Is She Really Going Out with Him?

Starred review from August 15, 2024
A recently divorced woman lets her kids set her up with eligible men, only to find herself falling for someone unexpected. British magazine writer Anna Appleby has sworn off love. After the depressing and drawn-out end to her marriage, she doesn't believe in romance--and she's definitely not into online dating. But when Will Havers, a younger, way-too-cocky fellow writer, starts angling to take over her column, Anna needs to step it up. So she pitches a new column idea: She'll go out on dates with men chosen by her children. Will, meanwhile, will write a companion column about his adventures in online dating. Anna's kid-chosen dates--with everyone from a dad at their school to the mail carrier to a celebrity--end up charmingly awkward or downright disastrous. (Who knew a fishing date could end with a hook to the face?) Meanwhile, Anna has to deal with the frustration of seeing her ex-husband move on. It's only when she spends more time with Will that she starts to feel the sparks she never thought she'd experience again--but he's her office rival, and isn't he trying to take her job? That's difficult to remember, though, when the sexual tension between them is driving her to distraction. Cousens has a well-earned reputation for writing delightful love stories, and this one more than delivers. The enemies-to-lovers chemistry between Anna and Will is both believable and steamy, and Cousens deftly plays with rom-com tropes while crafting a journey of self-discovery in the wake of divorce. It's also refreshing to read a slightly older heroine--Anna is in her late 30s, an age that often seems nonexistent in romances--with an established life, career, and children. A supremely satisfying love story with all the charm readers have come to expect from Cousens.

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September 16, 2024
In this appealing enemies-to-lovers romance, bestseller Cousens (The Good Part) pairs a stressed-out, recently divorced mother of two with her hot new coworker. The new owner of Bath Living magazine wants to reach a younger audience, so writer Anna Appleby needs to up her game. Otherwise, the annoying (and distractingly attractive) Will Havers will get her column and perhaps her job, too. Anna reluctantly agrees to write about the dating scene in Bath, England, and accepts her boss’s proposed hook: her preteen children will get to choose who she dates. The results are both awkward and amusing, sending Anna out with the morose father of one of their classmates, their waiter at a hip restaurant, and the forbidding next-door neighbor, among others. Will, with whom Anna grows closer the more they work together, begins to seem very appealing in contrast, especially as he proves himself to be unexpectedly kind. While the happily ever after is never in doubt, Cousens fills the path there with laughter and surprises, and strikes a good balance between romance and family life. This is a charmer.

Starred review from September 15, 2024
Best-selling author Sophie Cousens (The Good Part, 2023) delivers another refreshing novel that takes readers on an unexpected journey. Anna Appleby is a recently divorced mom of two who works as a columnist at Bath Living. She doesn't have hobbies outside of her job and kids, but insists she is perfectly happy and has no interest in dating. But when her job is threatened by insufferable and annoyingly sexy colleague Will Havers, Anna goes out on a limb to freshen up her column by going on a series of dates--with people her children have chosen. Through a series of chaotic, charming, and surprising rendezvous, Anna begins to find herself again and is reminded that she's not just a dowdy mum whose marriage failed. She is attractive. She has interests. She has aspirations. She deserves a second chance at love and happiness. With a cast of well-developed and memorable characters, Cousens expertly weaves together themes of self-discovery, romance, motherhood, and friendship, resulting in a rich story that is engrossing to the end, and has high appeal for women's lit readers.

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October 1, 2024

Bestselling Cousens (author of the GMA pick This Time Next Year) offers a trope-filled rom-com (enemies-to-lovers, opposites attract, workplace romance, and more) featuring a columnist who, in fear of losing her job, agrees to go on seven dates chosen by her children. They pick the mail carrier, a waiter, and even her celebrity crush. Prepub Alert.

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