Love Sessions, Life Lessons: All's Fair in the Baggage Claim Game

If books were ballgowns, then Sophie Kinsella's latest, Love Your Life, would be a ruffly pink number spangled with polka dots and topped with an appropriately British fruit tart fascinator.  Which is, of course, a fun way of saying that I gobbled it up like a crumpet.  Love Your Life begins when Londoners Aria and Dutch (not their real names) meet and fall in love at a writing retreat in Italy.  Per the rules of the program, everyone goes by a pseudonym, and no one is allowed to talk about real life (apparently, it interferes with the writing process).  Aria and Dutch share a magical, cocoon-like two weeks.  They're so besotted that when the retreat is over, they plan to continue seeing each other.  The catch?  In an effort to keep a good thing going, they decide not to divulge their pasts.  

But as everyone knows, no one comes home from a trip without baggage.   

Soon Italy is a mere memory, revealing the mysterious Aria and Dutch to be plain old Ava and Matt.  Ava is a bohemian, vegetarian freelance writer extremely attached to her destructive dog, and Matt is a by-the-book, burger-loving CEO who thinks that pets require boundaries.  Matt feels honor-bound to do things he hates, whereas Ava has dozens of dreams but never sees a single one to fruition.  It's a classic Dharma & Greg situation, and the surprise of it puts a strain on their fairy tale romance.  As Ava and Matt's conflicts escalate, they can't help but wonder if their vacation fling has what it takes to become the real thing.

Love Your Life isn't about loving your own life, but about loving the life of your -- not to put too fine a point on it -- lover.  Which is an interesting premise, because sometimes it's hard to forget that love's not built to be perfect.  That said, I could relate to some of Ava and Matt's struggles.  For example, the husband is an early bird and I'm a night owl.  He loves animals; I want critters to keep their distance.  He digs documentaries; I fancy fiction.  I could go on and on, but you get the idea.  Yet at the end of the day, none of those things really matter.  What matters is that we laugh at the same stupid things and, as the husband says, "care about each other's fiber."  That last bit is an inside joke about an old cereal commercial that's probably not funny if uttered outside our bubble.  But it means that we look out for each other and are each other's person, which is something that everyone understands.  I think that this is the essence of Love Your Life and what makes it special.  Sure, it's a rom com, but one that gently pokes at the genre in a way that's wise and whimsical and delivers the truth.  

Maybe Love Your Life is about loving your own life after all.  Because, to repeat something that might appear on a pillow on Aunt Gert's La-Z-Boy, you have to love your life and yourself before you can love someone else's.  

So, the only way to come home without baggage is if the airport loses it.  

In which case, maybe Aunt Gert will lend you her pillow.