The Plus One

By: Sophia Money-Coutts

Narrated by: Sophia Money-Coutts

Length: 8 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

The Plus One [n] informal a person who accompanies an invited person to a wedding or a reminder of being single, alone and absolutely plus none.

Polly’s not looking for ‘the one’, just the plus one.... 

Polly Spencer is fine. She’s single and turning 30 and managed to have sex only twice last year (both times with a Swedish banker called Fred), but seriously, she’s fine. Even if she’s still stuck at Posh! magazine writing about royal babies and the chances of finding a plus one to her best friend’s summer wedding are looking worryingly slim.

But it’s a New Year, a new leaf and all that. Polly’s determined that over the next 365 days she’ll remember to shave her legs, drink less wine and generally get her s--t together. Her latest piece is on the infamous Jasper, Marquess of Milton, undoubtedly neither a plus one nor ‘the one’. She’s heard the stories; there’s no way she’ll succumb to his charms.... 

A laugh-out-loud, toe-curlingly honest debut for fans of Helen Fielding, Bryony Gordon and Jilly Cooper. 

©2018 Sophia Money-Coutts (P)2018 HarperCollins Publishers

Critic reviews

"So funny. And the sex is amazing - makes me feel like a nun!" (Jilly Cooper)   

"Perfectly jolly chick-lit...A light, fizzy rom-com to kick back with after a bottle of rosé this summer." (Evening Standard)

"Hilarious and compelling." (Daily Mail)

Story fell flat

🚨SPOILER ALERT🚨
I felt like the story never really developed relationships with anyone other than her mom. Not that that’s really an issue but she is supposedly in a relationship with this guy for 90% of the book and he is only in the book a few scenes and no relationship development. Then they don’t end up together and the guy she does end up with is in the book even less!!!
They are only together for 5 minutes of the whole book!!! Not my favorite book.

Terrible narrator

A book with a lot of promise but with such a terrible narrator i couldn’t get past a few chapters.

Excellent

Hilarious and a fun read! I could not stop listening to this book. Cannot wait to read more of her books.

An Absolute, Addictive Joy

This is a great audiobook! I had heard about it through a podcast I love called millennial love. So, it had been on my list for a while. But, I finally tucked into it on a long drive to Memphis and back, and I couldn’t have asked for a more fun and addictive listen! Well done Sophia! So excited to read/listen to your other books!!

Great Performance!

Story was great, just the kind of rom-com stuff I love. And the author who read it was great. So enjoyable and funny.

great book about the modern dating sceen

this book captures all of the different scenarios women go through when trying to find our mr. right.

Fun but I felt it was lacking

The book was a fun, quick listen, don't get me wrong, it just seemed like the ending was rushed. so what happened to Jasper, why the quick ending with the best friend. I just wanted a little more of what really happened with the Jasper thing and more ease into the ending. otherwise, definitely a cute read.

this book was just ok

It story in the beginning was interesting but the ending of the story seemed like she was rushing and left a lot of questions.

An OK read

I really struggled to make it through this. The premise of the book sounded great, which is the reason I wanted to read it, but I had to force myself to finish.
All the characters in this book felt under developed and flat and I really didn't care about a single one of them.
Both of Polly's relationships didn't feel believable at all. Especially 'The one' we are just supposed to believe he's her sole mate after one kiss!? They were barely together in the whole of the book, their entire dialogue could probably fit into 10 pages.
I really wanted to love this book, but unfortunately it just wasn't for me.

Good old chick lit

I’ve always been willing to read anything S M-C writes because she’s brilliant! Was initially a bit dubious about and author-read audiobook but she did well, you just have to imagine your own Aussie accents. This was so much fun and engaging I finished it in one sitting. Recommend it for a great satirical rom com. Be aware there are some more explicit moments.

Felt like there was a deadline.

Really enjoyed the first 5 hours, but when I realised there were only 3 more hours left to listen too I knew the story wasn't going to be very detailed. Felt like there was a rush to finish it and disappointed after promising story. Wouldn't buy again.

Predictable

I would’ve preferred an actual narrator instead of the author as all the voices were the same, which made it less interesting to listen to overall. The story was really quite predictable, a couple of funny sex scenes, and an easy listen.

Average story, was glad it wasn't too long

Average female literature story, but I just didn't gel with the narrator from the get go. I understand she also is the author but felt she didn't give the character of Polly justice.
I have to admit, I did laugh in several places and all in all the story I enjoyed, possibly with a different narrator I would have given a better rating.

Good audiobook / Story okay

I enjoyed the audio book and liked the overall story ark.
I don't want to spoil the book for anyone, so I try to keep it vague enough. The reason why I would only give it 3 stars for the story:
- the actual love story / realisation of being in love and the build up (were you as a reader start to suspect it) was cut way too short.
- the ending itself was too rushed, elements didn't really make sense to happen the way they did and reminded me of movies that cut like half the plot
- there were some character types were a bit off (e.g. a middle eastern sheikh who had studied in the US but then couldn't say the word "questions" correct or remember his dog's breed is "labrador")

overall a nice book, I think it would make for a great romcom movie if there would be more "build up interactions" between the couple

total chic lit but nicely done

finished this in under a day. easy listen from start to finish. knocked off a star as I think she was good when talking about the primary character but not great with the other. at some point I couldn't tell if it was Polly or the aristocrat talking. and the voice of the avocado last was terrible.

Narration disappointing

Firstly, I felt a professional narrator would have been so much better. Even though she read well, her reading style is like she’s in a hurry. Voice just too two dimensional and mumbled in places.

As for the story, I felt a be cheated. She made us invest in a character and then switch last minute. There wasn’t really a nice built up fir the actual love story. So many details about a guy who she doesn’t chose in the end. And she realises her ‘true love’ like the last 20 min?

Well. It’s a nice enough story.

Great but…..

I loved this book but……

If you don’t want spoilers, don’t read the next bit but I can’t say what I need to without saying them!

I thought, at last a book where you get to know a real character and things said in the papers are definitely not true!
I thought it would turn out to be a whole set up with Jasper and that other woman at the end and Polly would go on and live a wonderful life and we realised that because three quarters of the book had been about their relationship, they would be together and there was an honest reason he was away for the weekend and the photo had just been caught at the wrong moment.

But no, she ends up with Bill who we don’t really know much about and hear more about other characters than him. It was almost as if Sophia MC thought a couple of chapters before the end that she’d change the ending and it really was then a book that had been very enjoyable but totally unsatisfactory at the end.

I felt quite lost by it in the end.

Loved it

Really enjoyed this, unfortunately I wasn’t a fan of the last few chapters but still really enjoyed the story