Published By: Macmillan
Pages: 512
Released On: 17/08/2023
There is no magical land you finally arrive at where everything is figured out, fixed and sorted. Life, like us, is a sum of moving parts, and if we’re lucky, we get to keep f**king up, figuring it out and laughing in the face of it all.
Nell’s back. Her life still isn’t going to plan. And she’s still asking the big questions and getting none of the answers. Like, for example:
1. Why is falling in love so easy, but staying in love so hard?
2. What do you do when your friendships are put to the ultimate test?
3. Can we ever really live in the moment and leave the past behind?
4. When everything goes tits up, do you fall apart or jump on a plane to LA with Cricket (an eighty-something widow and your BFF)?
5. And when all else fails, will celebrity-scented candles, smashed avocados and Instagram filters save us?*
In this hilarious, un-put-downable follow-up to the bestselling Confessions of a Forty-Something F##k Up, now the basis for the major TV series, Not Dead Yet, there are laugh-out-loud lessons to be learned, truths to be told, adventures to go on and joys to discover.
But first, Nell has some more confessions . . .
*****
Thanks to Macmillan for my gifted proof of this title in return for an honest review.
The first Confessions book was one of my favourites of 2021. It was so original and I absolutely loved it! So I squealed with excitement at being given a copy of the sequel.
I was worried I wouldn’t remember what happened in the first one seeing as it has been over 2 years since I read it, but you’re instantly thrown into it. And there are some quick reminders. They don’t stand out, she’s not taking us for fools and repeating the first book, but she’s cleverly worked the important bits into the earlier chapters which really helped get into the flow.
It’s still as funny and as honest and as relatable. Bizarrely, I found it really moving. When you get these kind of haphazard rom-coms (a genre I will be trademarking) you expect them to be fun and silly and light-hearted. You don’t expect to find yourself crying at them, which I did on several occasions. But not always at the sad bits. Yes, there were sad bits and that made me teary, but the pure hope running through the book is so moving too.
In my review of the first book, I said I related to Nell by saying:
- Single – nearly 29 and single, and I’m still being asked “when are you going to find a man and settle down?
- No children – see point 1.
- No Job – not my fault. Had a job. Enjoyed it. Pandemic came along. Lost job. So instead I say I’m a writer, when really I’m a failed author pleading for someone to read my book.
Now, we’re 2.5 years on from that, I am now 30, and I am 1) still single, 2) still childless, and 3) have no job but still refer to myself as a writer, albeit a failed one when it comes to actually finishing anything.
It is scary how relatable it is. It also annoys me that in society, if you’re 25-40 and you’re single/childless/unemployed (delete as applicable), you’re deemed a failure. And that’s where I think Alexandra really excels. She takes this unconscious belief and makes fun of it. She explores this outdated idea of achieving life goals by a specific age, and turns it on its head, in part thanks to 80-something Cricket.
In books, TV shows and films, everything is dialled up to be fantasy, the perfect wife/husband, the perfect children, the perfect house, the perfect figure, the perfect job, the perfect life. But in real life, no relationship, no friendship, no sex, no job is perfect. Whilst I’m aware this book is also a fiction and should be a fantasy, it really holds a mirror up to us as a society. It talks about the negatives of being a woman in society, making it so familiar and relatable, but shows that you don’t have to be perfect to be perfect.
At its heart, it is a love story, but it has many layers. There’s romantic love for current partners, past partners, and lost partners, love for your friends, love for your children, love for strangers, and love for yourself.
I’ve said it before that I’m not overly fond of books that talk about the pandemic, as I want escapism, I don’t want to read about something I lived through. But Alexandra has found a balance here. She’s mentioned it – as anyone would if their book is set during that time – but it’s not a main plot point. It helps give context to a few things, but the story would equally be as great without it.
It is over 500 pages, and I’ve said before that I don’t like long books, but this just melts away. I read it in little over 24 hours and it is just faultless.
When you love a book, as I did with the first one, there’s always a worry that a sequel won’t live up to it. But now I’ve finished it, I’d say this was even better than the first one. She’s settled into the characters and the tone of the book and it’s absolutely splendid. I don’t know if there will be anymore in this series, but if she does decide to continue it, I can guarantee that this bookworm will be reading it.
Books By Your Bedside 