What an absolute treat James Bailey’s first ever novel was to read.

From heartbreak to romance, The Flipside provided me with a good ol’ chuckle, as well as a few second hand cringe moments that made me almost with sigh with relief that it wasn’t me experiencing the same public embarrassments Josh (the protagonist) was.

Josh’s story begins with a rather awkward rejected proposal to his girlfriend on the London eye. It gets worse, they have an exclusive pod that they cannot escape for another 29 minuets.

We follow Josh’s lack of confidence to make his own decisions – you can sorta see the logic as a result of the rejected proposal he also looses his girlfriend, job, and flat and has to move back in with his parents – and join his journey of using a coin to make all his important decisions for him.

“I’ve clearly not made the best decisions so far, so why not let fate guide me for a bit? Maybe the coin might actually help me find myself, and love. What have I got to lose?”

P.30

So in a state insecurity, Josh confronts unemployment with the endless job hunting (something I can all too confidently relate to) and enjoys weekly quiz nights with his quirky and charming pals. Then, Josh begins to look for love once again by dating and… well lets just say this is where the second hand cringe moments came in! I hope for Bailey’s sake that these were creatively imagined humorous date disasters rather than based off first hand experiences.

Then on a chance meeting, without giving any explicit spoilers, he meets a girl. His friends (and of course the coin) tell him to go find her again. Josh who won’t say no to the coin’s wishes, travels across Europe in search of her. Pre-warning: This book will make you miss travelling!

All in all, The Flipside was a feel good, light-hearted and easy to read novel. The modern romance with some undeniably great characters with beautifully human quirks made The Flipside one of those novels that you can just sit down and pick up easily, and finish it in a matter of days (at least I did anyways, I was very invested in the plot I didn’t want to put the book down).

The Flipside was an excellent book to have as my second read of the hopefully 50 books I am aiming to read this year.

It reminded me A LOT of Beth O’Leary’s The Flat Share which we all know I loved a lot (you can read my review of that here). So if you were a fan of it too, The Flipside is a must for you.

Or, if you’re looking for a comedy and a feel good novel that is a page turner, make sure you put this on your 2021 to read list.

You don’t have to take my word for it, it has some fantastic reviews!

“Adorable and romantic. I feel uplifted”

Giovanna Fletcher

Thanks for reading, see you all again next Sunday x