The Couple - Helly Acton

Genre: Adult Fiction | Romance | General Fiction

Release Date: 27th May 2021

Millie Jones in on track. She's so close to being promoted, working on the worlds leading hook-up app, she's surrounded by an amazing group of friends and a very cute but very grumpy cat to keep her company. Blissfully single, Millie knows there is no lonliness in being alone.

Now the opportunity of a lifetime has fallen in her lap and she's working on something that's going to change the world - Oxytoxin. A pill scientifically proven to block your brain from falling in love. It sounds perfect, this could be the key to her success - until she starts working with Ben. In a world where romantic relationships are viewing as not only inconvenient but shameful and just odd - can Millie seperate her heart and her head and figure out if love could ever be worth it?

The universe that Helly Acton has created here is just amazing - throwing our world in the trash and showing us one where not being single is just weird - relationships are not normal. It's harder to rent a flat, you're not welcome in single spaces, your financial security is always at risk along with almost everything else in your life. After all, why would anybody want to be so dependent on another person? To be so restricted in your sexual and social life? To risk distraction from your own wants and needs? Or to ever let yourself feel heartbreak?

In a world where people ask, "Are you single yet?", and tell you, "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll find yourself and break up soon!" - this was a dynamic, refreshing take on the the societal views of singledom, and how relationships should be an addition to life and never a requirement. Stripping away the shame single or sexually explorative people are expected to feel, fetishes are a normal part of a life and to explore sexual partners is just a normal part of being a liberated adult.

I fell in love with Millie right away and felt every confused moment of this story right alongside her. Witty, engaging and the actual definition of a page-turner.

Also, any book that contains the words "Goose Springsteen" is absolute gold - you're just going to have the read the book yourself to find out why!

RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thank you to Helly Acton and Bonnier Books UK for an ARC in return for an honest review.

Comments

REVIEW: This Could Be Us by Clare McGowan

Genre: Fiction | Literary Fiction Release Date: Expected 1st June 2023 Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group | Corsair Kate has done the unthinkable. She'd worked hard to build a perfect life for herself, while ignoring her growing unhappiness. But when her second child was born profoundly disabled, reality hit. Unable to cope, Kate left - disappearing without a trace. She ends up in LA, with a glittering career and a new family of sorts, but the guilt is still suffocating. Husband Andrew was left to pick up the pieces and care for their disabled daughter and angry, confused son. Bereft and broken, he leaned on Olivia, Kate's best friend. She's been by his side ever since, ignoring her own needs to meet his. Years later, Andrew has written a memoir about his daughter learning to communicate against all odds. But when Kate's new producer husband decides he wants to make a film of it, their worlds collide once again. Now, Kate must return to the life she abandoned and reck...

REVIEW: Live, Laugh, Lesbian by Helen Scott

Genre: Non-Fiction | Memoir | LGTBQ+ Release Date: 19th October 2023 Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Part memoir, part guide, part conversation and all queer joy — Live, Laugh, Lesbian is a brilliantly warm and friendly journey into the queer experience, not only from the author but from plenty of other lesbian, queer, bisexual and pansexual contributors who bring a unique viewpoint and voice and also show a beautiful diverse, intersectional scope of the queer spectrum and welcomes in queer people and allies of any kind to come feel the love. The book is very conversational, talking to the reader in a fun, friendly way — at times I rolled my eyes as the use of “famalam” but as a previous patron of Colours and Chicagos I’m not in a position to judge the Essex-isms. It’s full of anecdotes and observations that were witty and relatable as well as talking is through the more difficult side of queerness like dealing with workplace discrimination, religious trauma and coming out to family...

BOOK TOUR STOP x RANDOM THINGS TOURS: Thirty Days of Darkness by Jenny Lund Madsen

" This town has secrets that are best left alone." Author Hannah is a success, on paper at least. She's receiving critical acclaim and praise worldwide and her work is regarded as some of the best. She writes literature, not just books. But the reality is, outside of the literary circles nobody actually reads her work. But when she finally snaps at a book event and publicly criticises the genre fiction books that outsell hers, claiming they're easy and mindless she's challenged to write her own crime fiction novel in just thirty days by an author she loathes. Desperate not to lose to him, her editor arranges for her to spend a month in a quiet, cold village in Iceland hoping that the solitude will spark inspiration. But instead of writing a murder story - she's in one . Just before she arrives, the body of a young man is pulled from the icy waters and her search for ideas soon becomes a search for a killer. And if she's not careful, she might end up the...

On Bee's Bookshelf

Search This Blog