ShortBookandScribes #BookReview – The F**k It List by Melanie Cantor
The F**k It List by Melanie Cantor is published by Penguin Bantam and available now in paperback and eBook. My thanks to Chloe Rose for the proof copy.
Meet Daisy. She’s just caught her boyfriend shagging someone else at her fortieth birthday party. She’s camped out in her childhood bedroom. And it looks as if her dream to have a baby has gone down the pan.
Time for a F**k It! list?
Don’t miss this triumphant comedy about a woman taking on the world on her own terms.
Back in 2019 I read Melanie Cantor’s first book, Life and Other Happy Endings (I read it as Death and Other Happy Endings before the title was changed). I loved it and I’ve always hung onto my copy hoping that another Cantor would join it and here it is! I’m delighted to say I loved The F**k It List just as much, if not more.
Daisy Settle has a really good life. She’s running a very successful interior design company with her friend, Marcus, and she’s in a happy long-term relationship with high-flying businessman, Jack. The only thing left to make her truly content is a baby and one of those is hopefully the next step for her and Jack. Unfortunately, Daisy catches Jack in flagrante at her own fortieth birthday party and she sees her dream floating away from her.
Daisy is an inspirational character and I loved her for the fact that she doesn’t just curl up in a ball and think that her hopes and dreams are gone forever. To give any more details would spoil the story but let’s just say that Daisy and her f**k it list grab life by the horns and give it a good shake. There are some other brilliant characters too – Daisy’s family, some of whom struggle with her choices, her friends who are a big support to her, and there’s a male character who made me swoon every time he appeared on the page.
I found this book such a joyful and uplifting read, one that is witty, but also moving and very real. It’s a slice of life story and they’re probably one of my favourite kind of story. I like to read of characters dealing with life’s ups and downs and coming out the other side stronger. I also enjoyed Daisy’s challenge of convention: who needs a man to have a baby? Indeed! I hope there will be a third Cantor book to join the others at some point. I loved, loved, loved The F**k It List.
Melanie Cantor worked for many years in PR and as a celebrity talent agent. She also dabbled in interior renovations, which led to her hosting the Channel 4 series Making Space, in which she tidied up people’s messy houses. She has since concentrated on writing. Her first novel, Life and Other Happy Endings, was published in 2019. She has two grown-up sons and lives in Dorset and London with her dog, Mabel.
