This novel was set in the present time and is about friendships, relationships, families and finding romance. Ruby Brown is newly divorced and living in a granny flat in Milton Keynes. She sets out to reinvent herself by changing jobs and learning scuba-diving as a hobby. Ruby meets Joe at scuba-diving and she is also attracted to Mason her boss. Joe is not ready for a relationship and Mason just wants to have fun. I enjoyed the humor sprinkled throughout.

My Thoughts
‘Life should get easier once you leave the playground, but it doesn’t. Then you think you’ll have it sorted in your teens and you don’t. So you hurtle into your twenties when you’re sure you’ll crack the meaning of life. Yet here I am in my late thirties and I’m still all at sea.’
When you are looking for a solid, reliable read with some quality escapism, then Carole Matthews will always provide. This is a highly entertaining read with many a humorous moment. As Matthews says, it’s just about an ordinary woman trying to discover what is right for herself with lots of bumps along the way. You have to admire the lead character Ruby as she tries to work through things:
‘I was a little bit frightened of change. That’s no reason to stay anywhere, is it?’
I always enjoy Mathews humour, there is much to smile about whilst reading - everything from Ruby’s friend pursuit of the boy band, to her search for potential hobbies, their ‘muffin top’ laments and just some great one liners that really resonated with me, thus making the characters and story relatable:
‘I’m fretting about catching pneumonia or pleurisy by going out with damp hair –the things that your mother tells you leave scars for life .’
‘I try to pull it down at the sides. ‘If you’ve got it, flaunt it,’ Charlie instructs.
‘I don’t think I have got it. I’m pretty sure it went a long time ago.’
The two love interests for Ruby could not be more different - but I guess that was the point. Whilst I appreciated her indecision, sometimes her decisions were perplexing. But again, standing at the side, it’s easy for me to draw rational conclusions - this was Ruby’s journey I guess and she had to go through all the highs and lows. I also loved the whole 80s boy band saga but at times this too was drawn out just a tad too much for my liking.
Overall this is a fun book with much to endear itself to the reader. Do yourself a favour, take a break from the craziness of life and spend some time getting to know Ruby and the gang.
‘I’m content for the first time in a long time. Sometimes we hurtle through life, don’t we? I’m rushing off to work or racing round the supermarket, doing a dozen other things that I really don’t want to be doing and it’s easy not to stop and simply take a breath.’
This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher and provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release

Without a doubt Carole Matthews always delivers a good read - she creates really likable characters who find themselves in pretty believable situations. 'Million Love Songs' takes on the story of Ruby Brown, newly divorced, trying to find her way through her new reality. She has cast off her old job, got a new hairstyle and is hoping life is going to be somewhat better moving forward. Working as a waitress in the local pub, a rather stylish place, Ruby doesn't take too long to be entangled in not one but two potential romances.
I actually would give this story four and a half stars - it isn't quite five because Ruby is actually a little annoying as a character (maybe that's her charm). She goes down a couple of paths and moans about these choices but really no one made her do these things - it was all on her and I just wanted her to have a bit of a backbone at those moments. Aside from this everything about this story is highly entertaining. Ruby's best friend, Charlie, a fellow waitress and 'Take That' fan is probably my favourite thing about the book - she is a 'real' character and I was quite impressed with her commitment to fangirling Gary Barlow.
Ms Matthews always writes with great humour and a good eye for personal interactions which is what makes her stories very engaging. There were several scenes where I thought yep, I could see myself doing that or I had to quietly guffaw (always wanted to use this word in a review) - especially when Ruby was looking up potential hobbies. The two men that Ruby finds herself attracted to couldn't be more different but I actually found it hard at times (like her) to decide which one really was the one she should try to build something more tangible with - the ending actually satisfies. This is a book well worth taking off the shelf and spending some time reading.