The Setup - Lizzy Dent

Book Synopsis: From the author of The Summer Job comes a laugh-out-loud, heartwarming story about one woman's impulsive fib that jump starts a summer of reinvention and learning about love, life, and what it means to accept yourself.

She has a plan. Fate has other ideas.

The last place very average thirty-one-year-old Mara Williams thought she'd be is on a solo vacation impersonating her fortune teller when she finally meets the one. Josef, a gorgeous Austrian cellist, sits down for a reading and before she knows it, she's telling him his destiny will be sitting in a pub in the English seaside town of Broadgate on the last Friday of August. And her name is Mara.

Enter Project Mara: three months to turn herself into the stylish, confident woman she's always hoped to be. Meanwhile, the crumbling, formerly glamorous beachside pool club where she works is under threat and her eccentric colleagues enlist her help to save it, just as a handsome new housemate casts doubts on her ideas about "the one." Can Mara pull off the transformation of a lifetime? And by summer's end, will she know who is her destiny?

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Compared to her debut adult novel, I didn't love this book. It was predictable and I hated the astrology aspect, which is unfortunate because it is the center of the main character's personality.

What I liked about this book was the love interest. He is so thoughtful and sweet to Mara even when she doesn't deserve it. I was expecting more humor from this book because of The Summer Job. I didn't find myself laughing or smiling all too much. I found Mara to be self-centered and selfish, it's hard to enjoy this book because she is so unlikable.

I think you'll enjoy reading this book if you like astrology, watching rom-com movies, and cheesy makeovers. If I could compare this book to a similar concept, it would probably be The Princess Diaries particularly the scenes when she gets a makeover and almost hooks up with the wrong guy.

However, I can't wait for the third book from Lizzy Dent! Hopefully, I will like it more than this one. If you want a copy of this book, you can pre-order it or wait until June 7th, 2022 to buy it.

Rating: 3/5 Stars ★★★☆☆