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In the hilarious and heartfelt follow-up to Confessions of a Forty-Something F##k Up Nell discovers that there's no such thing as having it all figured out.
Brilliantly written, extremely relatable, honest, full of humour and totally uplifting, Everyone needs to read this (you don’t have to be forty-something) and realise it’s never too late to change what you don’t like in your life and their are tons of women dealing with the same thoughts and feelings. But then something happened that no one expected, turning the world upside down in a way no one could have ever imagined. Eighteen months on, life is finally returning to normal! But what is normal anymore? Synopsis (It's a fiction book, so it helps…from Netgalley, the provider of the book for me to review.) The story of Nell Stevens’ struggle through her imperfect, messy life doesn’t just make brilliant fiction, it’s turning into a cultural revolution!' Matt Cain
Join her for more laugh-out-loud lessons to be learned,truths to be told, adventures to go on and joys to discover. 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. In this instalment, it looks like Nell has her life under control, her ship is sailing smoothly. Maybe she isn’t such a f##k up after all? Or are the wheels about to come off her wagon again? May 9, 2023 ] ‘Calm After the Storm’ and other treasures to support your childless heart on Mother’s Day
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. Three woman who join together to rent a large space along the beach in Los Angeles for their stores—a gift shop, a bakery, and a bookstore—become fast friends as they each experience the highs, and lows, of love. I loved the way Alexandra Potter incorporated the pandemic into the start of the novel. It was the perfect way to have Nell reevaluate herself after finding peace with her life in the first novel. It reminded me of how much our lives got completely tipped upside down thanks to COVID-19. Single - nearly 29 and single, and I'm still being asked "when are you going to find a man and settle down? Nell is our forty-something protagonist, she represents so many women, in our different ways. She is intimidated by the yummy mummy brigade, she isn’t proficient at yoga, hates air-kissing and high heels. These character traits tell me she is definitely one of my tribe.
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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.
A funny and heartfelt novel for any woman who wonders how the hell she got here and why life isn't quite how she imagined it was going to be. It was with a sense of glee that I noted Alexandra Potter was releasing a follow up to her 2021 best-selling novel, "Confessions of a Forty-Something F**k Up". I read the first book out of curiosity due to the title - I was approaching the big 40 and discovering that apparently there are life-goals that we are supposed to achieve. I must have missed those particularly lessons at school. And so, refreshingly, has our heroine Nell. As Nell navigates the complexities of love, friendship, and self-discovery, I found myself nodding in agreement, pausing to reflect on my own life and decisions. Potter's witty prose and insightful exploration of life's messiness make for an unputdownable read that's both heartwarming and thought-provoking.
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WATCH NOW: Fireside Wisdom with Childless Elderwomen. What does it mean to be a ‘Radical Old Woman?’ [Recorded 21 June 2023] Similarly, she welcomes the opening up of discussion around the menopause. “It used to be a dirty word and something to fear, but midlife now isn’t what it used to be. I have a picture of my grandmother at 45 and she looks like an old lady.”
For me, and I think so many women, there was this expectation that I would have my life sorted by the time I reached 40,” says Potter, 50. “We have to marry, have kids, get the yoga body and the great career. And my girlfriends and I really experienced that pressure through our thirties, when we were made to feel time was running out – that we weren’t allowed to be a mess by the time we hit the big 40.” Yet only recently have a broader selection of messy, unfiltered female characters entered the zeitgeist, primarily through our TV screens, with Phoebe Waller-Bridges’s Fleabag, Sara Pascoe’s Out of Her Mind, Katherine Ryan’s The Duchess and Lucy Prebble and Billie Piper’s I Hate Suzie all proving that it is possible for a woman to own both her flaws and failures. The story of Nell Stevens’ struggle through her imperfect, messy life doesn’t just make brilliant fiction, it’s turning into a cultural revolution!' – Matt Cain All of these pressures and stigmas – aren’t many of them propagated not by men but women, though? “Women do have a competitive streak, but I think that’s in life generally, and on the contrary I have always found them to be very supportive of one another.” The inspiration for NOT DEAD YET, ABC’s “Most Watched Comedy Debut in More Than Four Years” ( Deadline )Because Nell is determined. Next year things are going to be very different. It’s time to turn her life around. After reading the first book earlier in the year and loving that, I just knew I had to read this! And I’m pleased to say, this was every bit as good as the first book, I loved it. ❤️
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