Leftovers

I won Leftovers by Stella Newman along with her debut novel Pear-Shaped back in March, and am annoyed with myself for taking so long to review it, but here we go:

Susie, according to a quiz she takes in a magazine, is a Leftover- a woman over thirty who has no man, hasn't got her dream job or her dream home. Quite a harsh definition of someone really. But Susie has a plan, she is going to finally get that promotion at work and pursue her dream career in food. If only she could just get over her ex and stand up for herself a bit more.

I really enjoyed this novel from Stella Newman, it was funny, witty and I much preferred the main protagonist in this book to Pear-Shaped. It was great to read; a fantastic balance between real life's hardships and some uplifting, funny parts of life.

Susie is extremely unappreciated at work and the team she has to work with are abominable! But she just can't seem to pluck up the courage to just quit. She also thinks about her ex waaayy too much and stalks his new girlfriends Facebook profile- never a good idea!

What she does find comfort in though is pasta- once again Stella has a fantastic way of describing all the pasta dishes and the pasta shapes. Susie also follows her Italian Grandmother's motto: "A bowl of pasta is the answer to most of life's problems. And we find out further into the novel whether this is actually true or not.

I could really resonate with this novel once again because of the relationship side and some tough parts of life and it actually made me feel OK about things not always working out. As Susie says in the novel, "The only person that can truly help you is you".

I think the only criticism I have of this novel is Susie's workplace- seriously if people were that stupid in advertising nobody would buy anything! 

What I did love though was the kick-ass penultimate chapter, it really turned the novel round for me- fantastic ending!

8.5/10