This wasn't quite the 'bright and bubbly' read I expected - in fact, I did struggle a bit and could have done with it being a bit faster in pace. However, that's only me and others may well love it! Jess and Pete have been together for six years; a lot of Jess's spare time is given up to assisting her single parent sister with her two children who both need extra help. This has the knock-on effect of meaning that she and Pete must live close by giving Pete a long commute and resulting in them spending not a lot of time together. When her best friend buys them air tickets to South Africa for her wedding, Jess looks upon it as a chance for her and Pete to reconnect. But will they both want the same things from their break in Cape Town? I adored all the location information - anyone reading this book is bound to be caught up in the beauty and adventure which South Africa offers, but in comparison the story and it's characters just didn't live up to my expectations and I found myself struggling to get through this one which is not like me. This is the first novel by this author I've read and I may tempt myself with another one in case I've stumbled upon a blip. My thanks to publishers Simon & Schuster UK for approving my request via NetGalley. This is my honest, original and unbiased review.

I have mixed feelings about this book. I just couldn't get into it initially and really struggled with the first half, but did enjoy the second half a lot more. Jess, the main character, lives in London with her boyfriend Pete and helps her sister (single Mum) with her two young children on a regular basis, along with her Mum. Their Dad is away a lot on business selling islands to the rich and famous. Then her boyfriend surprises her with a trip to South Africa to attend her friend's gay wedding (the friend paid for it all). Once their Pete is bowled over by the outdoor life and wants to climb mountains etc., which Jess really, really doesn't want to do. So Pete meets a fairly famous guy called Goat and ends up dumping Jess for a week of their 2-week holiday to do these outdoor activities with his new friend. Jess is understandably not amused but decides to get out and visit places herself, with the aid of Jimmy a guy her and Pete had met at a galllery/club/bar where he worked. So.... the good parts. I really enjoyed the descriptions of South Africa and all the places they visited, it sounded absolutely amazing. I also loved Jimmy's character and his brother Ian and his partner, Diego, they were so welcoming to Jess and she spent a lot of her time at their apartment. The bad parts.... I really didn't like either Jess or Pete. Jess panicked about every tiny little thing and really over-thought things far, far too much, and in contrast was extremely over-exuberant at other times. Pete was a just a selfish idiot. The 'Make or Break' of the title was definitely something I wasn't expecting though and was a complete shock, very clever twist and completely unexpected. And there was a very nice ending. So the first half was just so-so, but the second half was a lot more interesting for me.