Double Booked by Lily Lindon – Book Review

Well, Double Booked by Lily Lindon was a joy to read from start to finish! You know when you open a book to assess its tone and it sucks you in immediately? That’s exactly what happened with Double Booked – I couldn’t stop reading. It’s a funny, witty exploration of sexuality and identity.

Opening sentence: ‘Sorry, can’t. I’ve got other plans.’

Our lead character, Georgina is a 26-year old pianist (currently piano teacher at a school) in a seven-year relationship with her university sweetheart, Doug. They have a great, regimented life that runs to a schedule they both like (literally – they have sex planned into their shared calendar) and all is fine until Gina finds herself attracted to the enigmatic Kit – drummer of lesbian band, Phase.

Gina & George

Georgina meets Kit at a gay club she goes to with her best friend, Soph, who happens to be lesbian. Soph introduces Georgina to Phase and suddenly Georgina’s world spins.

Before she knows it, Georgina is questioning her heterosexuality and exploring a new side of herself. She goes by George rather than Gina (but she is still Gina to Doug and at her job) and when Phase’s keyboardist quits, there is an opportunity for Georgina to fully explore this side of herself and get closer to Kit…

George or Gina? Which one is better? Which one is the real me? I need to choose. Right now.

I really liked how the story tackled sensitive issues like how Georgina explores this new side of her sexuality while attempting to not hurt her long-term boyfriend and how she finds herself between two cultures – gay and straight – while trying to feel like she belongs to both/either. As well as being warm and touching, Double Booked is just SO funny. I laughed out loud several times (George’s dates with a comedian spring to mind).

I enjoyed Double Booked so much. It made me realise I haven’t read many books with bisexual lead characters (but will definitely be reading more now) and although I can’t directly relate to Georgina’s coming out situation, her character feels so familiar to me.

I’ll take my favourite course of action: avoid making a decision, leave as is.

The way she approaches things, her anxiety, the way she feels the fear about monumental life decisions that sometimes you just have to go for to feel happy being who you really are, is all so relatable and an important lesson that resonates from these pages. Double Booked is a feel-good celebration of bisexuality and a brilliant summer read!