An unusual quirky read with a lot of character development and a slow burn romance
There are Austen references galore and a lot of deep, poignant topics covered. Although I felt they were distracting to read at times, there are inner voices that capture the insecurities and hopes of the main character written in to each scene.

I found this book to be a very interesting read. I enjoyed the plot and the characters and found myself rooting for them throughout the story. I loved the portrayal of hospice care and honesty about all of the feelings that go along with end of life care and there were definitely 'feel good' aspects.

However, I found the internal voices of Tess to be very overpowering and often caught myself either focusing on their comments and not the storyline or skipping sections to avoid them and losing the plot. In particular, I found the TV Show Host difficult to read and feel that this could be triggering for some readers. At the end of the book I feel like I remember these parts much stronger than the main story.

This was an interesting concept but I was not really feeling the execution and I ended up skim reading most of it. Despite some heavy topics I felt no real emotional connection to any of the characters. There was some chemistry/connection between Tess and Edward but I just didn’t find myself invested in them especially as they spent most of the book dating other people. I did love the author’s use of words but ultimately felt the overall story did not flow very well. (2 ⭐️)

I have to be honest, I really struggled with this one in places. Just my personal preference but I couldn’t get into the writing style at all. The main character Tess had voices inside her head from a TV host and Jane Austin. I just didn’t get it and unfortunately I ended up skipping a lot and not really grasping the storyline as much as I had hoped for. Such a shame as I was hoping to really enjoy it.

I do appreciate being given the opportunity to read an arc and provide honest feedback. Please remember, this is just my opinion and several other readers might well enjoy the writing style.

This was a DNF for me. Unfortunately the writing style wasn’t something I was a fan of. I was really excited to read this book and the plot does seem interesting but I just don’t really like the writing style all that much.


Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the opportunity to review. All thoughts are my own.

This story had lots of potential but it didn't get there.

I had a hard time connecting with Tess on account of those opposing voices in her head. Instead of enhancing the story, they were both a detriment. It made for a very negative tone.

There are some problems with POV slips and head hopping.

It did keep me reading to the end, even though I skipped a lot.

I received a copy from the publisher via NetGalley and this is my honest opinion.

The first chapter confused me slightly with the TV host and Jane Austen voices in Tess's head and I wondered what it was all about but it soon made sense that is was highlighting Tess's insecurities over things that had gone on in her life.
I really enjoyed the book, it dealt with subjects that do happen but no-one wants to talk about like hospice's, death and insecurities etc without being too graphic

This book is a tricky one! I struggled to finish it or engage with the story much as I found the alternating voiceovers irritating. The took away from what I think is quite a nice premise and made it tedious to read. Tess the main character is likeable enough and it’s a fun read, but overall too annoying for me to love.

There’s a strange setup in the book, where both Jane Austen and a scathing tv host comment on the main character, Tess’ life, throughout the novel. It doesn’t really add much to the story, and I wish it weren’t included. Because strip it away and this is an interesting story of a woman doing a rotation in palliative care who falls for the son of one of her patients while also trying to come to grips with her life. Tess is frustrating and flawed and comes across as three-dimensional.
I received a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book certainly kept me turning pages to find out what would happen next, I can't say I was always thrilled with what did happen but it was an interesting read. I wouldn't categorize this as a romance novel which I originally thought it was. It's more of Dr. Alice Carter moving on from trouble in her past and finding her footing in new surroundings.

A blast from the past takes Dr Alice Carter by surprise when he blusters into her life years after a chance encounter that she's never forgotten, unfortunately she doesn't seem to have left the same impression on him and now he treats like the gum on his shoe. Throughout the book she maintains a steady obsession with him, putting herself in his path at any available opportunity and generally wishing he would return her affections despite little evidence to support said hope. She tackles past trauma, family drama, work woes, and coming to terms with the fact that she might not be the person she always thought she was.

I so very nearly gave up on this book. An interesting premise that our heroine has two voices in her head who narrate everything that’s happening- the patronising TV host and Jane Austen. Not sure how I stumbled on this book but it was a light hearted and warm read despite everything. Our heroine is a GP in training so is working in a hospice … not exactly what you would expect for a light hearted book - this is much deeper - as well as death it tackles the one that got away, dealing with trauma, deep rooted insecurities.

Not sure that it deserves such a pasting - it’s a bit over indulgent at the beginning with the TV host’s narrative and the overly pompous words - but it eventually gets into the swing of things. Overall a 3.5*, a sweet story and I loved the character of Mary!

This book follows doctor Tess Carter as she works a rotation in a hospice facility. She's had a string of not great relationships and has a pretty constant barrage of negative voices providing a running commentary of her day to day life. One day, the family member of a new patient walks though the door and Tess immediately recognizes him as someone she connected with at a party years prior (Edward) but left in a hurry. He doesn't seem to remember her so she does her best to push away the feelings of rejection and do her job. However, he's often at the hospice facility with his mother and he and Tess get to slowly know more about each other. Tess fights hard to not build up their relationship too much in her mind - after all his mother has ovarian cancer and is at the hospice facility - but she can't help but feel a connection to him. But if she's going to find her happy ever after, she might just need to get out of her own head and go live her life. I liked this story well enough, but I would not call it a romance. In my opinion, this leans more toward the general fiction side of the spectrum. Yes, there is a happily ever after, but the romantic relationship is not the main plot. In fact, we don't even really get to see Tess and Edward actually in a relationship. We are in Tess's POV for 95% of the book but we do get a couple of scenes from Edward's perspective but those scenes don't really give us any clues as to his feelings about Tess. When I hit the 50% mark and there was no indication of any relationship forming, I really thought this book would be just about Tess finding the courage to move on from her past (which would have been fine, but that wouldn't have been a romance). The subject matter is also much more somber than the blurb on Goodreads lead me to believe so that was also an adjustment I had to make. We are up close and personal as Edward's mother is dying of cancer and while I think it was handled in a very caring manner, the fact that cancer or hospice isn't mentioned in the synopsis at all I think will really throw off some readers. I loved the character work in this book - especially with Tess and her inner commentary which hit closer to home than I would like to admit. Once we got to know more about Edward, I really liked how layered he was and how soft he was under his grumpy lawyer shell.

TW/CW: bulimia, cancer, death of a parent, cheating

Thanks NetGalley and HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter for the ARC in exchange for review. Expected publication date is August 2, 2021.

The only reason I finished was because I looked at the page count - this book was only 154 pages, but even then, it seemed to take forever. At the end, the pinnacle of the novel, with three pages left, I couldn’t keep my eyes open because I was T H A T uninterested.

I think this novel wanted to give homage to classic literature with its flowery language, but it just made awkward to read and inauthentic - it felt like someone had propped up a thesaurus nearby to draw inspiration from. Edward felt like he was supposed to be a modern day Mr. Darcy / Mr. Rochester, and the similarities are there in that the character is unlikable (sorry Jane).

The concept of the inner monologue had potential, and was meant to be amusing and mimic negative (and positive?)-self talk but just came off as annoying and obnoxious.

I did not like how they repeatedly joked about her “turning” her ex gay - so problematic for so many reasons. And an eating disorder was tossed in there, I feel like, to try and give the book substance, but it wasn’t ever properly addressed, which was also bothersome.

One of the only things I liked about this book was the relationships among adult siblings - I felt like this was an accurate portrayal. And I also quite liked Mary as a character, she really shone through.

So, in the wise words of Randy Jackson: “it’s gonna be a no for me, dawg”.

As always, despite the less than enthusiastic review, thank you so much to Net Galley & publisher for this digital advanced readers copy.

~👩🏻‍🦰

This book was unlike the romance novels that I usually read. I laughed, cried, and enjoyed the storyline. I know that other reviewers did not appreciate the inner monologue from Tess, but I found this to be an interesting and unusual way to depict Tess' thoughts and plans. As someone who has inner monologues with myself all the time, I found this to be very relatable. Overall, it was a quick and enjoyable read. A flouncy romance that I would recommend as a casual read!

This is a great character read about insecure Tess whose left relationship destroyed her self esteem even more and doesn’t have much optimism about her love life. Whilst working towards becoming a GP she spends a spell in a hospice and encounters a face from the past who incredibly angry about his mums prognosis and this causes some discord with Tess.

This isn’t a totally light read, there’s some dark subjects covered here but there is some humour woven in, Tess’s friend is really brilliant here. Tess is really well written and it’s incredibly easy to see her insecurities however I did find her conflicting inner monologue really irritating and just skipped those parts eventually. Ignoring that though it’s a solid read and well reflects how many people feel or have felt about themselves, 7/10

This book is described as an uplifting and feel good romance, I'm not entirely sure I would agree with that. The story deals with some fairly heavy, deep and emotional issues. It's well written and worth reading, but it's certainly not a light book if you are in the mood for one.

I'd give it 2.5 stars, almost gave it three but that did not real like the right rating to me.

I got a bit annoyed with the host vs Jane vs. Tess thing that was happening, but I understand what the author was trying to do, and I appreciate showing a person's negative thoughts of themselves in a different way. I also wanted more of the story from Edward's perspective; it felt like with the few times it was his perspective was an easy way to tell a part of the story that couldn't be told through Tess's POV. And I did not like how in some scenes it went back and forth between Tess and Edward's POV without an indication was a but weird.

I did really like how Tess made them take a break to figure how they feel about each other. That felt like a smart decision and I feel like it showed Tess's growth.

Overall it was an okay book. Not the best book that I have read, but I was definitely interested enough to want to finish reading it.

Love Life had great potential, but frankly it didn’t live up to it. I only made it about 25% through the book before I had to mark it as DMF. This was frustrating because I almost always finish books, no matter how much I like it. What made this book a no-go for me was the writing style. Tess struggles from deep insecurities and an eating disorder. Subsequently, she has “people” in her mind narrating her life or talking down on her throughout the book. These sections that live in her imagination are italicized (so it’s not difficult to discern what is real or made up) and take up a good chunk of the chapters. Instead of hearing her inner thoughts, I’d like to see more dialogue and actions.

Love Life started out well, but I soon found myself struggling to finish.

Tess, our heroine, discovered her boyfriend in bed with another man and she spirals mentally. She relapses with her old eating disorder and the dark thoughts in her head become loud. It’s those voices that I found so hard to read through. So much of Love Life was her own thoughts talking down to her.

When she meets up with “the one who got away” (which is a bit of a misnomer – they spent one night together) she’s crushed that he doesn’t seem to remember her. His mother is admitted to the hospice that Tess works at and Edward takes out his anger at the situation on her. Despite their inauspicious beginning and Edwards behaving terribly most of the book, the two form a friendship.

Love Life dealt with some severely dark topics like death, cancer, eating disorders, and mental health. It felt a little disjointed and sometimes it didn’t flow well. There were plenty of Jane Austen references, and I think that built up the anticipation for me. Yet I was let down.

The characters were not likable and the story didn’t hold my attention. I gave up on the overly flowery language and ended up skimming to the end just to finish.

Love Life is a somewhat endearing story about a woman who is struggling with negative thoughts about herself while navigating her residency and relationships. It is by no means a light read and touches on many subjects including: eating disorder, cheating, death of family member and family drama.

Some of the side characters in the book were quite endearing and I found them lovely. Mary, the hospice patient was a wonderful character who helped provide advice and being the characters of the story together.

The problem I had was how some of these things were tackled. It felt like Tess’s eating disorder, though important, was never tackled and almost normalized. Tess has many negative thoughts, and the eating disorder felt like it was just “thrown in”.

Another problem I had was that an old flame of Tess’s cheated on her and it was made a really big deal that it was with another man and there was even discussion about “turning him gay”. Though these are thoughts a person may have, this is a badly perpetuated stereotype that didn’t sit right with me. The boyfriend cheated, and that’s bad, but it didn’t matter who the person was.

The other thing I struggled with in the book was the two voices Tess had in her head, the game show host and Jane. These two voices, I felt, really took away from the story for me. They distracted me, and though the concept is interesting, they took me right out of the story.

That being said, I felt like the discussion with the inner monologue provided some insight into Tess’s mental health, and been done another way would have been a good way to explore the impact of inner monologue on mental health.

There were definitely sweet moments in this book, but just not enough to keep me engaged throughout.

I received a copy of this from NetGalley and the publisher for an open and honest review. All opinions are 100% mine.