Thanks to NetGalley and The Publisher for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was dubious about the use of profanity in the title but actually think its perfect.. I really really enjoyed this book, much much more than I expected. I haven't read anything by Alexandra Potter before but wanted to read this due to the age group of the characters. I find that as I'm getting older I want to read books that reflect and resemble my reality but have been struggle to find much that is relatable, until now! While the situations that Nell finds herself in, can and do occur at any age, the way you handle them changes And I think that's what made this book resonant with me so much. The thoughts and feeling expressed felt so much like my own, that just like the blurb says, it reminded me that I'm not alone. This book really cheered me up in what has been a difficult year. This was the perfect antidote for 2020.

I think readers of all ages groups (I'm actually in my late 30's) will enjoy this and recommended it to friends before I'd finished it.

I really enjoyed this, apart from a couple of annoyances, it was really relatable and I think it's going to be hugely successful.
There were some brilliantly funny moments, and some wonderful characters. I think Cricket was the most amazing co-star, she exuded warmth, generosity and positivity. She was perfect.

I loved this book from beginning to end. Initially it was funny and interesting and then it became completely relatable. The author hits all the right notes, romance without being over-the-top, wisdom without being condescending, real and yet not at all boring and lots of social commentary around how we are expected to live these perfect lives, being judged by our friends and family and, worst of all, ourselves. Nell Stevens returns to London after 5 years living in the states, and has returned a sorrier sight. Heartbroken, single, broke, and over 40 with no future prospects. She has to start again when everyone else has their lives all sorted. The story follows her wonderful journey, the new friends she makes (young and old) and the path she forges. The fact is very few of us our living our perfect lift and we are all judging ourselves for not getting their within a certain time. So many wonderful messages and lovable characters. Who wouldn't want to have a friends like Nell.

how much did I love this book? Our main character finds herself at a cross roads in her life - 40, single and childless, living in a flat share and feeling as if she has somehow failed because of it, as she has watched friends and family marry, have children and successful careers.

To vent her feelings she starts a podcast for herself 'confessions of a forty-something F**k up'.

I loved the premise of this book from the start, it takes someone very secure in their life not to compare themselves to the successes of others and sometimes wonder how it might have gone better. Its a brilliant story for anyone in their 40s (or approaching them!) as we come to terms with what might have been, and realise that actually none of us are perfect or have done everything right,

Personally I enjoyed it and really identified with the main character (despite being married with children!). I loved her and her fantastic new best friend, Cricket, who proved that life can begin again whatever age you are, even 80! I would definitely recommend this book. Lighthearted, and uplifting, thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I've read lots of Alexandra Potter books in the past, so when Confessions of a Forty-Something F**k Up appeared on my radar, I was keen to read it.

Forty-something Nell returns home to London after living in California for 10 years. Sadly, she has lost her business and her fiancé, and now finds that all her English friendships are very different to when she left. All her friends are now married with kids, whereas Nell is childless and single.

This book is very funny for forty and fifty-somethings, reiterating the things you say and think as you become middle-aged and you realise that you are actually turning into your mother. There are some moving moments too and it's easy to feel compassion for Nell.

The story is told month by month for a year with Nell doing her best to keep a regular gratitude diary. I really liked this idea as it gives you encouragement that even when the chips are down, there are still good things in life, especially as much of it is tongue in cheek humour.

Confessions of a Forty-Something F**k Up has great characters including a dog named Arthur and an octogenarian named Cricket.

It’s a perfect story that demonstrates how your mind remains young even though your body ages. If you're a woman of a certain age I'm sure you'll be nodding and smiling all through it.

I thought the ending was a bit weird, but I thoroughly enjoyed this.

Loved this book!

Nell is back in London after leaving her fiance in the US. With no where to live and at a very different stage in her life to all her friends, she is starting over in her 40's. Along the way she meets Cricket, who is a great character, and Edward, her new landlord.

At the suggestion she starts her blog, Confessions of a Forty-Something F##k Up, and as this gets more and more listeners she realises she is not alone.

Where Will It End....?
A messy life, an unconventional job and an unlikely friendship. Where will it end? It’s actually okay not to have any idea at all! Amusing, easy reading and escapist with a likeable protagonist and a colourful cast of supporting characters. Fun and feisty.

I loved this book and will definitely be reading more from Alexandra Potter. The characters were
laugh out loud funny and I read this book very quickly as it was such an easy read.

As soon as I spotted this title, I felt drawn to it, though I wasn’t really sure what sort of read it would be.
The book synopsis tells us of Nell, who has recently found herself single, jobless, moving back to the UK, to “start again”. Her contemporary friends are now married, with children, have beautiful homes. Living the social media #livingmybestlife dream. If you are #livingmybestlife, this book is not for you. If you have ever felt that life isn’t quite going to plan, and positive life affirmation social media posts leave you shaking your head in scepticism and bewilderment, this book will make you smile.
I loved the inter-generational friendship with Cricket, and the inter-species friendship with Arthur. The book made me smile, through its humour, warmth and sidewards glance at perfect Instagram life.
I’ve found three new mottos to live life by:
1 Don’t worry too much about people liking you; liking yourself is far more important.
2 No-one ever died of cellulite or wrinkles.
3 You never own a book; you just get to look after it until you pass it on to the next person.
The last point is a perfect place to end, and hand this 4* book over to the next reader.

Loved this feel good journey of singledom to happiness and success - It really needs to be next years big Christmas romcom film!
Although unfortunately I am just past my forties but feel anyone can relate to this great story. Nell was a great character and the addition of her new friend Cricket who is in her 80's is really inspired. Along with various #insta ready hilarious quotes at the end of each day/chapter - it was a topical read. Really recommend this as a great feel good book, easy reading with hilarious moments.
Thanks to #Netgalley for a preview of this book for an honest review.#ConfessionsofaFortySomethingFkUp

I loved the character of Nell Stevens so much. She made me laugh, cry and feel every emotion in between. She is such a relatable character no matter your age or relationship status.

The friendships in this book were so beautiful written and true to life with misunderstandings, misconceptions but love and understanding at their core. My favourite of them all definitely has to be the friendship Nell finds with a widow named Cricket. Cricket’s story is just so heartbreaking and heartwarming and as a character she really touched my soul.

This book contains so many lives in its pages all intertwined in a perfect mess of family, friends, old connections and new beginnings and everything life throws at us when we are busy making other plans.

An absolutely fantastic book, I loved the relationship and friendship between Nell and Cricket. The characters were strong, believable and great fun, and the reader stayed enthralled to the end.
A great read that I would recommend to anyone
Thank you to Netgalley, Pan Macmillan and Alexander Potter for letting me read this book in exchange for an honest review

This book showed so much promise and as a fan of Ms.Potter's previous work I was looking forward to reading this one.

Well, I hate to.say it but I gave up at 25% of the book. I used to read books to the bitter end but not now; if it doesn't interest me and I don't like the heroine then I delete it to the big digital library in the sky.

I very much enjoyed this book. It has a good story and excellent main characters. I would definately recommend this book.

This was one of my favourite Alexandra Potter books. It had heartfelt moments, funny moments, and happy moments. The emotions power through you and it’s the kind of book that wraps you up on a cold winters morning and doesn’t let go - Even after the final page.

Nell certainly goes through the mill, business goes bust, and her relationship.. means she moves from sunny California to cold London. She finds her single friends are now married with kids, and she ends up with a job writing obituaries. Through this she meets Cricket who I absolutely adored! Their friendship grows and they help each other heal and come out the other side stronger.

The friendships in this book made my heart burst it was so great to hear how strong friendships Nell had. Friends are important in every walk of life and their there for the good and bad moments.

I would’ve liked a bit more written towards the end but otherwise I loved this book and can’t wait to read more by Alexandra Potter.

Thanks goes to net galley and the publishers for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

What can I say about this book apart from amazing it was funny thought provoking and I absolutely adored the character cricket certainly made me think.It felt like real life the life of a forty something f##k up who trying to figure out what to do with her life I loved it.

I downloaded this book a while ago but for some reason was hesitant to start reading it. Perhaps, as a forty-something f##k up myself, I was concerned that I would be reading my life rather than an entertaining book. It certainly was titled very differently to the usual ‘Cornish this’, ‘such and such Bay that’ or ‘Christmas the other’ which are my usual go-to titles. However, I was wrong and my past downloading self was right - this was definitely a book I loved reading.
Full of wonderful characters, none more so that Nell, the eponymous fortysomething f##k up. Following a failed business and broken engagement, Nell returns from California to the UK ... to her childhood bedroom none the less. So, jobless, homeless, husbandless and at an age where a bit of a sleeve is perhaps an essential, Nell begins a podcast about her life as a fortysomething f##k up, looking for her tribe and being thrilled at having 14 listeners. Returning to London Nell faces another indignity of having to rent a bedroom from, and share a bathroom with, Edward, the landlord who likes the thermostat set at 13 and has a specific way of loading the dishwasher & sorting the recycling. And to top it off Nell gets a job writing obituaries (which isn’t a bad thing as she gets to meet and befriend the wonderful Cricket, who at 80something teaches Nell the value of not giving a f##k and the importance of being your true self). Nell is also back in the bosom of her long-standing friendship group, those who have known her since university days. However, they may also be fortysomethings but they’re all married with children and homeowners - the complete antithesis of Nell’s life. To Nell their lives look complete and reinforce the feelings of being a fortysomething f##k up who is having to start from scratch.
I don’t want to give much of the plot away, but let’s just use a couple of sayings to sum things up: appearances can be deceptive, the grass always looks greener on the other side of the fence. Nell’s truthful tell-it-like-it-is podcasts resonate with people and it begins to take off gaining tens of thousands of followers, and a drunken conversation between her female friends makes Nell realise that we can all feel like f##k ups no matter how together our lives may appear.
I really, really enjoyed this book. It is crammed full of humour & situations that really made me laugh, but also several touching moments that were so well written it brought tears to my eyes.
You do not have to be fortysomething or a f##k up to enjoy this book (but if you are - welcome to the tribe!). It is completely brilliant, so well written with great, believable characters and is a must read.

I tried this once and couldn’t get into it, second time I tried I couldn’t put it down!
Brutally honest middle aged conceptions.
Nell returns to the UK after her business and relationship goes bust, goodbye California hello London!
All her friends are now married with kids and everyone’s Instagram portrays a perfect life that Nell is not experiencing.
New job, flat and meeting the amazing 80 year old cricket brightens up her days.
Follow the ups and downs we have all experienced at some time or another!
Fabulous read!

A sincere thank you to the publisher, author and Netgalley for providing me with an ebook copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This is not my usual genre,  however I wanted to take the opportunity to read something from outside my norm. And I am glad I did!! Thank you for  opening up my mind to something totally different. Characters were so well developed that I felt as though I knew them. I love when a book draws you into the story and it feels like you are living it with them.

I haven’t read any of Alexandra Potter’s books before so came to it with an open mind of what to expect.

It’s an easy to read somewhat uplifting tale of a mature woman coming back from America where she had it all: a business, boyfriend, nice house, good life. But then it all changes and everything is lost so she comes back home to England to lick her wounds and build her life back up again in her 40’s.

After staying with her parents she rents a room in a house owned by Richard who works in the city [ London] in the week and goes home to his Wife and children at weekends in the country. Richard is a man who is very picky and who wants to control everything that goes on in the house, including the heating, recycling etc. He also has a dog that as part of living there she has to walk, feed and clean. He very rarely speaks to her unless it’s to complain. She stays living there as the rent is cheap and he is not around except in the week after work. They appear to have little in common but learn to be civil to each other.

The book starts off really well and I was looking forward to it being written in a ‘podcast’ style of funny stories [Nell starts writing a podcast – like you do] but after a few podcast entries are shared with us they stop which was a shame as they were quite good as she writes her witty thoughts down.

There was also a list of ‘what am I grateful for’ every day that out started quite funny, but that also disappeared part way through.

The story then starts to feel a bit cliched and you kind of know what’s going to happen.

I was hoping it would be more of a tale of an independent women realising her worth and making her own way through her podcast as well as women supporting each other.

This book had some really good moments. Some funny parts to it. It just felt like there was too much that was trying to be included and that Nell had to have a traditional happy every after ending.