Really enjoyed this book! Such a fun read with great character development! Such a fun one and great to grab!

The Rebound for me ended up being a quick light-hearted and fun book that I read in between two heavy and very good books. It has a lot of heart and some really LAUGH OUT LOUD moments that kept me going without keeping the book down!

I enjoyed how the book was paced and the kind of character development we got to see in the main character.

I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys romantic comedies and would like to read something that's easy to follow and has some well-thought plot with some decently well-done character arcs.

A super sweet, adorable (and clean - thank you) read. Not all romances need the “spice” scenes in them. It was super cute and I loved their relationship so much. The Irish setting was amazing too.

I received this book on NetGalley for an honest review, & thank you for accepting me to read this eARC! It was super cute and i very much enjoyed our main character Abby. She recently loses everything and has to pull herself out of the trenches again and find herself. Maybe even find a love interest along the way. I loved that not only does Abby work through a romantic relationship in this book, but she is also working through a relationship with her sister. Little things like that always make a cute romance book so much better!

A book set in Ireland? Sign me up.


Just the idea of the Emerald Isle fills me up with wanderlust. I’m definitely going to add any book with an Ireland setting to my TBR. That was the primary reason why I wanted to read “The Rebound” by Catherine Walsh.

Add in a little romance and I’m a goner.

We meet Abby after she’s done the Irish goodbye – you know, where you just up and leave an event when you don’t want to go through the anxiety and production of having to say goodbye to everyone. (What, your family doesn’t do this? My cousin Ashley and I could teach you a thing or two about it. We’re naturals.)

Abby is down on her luck. She’s lost her big time job in NYC and her fiancé un-proposed to her, leaving her homeless, jobless, and penniless. Pretty much nothing is going right at this point. Sucking it up, Abby crawls home to Ireland to visit her sister and regroup. Ireland is never where she wanted to stay, but Abby finds herself back with no plan for the future and not much to look forward to. Naturally Abby just so happens to meet a cute stranger who is heading back to her home town of Clonard while she’s been stranded and searching for transportation.

“How funny her son turned into a freaking Adonis.”


While there are definitely moments of light and carefree excitement, I would market “The Rebound” more as a contemporary romance or women’s fiction. Initially this story is marketed as a romantic comedy – an ‘absolutely hilarious romantic comedy’ – which led me to believe that there would be a lot of jokes and situational comedy to keep the feel of the book light and breezy.

Walsh offers more vibes than just comedic love in this novel. Yes, there is definitely a love story and an adorable Irishman to swoon over. Luke Bailey is the ultimate boy next door. He’s reliable and charming and driven but beyond the romance is a story of determination, resiliency, and the view of a complex family dynamic. I feel like categorizing “The Rebound” as a romantic comedy would do the story and the author a disservice.

“The Rebound” made me want to run away to the Irish countryside. It made me want to save all the ocean animals (which would make Abby’s sister Louise very happy), to build a bonfire on the beach, and to open a small-town coffee shop where all my neighbors could come to enjoy a hot beverage. I can’t wait to hear what this book makes you feel.

Drop a comment when you’ve read it to let me know!

This book was so cute!! I loved how real all the characters were and everyone's story! Luke was perfect from the very beginning and got even better throughout the book somehow?!? Also the ending was absolutely perfect and not completely what I expected!!

Huge thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

The premise was fun. I hated the ex. I loved the sister relationship. I loved Luke. I felt like the ending was a little rushed? I think this was overall a sweet read!

Un petit voyage agréable entre New-York et la campagne Irlandaise.

Abby Reynolds a un bel appartement à New-York, un boulot très lucratif qui lui plaît et un fiancé, mais du jour au lendemain, elle se retrouve seule, sans toit et sans boulot. Elle prend la décision de rendre visite à sa sœur, dans sa ville natale en Irlande, afin de faire le point sur sa vie et d'essayer de reprendre les choses en main. Elle croise la route de Luke, qu'elle pense utiliser pour oublier son ex, mais les choses ne vont pas se passer comme elle l'imaginait.

J'ai commencé ce livre avec beaucoup d'aprioris parce que dans le résumé, Abby semble détestable et superficielle. Finalement, je me suis plongée assez facilement dans l'histoire et je me suis attachée à ce personnage, qui évolue au fil de pages et qui tente de renouer avec son passé et avec sa soeur. Malgré tout, j'ai trouvé que les autres personnages étaient plus attachants et les histoires parallèles plus captivantes que l'histoire d'amour entre Abby et Luke.

Je m'attendais à un livre avec plus d'humour et d'originalité, mais j'ai tout de même passé un bon moment et je ne manquerai pas de lire One Night Only, son autre roman, qui d'après les critiques, vaut le détour.

Un bon moment d'évasion au cœur de l'Irlande !

Abby Reynold's returns to her small home town in Ireland. Her fiancé broke up with her then her large investment bank just failed taking away her lucrative job and all her investments. She's hoping to spend a few weeks living with her sister while she tries to regroup. On day one she meets hunky Luke Baily. It isn't until the next day that she realizes he is her childhood neighbor. They were friends when young but not in their teens. There was no big rift or falling out. Abby gets back into village life meeting new people and reconnecting with others. The story evolves over several weeks. Everyone knows about her job loss but she still claims for a while that she is still engaged.

This is a decent story and I'm seeing lots of reviewers liking it more than me. I never feel I got to know Luke very well and really didn't see the attraction between the two. I honestly was more invested in Abby's relationship with her sister and would they be able to become friends. But this is suppose to be a romance and not woman's fiction. I like Ireland as the setting, the village and supporting characters. And some of the banter is fun. I just didn't connect with the slow-burn, intimacy behind closed doors, romance. Thank you to NetGalley Bookouture and the author for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for this ARC!

I love that this is releasing on Valentines Day.

It had great banter and great chemistry. Highly recommend. Such a cute read.

Abby and Luke see each other after many years apart and Abby doesn't even recognize him. She's headed back home after losing her job and fiancé. While I completely understand Abby's disappointment in her circumstance, I was annoyed that it took her forever to tell anyone that she and her fiancé were no longer together - especially Luke. I was on his side during that situation.

Abby and Luke have an interesting dynamic and while I definitely felt the chemistry between them (the car scene is sexy and steamy!) the love part felt less believable. The story itself jumped around a lot between Abby and Luke, to Abby and Beth, to Abby and her sister, to Abby and her ex. There was just a lot going on so it was surprising how the story dragged in the middle.

All in all, this is a solid, cute, rom-com novel but. felt like it was trying to accomplish too much and fix all of Abby's relationships in a short period of time.

The Rebound by Catherine Welch was good. I love stories that take place in Ireland especially since I would like to go back to visit again one day. Reading books about Ireland is definitely a lot cheaper than buying a plane ticket to visit.

I was hoping for a little more romance but I still liked this book a lot. I already grabbed another Catherine Welch book to try that was mentioned after the book ended.

Thank you Netgalley and publishers for the chance to read and review. This was a four star rating. It will be on my blog soon.

The Rebound is a lovely romantic comedy / contemporary romance novel.

Abby returns home to Ireland to stay with sister and brother-in-law after she loses her job, apt, all her money, and fiancé all in a few weeks time.

Her and sister, Louise, were never close as kids and have not seen each other in person for several years.

She misses the bus and has a handsome stranger give her a ride. He turns out to be the next door neighbor she grew up with, Luke, who had a major glow-up.

The longer Abby stays, the more she likes being back home. As she and Luke get closer and she meets some new friends, she still doesn’t know what she wants for the future - to stay in Ireland? Go back to NY? Or something else entirely?

As I was reading, I cheered for Abby and Luke every step of the way. Their realistic romance me smile! The sisters learning to support and love each other again was a sweet bonus.

Thank you to Bookouture, Catherine Walsh, and Netgalley for an early copy of this book. My review is voluntary and all opinions are my own.

This was a stunning rom com. I loved it!

We are following our MC who is going though a very rough time, everything seems to go wrong and she is in this situation where she is being forced to move back to her hometown with her sister for a while until she is able to go back to her normal life.

but in the time that she spends in this beautiful Irish town, her life seems to be going better than she expected.

This was such an easy read and one that I found myself immersed in. It has one of my favorite tropes which is childhood friends and it was so well executed that you actually feel their chemistry.
The romance was soooo cute and also so hilarious at times!

Even tho this is a romance book there was an element that was even better in my opinion, which was the sisters relationship. It felt so familiar and it really did hit close to home because it was SO relatable. I could see myself in that position where I move to a different place far away from my family and you drift apart from your loved ones.
Honestly this felt like such a nice remainder to maybe get in contact with a relative that lives in a different place because even if you don't see them that often they are still there.

I just loved everything about it, how it started, how you then get to see all of the beautiful relationships develop and how is ended, in a way it had a super happy ending but it also made me tear up a bit.

Again, a stunning fluffy contemporary that I feel like everyone would love!

Sweet romance involving a woman (Abby) returning home to her small town in Ireland after hitting crossroads in life, and the handsome man (Luke) who was once the boy next door. Their romance is big part of the story, but the central problem is who Abby is, who she wants to be, and what changes she is ready to make in her life.

She has a relationship with her older sister that reminds me of the sisters in Fleabag--brusque but loving, underneath the sharp retorts--and part of her journey home is strengthening their sisterly bonds. She also makes new friends and reconnects with old ones, and these platonic relationships help her to open up with Luke as she decides how she feels about him and what kind of life she wants with him.

The book is comfortable, cozy, and warm, like a crackling fireplace rather than a roaring bonfire. Sometimes, though, cozy is exactly what you are looking for--and if so, this is a lovely read.

The rebound by Catherine Walsh is the perfect rom-com for Hallmark Channel lovers. It’s cute, easy, quirky, and low stakes. Abby is our main character who loses her fancy NYC banking job and lawyer fiancé all in the span of a week. What does she do? Returns to her small hometown in rural Ireland of course! Add in a childhood friend who is suddenly … hot? And a bunch of other cute characters, it’s the perfect “finding yourself” and “figuring out what really matters” in life type of journey.

With that being said- I struggled to really connect with Abby as the main character. I’m not a huge fan of the miscommunication trope nor am I a fan of lies being a major theme in the story and I found myself frustrated with Abby for both of them at the beginning of the story. However- the book was perfectly enjoyable and easy to read. I did enjoy Catherine Walsh’s writing style and found it with the perfect amount of detail.

I think the coolest thing about this book is the title is more about than just Abby rebounding romantically but more so rebounding in every aspect of her life. She reconciled with her sister, focused on friendships that provided her with positive energy, re-found her passion professionally, and came into her true self. On top of that, she found her person at the end of it all :)

This book, wow, it was amazing! I adored the rebound. I loved both Abby and Luke. It did start off quite slow but it quickly picked up and i dove right in. I have no other criticisms!

I was provided an ARC by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and words are my own.

Abby is forced to head back to her home town in Ireland to stay with her sister after losing everything in New York City. The book starts off with an (in my opinion) adorable meet cute between Abby and a hot stranger who offers to take her to her home town after she realizes the bus she’s waiting for isn’t coming. The banter between the two of them is top notch from the start and I found myself laughing immediately.

Turns out hot stranger is actually the glow up of the year and the boy she ran around with as a kid. The pining between the both of them will have you equally going awwww and wanting to kick them for not moving faster!

This book is a slow burn with great banter and two characters with amazing chemistry. The Rebound in a light hearted read and a great choice if you’re wanting to pick up something easy and funny. (The egg hunt scene was my FAV) I would have enjoyed spending more time with Abby and Luke as they navigated their way through their connection but overall a solid four star book.

The Rebound was a sweet story about coming home again and trying to find where you belong. I enjoyed the first half of the story but felt that the middle of the story fell flat for me. It was too predictable and I caught myself skimming the pages to get to the end.

Packed with likeable characters, witty banter and the famous Irish charm, Catherine Walsh’s The Rebound is a quick and fun read.
The story starts off with the MC Abby Reynolds returning to Ireland after many years - her perfect career and love life overseas have both hit rock-bottom and Abby needs to lie low as she figures out her next move. She’s none too happy about needing to crash with her older sister, Louise, who is chalk to her cheese - but needs must. As she reacclimatises to her childhood home town of Clonard, Abby rekindles old friendships whilst also establishing new ones, warms up to her sister, stays firm in her job-hunt in the face of constant rejection, and also finds comfort in a so-called rebound, who feels like a more honest and real connection than her ex-fiancée. Luke Bailey. Le sigh!

****Spoilers******
Bonus points for the following:
1. Treating Tyler and the hotel room conversation with him with such maturity and normalcy, and for not turning him into a total caricature
2. For staying true to Abby’s character and keeping her career focused throughout. Sure Luke is a very nice distraction, but I think the work and love life balance was handled very well

****End spoiler****


Final thoughts
This is a 4.5 rating (with those bonus points), rounded down to a 4.
Go read it - what are you waiting for?

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a free ARC. This did not affect my review.