This is such a lovely little book; about heartbreak and friendship and falling back in love with life and figuring out who you are after a major breakup. Ally, the central character, is funny, likeable, relatable and does not always behave like her best self - but then, who would in the midst of major life upheaval? The Split is the sort of book that makes me think of holidays, and travelling - in the non-Covid timeline, it should be sitting prominently on the bestseller list in every airport WH Smith’s, ready to cheer you up on the plane and keep you company by the pool. Of course, with so many queer characters - and a brilliant, cantankerous cat - I can imagine some major booksellers opting to file it in a dedicated section instead. But that really shouldn’t be the case. File this smart, absorbing take on the contemporary/romance novel next to the likes of Beth O’Leary. Loved it.

I enjoyed this book immensely-perfect for these troubled times ,when you just want to read something funny and uplifting. Ally’s long time girlfriend Emily leaves her for another woman ,and she has no alternative but to head home to Sheffield with Emily’s cat ,Malcolm, in the hope that will bring Emily back. Ally goes back to live with her dad ,and hooks up with her old friend Jeremy, whose long term boyfriend has also left him in the same situation. Gradually she starts to rebuild her life,thanks largely to Jeremy’s idea of taking up running and signing up for a half marathon. It’s great fun- the characters are believable and it’s also very amusing ,and by the end you just want things to turn out well for Ally and Jeremy. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in return for an honest review which reflects my own opinion.

I enjoyed this book immensely-perfect for these troubled times ,when you just want to read something funny and uplifting. Ally’s long time girlfriend Emily leaves her for another woman ,and she has no alternative but to head home to Sheffield with Emily’s cat ,Malcolm, in the hope that will bring Emily back. Ally goes back to live with her dad ,and hooks up with her old friend Jeremy, whose long term boyfriend has also left him in the same situation. Gradually she starts to rebuild her life,thanks largely to Jeremy’s idea of taking up running and signing up for a half marathon. It’s great fun- the characters are believable and it’s also very amusing ,and by the end you just want things to turn out well for Ally and Jeremy. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in return for an honest review which reflects my own opinion.

The Split is a gorgeously fun and uplifting romance which I thoroughly enjoyed reading! For me, personally, contemporary romances which dont' have action heavy plots have to really deliver on the characters and their interactions, and I cannot speak highly enough of how Laura Kay did this. Ally is incredibly relateable, with her wallowing, sarcasm, self depricating humour, but also her approach to her situation and the mistakes that she makes along her journey. But you can't just have one character shine in a book like this, and again, the rest of the cast were perfect! Jeremy and Ally have such a fun and easy friendship, immediately full of jokes and banter but also unconditional support. Ally's dad is funny and totally dad like, and Jo too, complimented Ally's character in all the right parts while also being funny and interesting on her own. I also loved the story throughout The Split - Ally and Jeremy's running, Ally's baking and working in a cake shop, I just loved reading about it all. The Split had all the perfect components of a fun, exciting novel that I didn't want to put down. An excellent debut from Laura Kay and I absolutely can't wait to see what she does next.

I am always, on some level, looking for an adult contemporary novel with a sapphic main character which I enjoy. This may not sound that hard and/or specific, but given the number of them I have experienced complete and utter boredom over in the past couple of years, it becomes so. So, The Split was a welcome surprise. A book I had been anticipating, a sapphic adult contemporary, that I really enjoyed. It’s a story of rekindling friendships, of rediscovering who you are without someone. It’s a story of messy lesbians. And all of this I absolutely loved about it. I would read a thousand books about lesbians being allowed to be just as messy as straight characters, to be allowed to make mistakes, hurt people, to not be forgiven. It’s all a very… human story, I suppose. It’s about learning from your errors, having the room to make those errors. It’s also a book filled with a very likeable cast. Even when they’re making the aforementioned mistakes, they’re sympathetic. You want them to prevail, you care that they’re making those mistakes, that you can see screwing things up even as they can’t. And what I found great was that the character you might ordinarily consider to be an antagonist, the ex, who unceremoniously ditched Ally after cheating on her for months, comes across as multifaceted too. She isn’t presented as awful and that’s it. She has her reasons, she felt the breakdown of their relationship as much as Ally did. Which ties back into letting the characters be messy. People are, on the face of it, complex, and these characters are allowed to be as such. There is no black-and-white painting of the ex as evil, the main character as not having made any missteps. And that’s the best thing about this book hands down. (Actually, maybe second to the fact that it’s about lesbians, but I was taking that as given.) It was also great that, when the main character inevitably hurts someone, be as it may by accident, forgiveness doesn’t come easy. I think that’s a criticism I have of some romances (although to be clear, this is not a romance), that often the big argument, the momentary break-up, comes so late that I cannot believe in its resolution because it happens so quickly. Here, though, forgiveness requires work, requires Ally to face up to the fact that she is culpable for hurting someone. That she may not be forgiven. It is, in all, probably one of my favourite contemporary novels ever. And one that I would beg you pick up as your next read.