I didn't finish this one because I wasn't invested enough in the story. I don't usually force myself to read a book when it doesn't seem interesting enough for me to read it. It's not a bad book, though.

I loved this book. Idk why it took me so long to read it it. But it was so good! I need the physical copy. It literally had me in from sentence one.

Great book. I enjoyed Reading it. The characters and plot were interesting life like and easy to connect with.

Good book with a solid story that was fun to read. I really enjoyed the main characters and the wat the story progressed.

I found myself getting so frustrated at Charlie throughout, she just isn't a nice person. Whilst well written, the story or mainly the main character was just not for me.

Charlie is a thirty-two year old who works in the HR department of a London office full of well-dressed suits. When she receives a call that her father is ill, Charlie walks out of work and heads to Carncarrow, the small fishing village she escaped from ten years ago. At her father's funeral, Charlie's fiance, James appears, uninvited, to work from the clutter-filled house Charlie has to clean. As neighbors and high school friends observe James and Charlie, they are sure she is making a mistake if she marries him--even though Charlie says she is "happy, happy, happy". Adam, Adam, Charlie's high school sweetheart. is ever-present throughout the story, watching as Charlie deals with her dad's estate. Nicola Masters' novel is a good read about love, family, and friends. Recommended

I couldn’t get into this book when trying to read it but hope to come back to it at another time. Dnf at 13%

Charlie is living in London when she gets a call that she needs to go to the Cornish town that she grew up in because her father is ill. Charlie drops everything and doesn’t say a word at work. While she’s there she has started to be confronted with her past.

I really enjoyed the storytelling of this book and what Charlie was going to do. Charlie does what so many of us do by stuffing down our feelings or running away from where we grew up.

Thank you #NetGalley for the advance copy

This is not a happy book, so don’t let its title fool you. The story focuses mostly on grief, old and new, and the healing journey that goes with it. Despite the obvious flaws and annoying qualities of some of the characters, I really enjoyed this book.

The book deals with grief in a realistic and well-illustrated way, and the village(rs) of Corncarrow felt very real to me. Despite its heavy content, I laughed at times as well, and I enjoyed the writing style – the use of flashbacks gave Charlie more depth and the story more body.

If you’ve enjoyed I’m Sorry You Feel That Way, The Existence of Amy or The Switch, this book may be right up your alley! (Those are books I thought of while reading this)

I expected better. The book is well written and the author is really good with words, but the plot and the characters are not so good.

Nicola Masters has written this so well. I like the competing ideas of two worlds and which person would you like to be. I enjoyed the insights to understand her thoughts. She was so frustrating also but I get that's the polarising aspect

Honestly, I really thought I would love this book. But it wasn't for me, I couldn't connect with the main character and I didn't like her voice. Even though the story itself is good and it touches important issues, I just couldn't stand the main character

This was a book I grabbed from the “read now” feature that I thought I might like. However I couldn’t get into it so I’m sorry I can’t give a review.

Thank you to Amazon Publishing UK and NetGalley for an e-ARC in exchange for a review. This novel published on May 19, 2022.

I am all for a book that deals with mental health, heck, that’s why I requested this! But Charlie was different. I felt like throughout the whole book she just complained. And complained. And complained some more. She was like able for the first 20%, but after that.. shoot me please. She just had no development. No growth. No personality of her own. I felt like some characters were just over played and given too much of a crummy personality. For instance, Charlie’s fiancé. Man the horribleness of that and how incredibly pumped up it was. Just made for a very over the top book and very fantasized and unbelievable.

A beautifully written book. Really enjoyed reading this. Thanks to publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read.

Charlie left her hometown, a sleepy Cornish fishing village, more than decade ago. She moved to London and never looked back. The sudden death of her father however, forces her to return home and face her past.

This book was not what I was expecting, then again, I am not sure what I expected. The main character, Charlie, is definitely not happy in her current (London) life. She clearly has been going through the motions of life (job, engagement etc) and telling herself her life is great cos she escaped her childhood. However, she actively avoids her fiance's phone calls, doesn't even call him as soon as she finds out her dad has died, just vanishes home and forgets to tell him. Does she even love him regularly crossed my mind. I appreciate she is shocked by her dad's death but just felt weird. She came across throughout as a incredibly self absorbed and selfish as a result.

Charlie clearly has been emotionally protecting herself since her mother's death when she was a child. As we see her come face to face with memories from the past and explore her father's home, we are hit with her (suppressed) emotions. She craves closeness but pushes everybody away / holds them at arms length. As a reader, I did however struggle to feel empathy for her. I wanted to love her more and ride the emotions with her but she was just built a little too cold for me. I did enjoy the exploration of coming face to face with a past you tried to escape.

Such a great book. Grief navigated with poignant humour and a strong authorial voice. Also, nice to see Cornwall portrayed in an authentic way, rather than as a picturesque backdrop to holidays. I can't wait to read what Nicola Masters writes next.

A quick and easy read that I found myself picking up after a long day to unwind. The characters are beautifully written and I came to love them within the first few pages and was rooting for them all the way to the end. At times I wanted to stop reading because I just wanted the experience to go on for longer.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This looked a lot like in the lines of Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine so I dived into this book head first. The writing is extremely easy to get into, but the character not so much. We follow Charlie who hates her job, barely tolerates her fiance must now move out of her London apartment, face her past and with her mindset that happiness is overrated, have to grab all her ducks and try and get them in a row and decide what is the type of life she wants for herself.

I unfortunately couldn’t tolerate Charlie. I note that parental suicide played a pick role in her personality, but she is incredibly selfish, rude and treats James horribly. How he stayed just boggles my mind. I basically only continued reading in hopes for some massive character development, and the side-characters also were very sweet. The ending was not exactly what I had in mind, but was written well in a feel-good way.
Great book, wrong person I guess.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC