Thursday, September 8, 2022

Lily Lindon - Double Booked



Lily Lindon - Double Booked 

4.5⭐

Genre: Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Romance, Contemporary Fiction, LGBTQIA+ 

Pages:  416

Format: Hardback

Publisher: Head of Zeus

Date Published: 9th June 2022 


Huge thank you to lovely Aria Fiction for sending me this gorgeous copy to read and review. 


Book Blurb: 

Gina is about to marry her boyfriend.
George is about to join a cult lesbian pop band.
Gina and George are the same person.
No wonder Georgina is DOUBLE BOOKED
A fresh, timely and genuinely laugh-out-loud romantic comedy about a sensible young woman in a long-term relationship who realises she's bisexual.

Georgina is a sensible 26-year-old with a routine: 1) schedule dates with her long-term boyfriend, 2) teach piano to inept children, and 3) repeat until dead. Perfect.

But when one night she deviates from her usual timetable and sees the indie lesbian pop band Phase, Georgina realises: 1) she longs to play her own music again, 2) she wants to be just like them, and 3) their drummer is really hot...

Scared of losing her happy straight life, but feeling a new sense of belonging in the gay scene, she does what any rational person would do: she splits herself in two. She'll be Gina by day, George by night. It's going to take painstaking scheduling, a versatile wardrobe, and an ambiguous haircut, but maybe Georgina really can have both?


My Review: 

I loved the writing style, the narrative Lindon created and the short chapters of this book, which all made this a very addictive and flowy read. It was honestly so hard to put this book down. Although, Double Booked can be quite slow-paced at times the writing style and funny moments make up for that. Also, as someone who loves music, I appreciated the music side of this story.

The story follows Georgina, who is in a happy long-term relationship with her all-you-can-want-in-a-guy boyfriend. She is teaching piano in a private school in London, has everything in her life carefully planned and organised in her digital calendar and is happily straight. That is until one evening, her friend Sophie asks Georgina to accompany her to a gay bar where a new hot lesbian pop band is performing. When Georgina meets the band, she starts questioning some of her life choices. Firstly, she realises that she misses being in a band and playing her music, secondly, she realises that she might be bisexual. These new revelations throw Georgina’s life into chaos in which she decides to start living two lives, one as Gina and one as George. However, her splitting her life in two not only causes chaos in her calendar schedule, at also causes chaos in her relationships and friendships, whilst also adding loads of lies, hiding and switching appointments on top of it…

What I loved about this book is that Gina is a mature female in her late 20s exploring her sexuality. It is the first book I read where that is the case, as most contemporary romance/ romcom books usually have teens exploring and coming to terms with their sexuality but not someone older and more mature. So, this was a breath of fresh air.

In terms of characters….Gina... Gina…Gina…There were parts of the book where I just wanted to shake Gina to some common sense but then at the same time hug her, especially when she is so hard on herself, her appearance and her looks. She always seems to put herself down and it was so hard to read at times. Although the growth of Gina in this book is brilliant. By the end of the book, she becomes more confident in her skin and more mature in her life choices, as well as realising that double life is not that easy to manage.

However, it was hard to read when she lied to Doug and kept secrets from him, especially since he was so supportive of her and had been there for her for so long. She should have had more respect for Doug who she loved for so many years. She should have told the truth and been honest. Honestly, more communication with him would have avoided too many awkward moments and hurt.

Overall: Very addicting and laugh-out-loud book, which sometimes had me shouting at the main character (I was rooting for her, just saying). Such a great narrative and writing that makes it hard to put it down. I think this book would be a perfect ‘get me out of the reading slump’ book. Can’t wait to see what Lily Lindon writes next (hopefully a sequel…) because I will be reading it.


About the Author:

Lily Lindon is a writer and editor living in London. She studied English Literature at Cambridge University, and was part of the Footlights comedy group. She was an Editor at Vintage, Penguin Random House, before joining The Novelry. DOUBLE BOOKED is her debut novel.

https://twitter.com/lily_lindon

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