James Bailey (11) (1991–)

To coin a phrase, Josh is suffering a quarter-life crisis. He just broke up with his long-term girlfriend, lost his job, and moved back home with his parents (shudder).

What starts as a joke soon becomes serious and Josh decides to start putting his faith in the capriciousness of currency. He doesn’t have anything to lose.

But when the chance of a lifetime and the girl of his dreams are on the line.

Will the coin guide him to a rich love life or leave him flat broke?

Thank you, Goodreads and William Morrow for a chance to read The Flip Side!

“Is everyone heartbroken these days? I thought I had a patent on it.”

The Flip side was a funny romantic comedy. It was a nice refreshing read with some laughing thrown in. Do I think it was perfect no. But honestly, I think that just adds to the charm. It was a lighthearted, funny and a easy read. And the one thing that I did like was that it's told from his point of view. Sure, others give us little glimpses from the male's side of things but not like this. Josh is a likeable character. Happy reading everyone!

“What are you?”

“Bond Street, James Bond Street.”

“Of course, looking very suave. Especially compared to everyone else.”

“Yes, that’s not too hard when that guy’s carrying a can of beer and has got a dildo on his head, dressed as a Cock-fosters.”

“So you have had a good year?”… (altro)

The Flip Side by James Bailey is a laugh out loud, with just a touch of melodrama, romantic comedy set in the UK. It was highly entertaining and very funny. A great debut that should be on everyone’s to read list for the holidays.
The story begins with Josh, the main character, proposing to his longtime girlfriend, Jade, on New Year’s Eve while taking a romantic ride on the London Eye. However, all does not go according to plan. She not only says, “No”, but she then proceeds to tell him she has been cheating on him. To make matters worse, Josh has been living in her flat. Therefore, he has lost his home and his girl all in one night. But wait! It gets even better! His ex-girlfriend’s father is his boss and that means he lost his job too. Nothing like kicking a guy when he is down.
With limited financial resources and out of options, Josh is forced to move back in with his parents while he looks for another job. The welcoming committee when he arrives home is anything but appreciated. His parents had planned a congratulatory engagement party that feels like a funeral to him. When he takes a minute to escape and talks with his Pap an idea forms. To date, all his well laid plans have not worked out. So why not let chance rule his decisions for the next year? This is how the flip a coin for all decisions starts out.
Josh’s family and friends thinks he has lost his marbles with this idea. Yet, as the year wears on and Josh is sticking by his decision to flip a coin over choices, they start to warm to it or at least accept it. Leaving things to chance leads to some unexpected results. As you can imagine, some are good and some are not so good. But it does make for a great story. Especially when you consider that it forces Josh out of his comfort zone and in the process he learns a lot about himself.
Like Josh’s friends who warmed to the idea of a coin toss, I warmed to the idea of chance as a good mechanism to move the story forward. Each toss of the coin resulted in some of the most unexpected outcomes that were totally unpredictable. Events that might be seen as hooky or contrived suddenly became believable with a simple toss of a coin.
As much as I came to like the coin toss, the character of Josh is the real star of the story. He has all the best things of the average boy next door kind of guy. I can sum him up in one word, “adorable”. I loved that he was not perfect, made lots of mistakes, and in spite of being 28 still did not know what he wanted. This allowed to author to grow the character throughout the story.
Excellent debut. Loved it from beginning to end. Highly recommend to fans of Nora Roberts and similar authors.
I received a free copy in exchange for my honest review. For more of my reviews, and author interviews, see my blog at www.thespineview.com.… (altro)

A lighthearted romance is what I needed coming off a previous read that was mentally draining. Thankfully this one really was a cute and fun story. Maybe not perfect, but definitely good enough.

Josh's life is a bit messy right now as his girlfriend broke up with him and he lost his job. And with the loss of income, he has to move back in with his parents. Obviously, he didn't plan on any of this stuff to happen but he starts questioning how he makes decisions. Figuring his life can't get any worse, he comes up with the crazy idea to let a coin flip determine his fate. Anytime he is forced to make a choice, he let's the coin do it for him. Hmm... will the coin steer him wrong when it comes to his dating life or will it give him a better shot at finding true love?

Even though it is a bit kooky, I really liked the premise for the book. It might seem like the whole flipping a coin is a bit of a cop out when it comes to making tough decisions, but it can force you out of your comfort zone as well. Most of us could use a push now and then to take a chance even if it's a bit scary. I know I can think of specific examples in my life in which I did the opposite of what I wanted to do and it worked out great.

It's not very often I read a straight romance told entirely from the male's perspective. What made this book a unique read is the author took his time showing where Josh was at in his life rather than just jumping right into the romance. It didn't follow the standard formula in which you know right away who is going to be the one Josh has his eye on. I'm not saying Josh was a perfectly developed character but at least there were other things explored in his life like his friendships and the trivia nights.

As a light and easy read, I really enjoyed this book. I recommend this one if that's what you are in the mood for too.

Thank you to the Netgalley and Avon Romance for providing me with an advance digital copy! All views expressed are my honest opinion.… (altro)