I am a sucker for small town English stories and about older people finding their new path in life after a loss/big life changes, so this was right up my alley.

I received an ARC of this from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was cute, had interesting characters, and an ok love story. In a nutshell, it's about a widower who is learning how to live on his own now that his wife has passed on in the 1950's. He owns an antique shop and has a lovely little house in a small town. His dog, Monty, is my favourite character of the whole book. Hilarious and adorable, typical bassett hound who loves licorice. I had moments where I really enjoyed this book and then others where I just couldn't stand the author's description of women. I don't know, I just don't really like overuse of the word fleshy for some reason. But I do know completely understand now that George likes his women a bit more on the robust side, I just think there's better, more creative ways to describe them.
Anyways, it was ok. Would I buy it, nah, I'd just take it out from the library.

This is a charming book, but not exactly a book for me. There was nothing I particularly disliked about it, but nothing that really grabbed me either.

This is very much a character driven book, and Abi Oliver creates a wonderful cast of varied characters. They all have such unique and full personalities - even bit characters who have very little page time come out of the page as real people and you get a immediate sense of who they are. I really like that.

The story is sweet, and real. George Baxter's experiences as he find his way through life after his wife are believable. His marriage wasn't perfect, and he certainly is a flawed individual, and his journey to new happiness hits some bumps along the way... and that is real life. This is a book about life. The people we meet, the experiences we have, and the impact they can have on us if we let them.

I don't really have any complaints about the book, and I think if you are more drawn to charming, understated stories of loss and love that are more light and airy vs dramatic and heavy than you will enjoy this book. The writing is good, and the story flows well and it reads like you could easily believe this to be a true story about real people.