It took me a little while to get on board with this book. I loved the storyline and style of For the Love of Friends and this book felt very different. Not necessarily in a bad way, just different. The first half felt a bit slow and then the pacing of the second half really sped up.

The dual timeline - generational saga approach was a good vehicle for this story. It did feel a little overwhelming with all the characters at points and trying to keep track of the different large families and minor character relationships to the bigger storyline.

Overall, a really enjoyable book! Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for a copy for me to read and review.

Looking for a book that feels like a warm hug?!? Look no further!

With dual timelines, a hilarious spitfire of a grandma, a second chance at love, a roadtrip, and a nostalgic, shades-of-The-Notebook feel, this book will make you laugh, cry, fall in love, and remember to cherish the moments you gave with your older loved ones.

This hit shelves Aug. 1, so read it ASAP! Perfect for the beach, a rainy day, or a great cup of coffee/a cocktail, you won’t be able to put this one down. You’ve been warned!

I read and laughed and loved For the Love of Friends. If you haven't read it, what are you waiting for? It has the best heart and humor, making Sara an auto-read author for me.
She's Up to No Good features some familiar faces (can be read as a standalone) and some serious heartbreak balanced with Sara's humor.
Jenna's husband of four years surprises her in the worst of ways after four years of marriage. He's met someone else. Her grandmother -who I adored in Sara's first book - convinces her to go on a road trip to the Massachusetts coast.
Sara's writing is so easy to get sucked into the hurt and joys her characters face. I can't help but laugh at Evelyn's antics in present day and hurt for her past.
Thank you to Lake Union and Netgalley for the advanced copy. All thoughts in this review are my own.

4.5 stars

There is so much to love about this book! I enjoyed Jenna's journey as she healed from her divorce, realizing that maybe it wasn't the shock she thought it was - but that Brad was still a cad. (Sorry, cringy rhyme!)

Evelyn's free-spirited nature is exhausting, but man, wouldn't we all like to have a grandmother like that? She loves so deeply.

The only downside to this book is that it seemed very long. While the page count is only 395, it seemed longer than that. The first half especially dragged - lots of backstory. Speaking of backstory, there just were too many characters to keep track of. Did Evelyn really need SIX siblings? lol

All in all, I very much enjoyed this story. I laughed in parts, I teared up in others. Thank you Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a digital ARC in return for an honest review.

When Jenna’s husband tells her that he’s met someone else, she returns home to stay with her parents. Six months later, she’s still there, wallowing and refusing to sign the divorce papers.
So her spirited octogenarian grandmother, Evelyn, entices her to join her on a road trip back to her seaside hometown in Massachusetts. On the way, Evelyn begins telling the story of her first love with a Portuguese guy called Tony in the 1950s. But her family refused to accept him because he wasn’t Jewish.
Once they arrive in town, while Evelyn is taking care of some business, she arranges for Jenna to shown around by one of Tony’s relatives, Joe.
The narrative is split between the two timelines of current day and the flashbacks to Evelyn’s youth. It’s a gorgeous tale displaying a heartwarming relationship between the generations, and a captivating account of forbidden love.

This is a really quick, fun read! I read it over the course of a few hours. It's the story of Jenna, a 35 year old woman who is separated from her husband and falls into a hermit-like depression. Her 89 year old grandmother, Evelyn, decides they need to go on a road trip to take care of some business of Evelyn's. Along the way, Evelyn tells Jenna about events from her past and the book alternates chapters with the present and the past. In the course of a week, Jenna finds out things about her family history and herself, and decides what the next step in her life should be.

Jenna is very likeable, but Evelyn steals the show. Her antics and adventures as an elderly woman are fun. She even has a following on social media because her granddaughter writes stories about her in a blog. She also pretends to not understand a lot of things, or how the internet works. She says and does outrageous things but has the best intentions for everyone. Jenna sums her up perfectly, saying that "as soon as you learn the rules, she changes them."

I look forward to reading more books by this author, if they're as entertaining as this was.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the chance to read and review the book. All opinions expressed are mine, and freely given.

A story both hilarious and heartbreaking, She's Up to No Good was pretty much everything I could want in a great book. 

Told in dual timelines, this book features Evelyn back in the 1950s and in the present, with her granddaughter, Jenna. Sometimes dual timelines are difficult for me because I find myself preferring one over the other. In fact, that happens most of the time. That wasn't the case here. 

In the 1950s, we get Evelyn as a very young woman, falling in love with a man who isn't Jewish. And with WWII and the extermination of millions of Jews, fresh in the mind of Evelyn's family--there's no way her parents will ever approve of her marriage. Evelyn and her Portuguese beau, Tony, have the star-crossed relationship that will bring tears to your eyes. 

In the present, Evelyn decidedly takes a trip back to her old home--accompanied by her in-the-middle-of-a-divorce, granddaughter. The absolute best parts of this book were the scenes between Jenna and Evelyn. Evelyn, who is a quirky old lady with absolutely no filter brings out the best in these scenes. Jenna, a little more subdued doesn't always know quite what to say or do with her grandmother. 

This novel carried me around on both waves of tears and laughter as Evelyn shares her story with a heartbroken Jenna. And through that story, and the trip, Jenna finds herself--and perhaps her own new love. 

This book was such a wonderful surprise and an amazing treat... One that I will probably find myself revisiting in the future. I quite simply find myself missing Evelyn, Jenna, and their entire family. 

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this book. My review will be live, at the link given, on 8/17/22.

Dual timelines are in play within this book. Lovely read with so many emotions, one to be re-read. 5 stars.

Thanks to Netgalley and publisher for this ARC

For two women generations apart, going home will change their lives in this funny, poignant, and life-affirming novel about family, secrets, and broken hearts by the author of For the Love of Friends.⁣
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This book follows Jenna, a woman who has been left by her husband for a younger woman and served divorce papers. She has retreated to her childhood home in Maryland. When her lively Grandma Evelyn shows up to whisk her away to Hereford Beach, a resort once owned by her family, she learns so much more about herself and her Grandma. ⁣
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This has a duel timeline, once in the present day with Jenna and the handsome man who manages the cottages and Evelyn as a young woman growing up in the 1950’s who starts a forbidden romance⁣
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I always love seeing Jewish representation on the page. The characters are fun to learn about and this is a great book to read before summer ends!

Finished She's Up to No Good by Sara Goodman Confino.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️5/5

I loved this one! Evelyn is my toddler niece's name and the Evelyn in this book was my favorite character. She's in her 80s and had this sass and snark that I loved.

This book gave me all the feelings. I was laughing and crying.

Basically, a dual timeline of a family and the decisions they make surrounding love.

What a feel good book! It was told in two different time frames (1950's and the present), switching narrators between chapters. Evelyn, the grandmother, is a hoot and is able to bring Jenna out of the doldrums while visiting the original hometown of Evelyn's. This book caught all my memories of falling in love while reading about Evelyn's and Jenna's story. Quick read that will take you away from the stress of daily life and put a smile on your face. I was delighted to receive a DRC from Amazon Publishing and NetGalley and honored to write an honest review in my own words.

I loved the dual timeline and that we got to see how love and loss shaped both Jenna and her grandmother Evelyn. This was an emotional read that I won’t soon forget

I got an early e-Arc of this and devoured it. Thanks to Let's Talk Books, Amazon Publishing and Sara Goodman Confino!

Jenna is stuck. She's living with her parents after her husband files for divorce. She is spitefully not signing the agreement to make his life more difficult with his new partner. Even though she would get some money and be able to move out of her childhood bedroom. Her grandmother Evelyn asks her if she wants to go to her childhood hometown with her and she decides "why not".

The story is told between Jenna's current life and Evelyn's past. She learns her grandfather wasn't Evelyn's first, true love, Tony was. Her grandfather is gone, but Tony is still alive. She meets Joe, who is Tony's great-nephew, and is doting on Evelyn and is at her beck and call. Jenna discovers a much bigger extended family in the little town near the beach. She suspects a matchmaking attempt from her grandmother, for Joe and her, and she fights it as hard as she can.

This family drama was so well told and just sucked me in and made me want to live there with all these people.

Earlier this year, I devoured For the Love of Friends and it was so wonderful that I couldn't wait to get my hands on a copy of Sara Goodman Confino's sophomore novel, She's Up to No Good. Thankfully, I received early access to this one and it was a great way to kick off the summer!

I loved the dual timelines in this novel and enjoyed getting to know Evelyn and Jenna better. Evelyn was so funny in the present time. She's such a memorable and endearing character. Seeing what she was like when she was younger made me understand and appreciate her even more. It also made me wish I could time travel to see what my grandmothers were like when they were younger.

I loved the feel of being transported to the beach through this story. The romantic aspect was great too. Joe was definitely swoon-worthy! The descriptions brought everything to life (but thankfully I couldn't smell the fish). I also enjoyed how Judaism was weaved throughout the story, including some rituals.

Sometimes felt hard to invest in Evelyn and Tony's situation even though I have personally been there before. Maybe it was because of their age or just knowing the outcome anyway. I still understood Evelyn's frustration with her family and the need to get what she wanted.

Overall, a fun and memorable story. I hope Sara writes more books and includes other characters from Jenna and Lily's family. I'd love to see Evelyn make another appearance... This novel can be read as a standalone, although there is a spoiler for For the Love of Friends. (Which I highly recommend reading, as well.)

Movie casting suggestions:
Jenna: Lauren Collins
Evelyn (present): Lainie Kazan
Evelyn (past): Ariel Martin
Joe: Ryan Guzman
Tony (past): Xolo Maridueña
Vivie (past): Iris Apatow
Fred (past): Alex Wolff

I really enjoyed this! Jenna and her grandmother are taking a trip to her grandma's hometown. There's a dual timeline of her grandmother's first romance and a current day timeline . I was really invested in both timelines- I wanted to see how Evelyn's story played out (Grandma) and was equally invested in Jenna getting through her divorce and coming out the other side. There are some tougher themes (racism in historic storyline and divorce in current timeline) handled with a light/sensitive touch.

I definitely recommend it.

Jenna is getting a divorce and is in a funk. She is back home with her parents and not sure how to move forward. When she volunteers to accompany her grandmother Evelyn on a trip back to her home town, she has no idea what she is in for.

As the two women travel, Evelyn tells Jenna the story of when she was a young girl, a girl in love with a boy who was forbidden. As their journey continues, so does the story. When they arrive, Evelyn is on a mission, one she will not share with Jenna. While Evelyn is out and about, she appoints a handsome young man named Joe to be Jenna’s tour guide. Once again, Evelyn has an ulterior motive as this young man is also her first love Tony’s great nephew. The two women embark on their own separate journeys, with secrets being revealed, lost loves being found and a new bond forever formed between a grandmother and granddaughter.

This novel by Sara Goodman Confino has to be one of my favourites of the year. It was such a well written novel that tied the past to the present seamlessly and just warmed my heart page by page. I loved the characters of Evelyn and Jenna and did not want their story to end. This is the first novel I have read by Sara, but it will not be my last as I adore her writing style and character development. My heartfelt thanks to Get Red PR for my advanced copy in exchange for my honest review. This is one you will want to pack in your beach bag this summer.

I ended July with a 5-star book! I didn’t expect that She’s Up to No Good would have such a profound effect on me! I kept on laughing one minute and then crying the next second — Evelyn (the grandmother) was really hilarious! I love her antics and meddling ways! I thought this would just be a romcom with Evelyn setting up her granddaughter Jenna with a date to help her move on after her husband left her. But nope! It is more than that! This novel is about love lost, about forgiveness and moving on, learning from past mistakes, letting go and setting yourself free, finding happiness and second chance love. I like that this has the right balance of family drama, romance and comedy. I was at the brink of a reading slump and this was the perfect story to get me back on track. Super grateful to @saraconfino @amazonpublishing @getredprbooks @letstalkbookspromo that I got to participate in this booktour and read the eARC. This book is out today and is available for free on Kindle Unlimited.💕

In a Nutshell: I am wondering if I read the same story as everyone else. Outlier opinion alert. This book did nothing for me. Flat characters, abrupt developments, dragged middle and rushed end.

Story Synopsis:
Thirty four year old Jenna is caught unawares when her husband asks her for a divorce. With her life going nowhere even after six months, she agrees to accompany her ninety year old grandmother Evelyn on a road trip to the seaside town where Evelyn had spent her younger years. On the way, Evelyn tells Jenna about her first love, Tony, but insists that the trip has nothing to do with him. The trip and their stay in the town turns out to be a cathartic experience as well as a catalyst revealing several forgotten secrets and family history.
The story is written in two timelines, alternating between Jenna’s first person narrative in the contemporary timeline and Evelyn’s third person perspective in the 1950s timeline.

Where the book worked for me:
😍 The historical timeline is much, much better than the contemporary timeline, though it too has some flaws. The story is a lot more interesting, and the situations, a lot more believable.

😍 Evelyn’s character in the historical timeline is very interesting. She isn’t the typical docile young adult who kowtows to her family’s wishes but is opinionated and strong-willed. She made for a refreshing historical heroine.

😍 There is a cute dog in the story. *shrug*

Where the book could have worked better for me:
😒 The story is so farfetched at times. Jenna reached the age of 35 without knowing a single thing about her relatives, and is learning everything within a few weeks. Evelyn has stayed silent for all these years and now suddenly wants to get everything out in the open. There are too many unbelievable coincidences and clichéd situations in the story.

😒 The plot drags a lot, simply because no one reveals any incident in its entirety. It comes to us in bits and pieces over a multitude of chapters. The ending, however, goes the exact opposite way, and fits in too much within a couple of chapters, just to tie everything together.

😒 The contemporary timeline is BORING and predictable. I simply skipped reading Jenna’s chapters towards the end and just read Evelyn’s timeline.

😒 There is a lot of foreshadowing but the revelations don’t necessarily come in chronological order but as and when the author felt like it. This killed whatever little interest I had in the plot.

😒 There is a big hoohah made over Evelyn’s reason for returning to her hometown, but the big reveal turned out to be a damp squib.

😒 The character development is quite random. As a result, even the relationships they enter into or exit from are abrupt, the only exception being Evelyn and Tony’s relationship. I rolled my eyes when one character says to another, “Do you really want a man who would marry someone else this quickly? You deserve someone who will worship you.” It was quite ironic considering the said character had done exactly the same thing – married someone almost immediately after the end of the earlier relationship. The whole idea was farcical. Every character felt flat and I couldn’t connect with a single one. The one who came closest to being likeable was Evelyn, but only in her historical timeline. In the contemporary timeline, she’s quite irritating as she hints at a hundred things and reveals nothing.

Maybe I just picked this up at the wrong time, or maybe it isn’t meant for readers such as me. You might enjoy this book if you read it with just your heart. Unfortunately for me, my head dominates the heart almost every time and it simply didn’t get the hype. Mine is an outlier review so make sure you read the other glowing reviews before you make up your mind about picking up this book.

2 stars.

My thanks to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for the DRC of “She's Up to No Good”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

Road trip with an eccentric grandma and learning family secrets? Sign me up! Two timelines that pretty much devolve into romances? No thank you! I don't mind a bit of romance but I want it as a subplot to the story. That is how this book started out and it was interesting! Grandma Evelyn has secrets and she is only going to tell them when she wants to. Jenna is not coping well with the end of her marriage and has a lot of self-work to do. But then romance takes over. I still liked the book and expect that most people don't aren't anti-romance like me and will enjoy that added aspect of the story. I would have preferred to have learned more about the interworkings of the family, both in the past and in the present, and less of continued love lives of Evelyn and Jenna.

I adored 𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗙𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀 and couldn't wait to dive into Sara Goodman Confino's latest, 𝗦𝗛𝗘'𝗦 𝗨𝗣 𝗧𝗢 𝗡𝗢 𝗚𝗢𝗢𝗗. Imagine my delight that it not only includes a Lily cameo, but it also features grandma Evelyn, one of my favorite parts of her last book!

This stand-alone novel revolves around Jenna, who's living with her parents after her husband leaves. When her grandmother, Evelyn, wants to visit her family's beach cottage to handle some unfinished business, Jenna offers to take her, unaware of the drama and hilarity that's in store. Alternating between Jenna's present-day POV and flashbacks to Evelyn's story about her forbidden first love in the 1950s, the women attempt to come to terms with their pasts and what that means for their futures.

It's hard not to love these characters despite their extreme differences - Jenna is hurt and unsure about how to rebuild her life while Evelyn is, and always has been, a brash personality who goes after what she wants - and I was sucked into the nostalgia, humor and heartbreak of their journey. Evelyn is like 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘎𝘪𝘳𝘭𝘴' Sophia crossed with Samantha from 𝘚𝘦𝘹 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘪𝘵𝘺 and I enjoyed every zinger, inappropriate comment and truth bomb she dropped. I may get this one put on a pillow:

"𝘐 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦. 𝘓𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘢 𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘴𝘰 𝘧𝘦𝘸 𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘸 𝘢 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘬. 𝘛𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮."

With clandestine love affairs, family secrets, eccentric old people, overenthusiastic dogs, and some excellent Jewish rep, this is a great summer read.

Thanks to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for the copy to review.