#BookReview: I OWE YOU ONE by Sophie Kinsella @KinsellaSophie @TransworldBooks @BeckyShort1

Publication: 7th February 2019 – Transworld

The irresistible new standalone from Sophie Kinsella is a story of love, empowerment and an IOU that changes everything . . .

Fixie Farr can’t help herself. Straightening a crooked object, removing a barely-there stain, helping out a friend . . . she just has to put things right. It’s how she got her nickname, after all. 

So when a handsome stranger in a coffee shop asks her to watch his laptop for a moment, Fixie not only agrees, she ends up saving it from certain disaster. To thank her, the computer’s owner, Sebastian, scribbles her an IOU – but of course Fixie never intends to call in the favour.

That is, until her teenage crush, Ryan, comes back into her life and needs her help – and Fixie turns to Seb. But things don’t go according to plan, and now Fixie owes Seb: big time.

Soon the pair are caught up in a series of IOUs – from small favours to life-changing debts – and Fixie is torn between the past she’s used to and the future she deserves. 

Does she have the courage to fix things for herself and fight for the life, and love, she really wants?

For me, Sophie Kinsella’s novels are a certainty. Whenever one of her books comes out I go and buy a copy, sometimes without reading the blurb first. Her heroines are realistic, engaging, funny, and familiar; her stories are refreshing, entertaining, and completely immersive; the author’s writing style is always clear, fluid, and simple so that it’s impossible to put her novels down.

While waiting and hoping for a new Shopaholic novel, I am really enjoying her stand-alone novels and her last one, I OWE YOU ONE, has quckly become one of my favourite behind Can You Keep A Secret? and My (Not) So Perfect Life.

Who is the protagonist? Fixie Farr is a young woman living in London where she works for the family business. She is funny, loyal, and she wants to fix everything and everyone around her. When something is not right, her fingers starts to twitch and she has this urgent need to put in order, whether it is removing a stain that no one else notices or help her best friend figure out why her husband doesn’t want to have a baby anymore. She wants to make everyone happy so she follows her late father’s wishes and she always puts her family first, even when her older brother and sister don’t seem to care about her feelings or what’s best for the business. Then, there is Ryan, her teenage crush who just came back into her life and she would do anything to keep it there. That’s why she asks for Sebastian’s help. He is a stranger she met in a coffee shop and who owes her a favour after she saved his laptop from a collapsing ceiling. From that moment Fixie and Sebastian find themselves in each other’s debt and spending more and more time together.

Like in all Sophie Kinsella’s novels, romance has an important part but it’s not at the centre of the story. I OWE YOU ONE focuses on family, on Fixie’s relationship with her siblings, and learning to put herself first every once in a while. I liked how she developed and how she matured throughout the novel and how she conquered her fears. There are life lessons, some inspirational moments, and a few hilarious scenes that made me laugh out which are typical of this author’s novels.

I OWE YOU ONE is a brilliant and captivating addition to a fantastic collection of novels by an author that never lets me down and I am already looking forward to whatever comes next.