Lulu has built a successful business doling out relationship advice as Lulu the Love Guru. When her mother Patricia is forced out of another nursing home due to her “passionate nature,” Lulu decides to put her business on hold to work on the most important relationship in her life...her relationship with her mother. This was a quick and enjoyable read. Patty was a great character and I enjoyed how Gibson portrayed her relationship with Lulu. I know Gibson as a romance writer and there was a love interest in the story, but that was only a small part of the book (Gibson wove the romance element into the story perfectly). An enjoyable, touching story.

How Lulu Lost Her Mind portrays an excellent in-depth picture of a daughter’s love for a mother with dementia. The main character remains dedicated to her mother. Why? Because she loves her! Far from perfect, her mother has had five husbands, worked many different jobs in several different locations, and has just been dismissed from a third assisted-living facility! Her daughter has finally found job security and feels in control of her life. Even so, she does everything in her power to make her mother’s last memories as happy and content as possible. Along with a young nurse companion, they return to the rarely visited family home where their lives follow reconstruction along with the century-old house. The hunky construction workers help with restoration of the home, providing love, laughter, and understanding of the complex situations. As one life moves toward its end, another life grows towards its beginning. The main character is in the middle. Her growth is perhaps the most poignant as she deals with the emotional highs and lows of living with a loved one with dementia, trying to maintain a prosperous job she created, uncovering old family secrets in an effort to keep her mother’s memories active, and exploring the multi-layered types of love. This novel gives varied avenues for discussions of the decisions, compromises, sacrifices, and choices different generations who recognize and demonstrate true love face as they value the happiness and needs of those loved.

After being mom's caregiver for the past 2 yrs she passed away 6 months ago. I almost quit reading this story of a woman leaving her life behind to do the same. Reliving the progression of dementia and shocking aftermath of a simple UTI wasn't something I wanted to do. I skipped some here and there and at about 65% became involved with the characters
They had a great caregiver which I didn't have but so much of the story became about love and understanding when it's difficult. Very true to life in the daughter's self doubt, sorry and hurt.
Thank you netgalley and the publisher for this arc

Lulu the Love Guru has built a successful business dispensing relationship advice. Her mother, Patricia, struggling with Alzheimer's, is a consummate flirt, and, as a result, has been thrown out of yet another nursing home. Lulu has no choice but to take over the care of her mother. Mama wants to go back home to Sutton Hall in Louisiana, so Lulu, Patricia and Lindsey, the nurse/caregiver, pack up and leave Seattle, Washington. As Patricia's Alzheimer's progresses, Lulu devotes more time to her mother and less time to her business. Lulu makes memories with her mother. Lindsey has a secret and finds a boyfriend. And along the way, Lulu discovers what love is really about.

Lou Ann is a wealthy self-made entrepreneur who is forced to take care of her 74 year old who has Alzheimers when she gets kicked out of yet another care facility. This book is really about the journey of Lou Ann and her mother Patricia as they navigate their tumultuous relationship and end of life decisions while going back to explore her family heritage. The narrative is lovely with matter-of-fact yet empathetic descriptions of caring for someone in old age. There are some sections which are not explored like how exactly Lou Ann makes money, how they can spend as much as they do and what else is going on in the real world outside, none of which detract from the story itself. I really enjoyed this read and want to read more of Rachel Gibson.

Quick, cutesy, predictable read. Little too "romancy" for my taste, but i did enjoy the mother/daughter storyline.
I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Lulu has built a multi million dollar empire being a love guru. But when her mother Patricia gets Alzheimer’s and is kicked out of multiple nursing homes, Lulu must make the difficult choice of caring for her mother or running her business. Patricia’s one wish is to go back to her family home Sutton Hall, to be buried in the family cemetery. Lulu hires a live in nurse, Lindsey and together, the three women move from Seattle, Washington to Louisiana to live at Sutton Hall. For the next few months, Lulu makes memories with her mother, and tries to enjoy every last moment. Lindsey reveals a secret. And Lulu and Lindsey both find love.

This story has it all. A memorable plot with enjoyable characters, sadness, humor, love, family, character growth and so much more. I loved this book and am going to recommend it to everyone.

Thank you NetGalley, Gallery Books and Rachel Gibson for the ARC of How Lulu Lost Her Mind in exchange for my honest review.

This book is one that stays with you. Mother and child relationships are always hard to put down on paper, because everybody has a different interpretation but, I always enjoy her writing about family and the levels and layers of people.
Even if you have the best relationship with your mom it's good to see people past is what you think, and their relationship to you.

Lulu is the successful woman behind Lulu the Love Guru, and the stressed daughter of Patricia, a passionate woman with Alzheimer’s. When Patricia is kicked out of yet another nursing home for sharing her passion with the other patients, Lulu’s plans are forced to change.

Her mother wants to return home, to the plantation in Louisiana, to be buried with her family. Lulu is determined to make enough good memories to make up for a lifetime of feeling like second place behind her mom’s five husbands and numerous boyfriends. With Lindsey, her mom’s nurse, to help her, they all head down south, where Lulu is accosted by bugs, sweat, and humidity and has to deal with Simon, the House Doctor, and an obnoxious bird named Raphael.

A great book with lots of laughter and a touch of sadness watching Lulu learn what is important to her and how to reach out and grab it.

What I enjoyed most about this book is that Lou Ann let go of being in constant control and almost robotic in nature and chose to live and love. She certainly was a product of a rather turbulent childhood but there was no doubt that Patricia loved her. In the backdrop of the South, she became softer. It was also told by the dry sense of humor I always enjoy. I would actually like to see what happens next in the lives of both her and Lindsey.

This is about a mother daughter relationship where the mother has Alzheimers and wants to return to the family homestead. Their relationship is fraught with ups and downs but they eventually resolve their issues. The mother is a consummate flirt, having been married a few times and constantly moving around. Lulu has a thriving business issuing love advice which she puts on hold. She meets Simon who is doing the renovation and has a hard time following her own advice.. Lindsey who has been hired to help care for.lulu’s mother has her own storyline. There are two love relationships going on while Lulu and her mother are working on theirs. Thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for this ARC.

The novel starts with Successful business woman and owner of Lulu the Love Guru, having to take her too romantically charged mother out of yet another Alzheimer’s care home. Seems like all her mom wants to do is spoon with all the men, having been married five times. Lou Ann realizes her mom won’t be around forever, so acquiesces to her moms demand LouAnn take her back to her dilapidated and huge family home in Louisiana to die. Newly hired wonderful nurse Lindsey comes along as well and the three of them settle the best way they can into this new life.
A fast read about mother’s and daughters, learning patience, and love.

Beautifully dramatic, warm, rich and complicated. I loved it. The culture of New Orleans, the old plantation that sucks money. The people who are wonderful. Great writing, fabulous situations, perfect dialogue. I wish it hadn't ended. For me that's the highest of praise.

Unlike Rachel Gibson's previous books, this is not a romance but a love story about mothers and daughters. As someone with a parent with Alzheimers, I found the relationship authentic and well told. The author blends humor with her drama as well as colorful descriptions of Louisiana life.

I enjoyed this quick read! Always love Rachel Gibson and this one didn’t disappoint, I finished this in one sitting!

I always love a Rachel Gibson romance. They are always fun of heart and comedy. This novel is a bit a departure from her other novels. This is less a romance and more of a relationship novel. The novel focus on the fractured relationship between a mother and daughter. The daughter Lou Ann runs an empire that comes from her “Lulu the Love Guru” persona. She is always working and has little time for anyone including herself. Her mother Patricia has been married and divorced five times. The mother has been always had a “passionate nature” and it gets her booted out of her latest health care facility. Patricia also has Alzheimer’s. Patricia convinces Lou Ann she has to go home (her family home in Louisiana) to die. Alzheimer’s is not an easy disease to experience but you see the humor and heartbreak in this book. You see Lou Ann having to become the caregiver and learning to let go of the past and enjoy the present.

Thank you to the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book. Everyone is going to love Lulu the Love Guru and her mother Patricia. Lulu has a successful empire. She makes the decision to leave that behind to care for her mother with Alzheimers. This reminded me of Kristin Hannah, Still Alice and Meet the Fockers all rolled into one. Definitely recommend.

I enjoyed this story of a woman finding her way back to a relationship as her mother is in decline suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. The two women and the young nurse hired to help return to the family plantation home and find their history and future..

How Lulu Lost her Mind is simply…wonderful. I read this book in one sitting because I couldn’t – and didn’t want to –put it down.

In an age where more and more CHILDREN are caring for the longer-living parents, the struggles are very real and Rachel Gibson has done a heart-wrenching, realistic, and totally wonderful job of showing just exactly how hard those struggles are.

Lulu Hunter is successful, independent, and unencumbered in her romantic life. She’s also the alter ego of Lulu the Love Guru, a jet-setting advice maven. Her mother, unfortunately, has Alzheimer’s and has been in several care facilities since diagnosis. Just when Lulu is about to launch out on new business tour, her mother is tossed out of her latest care facility due to her…well, passionate nature. Let’s just say Patricia is a fan of all things love and love related, including canoodling with men she is not married to.

Faced with personally caring for her ailing mother, a mother who insists she wants to go to her ancestral home in Louisiana to die, Lulu hires a live-in caretaker and the three of them embark of the trip.

I don’t like spoilers so I won’t divulge all the secrets and shenanigans mom and daughter get into, but there’s a foul mouthed parrot, a hot Cajun contractor, and a baby that make life just a little bit more of struggle than Lulu ever anticipated.

This book is love letter, pure and simple, to mothers and daughters who have reached that age where the maternal roles are reversed. I cried, I laughed, I wet my pants, when I read this book.

I can’t think anyone who loses themselves in this work won’t be able to put it down!

Brava. 5 stars from me- wish I could give it more. Thanks Netgalley and Gallery books for the sneak peek at what I predict will be a bestseller for 2020.