9th August 2018 by HQ
The Plus One [n] informal a person who accompanies an invited person to a wedding or a reminder of being single, alone and absolutely plus none
Polly’s not looking for ‘the one’, just the plus one…
Polly Spencer is fine. She’s single, turning thirty and only managed to have sex twice last year (both times with a Swedish banker called Fred), but seriously, she’s fine. Even if she’s still stuck at Posh!magazine writing about royal babies and the chances of finding a plus one to her best friend’s summer wedding are looking worryingly slim.
But it’s a New Year, a new leaf and all that. Polly’s determined that over the next 365 days she’ll remember to shave her legs, drink less wine and generally get her s**t together. Her latest piece is on the infamous Jasper, Marquess of Milton, undoubtedly neither a plus one nor ‘the one’. She’s heard the stories, there’s no way she’ll succumb to his charms…
THE PLUS ONE is one of these books that should be on everyone’s reading list. It has an enjoyable and captivating plot, a cast of colorful and engaging characters, and a likable and funny heroine. I laughed a lot and I couldn’t get enough of Polly’s adventures.
The protagonist of the novel is Polly. She is a journalist working for Posh, a magazine that focuses on the English royalties, their pets, their children, and their weird quirks, so she finds herself going to orgies attended by politicians, dukes, and princes, organizing photoshoots involving five hundred avocados, and trying Russian detox treatments all for the sake of an article. She also finds herself mixing with lords, marquess, and sheiks, all obsessed with their animals (mostly dogs, horses, and chickens). On the personal side, Polly is worried about her mother who has been on her own since her husband died twenty years earlier. Her two best friends are with people she doesn’t really like and one of them is getting married in a few months. Tired of being just “Polly” on wedding invitations, Polly hopes that this time she will find her plus one, her Mr Willoughby (her idea of romance is the love story between Marianne and Mr. Willoughby in Sense and Sensibility). This novel made me laugh not only for the weird situations Polly get herself in, but also for the personality of the protagonist. She is down-to-heart, realistic, and loyal. She is entertaining and witty and I wished she was my friend.
I like the author’s writing style, flawless and clear, which, together with the compelling and refreshing plot, made it almost impossible for me to put it down (if it wasn’t for my job, I would have read this in less than a day). I am already looking forward to whatever Sophia Money-Coutts writes next, but, in the meantime, I would like to thank HQ and Joe Thomas for providing me with a proof of this immersive, brilliant, and sexy novel.
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