This is an entertaining love story, told through ten years in the life of a woman set against an eventful decade of British politics.
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The start of the story is set in 2013. Coralie is an Australian woman in her 30s, who recently moved to London. She meets Adam who has a young daughter, Zora, and they fall in life. The books is about the ten years of how they build a life together and have two children of their own - there are also the interesting and very real bits about Coralie’s role as a stepmother to Zora and how they navigate co-parenting with Zora’s mother, Marina. Soon, it gets clearer and clearer what motherhood does to Coralie’s sense of self and it’s great that Jessica Stanley doesn’t shy away from writing about this.⁣
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“Grief is the price we pay for love, that’s what the Queen had once said. The price Coralie paid for love was fear and getting lost. Something was wrong with her, it set her apart—she couldn’t be in love, but she couldn’t be out of it either. If she didn’t love, she was half a person. But if she did love, she’d never be whole. Her hands shook as she packed her bag. Mother, writer, worker, sister, friend, citizen, daughter, (sort of) wife. If she could be one, perhaps she could manage. Trying to be all, she found that she was none...”⁣
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Another really interesting aspect is to see how the political backdrop, from Brexit, the various Tory prime ministers, to the Covid-19 pandemic, shapes the characters’ lives. Overall, I think the character development is really good, including the description of the flawed and imperfect characters. There are a few side stories that I would have loved for Stanley to delve further into, such as Coralie’s complex relationship with her own father, Roger, and so on. ⁣
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I enjoyed it nonetheless.

Consider Yourself Kissed started off strong for me, and I really enjoyed the emotional depth of the relationships at the heart of the story. Jessica Stanley does a great job creating layered, believable characters, and I found myself invested in their personal dynamics early on. The dialogue felt real, and there was a warmth in the way she wrote about friendships, romantic tension, and family that made the book feel very grounded and human.

However, about halfway through, the tone shifted more heavily into political territory—particularly around Brexit—and that’s where I started to lose interest. While I understand the context is important and relevant, it started to feel like the book was leaning more into commentary than storytelling. For me, the charm and connection I felt with the characters got a bit overshadowed by the political focus.

That said, I can absolutely see how others might connect more with that part of the narrative, especially if they’re interested in stories set against recent political backdrops. I just found myself wishing the story had stayed closer to its emotional core.

Overall, a solid read with strong character work, but not quite the immersive experience I hoped for by the end.

A story of two halves. First half, beautifully written and reasonably compelling. Second half, the tone really changed and became focused on politics and Brexit, which made it difficult to stay engaged with the story.

Coralie moves to England from Australia and meets Adam. They fall in love and make a family. Against the backdrop of all the political drama and Covid lockdowns, Coralie muddles along lost in family life. This is her story of the minutiae of day to day living as a partner, mother, daughter and sister.

"Consider Yourself Kissed" by Jessica Stanley is a literary love story that spans ten years in the life of Coralie, an Australian copywriter who moves to London. There, she meets Adam, a witty political reporter with a charming young daughter. Their relationship weathers numerous challenges, including births, deaths, Brexit, and the pandemic. As Coralie and Adam navigate the ups and downs of life, they must confront what it truly means to build a family and find happiness.

While the book offers a heartfelt exploration of love and family, I found it challenging to stay fully engaged at times. The narrative occasionally felt a bit whiny, which detracted from the overall enjoyment. However, Jessica Stanley's ability to create relatable characters and her keen observations on life's complexities still make this novel worth a read. If you enjoy stories that blend personal and public dramas with a touch of humor, give this one a try.

There is something really special about this book - I found it so compelling while being unable to put my finger on what it was that I really loved about it.
This is a love story, but it also perfectly weaves in politics and the realities of building a life - the imperfections, the struggles, the changes, and the heartache. Following 10+ years in the life of Coralie and Adam, from meet-cute through the twists and turns of their relationship, the book feels so tender, exploring not only the personal fears of two people sharing their lives, but much broader fears of our impact on the world and its impact on us.
The characters are so well formed and with it being set in the not-so-distant past of the last 10 years or so, there's something so grounded and familiar about the life that is depicted, and the communal terrors we have all shared of Brexit, several general elections, COVID, and the changing climate.
I found it utterly captivating - it's really burrowed its way into my brain.

I was intrigued by this one after seeing some reviews and luckily was given access to an early review copy. The premise of this one really appealed - what happens after you meet a man and fall in love, and fit into his already complicated life? This was a warts and all exploration of….well life and love, including the messy complexities of past relationships, giving up your own dream, losing part of yourself and then finding yourself.

Thanks to NetGalley, the team at Random House UK/Cornerstone, and the author for the opportunity to read this review copy. Consider Yourself Kissed is out now!

CYK is a novel where protagonist Coralie is battling post-brexit blues and building a new life in London Fields having abandoned Australia. Amidst her dreamy relationship with political author Adam, she battles work woes, being a mother, step-mother to Adam's daughter Zora and trying to keep her identity.

It's rich with east-London references and thoughtfully fleshed out characters bring the story to life. There is something for everyone - expectant mums juggling raising children and their own identity, women thinking of starting a family or single women wondering what it is like behind closed doors of a modern day family.. CYK makes you ask what does it take to keep the fire in a relationship when work, age and children continue get in the way?

I did enjoy the romance of this smart comedy focussing on Australian copywriter Coralie falling for English political journalist Adam and his excellent daughter but to be honest the political near-history angle took me back through times I’d rather not relive quite yet. Maybe in twenty years.

This is the sort of book that shows you, as Jo Walton says, how authors keep their books' covers apart without having wizards or spaceships in them. It's a novel about a young woman trying to make her way in London, through a serious long-term relationship, stepmotherhood and her own pregnancies, with a partner whose job as a political commentator makes the mad governmental upheavals of the 2013-2023 decade in Britain relevant in a particularly personal way. (When a leadership contest is announced among the Tories, for example, or the Brexit hard deadline might pass without a deal, Adam is excited because it gives him material; Coralie is enraged because it derails their childcare arrangements.) On the whole, I really liked it: at points it feels like a "kids ruin your life" novel, which I'm sick of, but Stanley is actually more subtle than that, and her supporting characters are fantastic. Really, quietly, it's a novel about surviving parental abuse and the permanent damage that can do to the coping mechanisms of children, which those children then have to fight not to pass on to their own kids. I can't identify at all with Coralie's maniacal longing for children, which made this a more anthropologically interesting read than expected. She also sometimes feels like an overly passive protagonist (I kept wanting to call through the pages at her, "Get therapy!"), but there's some verisimilitude in that; it mirrors the helplessness many of us felt.

The cover suggests a romcom but this book is so much more than that. At first it’s difficult to keep up with the pace as the characters sprint through their lives. Brexit and the pandemic are fitting backdrops as their lives move from exciting early days to the difficult monotony of many people’s lives. It’s sad, familiar and ultimately a really good read once you’ve got into the rhythm of it.

What I Loved About This Book
1. The story of an Australian woman living in London and finding love, creating a family and feeling frustrated by how life can swallow you up.
2. The writing. Wow. Jessica Stanley is funny, witty and uses beautiful metaphors.
3. The storyline and plot.
It was a fantastic book and I loved it.
However, while the political backdrop of Brexit and Boris Johnson adds authenticity to the setting, I personally found it unnecessary to relive those moments. If I were the editor, I might have streamlined those elements, but they undeniably shape the protagonist’s reality.

Romance set inLondon. Coralie rescues Zora when she falls in a park pond and so she meets Zora's dad, Adam. Coralie works in marketing and Adam is a political commentator who writes biographies of politicians. Sparks fly and soon Coralie has moved into Adam's house and is juggling fa ily with working while Adam is working.
Coralie begins to resent how Adam's work seems to take priority over hers. Throw in other family members on both sides.
For me, the story dragged and didn't really connect with the characters. Maybe that lifestyle isn't mine and so I didn't identify with it.

I was hoping this would be a light read with some substance, but I’m afraid I mainly found it a bit boring. It’s presented as a life-affirming, romantic red with some stuff bout the bigger picture, but I thought it was all rather superficial, both in the relationship bits and the political/global events parts.

Coralie, an Australian who moves to London, meets and falls in love with divorcee Adam. Adam has a charming daughter and a burgeoning career as a political commentator, author and radio presenter. He is not very present and Coralie ends up putting her dreams, ambitions and personal growth to one side in order to support him. All this in the shadow of Brexit and the Covid pandemic. There are unresolved issues around her and her brother Daniel’s abusive father thrown into the mix too. It’s all just too much and nothing is explored in any real depth. The book felt very long and left me with a distinctly underwhelmed feeling. I won’t be recommending it.

I really like the way this love story novel was written. Integrated the realities of blended families and politics and events that were happening in the world at the same time. I found it was a really good read and much better than I expected it to be.

Consider Yourself Kissed was an interesting read that I struggled to become fully immersed in. I loved the first part of the book when Coralie and Adam first meet and was drawn to both characters. I liked the idea of setting much of the novel during one of the most tumultuous decades in British politics, however I didn’t feel that the a political angle added enough to the plot or characterisation. The writing then became more like diary entries the author was rushing through. A promising start but ultimately a disappointing read.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC,

When Coralie first meets Adam with his charming daughter Zora in tow, their connection is instant. We follow their lives over the next decade during a tumultuous period in British politics.

I enjoyed CYK and thought Stanley created compelling and authentic characters that you want to find out more about.

I’ve seen the book described as a joyous rom-com in some media outlets, but I really don’t think that’s an accurate description and could set readers up for disappointment. While Coralie and Adam’s meet-cute is like something from a rom-com, the majority of the book focuses more on issues of family, emotional labour, relationships etc. It is an interesting and clever exploration of those themes but that's quite different from a rom-com.

Adam is a political journalist, so politics features quite heavily as a backdrop to their lives. I think it’s interesting to include many references to recent political history. I work in public affairs (the bit of a company that deals with political stakeholders) so this is right up my alley and I remember many of the references. However, I'm unsure if it added much to the story and less politically interested and international audiences might struggle with this aspect of the novel.

Ultimately, I liked CYK and would recommend it but I just wanted something a bit more from it.

This was a nice enough story following couple Coralie and Adam as they negotiate love, life and family relationships against the backdrop of Brexit and Covid. There were times when it felt more like a political history in the guise of a novel, but overall I enjoyed it.
Thank you to netgalley and Random House for an advance copy of this book
3.5 rounded up to 4

This is a very relatable book which follows one woman’s love story and what it takes to keep your identity and sense of self whilst falling in love and raising children.
Set against a backdrop of British politics from 2014 onwards, Australian copywriter Coralie meets political journalist Adam when she rescues his 4 year old daughter from drowning. This begins a love story which seems all too familiar, in which Coralie’s love is tested by forming a family, and the tensions between all the juggling she has to do, of life and emotions.
I found the characters in this book very believable, and the political backdrop added context to all, the change Coralie was experiencing- I feared the arrival of the Covid lockdown, which has been brilliantly depicted. This is definitely a love story, but in a fresh and thought provoking way. Very enjoyable. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

The fact that this book is set during Brexit and COVID made it so relatable. Those memories of feeling like nothing could be relied on to be ‘normal’ and that life was simultaneously a massive rollercoaster that you were on, trying desperately not to throw up or grip the wrong person's hand, and a mundane drudge day after day…they’re all here in the pages. It was like watching a fly on the wall documentary of goings-on that could be happening in any house but at the same time it was utterly enthralling.
The picture drawn of London was so pin-point accurate and vivid, I saw the streets and parks and especially Adam’s house. Oh man, Adam - I did not like him one bit. I felt like he gave just enough to keep Coralie around but was so selfish. Life just got done around him whilst he did whatever he wanted. How he managed to have a kid as cool as Zora (who we all wish we were when we were her age) I don’t know, must be the strong sassy women in his life! They’re all fabulous and feisty and flawed, just like the best women in our own lives.
The tone of the book is light and so very witty but it is dealing with the big serious stuff - who we are, where our value comes from, how global events have local impacts, and how to keep love alive. I’d love a sequel to see where everyone is ten years later.