Review: It Had To Be You by Keris Stainton

Twenty-five-year-old Bea is a hopeless romantic – with a hopeless love life. She’s been single ever since her awful ex broke her heart, and the only thing she gets up to in bed is watching rom coms on her laptop.

When Bea meets Dan, who is basically the man of her dreams, she knows she can’t let him get away. They might not have fireworks, but not everyone can be fighting and (loudly) making up every night, like Bea’s housemates.

But Bea can’t shift the feeling that something just isn’t right. As time goes on, Dan seems less like Mr Right, and more like Mr Couldn’t-Be-More-Wrong… Will Bea be brave enough to change her dreams – and dare to ask for more?

A laugh-out-loud tale for anyone who’s ever dreamt of a fairy-tale romance and found a real-life happy ending.

Review: I always enjoy Keris Stainton's writing but I have been loving her romantic comedies, emphasis on the comedy, that she has released recently. This book had me laughing out loud, had me championing the main characters and is so easy to relate to. I love the premise behind this book, that you can meet someone who seems like your perfect guy and meets all the criteria you have learned to put in place from watching romcoms, but something just isn't right. It is so true to real life, as so much of this book is. There are moments in this book where I said out loud "that's just like me/I did that/I've soooo been there' and I think if something is going to be easy to relate to, that's what you should be doing as you are reading it. 

I really loved the characters in this book too. You are dropped right into the middle of their lives and yet you feel like you've always been friends with these people. I could so easily picture their shared house and their work place. I really liked Bea as a character. She is slightly unsure of the world and we get to see that through her eyes although she doesn't really want to let on to her Friends that this is the case. Again something we can probably all relate to!. I also really loved the fact that she is in her twenties and yet we don't see her being sexually active. I think there is often a stereotype that is embraced in books about twenty somethings that they are always looking for their next sexual partner and that they are incredibly sexually experimental, and whilst that is true in some cases and I absolutely embrace that, it isn't always the case and so not every twenty something character has to be portrayed this way. 

I love Bea's group of friends too. Henry is so down to earth, and like Bea, he is single for the majority of the time that we know him! Freya is amazing gives great advice and has amazing stories abut her own hookups with women all over London. And then there is the couple of the house, Adam and Celine. We've all been in that house share where we can hear someone we live with having sex and so again, so easy to relate to this friendship group. They also have an amazing restaurant where they go fro brunch with a sage Mrs C character, who is Greek. Again, I swear I have met this person before, she is so like people I know who have played that exact same character in my life!

There are plenty of moments of real truth as well as comedy in this book. Bea has some issues with her family and spends some time with them, she isn't sure about her career choices and she is obviously questioning her romantic choices. The story about her ex is very real as well and is an unfortunate reality of life. But whilst this story definitely keeps it real there are some proper crying with laughter moments and I had to try really hard to laugh quietly when reading this book in public or when my husband was still asleep!

I wold definitely recommend this read. It is fast-paced and fun, but with a real message that I'm sure we can all relate to. If you are fans of romantic comedy films, you will definitely love this and even if you are not, I will guarantee that this will make you laugh. Download it to read over the holiday period to give yourself some much-needed me time, you won't regret it!

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