I have read countless books about mothers - post natal depression, mums struggling to cope, mums struggling with society’s expectations to be perfect. An international bestseller, this is a book for anyone who’s ever worried life isn’t going to plan, Confessions of a Forty-Something F**k Up by Alexandra Potter will make you laugh and it might even make you cry. I wanted to hang out with her and be whatever she needed - drinking buddy, sounding board, friend date.

When her business goes bust and her fiancé with it, Nell’s happy ever after in California falls apart and she moves back to London to start over. Nell's journey to mid-life happiness is hilarious, moving and filled with clear-eyed wisdom about what it means to be a woman of any age, proving that the best happy ever afters come when you fall in love with life. Nell is at rock bottom, she has split up with her fiancé after their business went bust and has moved into a shared house with Edward, who has a long list of rules . This book was so light and happy, it inspires in a fun and lighthearted way, addressing so many topics that may often be difficult to talk about, I did not want it to end.

And I could relate to Nell quite a lot which is a credit to Potter writing her character really well. First of all, thank you NetGalley, Pan Macmillan, and Alexandra Potter for allowing me access to this e-ARC! Nell spends a great deal of time in the first half of the book bemoaning her failure to have a social media–worthy life and assuming that everyone else she knows is enjoying total success because they are married and have kids. Together they help each other heal their aching hearts, cope with the loss of the lives they had planned, and push each other into new adventures and unexpected joys.

Once Nell starts to find her footing, the narrative energy picks up and big life events start occurring, giving the reader a slight sense of whiplash.The novel starts off with a murder, and with seven people trapped on an isolated Greek island lashed by a "wild, unpredictable Greek wind. As they increasingly spend time together Nell and Cricket help other heal through the struggles as they both move on in their new places in life. As someone who is forty without the husband and children I’d always thought I’d have (and no real prospects on the horizon), I thought I’d finally found something I could relate to.