Blog Tour: Shout Out to My Ex by Sandy Barker

Last year I read and enjoyed the first book in the Happy Ever After series, Match Me If You Can. I already knew that I would read the second book, and I might as well declare it now.... I will be reading the next book too!

Elle Bliss is unlucky in love. Unlike her older sister and business manager, Cassie,  Elle does go out on dates, but none of the men has ever lived up to the memory of her greatest love, Leo. Elle and Leo were inseparable until he broke up with her and disappeared off the face of the earth. She has searched for him on and off over the years, but there is no trace to be found.

Luckily Elle can throw herself into her work. She is an up and coming fashion designer who is on the verge of a huge career breakthrough. A spot has opened up at Paris Fashion Week and she is going to take it, even though it will be a huge amount of work for her team to get everything ready in time.

Cassie has decided to do something about Elle's love life though. She has enlisted the Happy Ever After agency to try and find out what happened to Leo and maybe, just maybe, orchestrate a meeting between them. However, the whole thing needs to be kept secret from Elle.

As for Leo, he too is an emerging fashion designer known as Lorenzo although his focus is on designing fabulous shoes. 

Poppy, whose story we got to hear about in the last book, is back at work after her honeymoon and ready for her latest assignment. If that assignment means popping over to Paris whilst pretending to be a fashion journalist then so be it. But the assignment becomes increasingly complicated as she juggles pretending to be a journalist, trying to ensure that Elle and Leo's meetings appear coincident, and navigating the hurt feelings that are there, just under the surface

Given that Elle and Leo are both in fashion, it should be easy to orchestrate a meeting, especially when there is an opportunity for a collaboration, but Elle was very hurt, and she is also angry.

I liked Elle and Leo, and I understood why they both felt the way that they did. Leo was clearly ready to try and mend bridges with Elle before she was, but once she got past the Lorenzo persona, she did begin to see the Leo she knew and loved hiding under there. But the world of high fashion is cut throat and everyone has their own agenda, so there are plenty of obstacles that get in the way.

Now I am not a particularly fashion conscious person. I am not 100% sure I actually have a style, and my days of wearing sky high heels are a distant memory so some of the fashion stuff passed me by a little. However,  you know that I am all about Paris at the best of times, so I loved that this book was at least partially set there in the heady days of Paris Fashion Week.

One of the unusual aspects of this book was that there were two viewpoints. One was obviously Elle, but the other was less obviously Poppy rather than Leo. It was different, but it worked. It was especially lovely to see how Poppy was going given that she was the star of the first book. 

If you are after a fun read, featuring fashion and France (see what I did there) give this books a go!!

Thanks to Netgalley, Rachel's Random Resources and the publisher for the review copy. Be sure to check out other stops on the tour 

I am sharing this review with the New Release Challenge hosted at The Chocolate Lady's Book Review Blog

Rating 4/5

About the book:

Shout Out To My Ex

Fashion designer, Elle Bliss, is unlucky in love.

She's still hung up on her first love, Leo, who ended things abruptly, then mysteriously disappeared – and a decade on, no one else can measure up.

But Elle's all-time dream of showing in Paris Fashion Week is about to become a reality, and she has no time to dwell on her dismal love life. That is until Leo – now going by Lorenzo – comes back into her life.

A celebrated up-and-coming shoe designer, ‘Lorenzo’ is nothing like the man she fell in love with. Rude, brash and with an ego the size of Paris, he’s too caught up in his own celebrity.

But as they constantly cross paths in the city of love, Elle begins to question how much of 'Lorenzo' is an act – a persona for the cameras. Because deep down, she can see glimpses of the man he was, and feelings from all those years ago become impossible to ignore…

Join Elle in the most romantic city in the world in this laugh out loud enemies-to-lovers romance, perfect for fans of Sophie Kinsella and Emily Henry.

Purchase Link - https://mybook.to/ShoutOutToMyExSocial

About the author



Sandy Barker is a bestselling author of destination romance. She’s lived in the UK, the US and Australia, and has travelled extensively across six continents, with many of her travel adventures finding homes in her books. The first in her new romcom series for Boldwood will be published in September 2023.

Social Media Links –

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sandybarkerauthorAU

Twitter https://twitter.com/sandybarker

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/sandybarkerauthor/

Newsletter Sign Up: https://bit.ly/SandyBarkernews

Bookbub profile: Sandy Barker Books - BookBub