Is She Really Going Out with Him?

Is She Really Going Out With Him (2024) is British author Sophie Cousens’s fourth novel. The story follows Anna Appleby, who, after divorce, embarks on a work project to go out on dates her two children selected. In the process, she falls for someone who doesn’t fit conventional expectations, forcing her to question whether external opinions or what truly feels right in her heart should dictate love. Cousens explores themes of The Challenges of Navigating Life After Divorce, Embracing Change to Achieve Professional and Personal Success, and Balancing the Demands of Motherhood While Pursuing Self-Fulfillment. Before becoming a full-time novelist, Cousens worked as a television producer. Her romantic comedies explore love, fate, and self-discovery, blending humor with emotional resonance. Cousens’s debut, This Time Next Year (2020), became a bestseller, and Amazon adapted it for the screen. Cousens’s other works include Just Haven’t Met You Yet (2021), Before I Do (2022), and The Good Part (2023). 

This guide refers to the 2024 Putnam and imprint of Penguin Random House eBook edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of animal death, bullying, sexual content, illness and death, substance use, and cursing.

Plot Summary

After 38-year-old mother of two Anna’s divorce from Dan, she’s convinced she’ll never find love again. Her younger sister, Lottie, who is married and pregnant, encourages Anna to join the dating apps and re-enter the dating world, especially since Dan has moved on with a younger woman named Sylvie. Feeling too old and inexperienced to navigate online dating, Anna concedes to a life devoted to her two children and her journalism career. However, when Apex Media buys her employer, Bath Living, Anna’s job is on the line as the new manager, Crispin, pushes everyone to make the magazine’s content more relatable to a younger, contemporary audience. When Anna’s cocky, younger, and handsome coworker Will appears to be conducting a hostile takeover of her column, Anna pitches an idea for a column about dating without the use of technology. Her children will choose her dates, and she will write a column debriefing each date. Will is assigned to collaborate with Anna on the column as he will also go on dates using the apps to provide a balanced viewpoint of modern dating.

Anna’s first date with Neil, a very recent divorcee and dad of Ethan’s classmate, goes wrong when Anna hooks him with a fishing pole. When Anna goes on her second date with Caleb, a young waiter, she ends up unwittingly high at a college house party and getting a tattoo of an ampersand. Anna goes to a weekend literary festival with Will in Hay, and the two rivals get to know one another better. Anna learns that Will’s ambition is honest, and he’s searching for a new job in a larger market. She also learns that he is devoted to his family, especially his brother, Simon, whom he helps care for since Simon suffered debilitating injuries in a car accident. Anna and Will exchange flirty texts and flash each other through the windows of their adjacent bed and breakfast rooms. Yet Will leaves the festival hastily with a blonde named Deedee, and Anna assumes she misconstrued their vibe. However, Deedee is a headhunter helping Will find a new job.

Anna goes on a disastrous date with television and theater star Ryan Stirling. Despite Ryan being a creep, Anna meets Loretta, a cancer survivor, at the theatrical performance, and the pair strike up a friendship. The children choose Michael, the mail carrier, as her next date. Though she doesn’t make a romantic match with the Jane Austen enthusiast, Michael becomes a new friend, and Anna helps him learn how to use a dating app to find a date to Bath’s annual Regency ball. Anna and Will continue their collaboration, and he invites her to join him for a weekend wilderness retreat for couples. Will is doing a story for the Times and needs Anna’s help with the research. When Anna locks herself out of her cabin, she’s forced to share a cabin and a bed with Will. They can no longer deny their attraction and become intimate with each other. They spend the rest of the weekend in bliss as they connect physically and emotionally. Anna must leave early when her daughter, Jess, has an emergency, and Anna fears returning to the real world means the end of their romance.

Anna returns home and discovers Jess has started her period and is having trouble with a classmate at school named Penny. Will and Anna’s attempt to leave their romance in the wilderness fails, and they begin meeting for daily trysts in Bath Living’s archive room. Will asks Anna to help him video a concert for the community choir he supports, of which Simon is a member. Anna goes on a date with her widower neighbor, Noah, and Will shows up with flowers to thank her for helping with the choir event. Will ends up staying with Lottie and the children while Anna is gone. She realizes that he is not just good for her but also good for her kids. Loretta invites Anna to a speed dating event, and Will shows up drunk to tell Anna he got the job in Paris, but he’s not taking it because he’s in love with her. Fearing he would resent her for keeping him from fulfilling his dream, Anna lies and tells Will she doesn’t love him. Heartbroken, he leaves the bar, accepts the job, and prepares to move to Paris.

Crispin announces the closing of Bath Living’s brick-and-mortar but says Anna can stay on as a freelancer for their new online publication. Dan and Sylvie announce their pregnancy, and Anna turns her attention back to her children after feeling like she’d gotten too caught up in Will. She learns that Penny has been relentlessly bullying Jess, and she and Dan meet with school officials to resolve the matter. Anna goes on a final date for the column with Andre, Ethan’s swim coach. Andre is handsome, attentive, and a perfect date, yet Anna realizes that she doesn’t want to be with anyone but Will. She writes her side of the story for the Times article on the wilderness retreat, revealing how that weekend led to her rediscovering herself after divorce and falling in love with Will.

Anna, Michael, and his new partner, Jane, attend the Regency ball with Noah. Will reads the article and travels swiftly from Paris to meet Anna at the ball and declare his love. Nine months later, they successfully navigate a long-distance relationship between Bath and Paris. Lottie and Sylvie give birth, and Loretta marries Roger, whom she met at the speed dating event. She and Anna remain dear friends, and she gets a matching ampersand tattoo.