Written in a different form to usual, but I enjoyed this. Loved the friendship between the two women, and it was a heartwarming story.

I loved this book so much. It’s very funny and so true. It’s perfect comfort reading for anyone who thinks life isn’t working out as they want it too. Although I’m not 40 yet I could relate to so many things.

A fun recount of a year in the life of Nell, a forty-something woman who feels like nothing in her life is how she/d imagined it would be, as she reaches her forties.
No man, no job, no home, no children... friends soaring in their own lives. Even her younger brother is getting ahead of her.
Through the year, she begins documenting her thoughts in a little known podcast, meets an old mate who gives her a simple job, that leads to her meeting an octogenarian new BFF and finds a room to rent in a flat, with a rather pernickety landlord.
The year has its ups and downs, but the biggest thing is there is discovery and not just the discovery that her podcast ends up a hit!
A fun-filled, relatable read for all those who think their lives are going nowhere, and need a reminder that all will be well
Many thanks to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book is in my top five books that I have read this year. It has everything, love, loss, friendship and enemies. You can’t help but love Nell and want her to have her happy ever after.
Laugh out loud funny in some places but also heart wrenching in others..

Great wee read and reassuring as it makes you realise that not everyone has their life together. It had laugh out loud moments. Would recommend to my girlfriends!

I loved this - probably because like main character Nell I am a forty-something single. Not quite a f##k up but certainly not on the same page as everyone else around me or necessarily where I thought I’d be.

As such I totally related to so many of the themes regarding age, marriage and children, with some of my favourites being:

“This keeps happening to me now...I read articles about middle-aged people as if they’re my parents or something, and then I suddenly realise – hang on, we’re the same age!”
“I always feel the pressure to explain why I don’t have kids, in a way I’m not sure women who have children do.”
“Who can make that kind of promise [marriage] when you truly have no idea what will happen in the next thirty or more years ahead?”

It wasn’t just the life stuff I agreed on but I was delighted to find someone (even if they were fictional) who shares my views on ‘The News’. I hate ‘The News’, religiously turning over the TV if it comes on – much to others incredulity – because it’s all doom and gloom. I know bad things happen but I really want to try and pretend they don’t. As Nell says: “It should be renamed the ‘Bad News at Ten’....one horrible headline after another...There is so much suffering. So much terror and injustice. The refugee crisis, our oceans filled with plastic, climate change, animal cruelty, gun and knife crime...the list is endless.”

Hopefully I’ve already managed to convey that this funny – truly hilariously funny. There’s funny one-liners: “My theory is that’s why our eyesight goes as we get older: to protect us from seeing ourselves in sharp focus.” But, also plenty of situational humour such as Nell’s attempts at babysitter or dealing with Arthur’s dog-poo.

But, it’s not all laughs. There are some serious messages and life lessons too such as: “Real life is messy and complicated. Shit happens. One size doesn’t fit all....We’re all just living our life, and it might not tick all the boxes or look Insta-perfect, but that’s OK.” Feelings of depression and anxiety were also alluded to as “The Fear” but sadly in this case were somewhat lacking. I felt the topic should have either been fully/properly explored or not included as just the implication didn’t do the topic justice or add anything to the story.

This was set over the course of a year, with chapters denoted by months, which I really liked. It just made the course of events and speed at which relationships developed more realistic and believable than some romance novels where boy meets girl and settles down with her a week later. Unlike some this also wasn’t entirely predictable – I mean it did end up exactly as I hoped and thought but somewhere in the middle it wasn’t a given.

And, finally (gushing nearly over I promise) this had a great cast of characters but even more so was the dynamics between them. In particular “the super fabulous Cricket” was brilliantly entertaining and the friendship between her and Nell touching – different generations but so many similarities. Like Nell at the moment but I really hope I’m like Cricket when I’m in my eighties. Then, there was that well-known situation (like in the brilliant film Bridesmaids) where your best friend has got a new best friend who upstages you at every chance but slyly so your mate continues to think the sun-shines-out-of-her. But, it was the love/hate dynamics of unlikely housemates Nell and Edward that I really loved.

So, in case you hadn’t guessed I absolutely love this. So funny, so relatable and such easy reading. A must-read for anyone but particularly if you’re too a forty-something or your life isn't working out quite how you'd expected.

This is an easy and enjoyable read, very relatable and peppered with humour. Definitely a feel-good book, despite being tinged with moments of sadness.

I thought this one was ok. A nice east chic lit read, had a few funny parts in it but nothing stand out.

A witty, bittersweet tale. Great characters and story. A feel good novel for the strange times we live in. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the arc.

A very humorous easy read with great relatable characters and a great story. Slow at times but engrossing nonetheless.

Confessions of a Forty-Something F**k Up is an easy, fun read about a woman (forty-something years old, of course) who feels like her life hasn’t got to where she thought it would be at this age. She’s just broken up with her fiance, moved back in with her parents, and hasn’t got a proper career to speak of. This is the story of how she navigates a life which is less ‘together’ than she expected it to be.

I love the fact that this features a slightly older woman than characters we’re often presented with in other books in the ‘women’s fiction’ / ‘chick-lit’ (both annoying classifications, let’s face it) genres, and one who has a real zest for life. There’s her friend Cricket, who is exactly the kind of person I want to be when I’m a lot older, and her odd new landlord Edward – all interesting and different characters, which is what I enjoyed about this book. I also really liked that one character, who I definitely thought was going to play a more significant role just because that’s what always seems to happen in books like this, actually didn’t.

However, this is quite a long book and there were plenty of parts within the story were a little predictable. I also wasn’t completely sure about the very end of the book which felt a little rushed / tacked on, but it didn’t spoil my enjoyment overall.

Plenty of the pages made me laugh and smile, and there were a lot of interesting issues raised within the story. I really enjoyed my time in Nell’s world and would happily read more about her in future books.

Alexandra Potter writes a very witty but poignant novel about growing old and growing up.

Nell and Cricket. Two women and a 40 something age gap equals lots of lovely laugh out loud moments. Underneath the laughter is the real tale of a friendship mourning lost loves which really moved me.

Both these characters are delightful, and I raced through this book.

Confessions Of A Forty Something F##k Up, is Bridget Jones meets the characters from Anna Hope's Expectation. This book was supplied to me via NetGalley and the date has been pushed back to 2021 while I was reading it! Nell's life is a mess - she has split up from her boyfriend, their bookshop come cafe has gone bankrupt, and she's having to leave America to come back to London where all of her friends have settled down, got married and have kids. Life is not going how she would want. Moving into a house share in Richmond, she finds a job writing obituaries. While writing up an obituary, she meets Cricket, a widower in her eighties, she strikes up a friendship as they help each other to heal from their past, cope with the loss of the lives they have planned and find new adventures. Their friendship between generations reminded of Beth O'Leary's The Switch with the way the characters come to together and realise that nobody is ever alone and that we're all in this together. Nell starts to realise her life isn't as fucked up as she thought as she slowly learns that everyone feels the same about their own lives. This is a great book about evolving friendships and being determined to create a life that might not be what you expected but will be great none the less.

I loved this book and it was just what I needed for a spot of humorous lockdown reading. It reminded me a little of Bridget Jones complete with a podcast, which admittedly is something that I would still like to do and I could imagine this podcast being better than someone of the ones I listen to.
The book is as the title says about a woman who has split up from her long-time partner and moves in as a lodger to the house of what seems to be a stuffy man.
She then goes onto recount stories about her friends, online dating and her pastimes.
Nothing too heavy but like I said just what I needed. Highly recommend.

Great light read, great characters and great story. I have never heard of this author before but the writing is great. Will definitely read more books by her xx

A light-hearted read that makes you laugh out loud. Good characters, well written and amusing. Definitely worth a read..
My thanks to net galley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to read an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

When everyone else's life seems Instagram and Facebook perfect, it can only highlight the imperfections in your own. Arriving in London in January, trying to find a job, meet the cost of renting a room and may be a romantic partner, it all seems too much. A drunken ramble an eighty plus friend new perspective found. It made me smile, recognise some of my own thoughts and how you can get inside your own head. An excellent read to highlight the old expression that everything is not always what it seems. Cheer the characters along, recognise yourself and groan, laugh and cheer them on. Enjoy. I will be looking out for other books by this author.

I haven’t read an Alexandra Potter book for a while, but this book is going to get me catching up on her back catalogue. I loved it! It was funny, had characters I cared about, and was an all round great read. If you’re into women’s fiction, you don’t want to miss this one!

Release date has been put back to January 2021 - pre-order it and note this down on your calendar! You need to read this book if you are under the impression that other human beings know what they're doing, and they've got their shit together.... they don't!! And we witness that realisation through the eyes of Nell, who is in her 40's and struggling with what life has thrown her way! It was touching, hilarious, so relatable ( a little too relatable at times worryingly!!), and was full of all those 'yes' moments that had me laughing and commiserating in equal measures!! A perfect read!!

Nell is back in London, after living the seemingly perfect life in L.A with her fiancee running their own business! But the business went bust and so did the relationship! So she know has to pick up with friends who have all moved on to different stages in their lives - the married, mortgaged, kids part of life - and she is feeling like an alien in their world! They have become part of the showy off brigade - comparing their lives, achievements, who is the busiest, possessions... you get the drift - while Nell is just left noticing all that is going wrong with her body now she's in her 40's! Why do our bodies do this to us??!!

But her life changes when she gets a job writing obits for a local paper and she becomes friends with one of the ladies she interviews and it's an extremely unlikely friendship with the wonderful Cricket! We all need to be more like Cricket! She has just lost her husband and Nell finds an instant connection with this woman, who has lived her life differently to those around her. She married late, had no kids but lived her life the way she wanted to. They both seem to inspire one another to move on with their lives and seeing them getting out and about together and have new experiences was just so wonderful and touching! They are both very good influences on one another! Cricket is also finding herself 'shunned' by old friends since the death of her husband - having someone single around couples upsets the balance - and it really showed up the insensitivities of others.

I adored the way this story is written - it showed the consequences of life's heartbreaks and the moments of joy that make it all worthwhile. The humour for me was spot on, I found myself laughing so often when a situation connected with my own experiences and using the month by month way of exploring the story allowed it to flow so well. When Nell starts up a podcast, really for herself, she doesn't expect it to connect with so many and thinks of it as just a way for her to unload all her feelings - I am sure many podcasts and blogs are all started with the same intention!

Nell shares the moments with her family and all that entails, the expectations, the disappointments and the joy! There's the competing with friends new friends, who just live to outdo you, the unexpected discovery when she helps Cricket clear out some old clothes, and the honesty of friends who let you into the secret that all is not perfect in their worlds too despite appearances!!

Loved it! Buy it!

A nice story of a woman over 40 having to start her life again after losing her partner and business. She looks at her friends and thinks they have their lives all sorted and she is behind in the race of life. But by not she puts it all together with the b help of her new friend, an 80 something year old not afraid to try anything, and finds out her friends lives are not as perfect as Instagram portrays. A little too much self analysing, like a self help book in parts, but overall a good read