Firstly thank you to @michaeljbooks and @netgalley for the ARC of The Flip Side. This is the debut novel of @jamesbaileywrites and is all about our main character Josh. Josh is fresh of his very romantic proposal being rejected and decides to put his faith into the flip of a coin to make his decision for him for the next year, since he doesn’t seem to be that good at making them himself.

It’s not often I read a book where the main character and sole narrator is a man so this was a little different for me. Josh is a kind, good guy. He’s been a bit battered by life and instead of letting it get him down he does the opposite and takes life by the 50p. His story leads him all over Europe as he searches for his sole mate.

Josh has a great group of friends who make for good secondary characters who support Josh without taking any of his limelight.

I loved that the idea was inspired by Josh’s grandfather who he’s close to. I was close to my papa and this is the kind of thing he’d do too.

This is a fun summer read and during this lockdown let me live vicariously through Josh and he went on his travels. If you’re a fan of Nick Spalding I’ll think you’ll enjoy this.

This is an easy,delightful read. There are moments when the reader feels sympathy with Josh,the lead character, and many moments of humour. It coasts along as so much goes wrong in a year of Josh's life. It starts as his girlfriend declines his offer of marriage in hilarious circumstances. That means he loses his job and his apartment because he works for her father. The twenty eight year old goes home to mum and dad. Throughout he is supported by his friends in his pub quiz team who add interest to his story. As all his decisions seem to go wrong,he decides to have a year when all his decisions are taken by flipping the same 50p coin. Thus the title of the book. Things don't go much better as he relies on the coin's judgement. Then,of course,he meets another girlfriend prospect in an art gallery on the day of the London marathon. They lose each other in the crowd before they can exchange contact details or even names! So with the encouragement of his pub team friends he goes to find her. That gives the book a purpose and a satisfying outcome. This is well written,easy to enjoy and a relief from heavier reading. I recommend it..

A great, easy read that is told from the man’s perspective. I loved the concept and the adventure of his journey. Some real laugh out loud moments and great characters along the way.

I read this book in one day - such an easy lighthearted read. The characters are likeable and the storyline makes you feel great

In ‘The Flip Side’ James Bailey narrates Josh’s story as he tries to figure out his life following a failed proposal (and a subsequent break up with his long-term girlfriend) and the loose of his stagnant job in the hotel industry. Left with a broken heart, a rabbit, and back in his childhood bedroom, Josh’s life is a mess. A pretty terrible situation in life for everyone.

I found ‘The Flip Side’ very relatable, from dealing with breakups, complicated relationships with friends and family, and mostly troubles with finding a new graduate job. With Josh setting in the job in the hotel following finishing a degree at King’s College London (it made me smile as it was where I was studying), which was meant to be just temporary but ended up lasting far longer. With the job market being as it is, the months after break up with Jade and losing his job, are understandably for Josh. It also makes for a good and relatable story, with his struggle to find both a new job and a new love. Incredibly awkward tales of dates that go wrong both because of the lack of money and living with the parents.

Flipping a coin as a means to make any decisions, especially important ones, has been an interesting idea, making Josh’s life both simpler and more complicated as a result. In many ways, it took away the responsibility from making any serious decisions on your own, which is particularly hard when you’re feeling so lost, like Josh is. Josh has been a relatable character, and I have enjoyed seeing the narrative unfolding. With the cast of funny and varied supporting characters, ‘The Flip Side’ has been a nice weekend read after a long week. I have particularly liked containing the whole story within a year, from the moment Josh decides to base all of his decisions basing on flipping the coin, to when that’s no longer needed.

I enjoyed reading this book as it was a refreshing change to have a romance written from a main male character's point of view. I seem to have read a few books recently based around a female main character who found themselves in a similar set of circumstances and spend most of the book wallowing in self pity and needy reliance on friends followed by too much trying too hard to find romance in killer heels and Prosecco. Josh is a charming, likeable, relatable character trying to make the best of a bad situation with a more, at times quirky twist. With the aid of a group friends who get get carried away with his quest and the tossing of a lucky coin he follows life through a series of fun and funny scenarios. A bit of escapism travel thrown in and it makes for an light read. I also made a change to be based in a city, Bristol, and not London.

A really light hearted, fun read. This book reminded me a little of Nick Spaldings books and had lots of humorous bits in. A lovely story for modern times with lovely characters throughout.

Thank you to netgalley for this advance review copy. (For reference I read this during Covid lockdown)

A sweet book refreshingly about a male character. A mans proposal gets rejected. Whilst he gets his life back together he decides to let a coin make all of his decisions.

I enjoyed reading this book about a guy who decides to change his life by deciding to do things based on how a coin falls - his life in the hands of fate! I'm a quick reader and this was an enjoyable story that kept me engaged and interested. And of course, he got the girl, in the end!

Absolutley loved this book. It was a really nice, easy read that had lots of laughter in as well as a good old fashioned love story!

I absolutely loved this book!

The story follows the protagonist, Josh, who decides to put his faith into a 50p coin, after realising that until this point in his life, his choices have got him nowhere; he has been rejected by his girlfriend of four years, Jade, after proposing on the London Eye, is completely penniless, has no career, and has been forced to move back home with his parents. By basing his decisions on this coin, Josh runs into a whole host of awkward, but nonetheless hilarious situations, and is led across Europe in the hopes of reconnecting with 'Sunflower Girl', a stranger whose name he never caught, but whom he felt an instant connection with!

This book was the perfect romcom. It was really unique and enjoyable to read this type of book from a male perspective; Josh was a really likable character, and I was rooting for him throughout the book. The pacing was great, the characters were well-developed, and it was a wonderful, light-hearted read that I devoured in a really short space of time!

Thank you to NetGalley for gifting me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Would you make all of your decisions based on the flip of a coin? One 50p coin, for one year? That is what Josh decides to do following a disastrous elaborate proposal on the London Eye on New Years Eve.
He thinks he can’t be trusted to make is own decisions so he leave it all to fate.

This was a lovely, feel good, easy read that only took me a few hours to get through and is a fab debut novel from James Bailey. The characters are likeable. I found myself willing the 50p to make the right decisions for Josh in his pursuit of happily ever after.
For me it was nice for a rom-com to be told from a male perspective instead of the usual female one and gets a big thumbs up from me...

I really enjoyed this book! I was a bit nervous with a male author as I normally stick to female but it was fantastic! Perfect summer read!!

It was nice to read a romantic comedy from the point of view of the man in the story. Josh is a likeable bloke, who thinks he has found 'the one', but he hasn't. I liked the descriptions of his visits to a number of European cities, his support group of friend and pub quiz team who are always there for him, and his quirky parents. I would happily recommend this book to anyone who wants to escape for a while, wants to have a laugh and wants a happy ending. It is well written and charming.
Thank you to James Bailey, his publishers and #NetGalley for the opportunity to lose myself in this book and to write this review.

The Flip Side is the perfect read to escape the world for awhile. The plot is engaging, the characters relatable and easy to connect with. A nice summer read.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was book was funny, lighthearted and sweet in all the right ways - a great, easy-to-read romcom! While I did enjoy reading this book, I will say I found a few confusing gaps in the narrative, and the plot was a little predictable and perhaps slightly superficial. Nevertheless, this book made up for it's shortcomings by making me smile, laugh, and tear up - exactly as a romcom should.

Would you let the flip of a coin make all your decisions for a whole year? One flip, heads or tails, one choice or another…

That’s the premise for James’ debut novel The Flip Side which follows Josh and his fate-deciding fifty pence. After proposing to his girlfriend and being brutally rejected, Josh finds a fifty pence and decides to bestow upon it the power to make all of his decisions; because all the ones he’s made alone have ended terribly. What follows is the story of Josh, his fifty-pence, a girl, Van Gogh’s sunflowers, pigeons, and a road trip with Jesus.

For a debut novel this is a blinder. James’ humour is present from the first page to last and the pages are alive with the wonderfully drawn characters. The protagonist, Josh, is funny, instantly likeable and I was rooting for him from the beginning. The situations he finds himself in after flipping the coin are hilarious and, at times, very moving. There’s a lovely balance between the genuine laugh-out-loud humour and serious, heart-warming scenes.

I devoured this book in a few hours and couldn’t put it down, it was compelling, paced perfectly and had a cast of characters I became hugely invested in. It is really refreshing to read a genuinely funny and warm romantic novel that is told from the point of view of a male character. It’s been a long while since I’ve read one of those! The book is infused with such astute and witty observations, situations and characterisations that make the whole book so brilliant.

The Flip Side is a laugh-out-loud, heart-warming romantic comedy that will leave you pondering whether you could ever leave fate up to the flip of a coin…