Many thanks to Bookouture and Jaren King for the opportunity to read and review this book. Single all the Way was a fantastic, fun, festive read. I really liked the two main characters mother and daughter Sally and Meg. Both of the women find themselves single and alone at Christmas. The story takes us through the difficulties in each of their relationships. Can love conquer all or is it best to admit defeat and move on. I thoroughly enjoyed this easy read.

I really loved diving in to the lives of Sally and her daughter, Meg, as the two were heading to Cornwall to make the hardest decisions they have possibly ever had to make. With this book, Karen King teaches us that decisions can be hard and not everyone is going to like the ones we make, however, it isn't always about making sure everybody around you is happy - it's about making YOU happy. We all need to live our lives to the fullest and if that means we have to let people go along the way, it was clearly meant to be.

That being said, she also showed us that despite two people having very different outlooks on life, they still might be able to find their way back to one another and there's usually a lot more to the story than anyone can know. If two people really want something, despite their differences, they will fight for it.

A brilliant read, that will have you thinking about life and what is best for you.

I really enjoyed this lovely little gem of a novel! The story is told by a family of four but mostly from the Mom, Sally, and the daughter, Meg’s point of view. It is about love and happiness but it is also about broken hearts and learning to live your life to the fullest and although some decisions may not seem right to others but it can be right for you. This book has many glorious happy moments and some they made me a bit teary eyed and I just loved it!

I really loved and enjoyed Single All the Way. I love how this wasn't your typical Christmas read it had way more depth than I thought it would. I loved how it was about relationships and how one must fight for something if you really want it. This is a great read and one that definitely makes you think about life and what's important to you.

What an interesting Christmas story!

I loved seeing the intricacies of all the relationships involved, and observing as the characters pieced together their feelings toward each other. It was heartbreaking, charming, and lovely.

Loved this! Characters were fantastic and my heart went out to all of them. Well written and tugged at the heartstrings. It’s not often that you can empathise with all parties in a break up, but Karen King made her cast of characters so likeable that it was hard to apportion blame in their situations. Read in one sitting.

Meg discovers her husband Oliver does not want children and is devastated by his choice but also by the fact he kept it a secret: she almost feels likes he tricked her into marriage by claiming to want kids too.
She leaves him just before Christmas and when she phones her mum to let her know, Sally informs her that she has left her dad Ted after nearly 40 years of marriage. The spark has gone and Sally is desperately unhappy.
The two women head to Cornwall where Sally and Ted spent their honeymoon. She wants to relive the time she was happiest and decide if the changed relationship is one she can be content with or whether to break up for good. Meg goes with her to get some space to consider her options: does she love Oliver enough to be happy with being a family with no children or should she find someone who wants to have kids?
Single All The Way is a very deep and complex book as it explores relationships and how perspective is so important. Being able to see both sides of the story makes it so difficult to judge who is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’, and makes us care about all of the characters.
This book makes it easy to identify with the characters, whether you are Meg’s age or Sally’s. My parents are due to retire and I wonder how their relationship will change once they are both at home. Chris and I have decided not to have any more children even though I want another baby. Some things can’t be compromised on and this book explores the complexities of negotiating relationships in a really thought-provoking way.
There is a festive element to the book but the Christmas setting is a device for evaluating the values you hold dearest and assessing your own life. Family is so important but we only get one chance at life and deserve to find happiness, but not at the expense of others. Love changes over time as do we as people, so we need to adapt our expectations accordingly which could make or break a relationship.
Single All The Way was a lovely book to read and I can imagine a book club debating the issues that are explored within its pages.

2.5 stars

Meg and her husband own a party planning business. They love each other and they care for each other, so why is it that one day leaves Oliver? And when Meg's mother Sally hears about it, she makes a decision of her own - she always put her family, and first of all, husband first but now feels it time to think about herself. Will mother and daughter be able to save their marriages? Do they want to save their marriages?

I could get into the story but I also couldn't get into it, hope you're with me :) I understood the meaning, the plot but still I wasn't full involved because it just simply felt too flat and too clichéd. The dialogues and the characters felt much too wooden and too formal and too forced. Huge part of the book is actually about Meg and Sally reflecting on their relationships and wondering what has gone wrong - I missed action, something happening, the book going forward.

I'm really sorry to say but the characters felt very one - dimensional and not real, and the way they acted and interacted was unnatural and it was hard to connect with them. The chapters told from the husbands' points of view didn't make me warm to them, to be honest, and actually we knew then all the points of view, also those of the female characters, but there was no solution and no help, and the other people involved didn't know what the others are thinking.

"Single All the Way" was a holiday romance, light and easy to read, about relationships, the stereotypes of failed marriages and misunderstandings and the author is for sure passionate about telling a story. The title and the cover may suggest that the book is a cosy, Christmas reading but well, for me it didn't give off too many festive feelings. While there was so much potential in it, it didn't deliver, and it lacked in emotional depth so needed to make it work and everything is done half - heartedly. So yes, I think I know that the author wanted to added tons of depth and meaning to the story, to make it not so fluffy but this bit more serious but, sadly, she didn't succeed. However, please do not feel put out by my review, you may fell in love with the characters and the plot of this novel, so simply just give it a go.

Two couples splitting up just before Christmas, both for very different reasons. As mum and daughter go away together to Cornwall to think, and to try to come to terms with the breaks in their once happy family, new friendships are formed and decisions are made. Who will get back together, who will not, and will it be for the right reasons? A little drawn out and repetitive in places but a good emotional read.

Although the title suggests a fun lighthearted festive read, this book begins with a mother and daughter who have both decided to leave their husbands.
After 30 plus years of marriage, Sally feels trapped. Newly retired she wants to explore the world, something that she has often discussed with her husband Ted. However as they have grown older (and apart) Ted is happiest in his garden and has no interest in socialising.
Meg who at 34 is now more than ready to start a family with husband Oliver, is met with the shattering news that Oliver does not want children.
Both newly single, Sally and Meg rent a cottage and spend Christmas around new friends, enjoying new experiences and deciding where their hearts lie.
Written in multiple narrative, this festive read allows the reader to fully understand each of the main characters. The author provides us with heartwarming tale of love and decision making. With the added bonus of pet bunnies Laurel and Hardy.
A wonderful read 4/5.

Single All the Way took me by surprise. I was expecting a light, holiday read and definitely got moments of that but this book was far more heart tugging and real life than I expected, giving it more substance that the usual chick-lit.

Meg and her mum Sally, both find themselves single and recently broken up from their respective husbands, Oliver and Ted. They are both at very different stages in life. Meg and Oliver are seven years into their relationship, have built a home and business together, and starting a family is the next logical step...or is it? Sally and Ted have been married for nearly 40 years, and have settled into retired life like a comfortable old pair of slippers. But is it what Sally wants? Is this the dream she had for their life together?

I loved how Meg and Sally come together during this time. Reconnecting as Mother and Daughter and really seeing and understanding one another's needs and wants. It's a story about relationships for the long haul. Getting through the hard, challenging moments of compromise. Fighting for what you really want in life and knowing when the life you are living is no longer the life you pictured for yourself. And most importantly, never giving up on the love you want and deserve.

Thank you Net Galley and Bookouture for providing me an e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Single All the Way is a phenomenal novel from Karen King. This fast-paced novel grabs your attention at page one and keeps it all the way to the end. This page turner will have you flying through the pages. I highly recommend this book and I assure you that you won’t be disappointed. I look forward to more books from this author.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for a digital review copy in return for an honest review.

I enjoyed this festive romance by an author who is new to me - a mum and her daughter both wondering whether to continue with their marriages whilst spending time helping the local community of the small town where the mum had spent her happy honeymoon get ready for Christmas.

I really struggled to get in to the story of Meg and Sally, a mother and daughter who end up single together at Christmas. I stopped and started the whole way through. Whilst I loved the Christmassy element of this book, I didn't gel with the characters.

The stories of Sally and Meg, mother and daughter, both of whom have left their husbands for their husbands just before Christmas. They each have their own reasons, but will they be able to work through their problems or will they be single starting the new year?

I liked the characters they met in Cornwall, and how it was told from different points of view.

Good read.

Spending Christmas in the lovely Cornish village lets you share in all the festive preparations and village life. This is an enjoyable book which gives you food for thought as well as some heart-warming moments. It is more than a festive read.

The storyline which features a mother and daughter and their relationship problems offers an interesting perspective and lets you see how they deal with life at different points in their lives. I particularly enjoyed the parts where Meg and Sally are together and found them both credible characters. There are some thoughtful issues beneath the storyline. You are also given an insight into what their husbands are thinking. You can see both sides and how circumstances have led these couples to the present crisis. It isn't just because they have stoppped communicating with each other. There are other aspects, especially with Meg's husband. With one couple having drifted apart and the other having unrecognised issues, there is plenty of meat in this otherwise escapist read.

In short: With two couples at a crossroads, there is plenty to work through in this Christmas romance.

Thanks to the author for a copy of the book

I think this book could have been better if the dialogue was more ... natural. This is a peeve of mine in cozy romantic reads. I just can't stand the folks in a relationship constantly addressing each other so formally. No one in a romantic relationship ends each sentence or statement with their partner's name such as:

"I'd love an egg Meg"
"I'm just going to the bathroom Meg"
"It was hard to tell you about my secret Meg"
"This couch is uncomfortable Meg"

How about at least trying some informal dialogue between those that are being intimate? Throw in some pet names? Make the relationship really more believable? I just can't deal with this in contemporary romantic fiction anymore and this book is a shining example of bad dialogue.

If two people are the only two people in a room, they do not need to address each other by name EVERY TIME.

Ok, rant over. Now onto the rest of this book which just didn't work for me.

Meg runs from Ollie because she's pouting about him expressing his feelings instead of oh I don't know say talking to her husband of many years about how he actually feels? Nah let's just run off and leave him home alone with our pets. Sally runs from her husband Ted when she realizes her daughter Meg has left her own husband. What's going through Sally's mind here? Who knows. Maybe: "oh yay! Now Meg and I can be single twinsies!" Either way, it's weird and it just doesn't work. Then we have Meg getting close to the holiday let neighbor Leo and his son Sam, very quickly I might add, and Sally getting close to stranger Rory. Also within a day Sally has become BFFs with cafe owner Rose, because why not?

I mean I guess I like a little bit of reality sprinkled in with my escapism. Not just uncomfortable and unbelievable plots. So this just wasn't for me.

I really enjoyed Karen King's other book Snowy Nights at the Lonely Hearts hotel and found the story and dialogue there to be much more believable.

I didn't want to put this down, it was funny. romantic and festive, what more could you need. This is a 5 star novel and one to reread at a later date. I recommend you get a copy and enjoy it as I have done.

<b>I was kindly provided an ARC of this book by the publisher on NetGalley*</b>

Just to get it out of the way: I did not like this book. The writing is okay-ish, but the character development sounded completely off to me and I cannot deal with rushed plots. It's surely is me, because this is potentially a lovely book, but it did not work for me.

The premise is quite simple: Meg and her mother, Sally, are both leaving their husbands at the same time, just before Christmas. Though you learn it a bit later on, the issue between Meg and her husband Oliver is quite simple<spoiler>: she corners him and he says he does not want to have children, <i>ever.</i> She does not take it well, as she should.</spoiler>, like the issue between Sally and Ted (Meg's father). They go to a cottage in Cornwall to gather their thoughts, plan their next move, etc. They get close - the husbands have time to reflect on their grave mistakes - HEA ensues.

My issue with all of this was mostly about Meg. I did not like her character. I did not like how she dealt with her husband. I did not like the way that he told her one thing, and then came around on this VERY IMPORTANT ISSUE. Like it was nothing. I would have needed more psychological exploration on both sides to empathize with Meg more, but there wasn't, and I didn't.

Two stars, because they writing was good, but the plot did not work for me at all.

First, I want to thank Karen King, Bookouture and NetGalley for providing me with this book so I may bring you this review.

Karen King’s Single All the Way’s fun cover and title definitely caught my eye. However, this book was not the light read that I assumed it was. It is a powerful emotional read regarding relationships.

Karen would like to dedicate this book to Ann a fellow author and friend. Memories of their joint author visits still make her chuckle.

From the very beginning of the book I was shocked! Both Mother and Daughter are leaving their spouses around Christmas. Both for different reasons. During the course of the book learn why they decided to leave them. But you also will hear their spouses’ side as well. It is very eye opening and emotional read.

Karen does an incredible job with the character building in this book.

One thing that I loved how the mother and daughter became closer during everything they were going through.

There were many twists and turns that I didn’t see coming.

Karen got the idea of Meg and Oliver’s story was inspired by a piece she read about a man who had never felt loved as a child so was scared to be a father himself, and he had chosen to have a vasectomy to make sure he never had children.