The Flipside By James Bailey

‘The Flipside’ is the debut novel by James Bailey.

When Josh proposes in a pod on the London Eye at New Years’ Eve, he thinks it’s perfect. Until she says no. And they have to spend the next 29 excruciating minutes alone together. His life is falling apart. Realising he can’t trust his own judgment, Josh decides from now on he will make every decision through the flip of a coin. Maybe the coin will change his life forever. Maybe it will help him find the girl of his dreams.

I was raging with myself when I started this book late one evening, as soon as I started I was snorting throughout and knew it was going to be an enjoyable story. So, the following day I put some time aside to properly delve it and boy, was it worth it.

The story starts at the point that Josh proposes to his girlfriend called Jade, having booked a pod on the London Eye, he wants it to be a magical. But by the time he has stepped off the London Eye, he’s single, homeless and jobless. With his tail between his legs Josh leaves the busy streets of London for the pub quizzes of Bristol as he tries to get his life back in order with his best friends, Jake and Jessie and the help of a 50p coin that he is convinced will help him make the best decisions in his life. But whilst supporting Jessie taking part in the London Marathon, Josh runs into a woman who affectionately becomes known as ’Sunflower Girl’ as they met in an art gallery and with the aid of the 50p coin and his best friends, finds himself flying across Europe hoping to meet her again.

Right from the start, this book was a fun and fresh story and it’s refreshing to see a man writing about romance and Josh has done is superbly with, the witty dialogue, the colourful characters and the hilarious scenarios that Josh gets into dependent on the flip of the coin.

The characters are completely fun and relatable, where they were are a point in their lives where it’s expected to know who and what you want to do be doing with your life. Josh approaches this pressure and questions with humour and for this, made the book a charming read. His parents are equally as fun, with his buying shop bought Victoria Sponge but adding some more jam to prove the illusion that she made it herself and his dad was a regular Del Boy with scams and moneymaking ideas at every opportunity. One thing, I loved was the dynamics of Josh’s friendship with Jake and Jessie, I loved it when the friends got together as the banter between was always honest and fun, but even though they think Josh is mad with the 50p flipping, they support him and are there for him along the way.

There are many parts of this story that I enjoyed but I really loved accompanying on his search across Europe to find ’Sunflower Girl’ and when it took him to Paris, I loved the vivid descriptions of ‘Shakespeare and Company’, a wonderful bookshop that I also visited on my own visit to Paris, so reading these entries were a welcome return.

I loved this debut and the concept behind it and would love to read more about Josh and his friends as they embark on new adventures in their lives. A deliciously fun and fresh story which is a welcome distraction from what is going on in the world, ‘The Flip Side’ is a roller coaster of a story, or should I say a London Eye. Packed with banter, drama and a seriously cute rabbit called Jeremy, I found this quick witted and cleverly written book to be the perfect pick me up, no matter what side your coin falls on.

You can buy ‘The Flipside’ from Amazon for 99p on the Kindle Store and will be available to buy from good bookshops from 20th November 2020.