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I don't think I've ever come across a more unlikeable protagonist. Okay, this is an exaggeration ... I have read books with serial killers etc as protagonists - but in this case I clearly wasn't *supposed*to dislike the protagonist. I was supposed to relate to her. I had really high hopes initially. Usually I am put off when books are described as 'the next Bridget Jones' because that generally just means it's about thirty year old women with relationship problems, but this book had the humour and the insight as well as that which ma. I enjoyed the first third or so, but then I realised just how insufferable the main chatacter is.

Nina, you harp on about how much you hate 'girl-gang' feminism and feel morally superior to all of your married mates who are heteronormative and monogamous etc all the while being a straight woman who never expresses personal interest in being in an open relationship. "Having friends isn't feminism" you know what else isn't feminism, Nina? Constantly putting down other women for (checks list) liking dresses, drinking gin, and having fun at a hen party weekend. Do you know what else isn't feminism? Putting down your best friend for an entire page (including a truly awful moment where you call her out for putting her pronouns in her bio, even though she's a cis woman when that's the whole point) and insinuating that her 'wokeness' is fake because she wants to get married someday. You could also have a little empathy for your mother.

Part of why Bridget Jones works is because Bridget is fairly likeable - or at least, relatable. She has insecurities, she is a bit of a hypocrite (which is called out), she's scrappy and awkward. She was unhappy with her job, with her relationships etc. Nina had so much going for her in her personal life, and she never felt insecure about anything. This is fine, protagonists don't have to be insecure to be relatable. But it would have humanised her a little more. It would have made her self-rightousness seem like a coping mechanism, rather than something the novel justifies.