Marcie and her husband are going through a huge loss for the second time when she gets the urge to just drive until she hits the beach. She doesn’t tell anyone though and she passes out on the beach in Palmetto Key, Florida. A local named Flint takes her under his wing so nothing bad happens and when she wakes up, they begin an unlikely friendship.

Marcie locked her purse and cell phone in her car when it’s towed away so she had no one to get in touch with people. She decides to spend a few days in Flint’s guest room trying to work through her feelings. It’s painted purple and has lots of notebooks and girly items around. She tries to talk to Flint about whose room she’s in, but he shuts her down.

This books starts slow and a little strangely, but it did grow on me. I don’t really know who just drives off without a plan or money or housing, but I understand the feeling of “just can’t be here now.” Flint is such a stand up guy; he does nothing but care for the people around him, including a total stranger he literally found in the sand.

I also love that he helps the sea turtles 🐢 out by his house. He was so careful with them and he taught Marcie to help protect them too!

The Way We Weren’t by Phoebe Fox is a contemporary women’s fiction novel that does have a touch of romance but more about self discovery and healing. The story is told by changing the point of view between the two main characters, Flint and Marcie.

Marcie Malone is in her early forties when for the second time in her life she suffers a miscarriage. Marcie and her husband of twenty five years had been teenagers when they first saw those lines on a pregnancy test. The couple married young only to lose the baby shortly after and now after a life without children it happens yet again.

Marcie was scheduled to return to work but when she was in her car and on her way she missed her exit and just continued driving. The next morning Flint, a seventy year old living in a small town in Florida finds a woman lying on the beach near his home. Marcie had landed on Flint’s doorstep amid her grief and somehow finds herself forming a friendship with the stranger that saved her.

The Way We Weren’t by Phoebe Fox was such a beautiful story that I found myself not able to put down. My heart ached for Marcie but then found the joy as she and Flint both healed along their journey making this one have all the feels. Of course I also loved the setting of the small neglected beach town and the residents in it, oh and of course the sea turtles! A lovely read with wonderful characters finding their paths in their lives.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Oh my, you know that feeling when you finish reading a book and you just sit there with a smile on your face? That’s what you get from this book.

The story begins with Marci Malone being rescued, passed out on a beach in a small Florida town. She finds herself on the couch of Flint - Herman Flint to be exact.

If you look in the dictionary under curmudgeon, you would find Flint. He is old, lonely, set in his ways and doesn’t really need a 40-something year old woman to take care of. Especially since he assumes she is some sort of drug addict.

But she isn’t. She is a successful entrepreneur, who has run away from her job, her life, her husband.

These two unlikely friends form a bond as Marcie settles into town, trying to decide what to do with her life.

This book has a little bit of everything. A grouchy old man, a confused but resilient woman, a tough as nails woman bartender (with a heart of gold,) several local regulars who sit around telling stories and a caring husband.

We watch Marcie and Flint figure out who they are and who they want to be. They didn’t know it at the beginning, but they are just what each other needed to get their lives straightened out.

Loved this book. Charming and heartwarming!

Again and again live will give you the people you need when you need them the most. An uplifting story about two very different people who must come to terms with their own lives and decisions. I think this book would be an incredible choice for book clubs. Would recommend!

Sweet, wryly funny, easy read. I really enjoyed the development of the unlikely friendship between Marcie and Flint. The side characters were entertaining. Overall, a book that made me laugh and cry and that I would recommend to a friend.

I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed this. It’s been a few days since reading this and I am still sitting here thinking about the book. It’s been a while since I have felt this way about a book. I went through so many emotions with this.

Marcie has been with her high school sweetheart, Will for 20+ years. They got married in their teens when Marcie revealed she was pregnant. Sadly it ended in a miscarriage. Now as they are approaching a certain time in their lives Marcie discovers she is pregnant once again and needless to say Will is not very happy about it like Marcie thought he would be. Sadly that pregnancy ends in a miscarriage and I think if Will could jump for joy he would have. He has done a crappy job of consoling Marcie. Having to deal with the miscarriage, the lack of support from Will, and basically, people who can’t do their jobs, Marci throws the towel in and just high-tails it out of there. Marcie has just done something that I am sure we all have thought about one time or another and that is just deciding to say screw it with my life. She walks away or in this case, drives away. She has not thought this through so she has no plan whatsoever. She drives until she gets to the beach.

Herman Flint, otherwise known as Flint sees Marcie on the beach in front of his house asleep in the sand. Flint is a grumpy old man who wants to be left alone. I was surprised that he ended up caring so much about Marcie. From the moment of making sure she was okay on the beach, to bringing her into his home and even giving her a spare key so that she could come and go as she pleases.

I loved that as the story was progressing we got to learn a lot more about Marcie and Flint. I loved that these two ended up forming the most unlikely friendship. Goes to prove that I think things happen for a reason. Who they were just added more to the story. Nothing was left unturned.

I should also mention that a little side story in the book was the turtle and the turtle’s eggs that were on the beach. I loved how Flint who was watching out for this all the time taught Marie about them. It was an interesting side story. I think the story of how turtles lay their eggs on the beach and when they are hatched how they know exactly where to go is amazing. Nature is beautiful and remarkable.

This story is everything: sad and hopeful at the same time. If you're looking for a book that tugs your heartstrings in every way, this is it.

Marcie is in her early 40's. One day, on her morning commute, she decides to pass her exit and follow the highway straight down to Florida. She's not sure why. Her husband Will is everything she could want and she lives a successful life. For some reason, she can't shake the feeling that she's always played things too safe and a recent loss has changed her life. 

Flint is in his 70's and he is as huggable as a cactus. He's angry at everyone and the epitome of a beach hermit. He finds a woman lying on the beach, unconscious, and against his better judgement, he takes her into his home in more ways than anticipated. He's suffering from his fair share of loss too and suddenly finds he enjoys his new company...just a little bit.

Nothing gets my eyes mistier than a grumpy, elderly man softening like butter while helping a lost, young woman get her groove back. I laughed so much at their prickly banter as well. They are the perfect odd couple. 

The story has a hug-worthy ending as well. Bonus points: Sea Turtles. Need I say more?

An unlikely relationship/friendships forms between Herman Flint and Marcie Malone.

Herman is your typical old man. He doesn't give two craps about what anyone thinks of him (something I hope to learn by 70)
Enter Marcie who he literally finds on his steps. Marcie is questioning everything she knows about life, and how she wound up where she is. Her confusion, her pain, has awaken a lot of memories in Herman. Things that he never really dealt with before. In the end they wind up helping each other in more ways they can imagine.
I love books like this, when unlikely friendships happen and sometimes the right person comes into your life to serve a purpose. This is true for both of them

I love their relationship and I'm also envious of their relationship, its something that everyone should be lucky enough to experience.

Thank you to #netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this beautiful book.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for a fair review. Imagine just driving miles away from home and starting a new life, and the one person helping you is a cranky old man who prefers the company of sea turtle eggs over humans. It's a sweet story about forgiveness and healing and friendship. The characters are all likeable, even Herman Flint. The reader comes to understand that he is not a horrible man, just a lonely one. I loved the sense of community at the bar, and the storyline about the baby turtles. I wanted to be Marcie. She was finally living life on her terms.

I can honestly say there is nothing I didn't like about this book. I was happy with the ending. I hope someone buys the film rights to this book and makes a really good movie. I will be looking for more books from this author.

Thank you, Netgalley.

One of the things I love most about women's fiction is feeling SEEN and connecting with characters that end up feeling like friends. Marcie and Herman Flint are two unlikely protagonists, but I quickly became invested in the heart of this story. With a great story about growth and connection, and how to face our past while moving toward the future, this book made me think, cry and maybe even consider running to the beach to solve my own problems.

Plus, there's TURTLES, and like the gorgeous cover it just adds to the overall package, Fox knocked it out of the park with this one.

HUGE thank you to The Girly Book Club + Berkley Books for my eARC of this book, it was one I may not have discovered without being asked to read and review it, and I am so glad I had the chance!

Blown Away! The Way We Weren't by Phoebe Fox was an absolutely mind opening and soulful read. Life is a choice you make on the daily. Do you choose to be happy and content? This book is pure fiction but it is deep. Do you regret choices you've made and forget about people in your life? It definitely made me take a step back to think. The lives we see in this book take you on the rollercoaster of emotions but an overall amazing journey. Did I mention the setting of this book in a tropical paradise. Overall, this is a highly recommend read!

Have you ever wanted to just drop everything and run away?

In The Way We Weren’t our main character is feeling completely frustrated and down on life and takes off for Florida, without telling anyone, for a well needed escape. Once in Florida she befriends an older gentlemen who helps her to make sense of things.

This was a quick read for me. I felt the main character was written in a really relatable way and this book brought me a ton of emotions. I loved the relationship between the older gentleman and the woman. This one will have you reflecting on life. Just coming back from Florida, I loved the setting, especially the turtles.

Thanks @berkleypub for my copy, this just released this week!

The Way We Weren’t features an unexpected but much needed friendship between the seventy year old Herman Flint and the 43 year old Marcie Malone.The book starts with Marcie running away from her life by driving from Georgia to the south western shore of Florida where she finds herself waking up and seeing Herman. Herman finds Marcie collapsed on the beach outside his window.
Marcy and Herman find themselves both dealing with their pasts and helping each other move forward as well into the future. Sometimes you have to deal with the hurt in order to find peace. Marcie is reevaluating her life including her job both her job and her marriage.Herman has had many losses in his life and prefers to keep to himself.
The story is told beautifully and it’s wonderful to see these two characters interact with one another. Sometimes you need a stranger to help you find yourself in the present. Watching Marcie and Herman develop a friendship which also helps them both deal with their lies is heartwarming. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and felt it was a beautiful story.

Favorite Quotes:

Will wanted her to stay home a few more days too, not try to jump right back into routine but give herself some time “to process.” As if she were an antiquated CPU.

“There’s a hundred bucks in there, and it’s in your name only,” she’d muttered from the side of her mouth like a Dick Tracy villain.

He had wispy white hair that danced back and forth on top of his head under the fan, like a line of anemic hula girls.

Marcie was accustomed to the meager wavelengths of his emotional spectrum— he had two settings, hostile and prickly…

… it was like wading into a sponge, the air so moist and warm and heavy it felt like someone else’s exhaled breath.

Get over here and hydrate, Herman, before you shrivel the rest of the way up.


My Review:

Even though the writing was well seasoned with angst, which isn’t on my list of favorite things, I didn’t seem to mind a bit as the storylines squeezed my heart and kept me fully engaged and heavily invested. I was so deeply immersed in Ms. Fox’s perceptive storytelling that, SMH, for a hot moment I felt the need to start making my own preparations for the incoming hurricane the characters were expecting. Sigh, she sucked me right into their tale of familial woe and regrets, which were fretfully real and relatable.

Marcie had been enjoying a good life but it was one of acquiescence rather than one of her choosing, and don’t we all do that to some extent? She didn’t realize she wasn’t satisfied with the way things were until she experienced a personal trauma and went off the rails, and this is where her adventure begins. It wasn’t an easy beach vacation, but she found pieces of herself, took some thoughtless risks, and was helped by a cranky and cantankerous old coot who had more layers than an egg farm. I alternated between adoring him and wanting to give him a few smacks with my Kindle.

Once again, Ms. Fox’s writing was uncannily insightful, itchy, and shrewdly paced. She stealthily slotted me into her characters’ tale and had me digging in the sand while rescuing turtle eggs, dancing rave style, serving beer in a dive bar, and digging out of a hurricane. I’m not used to this much activity, I need a spa day to recover.

This is only the second of Phoebe Fox's novels I've read but I can say she is on my short list of "auto-read authors" already. I love how she shapes a story around relatable characters and settings. Who can't relate to the theme that we are defined by our decisions? The possibility to make changes if we can find the courage. My heart went out to Marcie as she dealt with emotional upheaval and went a little crazy. Lucky for her, Herman Flint found her the day everything played out. Lucky for him too. Without giving more away I'll just recommend the novel to fans of women's fiction and the author. Thanks to Berkley and NetGalley for the digital galley.

What a sweet but at times poignant story. One of the marks and telling if a book is a good one is what happens days after you finish reading it, if you can't stop thinking about the characters, the story and you want to recommend it to your friends and family, you know you just read an amazing book. The Way We Weren't fits perfectly in this description.

The book grabs your attention since the beginning and grabs you deeply until the last pages, you are immersed in the lives of Marcie Malone and Herman Flint (and yes I agree with Marcie, Flint fits more with his personality than Herman), their present but more importantly their past and the decisions that brought them to their together present.

The addition of the turtles in the story is nice and sweet and makes you wonder if they symbolize something more than the animal but a continuity of life.

Reading the book you'll laugh, sometimes would want to cry and it will may look inwards into your life and make you think if there are things that need to be change to make your life a little better.

Thank you to the author, Berkley Publishing Group and Netgalley for the opportunity to read an early copy of this book.

I don't think I was in the right headspace to read this one. It's a story of unlikely friendship between a grumpy elderly man and middle-aged woman who runs away from her life. Since I loved stories like All the Lonely People and The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot, I thought this would be up my alley, but I didn't feel the connection with the characters.

I was sympathetic to their experiences and enjoyed watching them come to terms with challenges in their lives, but it didn't tug at my heartstrings like other stories. I think I'm in the minority so I still recommend checking other reviews and picking it up if you like flawed, complex characters and stories of second chances.

Thank you Berkley for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

A tender and heart-wrenching story of love, loss, and starting over. This novel is thought provoking and poignant. Great characters, well written and evenly paced. The Way We Weren't is an engaging reading experience, difficult to put this book down.

Marcie Malone has a life where she thinks everything is fine until one day on her way to work she gets in her car and just keeps driving until she hits the Gulf Coast. A day later, she wakes up on the beach and everything has changed.

She befriends Herman Flint, a cantankerous man with a house on the beach, who does not want his own life disrupted by her arrival. Gradually they reach an easy truce, but what is Marcie truly running from, and why is she so disturbed by the life she’s built?

And now Marcie is questioning why she no longer cares about the life she thought meant everything, or even the husband who’s a core part of it.

Marcie is the sort of complex, multi-faceted character I enjoy. She isn’t doing everything, or perhaps at some points most things right, and yet I loved her all the more for it.

Delivered with grace and subtlety, Fox delves into important questions of what makes for a meaningful life, decisions about parenthood, why we don’t allow ourselves the risk of questioning whether we are truly happy, and why people come into our lives at the moment we need them.

The evolving friendship between Marcie and Herman is a thing of beauty, and this novel left me with all the feels. Heart-warming, comforting, and ultimately joyful. This novel made me want to go out and tell the closest people in my life exactly why I need and appreciate them.

It's publication day for The Way We Weren't by Phoebe Fox! A huge thank you Berkley Publishing for providing me with an advanced copy for review! Let's get right into it!

Wow. I mean just...wow. This book gave me many different feelings that I am going to try to unpack in this tiny space.

Have you ever just looked at your life and wanted to walk away and start over somewhere new? Marcie just does it. No plan. No thoughts. Just goes until she ends up passed out on a beach, where Herman Flint (Flint for short) finds her. Flint is the cranky, old 70-year old who needs no one and nothing. But for some reason, he picks Marcie up off the beach and takes her home.

When Marcie comes to, we slowly unravel what made Marcie run away from her husband and career. We get to know her and watch her piece together what could make her happy. In addition, we also get to know Flint and find out why he's alone. We watch an unlikely friendship form as both characters begin to piece together what's happened in their lives.

I loved this story! The pacing of the story felt right, and the details of both of their lives were fleshed out throughout the course of the book to where you didn't feel like any of it was "extra" or unnecessary. Now, I have had a thought or two about running away from my family on those days where the kids are screaming and the husband is being extra unhelpful. This book does not glorify it, and I appreciated that. Not everything was wrapped in a pretty bow - this felt more like real life. I loved the relationship between Marcie and Flint, and kept turning those pages to see where they both would end up.

There is a side story where there are turtle eggs that were laid on the beach that Flint watches out for and teaches Marcie about how they are born, chances for survival, etc. I had learned about this a couple of weeks ago from a Hallmark movie. Then, randomly, I was watching Tik Tok and there was a video about turtles hatching under someone's beach chair at a resort. So many turtles keep popping up in my life, I had to look this up - is it a sign? If it is, then many websites indicate that I must slow down as my thoughts and physical world begin to meet, and to go after what I want determined but slowly/carefully. For me? That's my blog and bookstagram!