Make Do and Mend a Broken Heart follows Leanne as she learns to navigate life without her husband and leaving London and her friends behind to move to a tiny seaside village in to her newly purchased run down old cottage.

It’s a well written, gentle book that’s perfect to read over winter. There is a sprinkle of romance in it but I think this book is more about dealing with hardships, grief and moving on. I loved the characters and the sense of community, it almost made me wish I lived there.

The only thing I didn’t particularly like was how it glossed over Richards death with very few details. I think readers would have a stronger emotional connection to the story if the death and funeral had featured in those first few chapters.

Leanne is recently widowed and she and her late husband had just bought a new cottage in Kent away from the London life they had been used to, when he dies. Leanne finds herself without the money needed to do up the new house in the way she had envisaged. The point of this story is to show what a difference good friends can make when you hit rock bottom. Leanne finds herself in a new town but quickly settles in and meets new people there who really make her feel welcome. Although this is a romantic piece of fiction the story focuses more on relationships with friends and relatives which is quite heart-warming. Although the outcomes were fairly predictable, the journey is lovely and you end up really feeling for Leanne and the situation which she didn’t expect to find herself in. The people she meets are kind and really open their arms to embrace a newcomer in a way that you don’t expect to happen these days. Lovely, light, fairly easy reading. Perfect for a cold winter’s afternoon. I had not read any of Katey Lovell’s books before but would certainly consider reading another.
Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this book.

What a wonderful book this is. If I could give it six stars I would. One of the most heart-warming, lovely books I have read in a very long time.
We follow recently widowed Leanne as she moves to Sea Glass Cottage and discovers that with the help of friendship, and some DIY skills acquired along the way, she can begin to mend her broken heart while fixing up the rundown house and turning it into a home.
Beautifully written and pitched perfectly to describe the deep impact of grief and the joy of friendship & community. .
I will most definitely be looking for more books by Katey Lovell from now on.

The setting for seaglass cottage seems idyllic, even though it needs serious renovations, but the reality of going it alone following the death of her husband emphasises the worst of the situation, from rotting doors that wont stay shut to mould spots, damp and an enormous hole, little to no DIY experience and financial strife.
The story contains three romances, of Leanne and Richard, Leanne and the cottage and...well...it wouldn't be a romance without a brooding stranger would it?!

I really liked the emphasis on community, of gathering together and supporting each other (and of random group meetings at the library!) making the focus a group one instead of just Emma alone.

Beautifully written, transporting you to the coast, weather and all and with a thoroughly satisfying outcome for all concerned!

This is a very easy, chic lit, sort of read. At first I thought there would be something deeper about it with the death of Richard but Leanne quickly lands on her feet in Rockgate Bay. She not only learns new crafts at the library but also finds the locals very happy to help her renovate Seaglass Cottage which is in a pretty dreadful state. I was a bit confused near the beginning when she goes to her local shop for basic supplies using her last £10 as she is afraid that her debit card would be declined after an awful interview with her bank. Yet days later she is still without funds but manages to survive, possibly on cups of tea and crisps, and partly from freebies from her local fish and chip shop. She is hopeful of Richard's last active insurance policy paying out which would save the day. Sadly, I did find this book dripping with too much honey. Yes, locals can be very helpful to one another, perhaps offering free paint and food and DIY skills to someone who has only just moved into the area. This would certainly improve your attitude to human nature, but half way through I could take no more. So perhaps it got a bit grittier but I suspect that the cottage was finished beautifully all done by eager locals, she became a mum to Milo and an important figure in the town with lots of friends. The utopian escapism was just too much for me.

Make Do and Mend a Broken Heart is one of those books that I feel is perfect for the winter season.

It gives you those warm and fuzzy feelings and leaves you with a sense of comfort.

Leanne is moving into her dream home and that unfortunately is where the positivity ends because it turns out that it's not quite the fairytale ending that she was after ...

This is because her then husband recently passed away and now she's left with a house needing a lot of tender loving care (and repair) and then there's the fact that the money she thought would be left to her was in fact used to pay for this idyllic building by the sea.

What happens after is really heartwarming.

We see a community come together, friendships formed and a broken heart healed.

I'd definitely say this is a love story but not your typical boy meets girl romance.

There is sadness weaved within the pages but combined with a feeling of hope, the array of emotions are really well balanced.

Katey Lovell has written a beautiful, gentle story, filled with a cast of characters who you really want to become friends with.

Get ready to cosy up with a blanket and a box of tissues in front of the fire for this read!

I thoroughly enjoyed this story, I really wanted to pick up my kindle as often as possible to keep reading. It is well written and has a really good flow to the storyline. It is a sweet romance that kept my interest throughout.

The characters are well rounded and very likeable. I felt I was getting to know them all along with Leanne as she set up home in this new town. Leanne's struggles and triumphs certainly grabbed at my heart and I wanted to give her a hug. She is so determined and I really felt for her at times and so wanted her to succeed.

This seaside town is certainly full of lovely people. All the characters had their good points and very few bad; maybe a little unrealistic but it makes a change from reading about reality after all.

If you are looking for a proper romance story with a little bit of up and down, then this would be a very good one to choose. It is a curl up in your armchair and indulge sort of book.

Oh this was lovely. I won’t confirm or deny whether I read the final chapters of this book curled in a ball with tears on my cheeks.

Both this book and my previous read saw women finding themselves and love again after loss. It was a total coincidence but meant I couldn’t help making comparisons. Two very different women and two very different new love circumstances.

My heart absolutely went out to Leanne. I love reading about strong, brave women. This book helped me rethink what I consider strong and brave. Brave doesn’t have to mean jumping out of planes, strong doesn’t have to mean walking into a meeting and proving people wrong who have already judged you. It means those things but it also means getting up and carrying on after a devastating blow. It means having a little cry and then rolling up your sleeves and getting on with things.

I loved the small town, “Gilmore Girls” vibe of everyone pulling together for a cause. I loved how Leanne’s relationship with her family, in-laws and friends ebbed and flowed. I loved how she found kindred spirits in a group of seemingly completely different people. I loved getting to know them all right along with Leanne.

Katey’s books are such a pleasure to read. I always look forward to meeting realistic characters, flaws and all, overcoming insecurities and adversity and triumphing in the end. This was another wonderful book and I’m already looking forward to the next one.

On the wrong day I'd be inclined to throw this book at the wall! I suspect it's supposed to be heart-warming and life-affirming but really it's just unbelievably unbelievable. That said, I did finish it. The basic premise is simple: Leanne and Richard have bought a dilapidated house in a small seaside town. They're going to do it up and continue to live happily ever after. Then Richard dies and Leanne is left struggling financially. Happily the local people, all strangers to her, rally to support her. Loud calls for suspension of disbelief ensue! If you can manage that then I think you'll enjoy this book. It is charming and the characters are interesting if shadowy. There's not a lot of plot and what there is is undemanding. But the book is a pleasant way to pass a few hours.

This is a lovely story, well written and heartwarming. When I started it, I was concerned it would be rather cliched, but while the outcomes weren’t a surprise, the way the story unfolded was pleasing. A lovely romantic tale that will tug at your heartstrings, warm your heart and make you start searching for cottages near the sea for yourself...

I've been reading Katey Lovell's books since her debut Meet Cute stories. It's so great to see an author flourishing and going from strength to strength. In my opinion this is her strongest book yet. It's tender and poignant and zips along. You really care about Leanne, the main character and her battles to make Sea Glass cottage her own. The supporting characters are strongly written and there is a real sense of community in the book that makes this so rewarding a read. I loved it.

This was a touching, and at times heartbreaking story. I really liked Leanne and the little community she came to call home. She was very resilient and her willingness to take on a daunting project under such difficult circumstances made it very easy to feel for her. The supporting characters of Mary, Harry, Daz, Tracey and Row who helped her on her journey were all lovely. A well written read.

An absolutely perfect contemporary fiction book that, though features romance, is more about grief, resilience and making a brave, fresh start.
This story encourages an uplifting faith that things are going to be ok even when they look dire.

I loved Leanne, she isn't one for wallowing in self pity or playing the victim, she's determined, feisty and not afraid of hard work, despite losing almost everything her foundation was build upon. She's lucky that the community in Rockgate Bay are both talented and welcoming, so her fresh start, despite full of mishaps and mayhem, is supported by new friendships and a beautiful setting by the sea.

Doing up a dilapidated house is no easy task and the money worries that it brings were familiar; trying to get a house to live up to its true potential on a tight budget when you've no DIY skills is tough, and yet Leanne faces this head on which I admired greatly.

I fell a little bit in love with the wonderful community of Rockgate Bay- many were warmhearted and played a different part in giving Leanne the boost she needed, from practical help to laughs, confided secrets to companionship. This story really highlights that it isn't one person, or one particular place, that makes everything right -:we are all flawed, all in need of mending and making do with what can't be mended as new. The house renovation becomes an allegory for the true journey of grief, of how we never get back what we lost, or get over it, but learn how to make a new future and fill it with love.

Okay, well I'm always going to be a sucker for a book that has a friendly librarian in it (as I'm also a librarian). At times this book was so sad but the storyline was beautifully handled. I read it on a lazy Sunday in one sitting and I fell in love with the main character Leanne and her resilience. This is the first book of Katey Lovell's I've read but will be purchasing more books by her straight away for the library!