Anna Bell is an author who has been on my tbr list for a very, very long time.
Ever since I found out about her book The Bucket List to Mend a Broken Heart and heard so many amazing things about her work, I wanted to give her a chance.
After putting it off for the longest time, I was lucky enough and got a chance to read her newest novel, The Good Girlfriend's Guide to Getting Even.

I am so glad I read this funny novel with the longest title ever, because I fell in love with Bell's writing style, and with the positive atmosphere she created, that was present through the whole story.

This book follows the story of Lexi, a 29 old woman who's boyfriend (Will) is obsessed with sports.
Dating him and watching all the games is not always easy for Lexi, but she found her way to deal with that (like reading books on her e-reader when her boyfriend watches a game she is not interested in), but when Will fakes stomach flu so he wouldn't go to Lexi's best friend wedding, and goes to the game instead, Lexi decides it is time for her to get even.

First of all, let me just say that egocentric in me enjoyed reading this book and my approach to this story is 100% subjective.
You see, I could relate to Lexi so much, because her Will reminded me of my boyfriend. I mean it, they are so alike, it's like the author based Will's character on him.
Even their whole relationship situation was almost the same as ours, and when I was talking to my man about this book, he was sure I was making it up, just to entertain him.
"No", I said "but Anna Bell wrote the story I should have written (because sometimes I like to think I was destined to write a good book one day), because it's like reading my life on those pages. I KNOW what she's talking about, to the core!"

The writing style was really, really good!
The story itself was great, but the way the author told us the story is even better. It reminded me of Sophie Kinsella's style in a way.

I laughed so many times while reading, was entertained the whole time.

I was also curious (and because of subjective reason a bit worried how the story's going to conclude) because, even though to some readers this story was predictable, I really had no idea in which direction it was going.

The things I think could have been better in this story are:
- I wish we got more romantic/cute scenes with Will and Lexi.
- I wish there was stronger character development. We said goodbye to the same Lexi and Will we met at the very beginning of the story.
- I don't think Will's reason to miss the wedding was strong enough.

I am so glad I read The Good Girlfriend's Guide to Getting Even, and I am looking forward to read more of Bell's work.

If you're a chick lit lover, this book is the one you shouldn't miss.

The story follows Lexi and her sports mad boyfriend Will. Lexi and Will are supposed to be attending her best friend's wedding when at the last minute Will becomes ill with food poisoning and cannot go. Lexi is upset but there is little she can do about it until a friend sends her a photo of Will at a football match. Lexi decides to get revenge on Will for misleading her. This was a great book because living with someone who is sports mad you could understand what was going through her mind. A light easy read which was very enjoyable. I would highly recommend.

In this funny romantic comedy, I knew Lexi, a 31-year-old girl who has given up waiting for Will's propose. After seven years of relationship, they are patiently accommodated in a comfort zone typical of middle-aged couples. Lexi is not complaining though, for her it's all right since when Will is watching his favourites sports whether on TV or in stadiums, she is writing her book. So calm and peaceful .... so very quiet .... until ....

As it says in the synopsis, he fakes a food poisoning on the wedding day of their best friends. At first, Lexi is afraid to leave her boyfriend alone going bad, but he insists that she go.
She goes and what is not her surprise to receive a message from her friend Mike in the middle of the party showing a picture of her boyfriend, who should be in bed, all happy at the local stadium !!!!!
She goes crazy....of course.... even accepting his addiction to sports, she thinks that she was practically betrayed by the guy ....

Then begins her adventure to try to make him confess what he did, but all her attempts at forcing him to speak fail, so she starts to think the perfect revenge: disrupt the entire season of games he had scheduled to watch.
She ends up creating several crazy and seductive situations to prevent him from going use his season tickets.

Lexi furthermore enjoys that her writing group is demanding that she opens a blog and begins sharing all her fanciful ideas with people.

You can see that this combination of revenge with blog will generate many confusions.
And many many confusions .... that leads Lexi to unexpected questions and attitudes

The story is super interesting and hilarious with several moments of passion and romanticism. Lexi begins to realize how their relationship was stagnant and gradually falls more in love with the sweet and lovely Will, who innocently falls into all the trappings of the girl without noticing her real intention.

It's a fast-reading book even with a lot of pages because the author has made me super anxious to know each of her ideas and all its consequences and reactions from Will and also nervous to know what the outcome would be like.

The book looks like a diary and has led me to dive deep into the dilemmas and discoveries of the girl and to identify myself with her feeling of being the second choice, for although my husband is not addicted to sports, he is addicted to church activities And I often find myself thinking like Lexi ... and I feel like I'm being sidelined.

Of course I'll take advantage of some of the tips she gave in this book .... Shiiii .... Be quiet ... do not say anything to my husband! He can not know, obviously.

I loved her friends so much, the cover and the guide that the writer presents at the end.


I highly recommend the reading. 4,5/5 stars

Kisses, Myl

I think every female can relate to Lexi's frustration with Will when it comes to watching every sporting event there is. I really loved her acts of revenge too, they were inventive & had me laughing out loud.

This book was so funny & brilliantly written. It was refreshing to read some chick lit instead of sex on every other page & I would definitely read more books from this author

The premise of The Good Girlfriend’s Guide To Getting Even is very promising. I was expecting a fun and light romantic comedy and at first the book did not disappoint. However, at around the 35% mark I started to get confused. Was this a book about revenge? Or about a couple going through a rough patch? Or about a woman realising she wanted more out of a relationship and out of life in general? Of course, towards the end it was clear which of directions the book was going in, but for a long time the book just seemed to flounder.
As for the characters, Lexi was a bit of doormat and didn’t seem to grow that much during the book. Neither did Will, who was not a particular considerate person to start with. Because of the lack of focus of the story, I never really got a feel for their relationship. They didn’t really communicate, which was clearly the main issue between. I felt if they just talked once in a while, things would have been different. It seemed that everyone was keeping secrets from everyone and then lying about it. Also, I didn’t find the reason why Will missed the wedding a believable motivation. To be fair though, I don’t really understand the fuss about weddings in the first place; I never see why a relationship is only “valid” if it involves rings and a big party.
The Good Girlfriend’s Guide To Getting Even has a lot of potential but doesn’t quite deliver because it lacks focus and substance.

Fun and laughter by the page, in this impossibly long titled book! I have barely been able to keep the big grin off my face, as I have followed Lexi's story with her sports mad boyfriend.

Set to a backdrop of sport, be it on TV, or real life fixtures, it is what Lexi has to live her life around, due to Will's sporting obsession. He is a life long, and season ticket holder of The Saints (Southampton FC), and everything is set in motion when he claims to have a massive stomach upset, to get out of going to Lexi's best friend's wedding, whereas in truth he caught out at the football.

Lexi rather understandably wasn't too happy, but instead of confronting Will, she starts exacting small but amusing acts of revenge, in an effort to try and make Will learn he can live without some sport. Lexi is also an aspiring author, and when her writing class discuss marketing and have the participants create blogs, Lexi starts one about her revenge - The Good Girlfriend's Guide to Getting Even!

There is a rather light hearted sense of amusement to the whole book, and I loved the inventive depths Lexi went to, although at some points, as a massive sport lover myself, I was finding myself in sympathy with Will, despite finding Lexi funny.

If you don't like sports, don't worry, there is very little, nitty gritty details about any of them. Sport is the background to the novel, but more as the collective than specifics. There is mention of all sorts of sporting events, but there are only a few live matches that Lexi attends, and even then the description are more of the atmosphere than what was happening on the pitch.

Incredibly entertaining story that I really enjoyed, complete with a sex mad best friend, a gorgeous colleague where Lexi works, a couple of holidays, plenty of revenge and an ending that pleased me greatly.

Thank you to Bonnier Zaffre and Netgalley for this copy of the book, which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

A light and fluffy chick-lit, the underlying romance of this book is somewhat spoiled by the petty behaviour and distinct unlikeability of the two main characters.
The basic premise of this book rankled with me - Lexi's campaign for revenge against her boyfriend for skipping out on her best friend's wedding was a childish reaction to some pretty awful behaviour on her boyfriend's part, and the big reveal at the end of *why* he skipped out on that wedding was both sexist and stretched the bounds of believability.

While on the whole I actually enjoyed this book, and trotted through it in a single day, with a good few smiles and laughs along the way, there are much better books out there which don't rely on exaggerated caricatures of characters or outdated sexist traditions. I have no issue with a book built around a relationship suffering from a failure to communicate, but this book, I felt, pushed it a bit too far. While I did enjoy it, I wouldn't really recommend it - I think there are much better books out there.

Had to force myself to finish this one. Deplorable characters, horrible writing. Nothing good to say unfortunately.