Consider Yourself Kissed: A Novel

by Jessica Stanley

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

This is the kind of love story that will hijack your weekend. Hitting close to home for women that must juggle work and family, Stanley candidly and hilariously delivers a reflection on marriage, career and motherhood in this clever rom-com.

A NATALIE PORTMAN'S BOOK CLUB PICK
One of The Boston Globes's "books to add to your summer reading list"

"Funny, smart and memorable...Delightful."–New York Times

"Consider Yourself Kissed is your new best friend in novel form." — The Cut

“Ringingly original and just absurdly good.” –Catherine Newman

“A love song to women everywhere.” –Annabel Monaghan

"This summer's must read...a sparkily enjoyable romantic comedy like One Day and Normal People."–The Times (London)

What happens when you find love, but life keeps getting in the way?

When she first meets Adam, Coralie is new to London and feeling adrift. But Adam is clever, witty, and (he insists) a quarter inch taller than the average male. His charming four-year-old daughter only adds to his appeal.

But ten years on, something important is missing from the life Coralie and Adam (though let’s face it, mostly Coralie) have built. Or maybe, having gained everything she dreamed of, Coralie has lost something else she once had: herself.

Set against an eventful decade, Consider Yourself Kissed puts the subjects of love and family on a grand stage, showing how the intimate dramas in our homes inescapably compete for energy and attention with the shared public dramas of our times.

It's a read that effortlessly balances sweetness with bite, the public with the personal, and humor with heart.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798217044993
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	05/27/2025
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Jessica Stanley grew up in Australia and moved to the UK in 2011 where she lives with her three children and partner. Her first novel, A Great Hope, was published exclusively in Australia in 2022.

Editorial Reviews

03/17/2025

Stanley (A Great Hope) serves up a charming and intelligent story of a 20-something Australian copywriter and aspiring novelist who builds a new life in London. Soon after arriving in England in 2013, Coralie meets political journalist Adam in a park and falls in love. He’s amicably divorced from his ex-wife, Marina, with whom he shares custody of their four-year-old daughter, Zora. Coralie is intimidated by Marina’s “intellectual credentials,” and after she moves in with Adam and helps raise Zora, she senses that Marina views her as a “low-level functionary who nevertheless oversaw an important part of her (Marina’s) life.” Coralie’s creative ambition keeps getting deferred; drafts of the novel she’s working on live first under a sofa cushion and then in an IKEA bag under the bed. Adam, on the other hand, churns out books, including a biography of Boris Johnson. As the narrative progresses to the present day, Stanley portrays domestic and political developments with wry humor and sharp prose, depicting how the Brexit vote and a family loss each put a strain on the couple and how Coralie finally grapples with her desire to write. Readers will root for Stanley’s endearing heroine. (May)

Publishers Weekly

"Funny, smart and memorable, this contemporary romance offers a lucid example of how humanity can endure... Stanley’s delightful novel reminds her readers of the joy, humor and even subtle hope that can be experienced during life’s lowest moments."—New York Times

"Readers want different things from romance, and real and raw are two of them. Consider Yourself Kissed expertly layers the light and heavy elements of life, with a main character who is quick-witted and quietly perceptive, giving hope that a fire between two people may just survive many storms."—Washington Post

"A delight to behold...Lost woman tries to find herself is a familiar story, but Consider Yourself Kissed is buoyed by fresh, funny writing and, pretty much without exception, a terrific cast of characters."—Wall Street Journal

"You know those novels, the ones you reread every few years, that feel like having a cozy cup of tea with a very witty and fascinating old friend? ... Jessica Stanley has written one of those books with Consider Yourself Kissed." —The Cut

“Oh-so-relatable … Stanley's novel is rich, and her cleverness irrefutable."— NPR

“Charmingly chronicling life after 'happily ever after'... effervescent.” —The Boston Globe

"Like One Day and Normal People, leaves you feeling bereft at the final page." —The Times (London)

“Fans of Jojo Moyes will be drawn into this emotionally candid deep dive into a long-term relationship.”—Booklist

“So real...very, very funny.”—Elle

"The kind of book that, for a certain kind of reader, will immediately become a treasure...a very human novel. And a very good one."—The Guardian

"Fresh and original...a brilliant book that hits all the right notes: a bit sad, a lot moving and very funny in places. A wholehearted recommend." —Good Housekeeping (UK)

"Droll, smart... This is, at its core, a love story, but it is also much more than that. It's a thoughtful and evocative portrait of the ups and downs of a romantic partnership over time... extremely funny." —The Saturday Paper

“The relationships and writing are so bracingly, deliciously fresh that I wish there were a fresher word than fresh. And that the book were 1000 pages longer.” –Catherine Newman

“A beautiful, harrowing, wild ride through everyday life, Consider Yourself Kissed is a love song to women everywhere.” –Annabel Monaghan

“A love story like no other: charming, warm, heartfelt and funny but with a truly razor-like authenticity. I absolutely loved every moment and didn’t want it to end!” –Liane Moriarty

“Deeply appealing… At once a smart literary love story and an absorbing family drama.” –Meg Wolitzer

“One of the most delightful and relatable books I’ve read about modern womanhood, the evolution of love, and the way we show up in the world.” –Ashley Audrain

“Jessica Stanley’s principal subject is romance, which she renders—in all its mess and glory—masterfully. But the real delight in Consider Yourself Kissed is how the novel confidently thinks about love more broadly.” –Rumaan Alam

"I'm annoyed I didn't write this book myself." –Madeline Gray

From the Publisher

2025-04-04
A young woman builds the life she thinks she wants over the course of a decade.

Stanley’s expansive sophomore novel follows one couple over the course of 10 years. On the verge of 30, Coralie Bower has recently relocated under duress from Australia to London. She works as a copywriter at a brand agency and harbors dreams of writing a novel. One morning at a cafe, she has an alarming yet charming meet-cute with Adam Whiteman, a political journalist, and his 4-year-old daughter, Zora. Adam, a divorcé, has a cordial relationship with his ex-wife, Marina Amin, and shares custody of Zora. Coralie and Adam’s chemistry—which is heavily rendered through playful banter—is immediate. Seemingly overnight, Coralie becomes a stepmother and moves into their family home, her life grafted onto theirs in ways she cannot quite see yet. The novel follows the couple’s relationship as they navigate home renovations, parental loss, unexpected career trajectories, parenthood, global turmoil, and complicated family dynamics. With the novel set between 2013 and 2023, politics weighs heavily on its plot—including a revolving door of British prime ministers and the Covid-19 pandemic. While Adam’s career catapults with every political scandal, Coralie struggles to manage her career, their shared home, and an overwhelming share of the childcare. The unending politics can feel exhausting at times, but also helps amplify Coralie’s feelings of claustrophobia, weariness, and anger. Stanley writes beautifully about the tension among wants, needs, and desires, especially in motherhood. When Marina gets pregnant, Coralie can admit her desire to be a mother: “The gap between having a baby and not having one yawned so large. Not having one: your longing made you silly, at the mercy of fate, a clichéd figure of fun, mockable.” However, when she becomes a mother, Coralie realizes she is both closer and further from herself in equal measure. This realization, which leads to the novel’s climax, offers Coralie the opportunity to find herself again.

A tender and realistic cataloging of a relationship as it shifts, changes, and grows over time.

Kirkus Reviews