This book was fun! Imogene has definitely been put through the wringer with breakups. This is perfect for readers who enjoy second chance romance with some open door steamy scenes.

I liked the heroine of this story, Imogen, as she works to build her self-confidence after having been convinced by her mother’s prediction that she will always be second all her life. She has not ever been able to be first. Then her teenage friend and secret crush, Eliot, returns to their small town and realizes that she is still attracted to him.

I was quite exasperated with Eliot. He had a crummy childhood with cold, distant, yet wealthy parents. So, as soon as he could, he fled his hometown and has spent the past 10 years traveling around the world and uploading his stories to youtube. He hasn’t returned to his hometown and dropped off communicating with his two best friends, Imogen and her best friend, Franny. Now he’s come back for his father’s funeral and spends 10 days recovering his friendships and forming a relationship with Imogen. He knows that all she wants is a relationship. Yet, he feels that he can’t settle down back in their small town. Even though he loves Imogen, he fears that he will hurt her because he can’t give her what she needs - the confidence that she is first in his life. He wasn’t willing to make an attempt to address his problems. He clearly wasn’t happy traveling his solitary road in life without any true friends. He knows all her insecurities and he just intensifies them because he’s too self-involved to make changes.

And that mother. What mother tells a small child that she’ll always be second in life? I don’t care that the mother is a bit woo-hoo with her ability to see the future. Her behavior has forced her daughter to give up her dreams and return home to take care of her mother. The mother is also too self-involved to see how she has damaged her daughter’s life.

I voluntarily reviewed an advanced reader copy of this book that I received from Netgalley; however, the opinions are my own and I did not receive any compensation for my review.

This was an awesome read, a romance novel about friendship, and self discovery. We have Imogen who has the worst luck when it comes to relationships and her mom calls it a curse. She was a promising artist, but everything went downhill when it came to that and then also back home. She’s now living with her mom to help, and gave up her dreams, or better yet she put them on pause. Then when one of her best friends Eliot comes back to town because his dad just passed, and they are rekindling their friendship, she realizes that he was the one who got away.

Eliot has his own battles, and the way he handles it and Imogen, their new found relationship 20 years overdue, and the way he supports and is there for her, encouraging her, and putting her first was amazing to read. She was drawing again, she was finally putting her needs first, she finally had control over her own life. I loved the little twists and their relationship I’m general.

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

A wonderful story of self growth, friendship, love and family. Eliot and Imogene are perfect together.

Sweeter and lovelier than your mainstream romance books. Imogen Finch gets her true love, but what she really gains is confidence and self-love. To realize she should never settle for being anyone's second best and her happiness is worth the time. I really liked her connection with Eliot, her flirtation and friendship with Dutch, the sisterhood with Franny, and bond with her mother. A lot happens in the span of a couple weeks but it's intensely felt, romantic and heartbreaking all at once.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martins for the arc.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

The Predictable Heartbreaks of Imogen Finch by Jacqueline Firkins is a lovely, if not sometimes, heart-breaking second chance romance.
Imogen is a girl who grew up with an eccentric mother and perpetual heartbreak. After living her life, always being second place, it's what she thinks she deserves and how she sees herself. When her childhood crush returns to their small town for a short forced visit, Imogen can not help feel things despite knowing he is leaving in a few short days.
The  character development and slow burn in this book are fantastic. Imogen and Eliot are both burdened with their own problems. I was tearing up at times and giggling at others. This was a very enjoyable, emotional read. I recommend this book. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC of this charming novel.

The Predictable Heartbreaks of Imogen Finch wasn't for me. I can't really pinpoint what I didn't like about the book....I just wasn't interested in continuing! Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC.

The blurb really caught my interest with this book and I was really looking forward to reading it. However, once I got started, it all just kind of felt apart for me. I didn't really get engaged in the story or the characters. It kind of fell flat for me.

This was a lovely but often sad story about a young, talented woman with a big heart who didn’t believe she deserved being first for anyone. Imogen was selfless to a fault and though I was extremely wary of Eliot whose need to travel the world felt ominous, his devotion to Imogen was undeniable. I loved how he respected and treated her, as well as her friends and those in the town who were very protective of Imogen. There’s something poignant about the story, sometimes evoking joy, laughter and sadness in the same moments, that made it special. It seems to be Firkin’s signature and I’ll always read whatever she writes for that reason.

This is one of those easy to get wrapped up in, must finish in one go romance. Imogen is relatable, likable, and overall a great lead. The romance is heavy, and there is a lot of difficult moments and personal growth throughout. I was completely charmed! I didn’t love all the flash backs, as I don’t know if they added enough and they hit a repetitious note. However overall this is great, highly recommend. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to provide my honest review.

The Predictable Heartbreaks of Imogen Finch was such a sweet romance, with a unique premise! Imogen Finch has just been broken up with for the seventeenth time. But, just like all of the others, she's not quite as devastated as she could be...because she saw it coming. Over twenty years ago, Imogen's possibly clairvoyant mother made a prediction that Imogen would never come first at anything or to anyone, and Imogen has certainly been seeing its effects in her love life. But when Eliot Swift, Imogen's childhood friend and secret high school crush, returns to their small town after a decade of being away, Imogen wonders if maybe it's time to try again. Will Imogen remain doomed to a second-place spot forever? Or might she find love, belonging, and maybe even some magic in the most unexpected places?

I really enjoyed this book! The story is so heartwarming, and the characters are quirky yet relatable, from our lead, Imogen, to the love interest, Eliot, to the side characters like family members and friends. I also thought the small-town setting was so charming! I just loved following Imogen as she realized that she needed to put herself first in order to realize she deserved better in other aspects of her life, too. The friends-to-lovers, second-chance romance was a sweet addition, and you can't help but root for Imogen and Eliot's love story! I wanted even more. This was my first of Jacqueline Firkins's books, and now I can't wait to read her others, too. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC.

I’ll take Dutch please. Who doesn’t want free shots?

This is the cutest romcom ever!!! Obsessed with Eliot and Imogen’s cute banter and friends-to-lovers trope! However, Imogen kind of frustrated me at the beginning cause of how she kept on overthinking and letting her “curse” ruin her life. Glad Eliot’s there to help her come to terms with it. <3

First of all, I want a story for at least one side character. Frannie and Dutch are both amazing characters and I want to read about them (though not as a couple). Honestly, I love Dutch, he would make a fantastic lead male, he just isn’t it for Imogen. Firkins made a great set of characters- flawed and multi-fauceted… wonderfully intriguing. I even liked the mistress- honestly, who would have thought? The only one-note, cliché character was Elliot’s mother. The people, the community, felt real… strong. Even as no one wanted to hear Imogen’s mother’s predictions everyone looked out for her- I think that’s about how it would shake out. The reactions were honest.

I loved how the author didn’t try to shy from Imogen’s issues, or Elliot’s- that they took it seriously and got help. There was not magic moment where everything just worked out as there so often is in romances. Each person got the help they needed in order to be better- together or apart. I loved that. (That said, I was low-key making plans to riot if it didn’t work out. Joking… a little.) Elliot is a wonderful character, I loved how much he wanted to support Imogen. His issues ensured that he couldn’t see the town- the house- as home,that he couldn’t be still anywhere. He never tried to hide that. At the same time, he tried to figure out how to keep Imogen in the loop, to be more present. I actually like that neither of them gave up what they needed in the name of love.
The play between the characters was great, and I loved the humor the contests brought to the book (seriously, corn shucking and earthworm charming?). It had a good flow to the story and was a fun, fast read for me. I would give it four stars. I loved it, but I wanted more.

⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
On the adult content scale there is drinking, language and some fairly explicit sexual content. I would say level four spice- not too explicit and it never got in the way of the plot or slowed it down. While it is definitely geared toward adults, I would say fifteen plus would still be appropriate.
I was lucky enough to recieve an eARC from Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review. My thanks!

This was extremely cute. A very bingeable read with characters that you really feel for. I also loved the sort of magical element of the predictions made by Imogen’s mom in an otherwise grounded book.

“The Predictable Heartbreaks of Imogen Finch” by Jacqueline Firkins
Three Friends finding Love, maybe?
A good story with a heart that keeps getting broken. Or does it just get a bit bumped around and bruised? I liked this story and empathized with Imogen. I hope you enjoy this story, too! Happy Reading ! !
Note: this review expresses my honest opinion.
I received an ARC of this story from the publisher via NetGalley.

I really liked Marlowe Banks so I was really looking forwa d to Imogen Finch and it was good but I didn't completely love it. I like that her characters are imperfect I like that Imogen needed to heal herself. I didn't really like the whole business with the curse and I wanted more resolution. I also didn't really like Elliot that much like he was nicer to Imogen than others but he was still selfish and immature. The thing that bugged me the most though was claiming the town had 347 residents but yet they could Support all these businesses and Imogene could find so many guys to date. At least make it 3,047 And even then that all seems unlikely.

I enjoyed this book. I found there was growth with the main characters and I rooted for them throughout the story. I liked that the main character’s past was shared through short anecdotes about breakups.

Thank you so much for letting me read this book. I loved the premise and the author is just lovely, but it just felt a little like a downer and didn't land well for me. It's totally me and not the book.

This was a delightful story with relatable, interesting characters. The conflict was realistic and didn't feel forced. I liked the small town setting and the minor characters.

I didn’t really like this book. I think that it’s more of a “not for me” situation and that someone else might love it. Definitely me and not the book.