Out with the Ex, In with the New by Sophie Ranald

From the Book Blurb:
You know when you sleep through your alarm, trip over running for the bus, and then someone points out that your dress is stuck into your hotdog-print knickers? That’s basically my life right now.

Gemma didn’t expect her life to look like this. She’s still living with her mother, who steals her leggings and tells her off for leaving crumbs in the butter. After twenty failed interviews she thought she’d bagged her dream job as a journalist – except it turns out to be writing articles about cats that look like George Clooney. Luckily she has her wonderful boyfriend, Jack, to help her forget just how rubbish things are.

Then Jack dumps her out of the blue. With nothing but her childhood teddy bear, Stanley, and a whole heap of heartbreak, Gemma resolves to turn things around. She throws herself into her new job and soon she’s hanging out with cheeky, golden-haired hunk Charlie, eating in swanky restaurants and sipping trendy cocktails – and her old life seems like a distant memory.

But it’s not long until her shiny new world starts to lose its sparkle – and Gemma misses the days of wearing battered pink converse and eating peanut butter on toast in bed. Then Jack turns up, backpack in tow, and things starts to go wrong with Charlie. ‘Out with the old, in with the new’, the saying goes. But what happens if neither one is quite right?

This laugh-out-loud romantic comedy is for anyone who’s ever cried their eyes out to love songs after a break-up or accidentally drunk-texted their ex. Fans of Sophie Kinsella and Lindsey Kelk will love this unmissable read which is all about falling in love with the most important person: yourself!

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My thoughts:

Having recently finished 'No, We Can't be Friends', I really wanted to read another book by Sophie Ranald. This one focused on one of Sloane Cassidy's clients, Gemma Grey, her vlogging career and her search for self-identity and a stable rewarding relationship.
I was surprised how young Gemma sounded compared to Sloane. Sophie Ranald is a master of characterization. It was absolutely clear that this girl is only 24 years old, and is still trying to understand what she would like to do with life. One thing is clear, she is a good, decent person, who cares about other people and is trying to do right by them. Gemma started her make-up advice vlog for fun. As it happens to many vloggers (my cousin is one of them, so I can vouch the author's research is spot-on), she hit a 1000 subscribers milestone, and made some similarly-minded friends in the YouTube community, but..that's it. Then her boyfriend Jack goes travelling with another friend and breaks up with Gemma. Gemma records a video with her 'epic reaction' to the break-up, which goes viral and gets her noticed. Of course, the plot is a bit predictable: Gemma needs to discover the pros and cons of her online career, and she also needs to find a worthwhile cause to care and do something about.
I loved Gemma with her honesty and self-deprecating humour. This book previously had a different title- 'The truth about Gemma Grey'. While the new one is more attention-grabbing, I still prefer the old one, because the focus isn't so much on her romantic relationships, but on Gemma becoming more self-aware and more mature.
Out with the Ex, In with the New is a great example of the chick-lit genre: it is entertaining, touching on some more serious topics (the charity Gemma ends up caring about is very close to my heart) without making the reader feel too depressed, and, of course, there a HFN at the end.
Thank you to NetGalley and Bookuture for the ARC provided in exchange for an honest opinion.