DNF @ 33%

I do think this is a book that a lot of people will pick up and enjoy, but it ultimately just wasn't for me!

Most of my issues with this book come from me comparing it to another book with a very similar plot. Love, Almost didn't hook me as quickly as the other one did, so getting invested in the story was difficult - why was everyone so surprised about her relationship with Jack? Why didn't they accept it at first? Objectively I know this is because of plot purposes, but these were things that stuck out to me.

I think I would have enjoyed this more had I picked it up at a different time of year (right now my reading brain is tired), or had I not known that this is more about the main character dealing with her grief (which, not sure how you get around that, except to not read reviews).

I loved how this was a story of self discovery. Yes, it’s a tale of grief and sadness but it’s more than that. Chloe uses her grief to understand more about herself and in doing so realises just what she has and had in her short yet memorable relationship with Jack.

Thank you NetGalley, Avon Books UK and Hayley Doyle for gifting me an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!
TALK ABOUT AN EMOTIONAL GUT PUNCH. If you loved P.S. I Love you or The Two Lives of Lydia Bird, you need to read Hayley Doyle’s Love Almost. Just bring a box of tissues wherever you go because you will not be okay.
“So, word of warning for anybody who- like me- has fallen into the habit of taking photos of a rainbow salad; two glasses of wine by candlelight: feet on a beach: don’t. Take photos of people. You will never, ever, ever care about your toes painted neon pink on the sand, ever. But you’ll wish you had more photos of the person you loved.”
This book takes readers on the emotional roller coaster that is grief. When Jack meets Chloe, it’s love at first sight. Now 5 months in, Chloe has moved to a new city to be with him and things are better than ever before. And then Jack is killed and the life Chloe had dreamed for them dies with Jack.
We go through the stages of grief with Chloe as she works to move past the trauma of loving the person she loved and finds who she is without him. I think this was more of a Women’s Fiction than romance, but it was still very moving and I was rooting for Chloe the entire time!

I really wanted to love this book, but I just didn’t. Don’t get me wrong, some areas were lovely and I really liked that I was reading it in a Scouse accent but I feel like the supporting characters let it down.

If there is a sequel, I will give that a try as I liked the majority of the book.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

⭐⭐💫

Many thanks to @netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I'm at a loss on how to properly leave a review for this book, because I wanted to love this book so much. This book follows Chloe after she loses her boyfriend to an accident. We watch her deal with grief slowly. Unfortunately, the book started out too slow for me. I enjoyed the last quarter of the book more. I also didn't feel connected to any of the characters; however, this is a tale of grief, family, and self-discovery, which is what Chloe was doing.

I am seemingly in the minority with this review, which is a bit sad (truth be told), because I loved Me Before You and The Two Lives of Lydia Bird. I'm not sure where the disconnect was, but I still implore you to read it and decide for yourself when it releases on Jan 7, 2021.

This is the first book I have read by Hayley Doyle and it definitely won't be the last!

I really enjoyed this book. Yes it is a book about grief, but it is also of family, friendships and moving on and finding your place in the world again. I loved the characters and the ordinariness of them, they could be people you know and I particularly liked Chloe's Liverpudliness, Hayley has her dialect off to a tee..

Highly recommended to readers who enjoy women's fiction.

Thanks to Netgalley and Avon Books UK for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I laughed, cried, ooh’d and argh’d – this book has everything.

When main character Chloe’s boyfriend Jack, of 5 months is suddenly killed, she starts to question if she really knew him, whether she was loved, or was in love herself - Love Almost? No-one really knew about Chloe and her relationship with Jack – and that Jack was her everything. We follow her life as she learns to continue with life after Jack – and tries to keep close to him by doing the things they had planned together.

I really can’t recommend this book enough for readers who enjoy Jojo Moyes and Cecelia Ahern.
The book is a witty, fast paced read and is beautifully written to engage you with Chloe and other characters.

My first read by this author and I can’t wait to read more by her.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in return for an honest unbiased review.

Chloe and Jack might have only been together for five months but she was in love- head over heels- with him. So when he's killed in an accident, she's struck down by grief, which is compounded by the fact that his family didn't know about her and her family doesn't understand why she's taking this so hard. Even her friend Beth (who I found annoying at times) doesn't get it. So Chloe sets out to complete the bucket list of things she and Jack had just begun compiling- things like learning to ski. And in doing the list, she finds herself again. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. It's a good, emotional read with a character in Chloe who you will want to reach out and hug.

Love, Almost follows Chloe after the her boyfriend of five months dies very suddenly. Having been together for such a short period of time, she feels pretty sure that he could have been endgame for her but also struggles with the image of a completely different man that his friends and family knew.

It is both a blessing and a curse that Doyle is able to so accurately depict the Scouse accent on the page. A blessing because it is admirable that she is able to effortlessly make the accent ring in my ears; a curse because I can't stand the Scouse accent. It is for this reason that I definitely would not be able to consume this book as an audiobook (I read it as an eARC, for anyone interested) but I chose not to reflect this incredibly subjective opinion in my rating because frankly that isn't fair to Doyle.

Most readers will likely find this book challenging because grief is at the forefront. Chloe's grief is not just depicted as curling in a ball crying on the sofa for weeks but also the crazy, impulsive decisions made to find a way to make sense of everything.

This is a book which I really struggled with in the first half but ended-up adoring in the second half, and especially appreciated the ending. The validity of Chloe's feelings are constantly questioned in the earlier portion of the book and, whilst the reader may also find themselves questioning whether Chloe's boyfriend was her soulmate, it became pretty unbearable when every character was thoroughly unlikeable. There is still some doubting and cruelty in the latter half of the book but the focus became on Chloe's healing and working through her grief. It was really beautiful.

First, I want to say thank you to NetGalley and Avon Books for the ARC and a chance to review.

How do you deal with the death of a man you were sure was The One after only being with him for 5 months? Are you allowed to grieve? Does a short period make it any less real? These are all questions Chloe has to deal with after Jack passes away following a tragic accident.

This book deals with grief and how people handle it. All the firsts that you now have to take alone. We follow Chloe on her journey of all her "firsts" without Jack.

One thing that kind of irked me about this book was how flippant all the side characters were to Jack's death and how Chloe was grieving. I understand, they hadn't been together long and they hadn't met him. But not even her supposed best friend tried to validate her feelings? Felt unrealistic and it was frustrating to read, especially as Chloe never spoke up about her feelings. All the side characters just felt like the same person; there was no apparent personalities for any of them. They were just there to invalidate Chloe's feelings and push along the plot. When they kept talking over her before she even explained what she was upset about after his death? I was so ready to put the book down. Sure, some people might be like that in real life, but annoying characters are still frustrating to read, regardless of it its realistic. There is some redemption for the side characters toward the end, but my impression was spoiled in the beginning.

It was hard for me to connect with Chloe as a character and the side characters. However, I'm sure others will enjoy it. It just wasn't for me.

I must admit, this one was a slower burner for me. And it took my a while to start connecting with Chloe and her story. But as she’s thrust into the aftermath of Jack’s sudden death, this is very much a journey into her grief, and whether she’s permitted by her family and his family & friends to grieve for Jack as they only knew each other a short while. The last half of this really pulled this out for me

I'm not a great reader of romance novels, but this one kept me engaged right through. It examines the position of a person whose partner dies just a few months into their relationship. This is the period when it's at its most intense, when they are almost an addiction, yet outsiders seem to forget that and cannot, or will not, understand the level of grief and disbelief felt.
Chloe and Jack were in love, they had moved in together and life was rosy, until suddenly it wasn't. Chloe becomes a nobody, overnight. His family haven't even heard of her, his old friends are barely aware of her, so she is forcibly peripheral to what happens next. This sense of unfinished business drives Chloe to make some questionable decisions, yet each one shines a light on who she is and helps her to heal and move forward a better, stronger person. It's a feel bad feel good novel with a calm, happy-making ending.

Love Almost is a heartbreaking and inspiring story at the same time. Chloe loses her boyfriend , Jack in a accident and the story revolves around Chloe coming to terms with the loss of her boyfriend.

Chloe and Jack were in a live in relationship for 5 months and they had plans to travel, to do things together. Suddenly one day she gets the news that Jack has been killed in an accident. Even though Chloe was not part of his inner circle or has never met his family, she was emotionally very much vested in Jack.

Chloe since childhood was never serious or dedicated about anything. She might have started many activities and jobs but she never saw the finish line. The only person she truly was sure about was gone, and she did not know how to carry on in life without him. Chloe takes a solo trip to Bangkok, that was pre-planned by both of them and does many things by herself that hey had planned to do together.

The writer has beautifully expressed all the emotions a person goes through when you loose someone so close and dear to you. Get a copy to read how will Chloe cope in her life; will she be able to find a purpose and overcome her grief?

I would highly recommend this book!! Thank you #netgalley, #avonbooksuk and #hayleydoyle for a free copy of eARC in exchange of my honest review!!

I must say, that this one broke my heart. Yes it was good, but I do not do books like this. Yes, I read P.S. I love you and Me, before you, and I knew what I was expecting, but even knowing it this made me sad...
I know that there is always a rainbow, but still...
This is lovely written, 4 stars for me.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Chloe's story, it's a raw and unpolished look at true love, and also grief. It felt so real and I completely fell in love with Chloe, she's a mess but she has a big heart. You can't help but think about those early days of a big romance where you feel your whole world has changed, and to then consider what would have happened if it had all ended so abruptly; this explores that grief and the loss of "what could have been", and I particularly felt the questioning that Chloe did about the romance, their experiences and of Jack himself as she's presented with other people's memories of him.
Chloe's own family were absolutely adorable and hilarious, her mum, dad and brother steal the whole show.
This is an uplifting read that offers you a chance to assess what's important in life and what we all want to leave behind after we're gone.

Thanks, NetGalley for giving me this book in exchange for an honest review.

Love almost is a story about a woman grieving about a love that almost was. Imagine the honeymoon phase of dating someone you're totally infatuated with. You're not head over heels in love, but something undeniable exists between the two of you. Then, imagine it suddenly being taken from you; the universe has made its decision on the course of your relationship before it had the chance to sink or swim.

That was the case with Chloe Roscoe when her boyfriend of five months Jack suddenly passes away. Her grief is intensified because neither of them was fully ingrained in each other's lives before his sudden death, so she has to deal with well-meaning loved ones questioning, or at times invalidating the intensity of the relationship.

I felt every bit of her grief throughout the story. There were times where I felt physical pain in my heart for here. But there were other times the story kind of lagged. That was a bit frustrating, but then again, the grieving process is slow right? I guess the slow pacing of this book reflected that.

Overall, I enjoyed this book enough to finish it, but I can't get past some of the needless bits in it that made it so slow. I do think the book would have had a greater impact on me had it been a bit shorter.

Love, Almost by Hayley Doyle is a great book about love, loss and moving on.

Chloe is happily dating her boyfriend of a few months Jack and hoping for a future together when Jack unexpectedly dies. After dating a few months, they moved in together but hadn’t said I love you yet. Jack’s family doesn’t know about her. This causes Chloe to question their relationship and whether she actually knew him.

Love, Almost is emotional and heartbreaking. The reader quickly is brought into Chloe and Jack’s happy romance to have it shattered by tragedy. Chloe is grieving and contemplating their relationship throughout the book. Chloe has to move on from the future she wanted while wondering if that future was ever going to happen even if Jack was still alive. Chloe turns to her family and friends. Some are trying to be supportive without knowing what to do while others think the relationship wasn’t serious so she should get over it. I liked how both sides were shown. Chloe is thirty six, so her family wants her to get married and have kids. Chloe is left wondering what she wants.

I recommend Love, Almost to fans of JoJo Moyes and Josie Silver.

Thank you Avon Books UK, Harper Collins UK Audio and NetGalley for Love, Almost.

Life can be cruel. When Chloe lost Jack five months into their relationship because of a tragic accident she wondered what her future would look like. She decides to live life for both her and Jack, working her way through adventures that they had planned together. Whilst incredibly sad I was glad that I had read it. Life can include sunshine again if you let it.

Love, Almost by Hayley Doyle was a book with all the feels, it was a book filled with likeable characters, Chloe and Jack were adorable albeit short lived as Jack dies.

Its written in a easy reading style and I was able to devour the book in a couple of sittings.

I would totally recommend this book to anyone who was after a light read, which will give you all the feels.

I am afraid I struggled with this book, and I blame myself for choosing it in the first place. I just found it depressing and I didn't connect with it.I see that I am in the minority, and am happy that others have enjoyed it more .