Such a cute read.. there were parts that I skimmed but for the most part it was a solid read!

ARC kindly provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange
for an honest review.

This was a very predictable book but I still enjoyed it. I liked that she did recognize Luke right away and I liked the relationship with her sister. But overall it was a very predictable romantic comedy.

Sweet and romantic, this book was like cotton candy. Abby loses everything--her job, her apartment, and her fiance, after her employer goes belly up a-la-Enron. But moving back home to Ireland proves to be the adventure she never knew she needed, as she reconnects with high school crush, Luke. This was a really cute romance, without any smut or super steamy scenes. I'd rate it PG on the romance novel scale. An easy read, I think Catherine Walsh will prove to be a fantastic new romance writer.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for an ARC of this title in exchange for my honest feedback

The Rebound is a cute and funny rom-com following the life of Abby who has recently lost everything and looks to start over. When she lands in Ireland she is met by an unexpected person from the past and the rest is history. This was definitely a slow burn for me but I did end up enjoying it.

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this advanced copy.

*** e-ARC obtained through NetGalley ***

What do you do when your life falls apart? Move back home and reconnect with your (now hot) childhood friend.

This felt like a pretty standard romance novel. The main character is a high achieving business woman who just lost her job and fiance. So she moves from bustling New York City to the much more quiet and quaint Clonard, Ireland and it's a rough transition. Abby is not on the best of terms with her sister and she is struggling to find another job. But it's not ALL bad. Abby hits it off with her old pal Luke and it's honestly pretty cute.

But there were some communication issues that made no sense and was only there to create fake tension. I was not buying it and it was super annoying. Like when Abby and Luke first kiss and she freaks out mid make-out session because she was "betraying" a friend of hers who also had a crush on Luke. Like girl, you already kissed him... finish kissing him!

I have heard of the trend of romance books ending with a sex scene or a baby. I have a strong preference for a spicy ending but this book gave me too much baby stuff. It had a decent start and middle, but ended up not really being for me and that's okay.

What if after loosing everything (job, place to live, fiancé) you realize, that the one thing you really need is what you have known or had for most of your life?

Abby goes back to her hometown in Ireland, a place she couldn't wait to escape once upon a time. While back home, relationships are mended and a new love is found.

I truly loved Abby's character ARC, the inner journey and transformation she goes through and everything that comes out of it.

This was an easy read but beautiful story that I will definitely recommend.

This was another fun read from Catherine Walsh! After reading One Night Only last summer, I couldn't wait to read more from her. The Rebound is about Abby, who returns to her hometown in rural Ireland after losing her job, apartment, and fiancé in New York. She conveniently runs into Luke, her childhood friend and boy next door, who gives her a ride home when she is stranded. We are then brought to Luke and Abby's charming hometown of Clonard, which I think Catherine Walsh did a fabulous job of creating. As someone from Connecticut I hate comparing things to Gilmore Girls, but Clonard really did feel like an Irish Stars Hollow and Andrew, the town mayor, was an Irish Taylor Doose.

Like I already stated this book was fun enough and I am still a fan of Catherine Walsh's writing style. However, I definitely didn't vibe with this one quite as much as I did with her first novel. What I loved so much about One Night Only was our two main characters and how connected I felt to both of them. Despite sharing a name with our main character in The Rebound, I didn't feel all that connected to her. I think one of the main reasons is because I have no idea why she would've agreed to marry her former fiancé anyway. I don't think she was poorly written, but she just wasn't a character I was going to see myself in, which is okay! I liked Luke well enough, but I didn't feel as if I got to know him all that well. We're given bits and pieces of him, but never really a whole picture. Together, the two of them definitely have chemistry, but in the end when they officially become a couple it felt a little rushed and like some more things needed to be flushed out.

Overall, I enjoyed my time in the little Irish town of Clonard and I can't wait to read what Catherine Walsh writes next!

I really enjoyed this book. I read it over the Christmas period as it's the perfect time for a romance read.

It was a quick book to burn through, albeit slightly predictable (but all the best romance reads are because you're rooting for that outcome!)

The characters were loveable, I enjoyed watching them battle with their dreams/desires whilst trying to balance compromise with following their dreams. I loved the little bits of drama added in along the way too.

A perfect read for any time of year.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for an ARC of this book.

This book was not at all what I was expecting from the synopsis. I was 60% through the book before any sort of real relationship started between Abby and Luke. I just don't understand the whole "rebound" thing. This was more of a slow burn. A rebound should be something that is jumped into quickly and that was not what was portrayed in this book. Luke was also extremely unlikable. Bratty, even. Abby was so busy getting close with her sister or forming a friendship with Beth and Rory that there was little to no room for an actual relationship to develop between Abby and Luke.

Now don't get me wrong, this is a good book. I liked the character driven storylines, world building and plot but this could hardly be called a romance book, which is what I was expecting when I read the synopsis. I'm disappointed that there wasn't as much romance as I was expecting, but this was a good, easy read. If you're looking for that, then this is a good book for you. But if you're looking for a full on romance, you won't find it here.

I really liked Louise and Tomasz, they were probably my favorite aspect of the book and I found that I was more interested in their relationship and fertility issues than I was interested in Abby and her barely there romance with Luke. I'd love to read a book about them, actually.

Overall, this is a good book with a very misleading synopsis but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

Cute story of Abby going back to her roots of Ireland. You never know what returning home will do for you. Quick read that has you rooting for the characters.

Thank you to @netgalley @bookouture and @catwalshwriter for this eARC in exchange of my honest opinion.

Abby Reynolds has just lost her home, her fiancé, and her job. All within the last few weeks. Now she’s headed back to her hometown in rural Ireland to visit her sister. Her sister with whom she doesn’t get along and who doesn’t exactly know about half of her losses.

She finds herself stuck waiting for a bus that’s never going to come when she meets Luke. He offers to take her the rest of the way and she can’t help but flirt with the handsome stranger. He’d be the perfect rebound. Until she realizes the next day that Luke is non-other than THE Luke Bailey, her childhood neighbor. Cue the embarrassment.

I liked this book for quite a few reasons. One being that a large part of this book is about Abby’s journey, and not the romance. She is a completely career and accomplishment driven woman, who believes that nothing in this small town is for her. Least of all a relationship with her sister. It’s the story of her journey as she finds herself, develops a bond with her sister, and realizes the kind of relationship she wants and deserves. This book is full of quirky and unique characters and relationships and will have you smiling the entire time.

This one gets 4⭐️‘s from me!

Really easy read that had my hooked from the beginning and I finished in just a few sessions. Likeable characters. I’m not sure the title suited the content of the book- it was more about her return to her hometown that about a rebound.

I did not want to put this book down! The Rebound by Catherine Walsh is a book that not only has romantic drama but also family drama plus all the feels. Abby is headed back Ireland after losing everything-her job, her fiancee, and her apartment. She runs into a "hot guy" on her first night back who ends up being the literal guy next door that she grew up with. There are several misunderstandings through the book with Abby and Luke, the "hot guy," as Abby not only juggles him and her job search, but also her attempt to find a way to redefine her relationship with her sister. While I would have liked for the book to have focused more on the romance part (although it definitely contained its fair share), I very much enjoyed watching Abby attempt to bounce back from everything that happened to her and make new relationships and repair old ones. I liked that her "rebound" wasn't just about love.

The Rebound by Catherine Walsh was everything I wanted from a Romance book right now.. It was chic, it was fun, it was soo steamy and made my heart go awww in all the right places..

Abby Reynolds has always dreamed the world and was never afraid to go and get it.. But when her world came crashing down, she chose to come back home to the cold marshy Ireland.. But Clonard, which had felt so lonely, and harsh once before now feels more like home. Maybe it is the handsome Luke or the friendships she forged here or the feeling of being alive. But things are not going to be the same anymore..

Thank you Netgalley and Publishers for the e-arc.. Anyone looking for a quick read with chic characters and predictably fun story should definitely pick it up

“What I'm saying is, if you feel you have to make a choice, then sometimes you already know. Sometimes you're not making a choice at all. You're just delaying the inevitable."

Thank you so much to Catherine Walsh and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy of this book.

From the first page, the book had me hooked, maybe it was the character's inner monologues or maybe the writing style. The story had no filler chapters, it started right off the bat, and as the story progressed we get to understand more and more about each character and their relationship. Something I loved the most was the no chapter was boring, there was something happening in every chapter and that was what kept my attention.

Abby is a wreck and that's probably why it was so fun to read about it. She's one of those city folks who think nothing in the countryside can hold a candle to the looming skyscrapers, busy roads, and pollution. But that's far from the truth. She also believes her life in New York was everything a person could dream of and watching her come to the slow realization that there's more to it was amusing. There's a saying for this in Sanskrit called Kupa Manduka that translates to "frogs in the well imagines the well, their home, to be the whole world and, therefore, becomes pompous" and that's exactly what Abby reminded me of. However, I loved reading her mind change slowly but surely after 30 years. That's the beauty of this book even though the ending may be predictable it's the journey that counts. I loved watching her relationship with everyone grow and her starting to understand herself and the others around her. She was so focused on herself that she never paid attention to people around her and just reading her character development was amazing.

I also enjoyed reading how Abby's relationship with Louise grew so much over the course of her stay and they began to understand each other better. And getting to read about Louise's own journey was just simply amazing. I found myself rooting for Jess and Beth from the beginning. And Jess's friendship with Abby was one filled with such humorous moments. I especially liked the ending and how it all wrapped up together. Even when I was done with the book I was left wanting more of their lives. Especially between Louise and Abby.

I think one of my favorite moments of the book was when Abby screams "By you fighting for me! You just told me you loved me and now you're like, oh, okay bye, have a nice life, Abby. If you don't want me to be with anyone else, why is it so easy to just let me go?" This hit me right in my heart and I found myself relating to this sentence so much. And it's always fun to see characters as real and relatable. Overall, this was a fast read since I couldn't put it down. And I give it 5 stars for the humorous, romantic adventure of finding yourself and finding love even in the places you would never think to look.

i didn’t particularly enjoy this book. the writing style wasn’t for me, but other than that. I liked it. I loved the plot ideas and the relationship between the two characters :)

dnf @ 20%

I was actually enjoying it!! And then came along my most hated trope, the miscommunication trope. It was soooo irritating and stupid, I was internally screaming "JUST TELL THEM" but it just got too much, so I dnf'd it.

Thank you NetGalley for letting me read this wonderful story in exchange for an honest review.

This is such a cute story about a women who is down on her luck after loosing her job in New York and having to move back with her sister in Ireland in an attempt to get back on her feet. While there she experiences life challenges and finds love in a Irish man who coaches kids.

Definitely a great romance story that is sure to make you smile.

I love an Irish themed book! I loved this story. It was so cute and romantic. The men in Irish romcoms are always so swoon worthy and this lived up to that! Highly recommend.

Catherine Walsh does fantastic writing that shows Abby move back home after loosing everything. She meets hot Luke, who is the man she grew up with.

I could not put this book down. A cute story of moving back to a small town and falling in love, growing back in love with your family, and meeting new friends.


**I was snowed in and missed my flight back home when I read it in one sitting!**