As a seasoned reader, I can honestly say that every holiday check list I write includes a book.

As a truthful reader, however, I can say that more often than not I leave its spine untracked, put off by the highbrow tome I've chosen to bring with me on my aperitif-filled getaway.

Vicki Notaro’s debut novel, Reality Check, maybe be marketed as a reality television-inspired romp, with as much family drama, sexy entanglements and pithy quips than an episode of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, but at its heart its a genuine reflection on womanhood in your 30s, life decisions and the choices we make when our plans don’t pan out.

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Listen: Vicki Notaro talks to RTÉ 2FM

The story follows Portia Daniels, the screenwriter daughter of Dessie Daniels – a Kris Jenner-inspired momager – and sister to two social media-famous siblings. Despite being the unknown member of the family, Portia sees her life as perfect: a fulfilling job, a knockout apartment in New York City and a doting, hunky producer boyfriend, Jason.

She eschews more than the limelight, too, opting against traditional milestones like marriage and having children. "I wasn’t just pretending to be fine with our status; I was truly content. We had each other, and that was enough", she says.

When Jason lobs a curveball into their imagined future together, Portia’s serene life is dramatically, and irrevocably, changed.

The writing style is clear, conversational and often extremely heartfelt, making the book feel like one long, no filter text message to your best friend. It’s filled with charming details like Jason being fanatical about Irish sausages and never missing a hotel breakfast. Talking about the early days of their romance, Portia says, "And that’s how I fell in love. Over boiled pig and smelly green vegetables".

Notaro’s writing about not wanting children is authentic and searing in its directness, too. Being an area that the former magazine editor and journalist has written about before, there’s a truth that pulses through Portia’s anguish at being judged and pushed toward motherhood. A decisive argument with Jason about having children is fraught with high stakes and the sense of betrayal, and Notaro succeeds in capturing a relationship in crisis.

Like any good rom-com, she balances the heavy with the light and frothy, thriving in her descriptions of Portia’s attempts at dating. One particularly cringe-worthy attempt ends with her having what she calls a "sexual catatonic episode", and is one of many truly funny segments.

The structure, however, tends to be loose in a way that can throw the reader off course and disrupt the momentum of the camp, quippy storytelling. Characters are introduced in one chapter, only to be reintroduced with large chunks of context much later on. And while Notaro makes use of mixed formats like interview segments and social media comments to progress the story, they aren’t always best placed in the rhythm of the plot.

Notaro’s characters, however, more than make up for this, from wellness influencer Lavinia to Ariel, their teenage sister spewing "vapid psychobabble" picked up from the Internet to win arguments.

Dessie, the larger-than-life matriarch of the family, is wonderfully realised, a character that you can see and hear the moment she’s mentioned in the book.

"As shrewd a businesswoman as they come, a mastermind of branding and never afraid of hard work", she’s the star of fictional reality TV show Ladies of Los Angeles and has a robust coterie of brands, including DD+, a lingerie line – mentions of which pepper the book, mimicking placements for SKIMS and other in-house brands in Keeping Up With the Kardashians.

Fans of reality television will find plenty of humour, sass and sex to entertain them in this novel, alongside the "reality" in question that makes such storylines so engrossing.

Reality Check is published by Sandycove