Love your life (by Sophie Kinsella)

(Amazon UK link)

I’ve been reading novels by the late Sophie Kinsella for over a decade now.  For too long I ignored her writing as ‘chick-lit’, but when I was eventually persuaded to try one, I was very pleasantly surprised. She was an excellent writer, with ironic humour and interesting people. Exaggerated, perhaps, but not caricatured, or not overly so.  And her stories are quite moving, too. 

I picked up ‘Love your life’ at a church book stall towards the end of 2024, and have only just read it. It didn’t take me very long - these books are always easy to read, and I had more time available than usual. 

The main character, who narrates in the first person, is a young woman called Ava. And when we first meet her, she’s musing about a recent date she had with someone she didn’t much like. Then we see her handing her dog Harold over to her friend Nell, as she’s about to embark on a holiday in Italy. Clearly Ava is very attached to Harold. 

We then see Ava on a rather unusual writing retreat, where nobody shares any personal details or even names. They each invent a name for the week, they dress in loose pyjamas that are provided, they eat only vegetarian food, and they do writing exercises. It sounded rather interesting. Ava is part-way through a historical novel and hopes to find some inspiration for it, as she has been rather stuck. 

Into the class comes a very good-looking man who had signed up for a martial arts course,  only to find it cancelled. He and Ava have an instant attraction, and decide to get to know each other better, although without sharing any personal details. She discovers that he likes doing spontaneous things, and gets a thrill from adrenaline; she also learns that he’s kind, and caring, and likes dogs. Inevitably they go to bed together - this happens a lot in this kind of novel, but thankfully Sophie Kinsella never added gratuitous details.  

After what seems like a perfect week together, Ava and her new lover discover that they both live in London, and they are both determined to continue their relationship. And then they find out just how different they are. Ava likes colour, Matt likes starkness. She likes warmth, he likes to be cooler. She has many projects happening, and has a hard time getting far with any of them; he is dedicated to the family business which he is running. And then there’s the question of his former girlfriend, who works for the family business.

Ava is very close to her three friends, and Matt shares a flat with two guys, so it’s inevitable that they will meet.  Once again it seems that they have nothing in common. And in an exaggerated and somewhat amusing contrast, one of Ava’s close friends is determined to find exactly the right person by gradually eliminating anything that might be at all annoying, with online searches. And she finds - eventually - someone who seems to tick all her boxes, no matter how petty they seem to anyone else.

When I had read the first few chapters of the book, I felt as if it was going to be a bit trite, all about physical relationships with not much else going on. But as I got into the book - and Ava is a likeable person - I realised just how much more interesting it is than I had thought at first. I loved thinking about the two diametrically opposite ways of finding a date, whether by detailed analysis or by pure physical and emotional attraction. And I liked the varied nature of the two groups of friends.  

I also appreciated the metaphor of culture shock, as Ava visits and tries to understand 'Matt-land', while he tries to make sense of 'Ava-land'. I thought it was a clever idea, and there are some amusing images that arise. So I'm very glad I kept going, rather than giving up after a few chapters. It definitely gets more interesting after the writing retreat has finished. 

I suppose there isn’t a whole lot of plot, and what there is turns out to be predictable (boy meets girl, all goes well, problems arise and they separate for a while…). Yet it’s extremely well done. I smiled several times, and even chuckled aloud once or twice. There’s nothing deep in it, and nothing really controversial; but the people and their interactions work well, and the rather badly behaved dog Harold adds a very enjoyable sideline. 

Ideal for holiday reading if you want something light and fluffy with an entirely satisfactory ending. But don’t bother if you prefer something more serious, or with unexpected twists and turns. 

Review copyright 2026 Sue's Book Reviews