It’s such a pleasure today to be joining the blog tour for Shout Out To My Ex by Sandy Barker – always one of my favourites – and sharing my review. Published on 14th February by Boldwood Books and the second in her Ever After Agency series, it’s now available as an e-book (free via Kindle Unlimited), in paperback, and as an audiobook. My thanks, as always, to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for the invitation and support, and to the publishers for my advance reading copy (provided via netgalley).
Sandy’s books are always a total delight – and if you pop her name into the search bar (on the RHS if you’re on your computer) you’ll find reviews of all her books other than the very first (and, next time I’m in a reading slump, I must remember I still have that one to catch up on!). I was thrilled to hear that Sandy had become a Boldwood author – and confident that it’d be a partnership that would make her future books even better. The first book her new Ever After Agency series, Match Me If You Can, was an absolute joy – a really original idea, a great story, beautifully written, and with such engaging characters (you can read my full review again here) – and I was so looking forward to reading the next book in this lovely series…
Fashion designer, Elle Bliss, is unlucky in love.
She’s still hung up on her first love, Leo, who ended things abruptly, then mysteriously disappeared – and a decade on, no one else can measure up.
But Elle’s all-time dream of showing in Paris Fashion Week is about to become a reality, and she has no time to dwell on her dismal love life. That is until Leo – now going by Lorenzo – comes back into her life.
A celebrated up-and-coming shoe designer, ‘Lorenzo’ is nothing like the man she fell in love with. Rude, brash and with an ego the size of Paris, he’s too caught up in his own celebrity.
But as they constantly cross paths in the city of love, Elle begins to question how much of ‘Lorenzo’ is an act – a persona for the cameras. Because deep down, she can see glimpses of the man he was, and feelings from all those years ago become impossible to ignore…
Join Elle in the most romantic city in the world in this laugh out loud enemies-to-lovers romance, perfect for fans of Sophie Kinsella and Emily Henry.
Should this be your first visit, you’ll soon discover that the Ever After Agency is something a little different – a dating agency catering only to the very top end of the market, with the necessary levels of secrecy and professionalism demanded by its clients, who only arrive at their door by personal referral. I don’t really need to set the scene though – the author does that so very well herself, including introducing the really well-drawn characters who provide the service. And, if you read the first book, you’ll already know Poppy – a former psychologist, an Australian living in London, who found her own path to happiness – although I would stress that you’d have no issues at all if you chose to read this book as a standalone.
The client this time is Cassie, but not approaching the agency on her own behalf. Her sister Elle might be finding real success as a fashion designer, but she’s never been able to find happiness in her personal life, with no-one matching up to first love Leo, who inexplicably walked out of her life after their time at college together. Cassie, while harbouring the hope that bringing them together might just rekindle what they had, feels it’s important for her sister to get some proper closure, tasking the agency with finding Leo (without Elle’s knowledge) and bringing them together again, just to see if the spark is still there and whether there’s any chance of his abrupt departure being forgiven. And it turns out he might just have been hiding in plain sight – but some time at Paris Fashion Week, where they’re unable to avoid each other but also have to steer around the gaze of the paparazzi and the machinations of others trying to further their own careers, provides that opportunity to take those first few steps.
The behind the scenes view of Paris Fashion Week is quite wonderfully done – all the glitz and glamour you’d expect, but the backbiting and chaos you’d probably be anticipating too. And poor Poppy – undercover, so she can help things along, posing as a rather less than confident journalist so that she’s able to access all areas. The author’s knack for making you present in the moment is just perfect – armchair travel at its very best, and an opportunity to fully experience the kind of glittering occasions none of us would ever be privileged enough to attend.
But I also thoroughly enjoyed the developing relationship between Elle and Leo – their bringing together might have been engineered, but coming to terms with past betrayal is something they both have to work hard for. And that’s not the only relationship I loved – there’s the rather special one between the two sisters too, and how Elle might react when she discovers that refinding the love of her life was something other than a happy accident. And any book from the author wouldn’t be complete without those wonderful friendships she always includes – particularly, in this case, through a thread unfolding in parallel where Poppy is attempting, with even more subterfuge, to make sure her very best friend Shaz doesn’t throw away her own chance for future happiness.
The characterisation is so excellent, both the main characters whose happiness I felt fully invested in (the story’s told from the viewpoints of Elle and Poppy, which works really well) and the smaller cameos (investigator Marie and the magnificent Paloma were real personal favourites). There are plenty of dramatic moments, and the romance and friendship (and the working relationships) are beautifully done – combined with the fascinating setting, this was a story I thoroughly enjoyed from the very beginning to its absolutely perfect end. With an enticing short taster of the next instalment at the book’s end, I’m very much looking forward to my next visit to the Ever After Agency and spending time with Poppy once more. This is a book I’d very much recommend you add to your reading list – I really loved it.
About the author
Sandy Barker is a bestselling author of destination romance. She’s lived in the UK, the US and Australia, and has travelled extensively across six continents, with many of her travel adventures finding homes in her books.
Sandy lives in Melbourne Australia with her partner, Ben, who she met while travelling in Greece. Their real-life love story inspired Sandy’s debut novel One Summer in Santorini, the first in the Holiday Romance series with One More Chapter, an imprint of HarperCollins. The first in her new romcom series for Boldwood was published in September 2023.
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That book title rang a bell with the song by Little Mix, I had to look it up to check.
A bit of a trend, Rosie – next week I’m reading one called Murder on the Dancefloor…!
Thank you so much, Anne. I so appreciate you and that you were on the tour. xxx