but it turned out to be much more hard-hitting than I thought - and I really enjoyed it.

Edith (Edi) and Rowan have been together forever (seriously, forever, since high school) and are recently engaged. Both only in their late 20’s, they are getting some flack from the folks in their lives (particularly Rowan and his parents), wondering if they will regret not sowing more wild oats before settling down. So Rowan proposes they stay engaged but have something of an open relationship for three months, just so they can be extra sure of their love when they finally do tie the knot. Edi has pretty strong reservations, but she ultimately agrees. Cue: a total disaster.

The premise sounds like it should tee up some pretty hilarious scenarios, and there are some decent laughs in this book. But the book is really more about Edi’s journey to deciding if she’s really as happy as she thinks she is, if her relationship with Rowan is really what she wants. The book deals with trust and infidelity, with toxic parents and setting boundaries, and with the harm of keeping secrets. Rowan and his friend group demonstrate casual misogyny, slut-shaming, and homophobia. All that to say - there’s some hard hitting stuff in here!

The best part of this book is Edi’s wonderful-fantastic-supportive-lovely group of girlfriends. Seriously, their bond and the way they model such incredible platonic love is just amazing. My favorite part are the conversations that model asking - what do you want/need in this situation. Further, Edi’s exploration of her sexuality is just so natural and calm - like yes, the premise of the book is her fiancé is kind of a wanker and maybe there is someone better for her *and that person is a lady* - but it’s not over the top or contrived. It seemed, well, pretty realistic.

Another fun element to this book - at least for me, as an American reader - is the British slang used liberally in this book - seriously, you will read it in an English accent.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and the author for access to this ebook!

Sorry to say this book is only average. Edi is a nice enough character if a bit silly at times. Rowen is to put it bluntly a prat. Why get engaged and then decide to see other people? Why does Edi agree to this? There is a little humour with her gang of girl friends. Edi meets Fred and it seems like this might be a fulfilling relationship at first but no. After finishing with Rowen she then ends the relationship with Fred. An abrupt and disappointing finish.

Okay I’m not going to lie, I was a little skeptical going into this book. The whole concept of breaks has never sat right with me, but I think the author did an amazing job of making the plot realistic and I did enjoy it a lot.

Edi is sweet, if a bit of a pushover, and her character arc is gorgeous. Watching her grow as a person over the course of the book with all her best friends beside her was so much fun. I wish that we had some more fleshing out of Rowan’s character, just for a more even perspective on things. I think this is a book that would have really benefited from dual pov, but the writing as is stupendous and in some ways Im glad that this was just Edi’s narration.

The friend group is sweet, if completely interchangeable. I just felt like they fell a little flat. The only one I could differentiate was Faith (the lesbian) and the rest I was just guessing at. The girl group is supposed to be such an important part of the story and I honestly felt like they were all just there as a consolidated blob with no real uniqueness. There were jokes being made about one or two of their personalities and I was flipping back trying to see when that was shown at all, I just felt no connection to them.

I liked the progression that Edi made as she realized how she wanted to live her life. She becomes more confident, she speaks her mind, and she learns to love herself. Somehow all this happens without the help of her therapist, who she only speaks to once despite saying how much she needs her? I digress.

All in all it was a cute romcom that made me tear up a bit and definitely made me think about what I would do in that situation, but if you’re into really well done characters above all else I would say this one isn’t for you.

I absolutely loved this book. I loved the main character Edi, and I think her growth throughout the story is incredible and a very important representation. I think it's important to show older characters (the 20s and beyond) coming to terms with their sexuality when they may have pushed it aside or ignored it when they were younger. The writing was very well done, and I think the way Charlotte wrote the friend groups was also very important. The story is not only about Edi and which romantic partner she will end up with, but how she comes to terms with her sexuality and how her friends help her do this. Nobody abandons her because of this, which she worries about, but rather they help and support her as friends should. I also think the ending was perfect, as it was happy but not quite the happy ending you expect.

3.75 stars.

Right up until the 90% mark, I was ready to write a glowing review about how it was like the other reviewers had read an entirely different book than I had. Then I got there. It seems counterintuitive that the last couple chapters could change my opinion so drastically, but endings aren't easy to nail.

People are right to tag this as a slice of life fiction, because it wasn't a rom-com. The ending was intentioned enough that there's no mistaking the book for a romance, and even when I really liked it, I never found it funny. A little sad, maybe. Not the writing, just the overall introspective mood of the narration. Even though the author clearly wanted the book to be about Edi, her journey, and the friendships that grounded her, I think the book would have been better served as a true rom-com. The problem is that the premise doesn't align with what the book ended up being. The blurb sells it as Fred turning her world upside down, Edi not being able to keep her mind off of her, and most importantly, the causal implication of not wanting her old relationship back now that there's Fred. Somehow this didn't bother me up until that 90% mark, even though as the other reviewers point out: Fred doesn't play nearly the role we are told she will, Edi doesn't seem half as taken with her, and there isn't even much focus on the awakening that Edi likes women. Instead, the plot is driven by what's happening with Rowan, what Edi thinks of him, what she finds out he's doing behind her back. Then, of course, the ending, where Edi and her friends ride off into the sunset. With Fred relegated to "it's not you, it's me, let's be friends though." And in itself, there's nothing wrong with that. It's just not what was sold to readers in the blurb, or even the direction that the book seemed to be taking.

So in my mind, there are two obvious solutions. Take Fred out, or put romance in. The first option is surprisingly doable, which is probably why everyone has been so disappointed by the book. With so much focus on the end of the relationship with Rowan, and who Edi can become without him, there's enough content to leave a new relationship out. I mean, if the author really wanted Edi to explore her orientation, that can still be done without Fred, though I don't know why that would remain unless it's about yay representation. But given the ending, it doesn't make sense that Edi's friends are pushing her to date, even if that is the arrangement. She wants to be herself for a while, after all. It makes no sense to take the chance to play the field while she's engaged, but then abruptly cut that off and stay single. (And as a side note, I would have liked knowing the ground rules in greater detail, because the arrangement didn't make a lot of sense to me. They're not just allowed to sleep with other people, they're allowed to date? The possibility of falling in love with someone else is left wide open, and yet they still hang out, still check in with each other, still say that they love each other?) I will say that I liked the way that the end of their relationship played out, because we really couldn't see the flaws right at the beginning, until between the current events and the flashbacks, Rowan became thoroughly toxic. And maybe that was a little lacking in complexity, but the book wasn't really about Rowan either, so.

Injecting more romance would probably have changed the author's vision, from what I understand of the ending, but it would have aligned better with the blurb. And I do think the groundwork was there. I don't have a problem with Fred being introduced when she was, and I mostly don't have a problem with how subdued Edi's interest in her was up until she talked it out with her therapist, and Faith helped Edi reach out. But upon reflection, I should have known what was going to happen from how little time was spent on them getting to know each other. Really, I came away from the book knowing less about Fred than about most of Edi's friends. (Which is important second side note fodder: yes, there were too many of them. I was impressed that I could name them all by the end, but really, even one fewer would have been so much easier to read.) And given that she was proclaimed the love interest by the blurb, that should not have happened. But I don't think it would have been hard to write more about her, and I would have been okay if the romance still took a backseat to Edi's individual development. The ending would have had to change. Personally, I would have liked, "I'm not quite ready, but let's see how things go." More would have been nice, because Fred deserves the world, and I guess this sort of ending wouldn't really make the story a proper romance either, but I think it could have been a decent compromise. Not too much sacrificed in the artistic vision, and yet not tossing aside the promise of a sapphic relationship that prompted readers to give this a try.

That was a lot, but I figured I'd do justice to my mixed feelings, and not jump to heaping criticism, as much as I wanted to coming right out of the ending. There were a lot of promising elements to the book. The writing was solid, Edi was quite likeable and easy to empathize with, the friend group was sweet, (if, again, a little too large) and the message would have been heartwarming if that was what we had been sold. The problem was just the incompatibility of the book with its blurb, and the internal inconsistency with bringing Fred in and then essentially making her tertiary to the plot. I would probably not read anything like this again from the author, but then it doesn't look like this is her usual genre either.

• The Break Up
• Charlotte Barnes
• MC Edi Parcell & Winifred aka Fred
• NetGalley
• HQ Digital



I honestly don’t know how to feel about this book. Warning transphobia:


Edi was in a relationship with Rowan but I don’t feel she was happy so who knows. The story is about Edi and her friends way more then it should have been.

Her friend group seemed like a bunch of mean girls. No thank you!

I loved the cover of the book. But everything else is a big no for me. The non-existent story line, the flat boring characters and the transphobia, I just couldn’t deal with.


Thank you to NetGalley for providing me
with an arc in exchange for an honest review

When Edi Parcell’s fiancé Rowan asks her to agree that they take a break from their relationship to explore what they may be missing before settling down, I wanted to toss this book against the wall when she agreed to the plan. Even though Edi and Rowan continue to have random dates and meet-ups together, when Edi has confirmation that Rowan is in fact liberally acting on his freedom and she continues to demonstrate she’s fine with it all, again, I wanted to ratatouille this book! Ugh.

What I liked was how Edi does start to explore her wants and needs. I liked the banter between Edi’s close group of supportive girlfriends and the diversity of sexual orientation among the friends. This British rom-com is closed door so if you don’t want steamy scenes, this book fits into that category.

I wanted to know how everything ended for Edi so I kept reading and couldn’t put the book down until I finished. However, several aspects of the story were so frustrating I can only give this book 3 stars (rounded up from 2.5 stars).

Thank you to HQ and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

cw: homophobia, transphobia

I was immediately intrigued by the blurb. Edi's fiance, Rowan requests a three month 'break', during which time Edi meets and develops feelings for (Wini)Fred. I love a good angsty read, so i was really looking forward to this one, and in particular Edi's exploration of her sexuality.

I predominantly read m/f romance, but from the synopsis was expecting much more of a f/f romance. However, I guess the clue as to where most of the story is weighted is in the title. The problem with that is that Rowan is such a wishy-washy stereotype of a character, with very little emotional depth. And honestly? I just couldn't fathom how he and Edi had managed to maintain a relationship as long as they had. The book starts with several chapters immediately after Rowan and Edi become engaged, but there's nothing approaching chemistry or passion even at that stage. Even the titular event doesn't garner any real, tangible emotions from either character. It's all just a bit blah.

I couldn't get invested in the romance when it eventually happened because it felt so superficially written. Fred was very much the stereotypical manic pixie dreamgirl, and while she was definitely an improvement on Rowan (as if that was going to be hard), the romance felt very lite. Again, I couldn't really identify any passion or chemistry. There were some nice moments between Edi and her pack of friends (I say pack as I genuinely think six is too many to focus on in a book with three other primary characters), but again I couldn't really warm to them. The most troublesome aspect of the story was the casual homophobia, and again more stereotypes. There's also a transphobic comment slotted in for what reason, other than to be offensive?

Ultimately, the biggest problem with The Break-Up is that it straddles m/f break up and sapphic romance territory, but ultimately isn't really committed to, or delivers on either.

* Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to leave an honest review*

2.5

I have to thank Netgalley and HQ for this ARC!

I’m sorry to say that this this book is very disapponting to me. It’s not a sapphic romcom (the cover, the blurb and the category suggest it), but a literary fiction. The queer rep is not so great either: there are a transphobic joke and a lot of bi-erasure, that make me very sad and uncomfortable.
The story, however, is interesting, and I would appreciate this book a lot more if it was tagged correctly and the queer rep was not this awful. I don’t know if the author is queer and I don’t care, but the book really seems written for straight people, and this is bad. I’m searching good representation, not a bunch of stereotype.
I also don’t appreciate the characters. Edi, the mc, is a good character, but her friends are poorly characterize: they are all the same to me. Rowan, Edi’s fiancee, is an idiot and I can’t understand why she doesn’t dump him: he treats her really badly. Fred, Edi’s lesbian love interest, is a sterotype: she’s all good and funny and she doesn’t care for anything at all.

Edi and Rowan's relationship seems to be going well -- they just got engaged! That is what she thinks, anyway, until he suggests that they take a break to date other people. Hurt and confused, Edi turns to her friends for support and comfort. Eventually she meets Winifred, who serves as a catalyst for Edi to reconsider her relationship with Rowan and whether she still wants to go through with the engagement.

Fun fact! This book is severely misadvertised. It makes it seem like this book is a cute rom-com focused on Edi and Winifred, when in fact it is focused on the collapse of Rowan and Edi's incredibly relationship. So please do not go into this book expecting an f/f romance -- it is more focused on Edi and her friend group. Frankly, my rating would be at least a star less if I rated it according to what I expected, but I have decided to judge this story as it is.

Like I said, Winifred is a pretty minor character within this story and Edi's relationship to her serves as a catalyst for self development. It was very confusing as to why Edi stayed with Rowan for the length of time she did, but the collapse was well developed.

The plot progression was quite standard -- this book was a very easy and rather fun read. The writing, however, is very British and a lot of the slang and phrasings were a dash confusing. I saw somewhere that there was a transphobic comment in the book -- this had been changed in the final edition, thankfully.

Overall, the book was an easy read but didn't do anything new. If you go in expecting a story about a decaying relationship with a sapphic relationship serving as self development for the main character, it's a pretty okay book.

The Break-Up is a fairly light hearted read about Edi and Rowan, a young couple newly engaged.

But Rowan's father puts doubt in his head about the wisdom of marrying the only person you've ever been out with, and Rowan tentatively suggests they take 3 months to enjoy some freedom. Edi really doesn't like the thought of this, but reluctantly goes along with it.

She meets Fred. Who is pretty awesome. Confident, laid-back and just cool through and through.

The best part of this book is the friends that surround Edi, they truly do provide unconditional love and female solidarity.

There are some criticisms, Rowan seems to change completely as a character and becomes a total idiot. The relationship with Fred had so much potential, and yet didn't go anywhere. I also felt there was an underlying current with Faith and Edi, but again this hint seemed pointless as it didn't progress. Having read some other reviews of the Break-Up, I find the accusations of transphobia/homophobia unfair. Characters may say things that doesn't reflect an author's opinion. They are simply things that a particular character might say. I don't believe sanitising fiction is a good thing. Challenge things, yes. But fiction, art, music etc, should make us think, question and ponder. Not appease.

The Break Up is about Edith (“Edi”) Parcell, our main character, and how she deals with the open relationship she has found herself in. An open relationship her fiancé, Rowan, her partner of many years, her childhood sweetheart, suggests because he wants to see what else is out there before eventually settling down with her and getting married. That’s only the first reason why I disliked Rowan a lot. Her friends, which were chaotic and many, are supportive and encourage her to make use of the situation she is in now because Rowan surely will. They set her up on a dating app and help her with the messages, and just being there for her. So far, this sounds good, and though I had some trouble getting into the book at first, I did enjoy the second half of the book, once the love interest, Winifred (“Fred”) finally made her appearance. Unfortunately, it takes until 38% of the book for Fred to be more than just a character in the background. Their romance didn’t feel like the main part of the book, either, just a way for Edi to think about her sexuality, which she seems to have suppressed for years, her relationship with Rowan, and reflect on what she wants from life, from love. I did like Edi and Fred together though, they were cute together and it’s important for Edi’s character development, but as the main reason for requesting and reading this book was the marketed sapphic romance, I wish there was more. Romance is my favourite genre, so I have read a lot of romance novels. This book wasn’t what I expected, but once I accepted that, I ended up liking the personal growth Edi went through. Her journey made sense, and I’m glad the book ended the way it did because it made the most sense for Edi. I would say it is a good book about friendship, confidence, finding yourself, personal growth, realising your worth isn’t bound to a relationship, and choosing not to hide parts of your personality for your partner in fear of them not accepting you the way you are.

DNF.

I didn't finish it.
The story isn't bad itself, but in my opinion it's marketed wrong. I wouldn't call this a romance, let alone a sapphic one.
I don't think I'm the right target for this story.
I requested this book and I was excited to read it because the cover, the blurb and the section where I found it suggested a sapphic romance, and I didn't get that at all. Based on those things, I had expectations that weren't met.
Sure, there's queer rep, but I wouldn't call it a queer book, since I got the impression that the plot revolved around Edi, the main character, and her ex, Rowan, which also seems to be an asshole (and yet, she remains friends with him).
Even the feminist side is shallow, it seemed like just a bunch of overused slogan crunched together, just appearance and nothing else.
The love interest is just that: a love interest, not a fully developed character, and that's another wasted opportunity for me. And how could she be fleshed out properly, since she appears so little? No chemistry either with Edi, in my opinion.
Not even Edi's best friends are fully developed.
I think this book wanted to tell many things, but didn't flesh them out well and I wouldn't recommend it to people who are looking for a sapphic romance or romcom. I appreciate the effort of the author, but I think she missed the mark.
I also don't know the proper target for this book, I can only describe it as a straight story with a side of gay, if that makes sense.

Thank you to NetGalley and HQ Digital for providing me with a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

Thank you Netgalley and HQ for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.
Well, finally I finished it. It took a while I have to admit.
So, there are many many pointers I wanna give about this book and I’ll try to summarize them as much as I can.
First of all, details. I am a reader, I have just gotten to know the character. I need more details about her life to be able to comment on it. I need more details when they go to a girls night every single time anything happens. I need details about her job before she gets a promotion. I need details before she just swiftly accepts she is bi or whatever she accepted she is. I didn’t even see it be put into words. Well, that is acceptable, we are not forcing anyone to put a name to what they are but her not trying to have a thorough understanding about her sexuality after being with only one man got me thinking I have missed some chapters.
The ending I just couldn’t understand. I rather not get into it. It just felt, incomplete. Not in a good way.
I just wished the author would consider that ending every sentence with a ...
is not gonna magically make us understand everything.
I am sorry to say this book was not enjoyable for me.

This is a fabulous little rom com/chick lit read with an awful lot of female empowerment thrown in. Eid is in a relationship and engaged to Rowan. He decides they should “have a break” and be free to date/sleep with other people for a short time. Whilst this throws Edi into a spin, it also sends her on a journey of self discovery. We are thrown into her world with her closest friends and her foray into same sex relationships. What ensues is a wonderful Story of love, friendship and self awareness

I laughed, I cried, I cringed a tiny bit. A sweet and fluffy read that makes you root for the characters involved. I can't quite give it 5 stars, so I will mark it as 4 with an implied 4.5. Read it!