Not Exactly What I Had in Mind

Flatmates? Friends? Or something else entirely?

Hazel and Alfie have just moved in together as flatmates. They've also just slept together, which was either a catastrophic mistake, or the best decision of their lives.

Before they can decide, Hazel's sister Emily and her wife Daria arrive for a visit, setting in motion a chain of events that will turn everything upside down.

What follows will bind the four of them together, bringing joy and heartache, hope and anxiety, and reshaping their relationships in ways that none of them quite predicted.

Warm, witty, and devastatingly relatable, Not Exactly What I Had in Mind is a painfully true-to-life story about family, friends, and everything in between.



Kate Brook has a PhD in French Literature and Visual Art from King's College London, and a Masters in European Literature and Culture from the University of Cambridge. Her short-form writing has been published in The Fiction Pool and The Real Story. She lives in London, and Not Exactly What I Had in Mind is her first novel.



I adored this book -

fresh, funny and thought provoking, I fell in love with the characters and did not want it to end.'



Captures the intricacies of modern relationships with undeniable skill, heaps of humour and a style that fans of Sally Rooney will love.

Captivating and addictively complex, this novel is full of an unshakable tension that is a delight to get entangled in.



A

clever and insightful take on what love and family mean in the twenty-first century



Brook's enjoyable debut tackles the messiness of love and family...

Heartfelt and entertaining



A

charming peek inside the messy world of modern dating,

blending hard-hitting realities with frivolous fun



Brook's ability to balance humor with explorations of heartbreak, anxiety, and betrayal is admirable....

an entertaining tale from start to finish, with characters you'll miss right after finishing the epilogue.