Amelia is 40. After some life altering changes, she decides to apologize to those she's wronged and try new things she's always wanted to try. Being completely honest, Amelia isn't very likeable. She grows throughout the novel and definitely makes positive life changes, but she's just not a likeable character to me. So while at the end she's made positive changes and has a whole new life, it's hard to root for someone you just can't connect with. Overall, this book was hard for me to get into, and hard to keep me interested. I feel like this was a decent read, it just wasn't so much my taste.

⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

I received an advanced copy for free and am leaving this review voluntarily. Thank you to NetGalley, Jeanette Escudero, and Lake Union Publishing. ❤️

Millie is a high powered lawyer who has clawed her way to the top with her over-the-top expectations for her staff and her take-no-prisoner aggressiveness with her colleagues both in the office and in court. In doing so, she has alienated everyone around her, expect perhaps her therapist sister, who affords her an amazing amount of grace and patience for her behavior. Millie suddenly has an attack of conscience and morals and butts heads with one of the sleazy firm partners which results in her termination. Millie, being the stellar lawyer she is negotiates a multi-million dollar settlement package. Millie decides to throw herself a 40th birthday party and invites the staff from her old law firm and is shocked and sad when no one shows up except for her replacement who does not even know her. Of course, he is a super hot guy and they are immediately attracted to each other. John challenges Millie to reflect on her behavior and she decides to start apologizing to all she has wronged in the past.

Predictable romance novel. The premise was good, but I could not warm up to Millie. Admittedly, her boss was a jerk, but her behavior was pretty bad, too. She ends up super wealthy and feeling sorry for herself did not make for a sympathetic character. The side story of her researching her father's real family was kind of "there" for me - it did not really play into the story.

The book itself was well written technique wise - good dialogue skills and rise and all of the plot line.

4.5 stars! The first 15% was a little slow for me but once it picked up, I was hooked! It was a great read with such important messages. I loved Millie and seeing her find herself after being fired from her job. I absolutely loved how her “meet-cute” moment happened. It was so unique and funny. It was refreshing to have lead characters in their 40s find love. It was so much more than an apology project. I recommend checking this one out.

Thank you to the publisher and @netgalley for providing a free advanced copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

The Apology Project

This book was a real treat! What I enjoyed most was the heroine! The story and performance from the cast was stellar.

I initially had an advance reviewer copy thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, but I found an audiobook version, which this review is of.
I say this because the narration was quite fitting to the tone of the book and enhanced the experience for me.
Our leading lady in this book is Amelia Montgomery. She is a hard-working and sharp-tongued lawyer who is used to doing a great job and expecting the same from people around her. There comes a breaking point where she is forced to retire and then ends up taking a look at the choices she had made in her life. The first issue I had was that the breaking point was not self-explanatory. Amelia iterates at different junctions of the book that there was no special reason for her to have used that particular case/reasons to heart the way she did. On the flip side, it also makes sense for something like that to happen in real life. Sometimes people just snap without any underlying psychological hurdle. As you can see, I am confused as to where I stand on this idea myself!
Amelia then tries to find her internal Milly and apologize to those people who she feels she has wronged.
A love story, a growth arc, and a hereto unknown family history are added to the mix. The book could have been slightly shorter, and I would have rated it higher. The leading lady is strong and unapologetic about it, but that fact is repeated once too often for the length of the narrative. I liked the book, the overall tone, and how the characters were shown as multi-faceted. None of them changed entirely over the course of the story, even with new realizations that sort of impact more than an individual.
I would read another book by the author and recommend this book for anyone on the lookout for a slightly different narrative arc than usual for such stories, even if the book ends the way a romcom/chick lit does.

Sweet story! I liked how Amelia evolved from a workaholic to finding herself and forgiveness for past mistakes. She was a very strong character for me. I also liked the romance aspect. John seemed to ground her and I thought the interactions between the two characters were very fun.

We already own this at my library, otherwise I would recommend for purchase. I will be sure to recommend to patrons, however.

I had never heard of this author before but I enjoyed it immensely. It was well written, great plot. Right up alley. Going to check more on Amazon.

Unfortunately, I failed to download this title before the archive date. My apologies for the oversight.

The Apology Project by Jeanette Escudero is about a forty-year-old woman trying to reimagine herself after two significant things happening to her.

Will Amelia Montgomery be able to go through with the Apology Project?

Amelia Montgomery went through a lot on her last few days, from being a thirty-nine-year-old lawyer to not being a lawyer anymore. She spent a lot of the book trying to figure herself out again and let herself be the person she was before. Amelia grows a lot throughout the book. It's an excellent progression to see Amelia change. Amelia's change is great since she goes from being a person that can come off as being cruel to being a person that apologizes. Retirement for Amelia seems to agree with her. She does many things that she usually wouldn't have the chance to do because of work. From learning Spanish to taking a trip to doing a lot of other things. Along with trying to figure out who she is now that she isn't a lawyer.

I wouldn't say I liked Amelia at the beginning, yet I was so rooting for her by the end. I found her courageous, and I like that she was able to find balance in her life.

Four Stars
The Apology Project by Jeanette Escudero is a somewhat difficult book to get into, but once you do get into it, you won't be sorry. I am giving it four stars. I'm also recommending it to anyone that wants to give it a try. Ms. Escudero using first-person for a point of view is excellent as we got to see how Amelia changed. I also like how Ms. Escudero used her heritage for Amelia, as I thought that was clever.

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of The Apology Project by Jeanette Escudero.

Until the next time,
Karen the Baroness

If you would like to see other reviews like this one, check out BaronessBookTrove.com.

Okay so this was really fun to read. Lighter than I had expected and pretty pleasurable. The main character was really cute and even empowering and the male lead was so endearing. Their relationship was downright adorable.

Thank you Netgally for this ARC for an exchange of an honest review.

What a fun read, Great book.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! It was such a great idea and Amelia was a well rounded character. I like it when you can love and hate a character!

I was provided with an ARC of this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A fun light read, with an engaging main character. I did not expect much from this book but found myself really enjoying Amelia and her quest to apologise to the people in her life.

I didn't enjoy the book. It was full of cliches and the main character was very unlikable. I understand that the writer wanted to have a flawed character but I genuinely didn't feel that she had any redeeming qualities.

I also feel like the title and blurb is misleading as the apology project was more of a secondary story line and the main story line is basically the #metoo movement

The Apology Project is the story of Amelia, a successful, hard charging lawyer who wakes up one day to discover she is jobless, friendless and has no meaningful relationships outside her immediate family. She throws herself a 40th birthday party and only one person shows up, a man from her previous job whom she has never met. After a torrid one night stand he convinces her to go back through her past and reconnect with all the people she has used badly along the way. Her Apology Project. I had high hopes for this book, it had a great cover and plot description. Sadly for me it fell flat. The first half of the book dragged. Lots of descriptions of what people wore and other shallow comments. I had no real sense of Amelia as a person. The book picked up in the second half and I admire what the author was trying to portray as Amelia grows and discovers what is truly important in life. I just wish I had felt more for the in the first half of the book.

Amelia is forced out of her job as a litigator but doesn't get the wakeup call about what a horrid person she's been until no one turns up at her 40th birthday party. Wait- there's one person but she's never met him before. They come up with the Apology Project in which Amelia finally approaches people she's wronged to make amends of a sort. There's humor and there's pathos. There's also a bit of a romance. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. Amelia (Millie) has left her law firm of 20 years on bad terms. With a precious amount of severance, she now needs to figure out what to do with her life. To cheer her up, her sister Nina decided to throw a party for Millie's 40th birthday. When no one shows up, Millie gets drunk with the one stranger that happened by and works out a list of people she needs to apologize to. I love this story! #TheApologyProject #JeanetteEscudero

Life is about to get complicated for Amelia Montgomery, a prominent litigator in Chicago. She’s been fired for not compromising her principles in a high-profile case and then punching her partner in the nose for the misogynistic comment he made in retort (not her finest moment). Leaving a career that gave her purpose, Amelia can only ask, What next?

Let it be better than her epic failure of a fortieth birthday party: an open bar full of no-shows except for John Ellis, a total stranger and the new associate at her ex-firm. As it turns out, though, he’s very good company—and a wake-up call. With the help of John and a lot of champagne, Amelia considers the people she’s wronged, from old besties to former boyfriends to coworkers. Amelia resolves to make amends—to those who really deserve it.

One apology at a time, Amelia’s looking at the choices she’s made in the past, the new ones she’s making with John, and those she’s making for herself. What next? Maybe a second chance she never expected.
This book was definitely a winner for me, thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend to all.

i was approved for this three days before archive date so i did have to read it pretty quickly, but i did like it.

i enjoyed how amelia grew and her journey of well... apologizing to the people she hurt, as well as other things like falling in love. some parts were heartwarming. some were funny. some were so real and important. but some were repetitive too, which is what i personally didn't like.

to me, amelia was a realistically flawed character and i really liked her because of that. sometimes characters are too perfect and amelia was nothing like that, so it was refreshing to see.

in conclusion, i really liked this and i do recommend.

After Amelia is forced to leave her job of 20 years and no one comes to her 40th birthday party, she drunkenly makes a list of people she needs to apologize to. The next day she decides to go through with the apologies. This was one of those books that follows the "person is a jerk; person has a wakeup call; person makes life changes" theme. It was good and I enjoyed it, but the ending was a little too perfect. 3.5 stars rounded to 4.