"It's Not Me, It's You" by Mhairi McFarlane

Delia Moss thought everything was going pretty well in her life.  So when she planned a lovely, romantic marriage proposal for her boyfriend of ten years and he said yes, she was on top of the world.

Until only a few minutes later, her new fiancé Paul sends her a text that was meant for someone else.  A text that says “She’s proposed. Don’t know what to do” and is meant for the twenty four year old Paul has been seeing on the side.  

Delia is devastated.  She realizes that the only way she’ll truly be happy is to find out where the old Delia went and get her back.  She quits the job that has been causing her so much stress and hightails it out of Newcastle to stay with her best friend in London.  It’s not easy starting over in your thirties but Delia is determined to do it.  She takes a job at a small, brand-new PR company and goes back to one of her first loves - the comic strip she created in her teens.

But London proves to be more than she bargained for.  Her boss is horrible, she’s being blackmailed by a sleazy journalist, and Paul is making a play to win Delia back.  Will Delia ever be able to get back to her true self and face what life has to throw at her with ease?

It’s Not Me It’s You, by Mhairi McFarlane, is a lovely novel about losing your way and finding your way back to your true self.  I was seeing this book mentioned on a few different blogs so I thought I would give it a read, I always love reading new (to me) chick lit authors.  This book is a long one, so long that I had to take out my e-copy from the library twice just to finish it (well, 531 pages, but I didn’t realize that with only a few days left before I had to return it.) 

I really liked the character of Delia.  I think a lot of women will be able to relate to her and find a friend in her.  You can’t help but want to comfort her when she goes through all the pain of the heartbreak with Paul.  It takes a lot to start your life over so you’re cheering on Delia the entire way.

The supporting cast of characters were great.  I loved Delia’s best friend Emma and her brother Ralph is such a sweet character.  Delia’s internet friend, Peshwari Naan, was a great idea despite my initial reluctance to him having such a role in the book.  I did not care at all for her boss Kurt, but that’s the point.  And Paul, well there is much to be said about Paul.  I’ll let readers discover that for themselves.

Unfortunately for me, despite the great cast of characters, the plot fell a bit flat.  I really enjoyed the story while Delia was still in Newcastle but once she arrived in London I felt as though the book could have been a lot shorter.  Reading it felt as though the book needed to be fit into a certain number of pages but there just wasn’t enough to the plot so what was there was drawn out.  It doesn’t mean that the story wasn’t good, it means it should have been shorter.

I think from reading what others have to say about the book, that it just wasn’t a great fit for me.  Saying that, I enjoyed reading the book and I don’t hesitate to recommend it to anyone who enjoys the genre.