Sophie Ranald’s ‘Sorry Not Sorry’ Will Bring A Smile to Your Face [REVIEW]

Life isn’t always a bowl of cherries. Sometimes a girl is stuck with the pits. So what’s she to do when life doesn’t turn out the way she’s hoped? Shake things up, of course! With Sorry Not Sorry, Sophie Ranald proves that life is what you make it, and sometimes a girl has to admit she’s been doing it wrong all along.

Charlotte has always played by the rules. But when her friends move to the burbs to start a family of their own, she begins to realize that adulting takes effort, but it doesn’t have to be boring!

Desperate to break out of the rut she’s mired in and tired of holing up in bed with Netflix and watching other people fall in love, she comes across a podcast that not only brightens up her outlook on life, it lights a match and sets it on fire!

Now she finds herself doing things that she would never have dreamed of doing in the past. Suddenly, she’s asking for strangers phone numbers, going on blind dates, and even buying sexy lingerie. So long old Charlotte! This new-and-improved girl is shrugging off her old persona, ordering margaritas, and giving herself permission to be the life of the party. But will her experiment fail? Or will she get the life she’s always wanted?

Sorry Not Sorry may be the first time I’ve read one of Sophie Ranald’s books, but it definitely won’t be the last. Reminiscent of Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones stories, this is a novel about a very likable girl who is ready to come out of the shadows and grab life by the throat. But the quiet types don’t change their stripes overnight, or without incident, and the scenarios Charlotte finds herself in will have you laughing your socks off.

Ranald is smart with her writing, and infuses her story with plenty of pathos, not just cheap jokes for laugh’s sake. The result is a novel that makes us rethink our own value system and cheer for her delightful underdog of a protagonist. Sure, she may take more than a few wrong turns as she seeks her happily ever after, but who doesn’t?

This is a wonderful introduction to Ranald’s work, one which will ultimately keep readers begging for more. If you’re searching for a story that will bring a smile to your face and joy to your heart, Sorry Not Sorry is the novel you’ve been looking for!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sophie Ranald is the youngest of five sisters. She was born in Zimbabwe and lived in South Africa until an acute case of itchy feet brought her to London in her mid-20s.

As an editor for a customer publishing agency, Sophie developed her fiction-writing skills describing holidays to places she’d never visited. In 2011, she decided to disregard all the good advice given to aspiring novelists and attempt to write full-time.

After one false start, It Would Be Wrong to Steal My Sister’s Boyfriend (Wouldn’t It?) seemed to write itself, and six more novels have followed. Sophie also writes for magazines and online about food, fashion, finance and fitness.

She lives in southeast London with her amazing partner Hopi and their two adorable cats.

To learn more, visit SophieRanald.com, like her on Facebook, and follow her on Twitter.

SORRY NOT SORRY
By Sophie Ranald
384 pp. Forever. $9.99

Order Sorry Not Sorry direct from Jathan & Heather’s Beach Reads Book Shop or from one of these other fine online retailers: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, Half Price Books, IndieBound, or Powell’s.