Publication: 22nd July 2021 – Piatkus
-Employed (you have frequent nightmares about your job)
–Single and fabulous (swiping Tinder in your pyjamas while your best friend shops for engagement rings)
–Thriving (surviving)
Ivy and Mia have been best friends since the fun, messy, hungover years of their twenties.
Ten years later, Mia has it all – the man, the house, the career. Ivy is skint, single, and scared that she isn’t a ‘hot mess’ any more – she’s a walking disaster.
But one night, Ivy switches her phone off, peels last night’s drunken pizza off the sofa, and makes a list. A list that changes everything . . .
The new Ivy has a proper job. She goes on fancy dates in wine bars. She’s starting to think: maybe ‘faking it till you make it’ is easy?
But then she meets Scott.
Curly-haired, sarcastic Scott.
Sh*t.
I loved Is This It? because it is funny, well-written, and compelling, but also because the protagonist is relatable and feels authentic and I adored her.
Ivy Edwards is in her thirties. She lives in London, she doesn’t have a job, she is single, but, one night, she decides it is time to change that. First thing first, it is time to follow her dream and become a teacher, so she starts her training in a school where she quickly realizes that it is not always easy to control and teach a group of screaming children, but it is often rewarding and she won’t give up easily.
On the personal side, after a few disastrous online dates, Ivy meets Scott, handsome clean-obsessed Scott. Could he be the one? Will she finally have her happy every after?
After finishing reading Is This It? I was surprised to find out that it is a sequel – to The Education of Ivy Edwards – because it so well-written and with enough background information about the protagonist that I thought this was a stand-alone. I am happy it is not a stand-alone because I really need to read The Education of Ivy Edwards (and also because I hope there will be a third book!).
Ivy is really an incredible character. Once she decides she wants to become a teacher, she works hard to achieve it, even though most of the time she was scared of the challenge and she didn’t feel up to it, she never backs down. Throughout the novel we see this character develop well and mature, both on her personal and work life. I loved her closed relationship with her sister Hannah and with her parents (I especially loved her conversations with her mother who had no filters when it came to speaking).
Is This It? is a hilarious, romantic, and captivating novel and I couldn’t recommend it enough!
A huge thank you to Piatkus and NetGalley for providing me with a proof of the novel.
Hannah Tovey is from South Wales and grew up in Hong Kong. She graduated from the Faber Academy in 2018, where she finished her debut novel, The Education of Ivy Edwards. Hannah lives in East London where she misses Llanelli beach, her mother and cockles. Is This It? is her second novel.
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