A review by maggiestraveledbookshelf
Is She Really Going Out with Him? by Sophie Cousens

funny lighthearted reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

๐Ÿ“– Is She Really Going Out With Him?
โœ๐Ÿป  Sophie Cousens
โ˜‘๏ธ Contemporary Romance 
โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ
๐ŸŒถ๏ธ

โ€œ๐™๐™๐™š๐™ง๐™š ๐™ž๐™จ ๐™– ๐™ฌ๐™๐™ค๐™ก๐™š ๐™ฃ๐™š๐™ฌ ๐™˜๐™๐™–๐™ฅ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ง ๐™ฌ๐™–๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™›๐™ค๐™ง ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช, ๐™–๐™ก๐™ก ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช ๐™ฃ๐™š๐™š๐™™ ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™™๐™ค ๐™ž๐™จ ๐™ ๐™š๐™š๐™ฅ ๐™ฉ๐™ช๐™ง๐™ฃ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ฅ๐™–๐™œ๐™š๐™จ.โ€

This was such a fun, lighthearted rom-com! 

Overview:
โ€ขWorkplace Romance
โ€ขDivorced Journalist FMC
โ€ขMatchmaking by Kids
โ€ขRediscovering Self

๐—”๐—ณ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—ฎ ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐˜„๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐˜„๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ธ ๐˜€๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ, ๐—”๐—ป๐—ป๐—ฎ ๐—ฝ๐—ถ๐˜๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ต ๐—ถ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ: ๐˜„๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฎ ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—น๐˜‚๐—บ๐—ป ๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฑ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ถ๐—น๐—ฑ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ผ๐—ผ๐˜€๐—ฒ ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ.

This story combined quirky rom-com vibes and the introspection of rediscovery. I thoroughly enjoyed how Cousens wrote the narrative about embracing new chapters and pushing through fear of failure. 

Annaโ€™s character arc was wonderful. I respected her love and commitment to her work, and I empathized with how she felt lost within her motherhood and her job. 

The relationship between Anna her ex-husband felt so real, and the growth in that aspect was such a strong part of this narrative. I empathized with her internal struggles as she navigated this stage while grieving what she thought her life would be.

๐™๐™๐™ž๐™จ ๐™™๐™š๐™ก๐™ž๐™˜๐™ž๐™ค๐™ช๐™จ ๐™›๐™š๐™š๐™ก๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ซ๐™š๐™ก๐™ค๐™ฅ๐™จ ๐™ข๐™š, ๐™ก๐™ž๐™ ๐™š ๐™– ๐™ฌ๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™˜๐™ ๐™ฅ๐™ž๐™˜๐™ ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™ช๐™ฅ ๐™– ๐™ก๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™œ-๐™ก๐™ค๐™จ๐™ฉ ๐™ฌ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™. ๐™„ ๐™–๐™ข ๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ก๐™ก ๐™˜๐™–๐™ฅ๐™–๐™—๐™ก๐™š ๐™ค๐™› ๐™ฉ๐™๐™ž๐™จโ€”๐™ค๐™› ๐™›๐™ก๐™ž๐™ง๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ, ๐™ค๐™› ๐™ฌ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™จ๐™ค๐™ข๐™š๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™š, ๐™ค๐™› ๐™—๐™š๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™ฌ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™™, ๐™ค๐™› ๐™—๐™š๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™จ๐™ค๐™ข๐™š๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™š ๐™ค๐™ฉ๐™๐™š๐™ง ๐™ฉ๐™๐™–๐™ฃ ๐™–๐™ฃ ๐™š๐™ญ-๐™ฌ๐™ž๐™›๐™š ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™– ๐™ข๐™ค๐™ฉ๐™๐™š๐™ง.

I loved the hilarity of her kids choosing random people for her to ask out on dates! Dating in your 30s is not easy, and through the realistic dates, this provided some wonderful commentary. 

The romance between Anna and Will was very sweet, albeit not my favorite part of the book. Their relationship felt a little too shortsighted, but they had sizzling chemistry and fun moments. 

โ€œ๐™’๐™๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™–๐™ง๐™š ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช ๐™™๐™ค๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ,โ€ ๐™„ ๐™จ๐™–๐™ฎ, ๐™œ๐™ง๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™ฃ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™ช๐™ฅ ๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™๐™ž๐™ข. โ€œ๐™„โ€™๐™ข ๐™œ๐™ค๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™จ๐™๐™ค๐™ฌ ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช ๐™š๐™ญ๐™–๐™˜๐™ฉ๐™ก๐™ฎ ๐™๐™ค๐™ฌ ๐™ช๐™ฃ๐™ฅ๐™ง๐™ค๐™›๐™š๐™จ๐™จ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™–๐™ก ๐™„ ๐™˜๐™–๐™ฃ ๐™—๐™š.โ€

Special shout out to the chapter openings! They infused so much relatability and humor, like this example: 

๐™‚๐™ค๐™ค๐™œ๐™ก๐™š ๐™จ๐™š๐™–๐™ง๐™˜๐™๐™š๐™จ: 
๐™’๐™๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™ฅ๐™š๐™ง๐™˜๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™–๐™œ๐™š ๐™ค๐™› ๐™ฅ๐™š๐™ค๐™ฅ๐™ก๐™š ๐™—๐™š๐™ก๐™ž๐™š๐™ซ๐™š ๐™ž๐™ฃ โ€œ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™šโ€ / ๐™จ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ก๐™ข๐™–๐™ฉ๐™š๐™จ? 
๐˜พ๐™–๐™ฃ ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช ๐™๐™–๐™ซ๐™š ๐™ข๐™ค๐™ง๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™๐™–๐™ฃ ๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™š ๐™จ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ก๐™ข๐™–๐™ฉ๐™š? 
๐™Œ๐™ช๐™ž๐™ฏ: ๐™ฌ๐™๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™ฅ๐™š๐™ง๐™˜๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™–๐™œ๐™š ๐™˜๐™ฎ๐™ฃ๐™ž๐™˜๐™–๐™ก ๐™–๐™ง๐™š ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช?

I fully appreciate Cousensโ€™ ability to write romances for a more mature audience while infusing so much heart and wit. 

Overall, I would definitely recommend this to anyone wanting a sweet and lighthearted romance!

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