Hmm! Well, another book gave me complex feelings! At first I found this book a little light, but after few chapters later it surely picked my interest.

After being introduced to our main character Violet without having extra time to connect with her, we witness her personal drama: she goes to home earlier to surprise her husband with homemade sushi but her husband acts faster to shock her by turning himself a human burrito by wrapping up with their neighbor Shelby on their own bed!

Yes, the book starts like semi-entertaining romcom that cheater scumbag Sam dares to say he’s going to take his chances with girl next door! Boo!
And Violet rightfully gets violent enough to gather his belongings and put them on fire at the backyard to enjoy her own early 4th bonfire party! She’s lucky enough to be saved by hot as hell and sweet like Levain Bakery chocolate chip cookies fireman Dez. That sweet guy truly takes care of her and it seems like it’s fire at first between them promising a good near future chemistry!

And Violet who is also successful columnist, penning most popular column named “Dear Sweetie” decides to make things a little bitter. When she is too drunk and too furious to her husband, she writes harsher and truly realistic answer to one of the woman who wants advise about her husband’s forcing her to endure CrossFit torture!

But interestingly her new mean, harsh, bitter tone alerts the viewers and she gets more popular! In the meantime she acts like everything is all right with her marriage, lying to her own mother, seeing the gorgeous fireman for fling!

At the beginning I though this book is soft, light chic lit with full of cliches but when we learn about scumbag Sam and Violet’s past, we truly learn to care for Violet and want a hire a hitman to get rid of Sam!

Dez is dreamy boyfriend and some parts I truly thought Violet didn’t deserve him but at least she gathers her wits at the end and I liked the character’s evolution, changing into more bold, secure woman who knows what she wants to do with her one and precious life of hers!

I was thinking to give three stars at the beginning but the heartfelt, intense, emotional parts of the book earned one more star!

This is easy to read, enjoyable, thought provoking book. Especially “Dear Sweetie” column parts were well written. Absolutely recommended to feelgood women’s fiction readers!
Special thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts.

Rating: 3.5 stars

I was very curious about this book after reading this author’s first book last year and loving it so much! I’m always excited to see what an author will write next. Before starting this one, I actually couldn’t remember what it was about and went in blind, besides reading the author’s content warning at the beginning. For the most part I liked this book. I’m not going to lie, I did have some issues with a few things but generally it was a good book and I can see this doing well.

Content Warning: infidelity, infertility, miscarriage, anxiety, and alcohol abuse.
-anxiety/panic attacks and infidelity occur on the page. Infertility and miscarriage are discussed and are significant themes

The book is told from one point-of-view and it comes from Violet Covington. She is a very closed off person. Her job is at a newspaper running an advice column. I have seen this job in books before but I think this author did it better. There are letters to her included and also her response to them. I liked seeing the advice she gave even when it could be quite harsh, but comical at times, post-infidelity on her husband’s part. I think that the issues in her marriage helped her realize that her life wasn’t as perfect as she had thought and it gave her a voice. It also helped her to talk about her feelings and realize that sometimes we do need help.

There are a lot of characters that come around throughout the book. Sam, her gaslighting husband, is a dillweed and I couldn’t stand him. His mother makes him look like a saint. Might as well call her Cruella because she seems to be the type to kidnap puppies on her free time. Not all characters are as bad as them and liked meeting those that worked with Dez at the fire station. Even Violet’s friends and mom were great. They helped her through and it was nice to see.

For me, the book read more like women’s fiction because it does deal with Violet’s marriage and the things she has held onto like infertility. I didn’t mind this at all. This isn’t a big complaint but it did leave little room for the development of the romance. The romance was very quick from the start but then slowed down and didn’t pick back up until the end. I felt like I was on a roller coaster ride when it came to it. I didn’t hate it per say because I did like a lot of the moments they shared together but I just needed a bit more development to stand behind them. Side Note: He also felt too-good-to-be-true at times.

I do think that there are a lot of good messages in this book especially when it comes to loving yourself, finding your voice, and understanding that life gives us what we need even when we don’t see it. It even talks about the harder things like infidelity and infertility. I’m sure many will be able to relate to Violet and what she deals with throughout the book.

My only other complaint is that sometimes the drama felt over the top and not too plausible. But again, this could be a personal issue and not an issue for others.

Overall, this was a good read. I did finish it in one day. It’s not my favorite of her works but I know that this will hit home for many and they will be able to relate to Violet and enjoy the journey she goes on to understand herself.

This was my first time reading a book by Libby Hubscher, and it was a joy! Watching Violet experience loss and heartache early in the book, and then seeing the sweet relationship she develops with Dez in the aftermath was lovely. Plus, this book touches on so many important topics, panic, grief, infertility, and more. A delightful read!

If You Ask Me by Libby Hubscher was a true delight! I enjoy reading romcoms where there is some depth to the protagonists, and Hubscher delivers on this.

If You Ask Me is another deeply satisfying and emotional read from the very talented Libby Hubscher.

The story of Violet, a woman who changes the trajectory of her life after she finds out her husband has been cheating on her, is a kind but honest examination of a woman whose priorities are set both by tradition and the latest lifestyle blogs.

Violet is an advice column and part of what I really enjoyed was Hubscher’s clever use of reader letters and Violet’s answers scattered throughout the book. It’s done well enough that it never pulls us out of the story but also serves to keep the pace while providing commentary on Violet’s own choices. Her husband’s adultery comes on the heels of a possible promotion and when Violet jettisons him, her life starts to both expand and spiral out of her control.

While Hubscher sets the story amid the trappings of modern Southern womanhood, what Violet is called upon to do – question her marriage, her motivations, and the importance of curating a perfect persona – is universal. Why do women spend so much time and money building the façade of beauty and competence rather than putting the time and money into becoming competent and beautiful, if you define beautiful as at peace with your body and your self? What impact does the anonymous audience on social media have on our self-esteem and why have we let this get so out of control?

Part of Violet’s journey is her budding romance with a cinnamon-roll firefighter, Dez. Dez is uninterested in perfect and polished. He encourages Violet to be herself, and the best parts of this book are when Violet tries to figure out who exactly she is. There are also moments of quiet sorrow when they touch on Violet’s struggle with infertility that are done with great skill and sensitivity.

Beautifully written, and in parts very funny, Hubscher brings us an observation of a woman of our times that could have been snarky and judging but is instead gentle and sympathetic. If You Ask Me is perfect for fans of smartly penned women’s fiction and sweet, sometimes humorous, romance.

This book gave me ALL.THE.FEELS!!!! I absolutely LOVED this closed door romance about an advice columnist whose life implodes when she catches her husband cheating on her in her own bed.

When Violet's husband tells her he wants to pursue things with the woman he's been seeing on the side, she goes a bit off the rails, drinking too much, setting fires and writing advice she'd never have had the guts to post before.

What I loved the most about this book:
- How real it feels!! Violet goes through some difficult things, makes some terrible mistakes and it forces her to examine the way she's been living and that she needs to find healthier coping strategies, including therapy
-The strong mental health rep
-The amazingly supportive friends
-The mother-daughter relationship and how that deepens and evolves as they open up to each other
-DEZ!!! The ultimate dreamy book bf! He sets the bar high, bringing Violet coffee and croissants, sharing his own pain and ways he learned to deal with his grief, all while continually showing up and giving Violet the space to deal with her feelings at her own pace
-That this story was NOT about having a baby to find your happily ever after

Highly recommended, especially for fans of Abby Jimenez and Sarah Hogle. Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my advance review copy. This is one I won't soon forget.

Favorite quote:
"The ugly parts don't make you any less beautiful...You are flawed, but you're still worthy of love."

CW: infertility, miscarriage/pregnancy loss, infidelity, grief over the death of a friend, anxiety

Violet Covington pens Dear Sweetie, a popular advice column. When she catches her husband cheating on her (in their bed!!!), she writes a brutally honest answer for her column and publishes it. It goes viral, sending more shock waves through Violet’s life. When she burns Sam’s belongings in a front-yard, late-night bonfire, firefighter Dez shows, and an unexpected fling quickly shows potential to become something longer lasting.

This was a really refreshing story. Violet was kind of a mess and when her life starts imploding around her, she takes the time to apologize to the people she hurt and tries to make amends when she can. She goes a little to far with this in regards to Dez, but she's trying to protect herself from being hurt again, so I get it. Sam was a real ass, and Violet is better than me because I would never have spoken to him or Shelby again.

I do feel like the romance was a little rushed in the beginning, but Dez was great and accepted Violet as she was, so I didn't mind too much. This is a very solid contemporary romance.

(full review posted to links one week before release)

I love an advice column, so I was really eager to see where this story would go with it. Unfortunately, what I thought was a great premise was really let down by flat characters. No one really gets a fleshed out story besides Violet, and I even still have questions about her motivations. Sam is just the Evil Ex-Husband (to be clear, I don’t want him redeemed, he’s an ass), his mother is the Evil Mother-In-Law, there’s a lot of unresolved threads with her parents, and even key pieces of who Dez is aren’t dropped until the final moments of the book. A lot of characters tell Violet she’s essentially overreacting to literally finding her husband engaged in the act of cheating, and I am firmly Team Violet here. Burn his shit, babe.

This book is fairly White Feminist-y: there were a couple of moments that made me raise an eyebrow, but Violet specifically remembers an instance with some neighbors where a newcomer was revealed to be a liberal (Violet is a Democrat who says she’s been hiding as a centrist independent), and when this newcomer rightfully calls someone out for wondering if soy formula will make her sons gay, she’s shunned out of the group. Violet does nothing to intervene, and while she doesn’t ignore the woman going forward, she certainly doesn’t make any effort to befriend her. There’s another pretty yucky moment with a coworker and a revenge plot, too. These bits didn’t do a ton for the story, and they left a bad taste in my mouth.

This was my first Libby Hubscher, and while I’d pick up more of her work, I’m not rushing out for it. If you’re looking for a hot firefighter and some totally sensible reactions to finding your husband of over a decade cheating on you, though, this is the book for you. Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for the ARC!

Violet has a job we all secretly dream of having -- she's a popular advice columnist (Dear Sweetie) for a newspaper in North Carolina. She's always been a people pleaser, but that changes when she discovers that her husband is flagrantly and unashamedly cheating on her. Now the filters are down and Violet starts to say what is really on her mind, both in her column and in real life. Along the way (when she burns her husbands clothes in the middle of their suburban cul-de-sac) she meets a handsome firefighter, Dex, who only knows the "new" Violet and definitely appreciates her. Will Violet's new assertive ways destroy her new chance to be a nationally syndicated columnist? Will they alienate the people she loves? It's fun to discover exactly where this new journey of standing up for herself takes Violet. This is a fun, fast-paced romance with great characters.

Violet, an advice columnist, comes home early from work to find her husband tangled in the sheets with her neighbor. Her life quickly begins to spiral out of control and so does her advice. Violet’s responses to her readers begin to get a bit too real for her family and friends to handle and sets into motion both destructive and productive actions. She ultimately becomes a more genuine and authentic version of herself.

Libby Hubscher does a great job of juggling all the messy relationships that are impacted by Violet’s life changing drama. She develops Violet into a flawed but real character readers can relate to.

The ending seemed a bit rushed, but there was a lot of growth for Violet and how she comes to terms with the fact that her first happy ending with Sam is not the happy ending she is now getting with both herself and Dez. Through taking risks and making big changes she found her true happily ever after.

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Closed door love scenes
Triggers: infidelity and infertility struggles

Absolutely adorable! This was so charming and heartfelt., Violet's mini meltdown when he marriage falls apart is truly believable. I loved all the other characters and how she learns that she is already strong and better off with someone who not only loves her but respects her.

This was so-so for me. I didn't like Violet, so it was tough to get into. I hate to have a DNF for a title, so I trudged through hoping it would win me over. She didn't grow on me, and the book left me feeling just meh.

Just okay. I rather disliked Violet and found her to be a little frustrating, so it was difficult to connect with her. Just meh in the end.

I did enjoy reading this and wondering how it would end. The author touches on infertility and mental health issues, but in a superficial way. Otherwise, I did have to suspend my disbelief and found it rather simplistic. Would make a good rom-com.

readable … but i didn’t really connect with it. it felt like i was just kind of reading to finish it, not to actually see what happened. not enough spice for me, either.

#netgalley

I really appreciated that the main character in this book struggled with infertility, pregnancy loss, and mental health issues (and I'm not giving anything away in saying that because the author has a disclaimer before the story starts). These are important issues that many people face and aren't addressed enough. That said, the story fell a bit flat for me somehow. Overall I'll still give it a Goodreads rating of 3 stars (I liked it).

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book! The title and this beautiful cover drew me in and i was excited to read this book! I will be recommending this book to others for readers advisory.

I loved this book!!

Wow! I absolutely loved this book. Violet is relatable, funny, and overall a character you find yourself rooting for from page one. Her struggles are struggles many of us face, and her vulnerability is admirable. The love interest, Dez, is nothing short of perfect and is super dreamy. The characters were well thought out and this was an amazing read.

Libby Hubscher's second novel is rich, warm, and kind yet it is far from sappy and predictable. Violet, Dez, and the perfectly crafted supporting characters are so well made that I could hear their voices and imagine their reactions and personalities from early in the book. She masterfully writes these human beings facing hard things and dealing with them in ways that are sometimes relatable and sometimes admirable, but always so very human. Much like her debut, this book has a strong, steady beating heart undergirding it. It gave me different feelings than the heart wrenching Meet Me in Paradise, and while Marin's story seems so exotic taking place in faraway, tropical Saba with a billionaire hero, Violet's story brings the focus to your own home, your neighbor, your friend, your heart. It draws your focus to that inner circle and reminds us to be gentle to ourselves and towards each other. Hubscher is easily my favorite author and I hope she continues to create thoughtful, caring, well crafted stories for the rest of us to devour, to weep with, to learn from.
Perfect for patrons who are looking for 'closed door' romance that is comforting and emotional, but also filled with clever characters and funny plot points.
Thank you so much for the ARC!

CW: infidelity, infertility, alcohol abuse

I read Hubscher's debut novel, Meet Me In Paradise, and was a big fan. I'm usually hesitant to read the an author's second book because there's so much pressure to meet the expectations of the first. I'm so happy to share that Libby Hubscher definitely hit the mark! If You Ask Me is a completely different storyline from Meet Me in Paradise and yet there are still some lovely similarities. Much like her first novel, if you're looking for a romantic comedy to distract you with some lighthearted fluff, this is probably not the book for you. Is it a romance? YES. But it's so much more. Hubscher has a way of bringing life to her characters and writing such REAL emotions - the hurt and disappointment they face is palpable. Not only that, but the writing is SMART. The characters are fleshed out and have authentic lives and personalities that make their stories feel personal. If You Ask Me had me laughing at the banter between the characters, gasping in shock at some of their antics, crying over their heartache, and feeling understood through their raw emotions.

Violet is facing the implosion of her marriage and her life as she knows it. While seeking revenge on her cheating husband she sets fire to his belongings. Little does she know, the fireman who rescues her from this "bonfire" will end up rescuing her in more ways than one. Violet must deal with the aftermath of her decisions - both good and bad. She realizes that while she can live with broken pieces, she doesn't have to live with the hurt.

The relationship between Violet and Dez is tender and sweet and I really liked them together....

BUT.

As much as I loved them, I had a hard time championing their relationship when she still wasn't technically divorced yet. Other than that one little detail - they were a perfect match (haha. no pun intended ;))

Although wrapped in humor and some silly antics, Violet is still dealing with some very real emotions and tough situations. I really appreciated the way that Hubscher addresses mental health in the book and not only chose to destigmatize seeking help, but actively encourage it! While Violet is able to make peace with her new journey in life and there is a HEA in the book... it's not all rainbows and sunshine. Hubscher does a stand up job of telling Violet's story without tying everything up with a perfect bow at the end. The ultimate resolution comes more from the inside than the out - which is really what much of If You Ask Me focuses on... letting your insides match your outsides. Happiness isn't just putting on a pretty face, it's a deep understanding in your heart that you're exactly where you need to be.... who you need to be with... and most importantly, 100% the person you are MEANT to be.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley publishing for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.