The Setup – Lizzy Dent

Published By: Viking
Pages: 368
Released On: 09/06/2022

There are two men in my life. But this is not a love triangle.

Mara Williams reads her horoscopes every day – but she wasn’t expecting to be in a whole other country when destiny finally found her. Just as a fortune teller reveals that her true love is about to arrive, a gorgeous stranger literally walks into her life. And now Mara is determined to bring them together again…Surely even fate needs a nudge in the right direction sometimes?

But while Mara is getting ready for ’the one’, the universe intervenes. Her new flatmate Ash is funny, and kind, and sexy as hell…There was no predicting this: it’s as if her destiny just arrived on her doorstep.

So will Mara put her destiny in fate’s hands – or finally trust herself to reach for the stars.

*****

Thanks to NetGalley and Viking for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.

Lizzy’s book The Summer Job was one of my favourite books of 2021 so I was thrilled to get a copy of this one.

I definitely preferred her first book, it felt more me, I identified with it more and it was set in Scotland which is always a bonus for me. But this was still a nice book.

I felt it was a little slow to begin with; it did start to pick up but you have to stick with it.

I’m not a big astrology/horoscope believer so that was difficult to get my head round, it didn’t feel tangible enough to feel truthful and it all felt a bit childish.

I didn’t particularly like the main character Mara or her plan to get Joe to fall in love with her. She was quite irritating, very childish and naive and at times, quite disturbingly obsessive. I didn’t like many of the characters if I’m honest, except for Ash (although his storyline is a little predictable), he was the only well rounded and personable character for me.

I really like Lizzy’s writing and story ideas and I will definitely be reading her future releases but sadly this one didn’t hit the same heights as her last. It’s fun and cute but it’s missing that extra spark to make it leap off the page.