Thank you so much to Olivia Spring for personally asking me to review her debut novel, ‘The Middle-Aged Virgin’, and for asking me to take part in the blog tour as well! I am delighted to be today’s stop on the tour, and to celebrate I have a review for you all. Enjoy!
If you’d just come out of a long-term relationship and hadn’t been intimate for ages, how well would you cope with dating and having sex again?
Sophia Huntingdon seems to have it all: a high-flying job running London’s coolest beauty PR agency, a lovely boyfriend and a dressing room filled with Louboutins.
But when tragedy strikes, Sophia realises that rather than living the dream, she’s actually an unhappy workaholic in a monotonous relationship, with zero personal life. Her lack of activity in the bedroom is so apparent that her best friend declares her a MARGIN, or Middle-Aged Virgin—a term used for adults who have experienced a drought so long that they can’t remember the last time they had sex.
Determined to transform her life whilst she’s still young enough to enjoy it, Sophia hatches a plan to work less, live more and embark on exciting adventures, including rediscovering the electrifying passion she’s been craving.
But after ending her fifteen-year relationship, how will Sophia, a self-confessed control freak handle navigating the unpredictable world of online dating?
If she does meet someone new, will she even remember what to do? And as an independent career woman, how much is Sophia really prepared to sacrifice for love?
What does TWG think?
Snigger! Cobwebs….dry spell….so many things in this book that I would associate with myself, and not spiders or the weather. ‘The Middle-Aged Virgin’ is absolutely bang on in terms of its references to modern-day society. I mean, the main character, Sophia, is worried that she is merely settling. She may have confidence where her work is concerned, but if you were to put her personal life in the spotlight, Sophia would melt like Olaf from Frozen! I must say that I am incredibly envious of Sophia’s shoe collection, especially the Louboutins – shoe goals right there!!
I can see why Sophia chose to end the relationship that she has had for most of her adult life, but I can also see why she chose to settle. Not that that makes it a nicer thing to do, because it doesn’t. Settling just because, is not fair on all the people involved, but because starting again comes with a lot of uncertainty and fear, settling becomes the safest option all round.
‘The Middle-Aged Virgin’ will certainly have a lot of readers nodding their heads in agreement at some of the things Sophia’s best friends, Roxy and Bella, come out with. That said, I couldn’t help but feel that some of the storyline was a little bit padded with information that wasn’t overly relevant to the bigger picture. Don’t get me wrong, it was lovely to find out more about Sophia and what made her tick, but there were times where I did feel as though the storyline was missing the point.
I’m not saying this book wasn’t enjoyable, because oh it was! It’s also absolutely hilarious! I just think that some things could have been a bit more defined, but obviously that is my opinion.
It wasn’t until I finished reading Olivia Spring’s debut, that I realised that the author had incorporated an important message into it – don’t settle for second best, grab life by the youknowwhats, and refuse to life your life the way that someone else wants you to. Live life for you. Eat the last cookie. Spend all day in your pyjama’s. Remove toxic relationships from your life. Embark on new challenges, even if it is taking the stairs instead of the lift. But, most importantly, never give up on the things that make you happy, and never keep hold of the things which don’t make you happy, any longer than absolutely necessary.
So yeah, Olivia Spring is a very wise author, and yes I got all of the above from reading ‘The Middle-Aged Virgin’! I am incredibly impressed by how the author incorporates such important topics into a laugh out loud, chilled and magnetic story, making her characters come to life in such a relatable and realistic manner. The main character may be forty, but I think that the scenarios written in this book would be great lessons for women and males of all ages.
A diverse, wise, poignant, and sniggerific novel which made me ensure that I kept my duster handy…you know, just in case!
The Writing Garnet 