The Split by Laura Kay

When Ally finds herself dumped by her girlfriend, without a job and homeless in London she jumps on a train back home to Sheffield. And she takes the cat. Back in her father's home she finds friendship with her old pal Jeremy who is also nursing a broken heart after his boyfriend dumped him. The pair, both focused on winning back their exes, decide that signing up to run a half-marathon in insanely hilly Sheffield is the way to success.

The Split wasn't entirely what I expected but I still really enjoyed it. The main focus was on how Ally handled the breakdown of her relationship with Emily, started to find her feet and life direction again and found friendship with Jeremy. Whilst I didn't always like the focus Ally had on winning back Emily or some of her behaviour in this book, I did like her overall character arc.

For me, the strongest part of this book was the friendship between Ally and Jeremy. The moment when Jeremy is having a bad time and Ally is just there with no demands and just support. They had a real friendship; it was heart-warming and honest and it just made me laugh and smile and feel all warm inside.

I also really loved that the novel was set in Sheffield as a Yorkshire lass, I always love books set in a place I call my home. It also felt incredibly British with the school disco scene, the pubs and the just general vibes of the book and that I really enjoyed.

The Split for me is one of those rainy-day reads where you want something comforting and heart-warming. It focuses on food (lots of cake), friendship, building yourself back up and has a little bit of humour wrapped up in it all. Overall, an enjoyable novel that I think will get a lot of love.