Review: Liv Is Not A Loser

Liv Is Not A Loser by Lauren Ford
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Olivia 'Liv' Granger has trouble committing, to a career, to a hot drink, to an apartment, to a boyfriend, to a new phone, to her degree. When her brother Joe gets engaged to his boyfriend she realises that everyone else seems to have their lives together whereas she is still acting like a teenager. Together with her brother, his boyfriend, and her brother's best friend Henry, Liv creates a ten point list to stop her being such a loser (I can only remember seven):

1. Finish her degree
2. Get an internship in her chosen field
3. Sign a lease
4. Get a new phone
5. Commit to one hot drink (I feel in this I need to explain that she routinely buys three drinks at a time)
6. Have at least three dates with a guy before rejecting him
7. Keep a pet alive

Liv starts to make headway with her list, despite being dragged into wedding planning by her obsessive mother, and forced to meet yet another of her father's new girlfriends (each of whom believes she is far more special to him than she really is), but her dating life is terrible - it is only the calm acceptance and commiserations from Henry that keeps her going. But when Liv overhears a conversation between her niece and Henry she realises Henry may have feelings for her and when she looks at him in the light of this new knowledge she realises she might have feelings for him too.

Whilst I get that Liv was stuck in a bit of a rut, I also felt that her family/friends were pushing her into a pigeonhole (maybe because she was the youngest they felt she still needed to be babied and/or told what to do?), really is it too much for someone to want three drinks? Really is your reality so rigid?

I've read a couple of similar books recently and this one didn't really stand out from the rest. There was a bit too much therapy-style chat and things just quickly fell into place when Liv started her list. How many times have I said this? I liked it but I didn't love it.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

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