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Spoilers Beyond This Point

I’m on the tail end of what can be considered a Millennial, but I can assure you that the first few chapters of The Burnout are an accurate portrayal of Millennial burnout. Sasha has a marketing job at a travel start-up, which has devolved from a reasonable amount of work to 18 hours of work a day. Sasha is literally drowning in emails, and doesn’t do anything except work. She’s buying the same convenience meals every day, and working from the moment she wakes up to the moment she falls asleep.

The biggest cause of this work-life balance is Asher, Sasha’s incompetent and unprepared boss. He’s also (wait for it), the CEO’s brother. He has no idea how to be an effective manager, and when people quit, he leaves the workload to those left behind. And if that’s not bad enough, she has to deal with annoying Joanne, who’s the “empowerment and wellbeing” manager, and is totally obsessed with Asher.

“How am I supposed to write down my aspirations when my only aspiration is ‘stay on top of life’ and I’m failing at that?”

The Burnout, Sophie Kinsella

This all comes to a head Joanne confronts Sasha on not being active enough on the team’s aspiration mood board. Even if I had the best world in the job, I would not be participating in an aspiration board, and I completely supported Sasha’s actions of literally running away from Joanne. Sasha first tries to speak with the CEO, Lev, but he’s out of the office. Then his snitch of an assistant calls Joanne, who tries to soothe Sasha back into a state of complacency. Instead, Sasha bolts and heads out into the street. She’s quickly struck with the concept that she really has nowhere to go, and ends up at a convent, ready to pledge herself to God. (This is the most on-brand Sophie Kinsella solution and I love it so much). The nuns do not want Sasha, mostly because she’s admittedly not religious, and especially not Catholic. Instead, the nuns ALSO snitch on her and call Joanne.

When Joanne arrives to fetch her, Sasha truly runs away, straight into traffic. She makes it across the street, and runs right into a brick wall. Her mom is called, and Sasha is taken home. Her mom and aunt stay with her for the rest of the day, assessing exactly what went wrong. Her mom is a real estate agent, ready to set up a plan to fix everything, while Sasha’s aunt, a menopause specialist, thinks maybe Sasha just got menopause in her thirties instead of in her fifties.

“Mum raises her head and lets a moment pass before she says simply, ‘Rilston Bay.’ The words are like magic.” … “‘Wait, but it’s February,’ I say, coming out of my reverie.”

The Burnout, Sophie Kinsella

Luckily for Sasha, her mom comes up with a plan. Their family had always visited a small coastal town for their summer vacation, and even though it’s the offseason, it’d still be a relaxing place to visit. So she books Sasha a room at the fancy hotel in town, sets up a host of wellness activities for her, and sends Sasha on her way. The only thing Sasha’s mom didn’t think about was 1) it’s the offseason for a beach town and 2) the family hadn’t visited town in almost twenty years. When poor Sasha arrives in Rilston, looking forward to staying at the exclusive resort in town, she’s a little surprised. The Rilston is looking a little worse for wear on the outside, with boarded up windows and an empty parking lot. And it’s looking a lot worse inside, where the furniture is slowly being auctioned off. But Sasha is determined to get her rest and relaxation in, so she’s sticking to the plan.

On her first day at the hotel, Sasha learns that she’s one of four people staying at the hotel currently, and that her mother has been very busy, calling the hotel acting like she’s Sasha’s assistant. She’s signed Sasha up for essentially a fasting experience with lots of kale smoothies and not a lot of anything else. And on top of that, her mom has warned the staff that Sasha will be doing lots of wellness activities like meditation and yoga and she’s not to be disturbed.

After spending a full day doing her mother’s planned activities and diet, Sasha starts to give up. Her first step is going into town to secretly buy snacks. But like most small towns, the residents are fascinated with the fancy kale-drinker and the cashier at every store already knows Sasha dietary standards. She’s forced to buy her chips and ice cream at a convenience store on the edge of town.

I don’t want to confront anyone right now, least of all some man with a temper issue. And I’m just debating whether to back away when the voice starts up again. ‘Dear Alan, I would like to apologize for my behavior last week. I should not have punched the coffee vending machine in your presence, nor threatened to dismantle it with a sledgehammer.’ He did what? I stifle a giggle.

The Burnout, Sophie Kinsella

As she’s walking back with her treats, she hears a man dictating several letters, apologizing for his actions over the past week. Spying, she recognizes a man from her train ride into town. She sneaks away, eats her snacks in peace, and then heads to the dining room to enjoy dinner. She spends several minutes trying to evade her mother’s strict wellness guidelines for dinner by bartering with her server. Unfortunately, this entire display is being watched by the man from the beach, Finn Birchall. And from Finn’s point of view, Sasha is an incredibly stuck-up snob who is forcing the kitchen staff to purchase ingredients they’ve never even heard of before.

However, as the only single people staying at the hotel, Finn and Sasha find themselves doing things at the same time all week. They both spend most of their days on the beach, and after the first few days, have realized just how much they have in common. Both families spent their summer vacations in Rilston, and they realized they had some overlap over the years. Their biggest commonalities are taking leaves from work and their love of their childhood surf instructor, Terry. While they don’t spend a lot of time discussing their individual falls from grace, they do spend a lot of time reminiscing about their childhood days spent in Rilston.

“‘No, we’re not a couple,’ Finn is saying patiently. ‘We’re just two guests hanging out together who wanted to chat. Right, Sasha?’”

The Burnout, Sophie Kinsella

This is where everything heats up. Sasha and Finn’s banter goes from enemies to enemies-with-mutual-respect to friends-who-care-about-each-other, and every stage is a delight. They start visiting all their favorite places from their vacation days, and are truly enjoying it. Finn even agrees to try some of Sasha’s yoga and meditation practices.

However, the hotel staff, a very endearing group of three, are bound and determined to keep Sasha and Finn separated because of their initial reactions to each other. This includes the staff always setting two tables in the dining room, as far apart from each other as possible. There’s a married couple, Hayley and Adrian, also staying at the Rilston, and their table is always between Sasha’s and Finn’s. At one dinner, Sasha and Finn are trying to finish a conversation, so they’re constantly walking back and forth across the dining room. While that’s going on, Hayley and Adrian are in a fight, and eventually leave the room. At that point, Sasha and Finn decide to push their two tables together. When the staff comes in to serve dinner, they’re shocked.

“Here’s the problem. Here’s the issue. I’m falling in love with this man. Properly, hopelessly in love. And I need to get away, while I still have a chance of un-falling in love.”

The Burnout, Sophie Kinsella

Finn convinces the staff that everything is fine, he and Sasha have just formed a friendship. The staff accepts this and the two begin to spend even more time together. They end up visiting Terry, their old surf instructor, several times, who’s developed severe dementia, but still loves to talk about surfing. The pair also become ingrained in The Rilston’s routine. They spend time with Nikolai, the porter/busboy/waiter/Polish poet, and Cassidy, the receptionist/part-time thong embroiderer. Nikolai is too polite, and shy, to say anything about Finn and Sasha, but Cassidy is much more brash. She teases them about it from time to time, when she has a moment between thongs and furniture auctions. And while Finn keeps things sweet and friendly, Sasha realizes she’s starting to fall head over heels.

One of the big events at the hotel is an event with investors for The Rilston’s major upheaval. As the VIP guests, Finn and Sasha are asked to attend. And they gladly attend, heading straight for the open bar. After hiding in the back, the hotel manager calls them to the front and asks them to share their praises for the hotel. They oblige, and then the investors start asking questions about the “couple.”

“‘Oh, they’re not a couple,’ says Cassidy importantly, coming forward. ‘I know they look like a couple, but they’re not. Funny, isn’t it? We call them the not-couple.’”

The Burnout, Sophie Kinsella

As Cassidy clarifies with everyone, Finn and Sasha sneak away. They’re both tipsy, and one thing leads to another…and that leads to another. The next morning Nikolai brings Finn’s standard room service up, only to be surprised by Sasha as well. Then Finn and Sasha have an even cuter, more fun time. They start planning a day to honor Terry, their surf instructor, and spend most of their time being lovely.

Then Sasha, while helping Cassidy, answers a phone call for Finn. A coworker has called, and lets Sasha know that everyone in the office is worried about him, and how he’s handling his breakup. Obviously, this is heartbreaking because Finn never mentioned anything about an old long-term relationship, which you would definitely mention if you were trying to build a NEW long-term relationship. Morose, Sasha tells Finn that she thinks they’re both in bad places mentally, and she doesn’t think they should continue their relationship once they’ve left The Rilston.

Then we cut forward a couple months. It’s Terry’s day, and hundreds of people have shown up to celebrate him. Sasha and Finn quickly fall back into a routine with The Rilston staff, organizing the crowds and getting everything set up. The day goes great and everything is lovely. Sasha confronts Finn about his old relationship, which he explains was NOT the cause of his burnout, and that break-up was long overdue. Instead, he’d been covering for a coworker with cancer who hadn’t told anyone else yet. Finn then tells Sasha he was glad she made them take time to get back to a good place mentally, so that they could get back together when they were both doing better. And then obviously, they get back together and everything is perfect.

“‘Well, then,’ he resumes. ‘Could we walk along the waves while I tell you why I fell in love with you in the first place?’”

The Burnout, Sophie Kinsella

 I loved this book. I love every Sophie Kinsella book, but this was wonderful. It’s got a moody beach, enemies to friends to lovers, and excellent banter. It’ll pull you out of a reading funk, or an emotional funk. It’d be perfect to read anywhere at any time. Just read this book, please.