Penny wise or pound foolish? A heartbroken young Brit decides to turn his love life over to the flip of a coin—in this delightfully British rom-com in the vein of Jenny Colgan, Rosie Curtis, Nick Hornby, and David Nicholls.
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). … his parents (shudder). Welcome to rock bottom in Bristol. As Josh starts questioning all his life choices, he has a mad thought: Maybe he would just be better flipping a coin. After all, careful planning has landed him homeless, jobless, and single.
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?
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The Flip Side is utterly charming, funny and very relatable!
Utterly adorable and romantic. I feel uplifted!
Really sweet, warm hearted story with some very funny moments… Thoroughly enjoyed it and it was a lovely way to start the new year.
A funny, sparky read that feels fresh and modern… this book is fab.
Thoroughly enjoying… perfect to kick off your 2021 reading year.
MY feel good book pick of 2021, i was laughing out loud. Cute sweet British guy running around making choices flipping a coin and hijinks ensues as he looks for romance.
“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?” (less)
So flipping delightful!
At his lowest point on New Year’s Eve Josh decides to let a flip of coin make all his decisions leading to a year full of frustration, despair, curiosity, adventure, and finding out how to be happy with who he’s become.
Josh’s road to self discovery is full of friends, family, and situations both funny and sad. I really enjoyed the hope and enlightenment that the search for Sunflower Girl brought not only Josh but those he interacted with.
If you liked The Flatshare or The Switch I think you’ll love this one!
The audio was divine with great pacing and narration.
THE FLIP SIDE by James Bailey is a contemporary, adult , stand alone story line focusing on twenty-eight year old Josh as he navigates the game of life with the flip of a coin.
Told from first person point of view (Josh) THE FLIP SIDE follows Josh, a hotel employee, who plans an extravagant proposal on New Year’s Eve for his girl friend of four years but disaster and heart break ensue when Josh discovers said girlfriend has fallen in love with another man. Unemployed (having worked for his girlfriend’s father) and now homeless (having lived in said girlfriend’s apartment), Josh finds a fifty-pence coin, and resolves that every decision for the next year will be determined by the toss of the coin. From trivia nights to marathons, to meeting a stranger at an art gallery, then a tour through Europe searching for said stranger, Josh sets out to find love but the coin toss threatens his tentative hold on a new found relationship.
Touted as a rom-com, THE FLIP SIDE reads like a version of Bridget Jones Diary, only down on her luck Bridget is a twenty-eight year old man/child named Josh, who along with his intrepid and well-meaning but often immature group of friends discovers that life’s choices cannot be controlled by the flip of a coin. A slow building story line THE FLIP SIDE is a sweet and charming story where the romance is limited-the hero spends most of the story searching for a woman he knows little about, and the comedic aspect IMHO, struggles to take hold.
This contemporary British rom com from a male point of view was a welcome relief from a stressful time in my career. And at a time when travel isn’t safe, it was delightful to visit several European cities from the comfort of my reading chair.
Plot summary: It’s New Year’s Day and Josh is in a sad place. His girlfriend declined his elaborate proposal, he lost his job, and he’s moved home with his parents. Having lost confidence in his decision-making abilities, he resolves to flip a coin to make every decision in the new year.
The Flip Side is humorous, witty, and sweet. It features a great group of trivia-loving friends, honest multi-generational family relationships, and a meet-cute that results in a lovely romance. With no ‘intimate’ scenes, it would be a fun intergenerational family buddy read choice.
This was delightful and I’m eager to read the author’s next novel. Thank you to William Morrow for the gifted novel. I was under no obligation to post a positive review; all thoughts are my own.
I wanted to like The Flip Side but got 43% through and realized I really disliked the main character. He’s whiny, unmotivated, and not very smart. I’m not even sure I care if he finds his Happily Ever After, to be honest.
The book is well-written and has some funny moments, and includes GLBTQ characters (I liked them better than the main character), so it gets 2 stars instead of one. Life is too short to read books you don’t like.
What a fun book! I was laughing out loud so many times. This was a great debut by the author.
Josh has pretty much the worst Nee Years ever. He proposes to his girlfriend, who says NO, then he loses his job and has to move back in with his parents at 28. Not the ideal life he thought he would have at that age. Since he has made so many bad choices he decides to leave all future decision making to the flip of a coin.
A series of unfortunate and embarrassing events take place over the next few months, but he meets “the girl of his dreams” one afternoon and things are looking up. The only issue? She doesn’t live in London and he didn’t get her name.
He has some clues on how to find her and embarks on a journey looking for his “Sunflower girl”. In his quest to find her, he finds himself. This is such a great book about realizing that you are never too old to find yourself and it’s ok to be lost, you will get there in the end.
While the book was hilarious I didn’t really feel the romance of it. I could definitely see this as a BBC show. I really enjoyed Josh and his friends. The flipping of the coin had some funny moments. Josh’s struggle get control of his life was the main focus of the book. The romance was missing for me in it though. If it hadn’t been listed as a romance book my rating would have been higher because it was a funny read.
The flip side by James Bailey was such a fun and great story to read.
I enjoyed the writing, the characters and the overall life experience of Josh with his turning point in life when the decisions he has to take aren’t quite the best thing he ever has done in his life.
I loved the banter and how reliable the situations are, how sometimes he left a downhill moment to take over his life and how the author has managed to show both sides of the coin with the good and bad things that can come from that fear of taking each chapter as it comes.
I highly recommend this book and it’s just perfect for the long summer nights.