A wonderful story about healing, love and friendship. I really enjoyed getting to know Jess and Gethin as they went on their journey together.

Thank you to Random House Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of The Beginning of Everything to review!
2.5 stars
In The Beginning of Everything by Jackie Fraser we follow a middle aged woman named Jess who has recently left a bad relationship to restart her life on her own. As she settles into a new town she stays in a recently sold and currently unoccupied house. When the owner of the house stops by(Gethin) and finds Jess there one day he offers her help instead of kicking her out. He decides to allow her to continue to occupy one of the spare rooms In exchange for helping him work on the house. Throughout the next month they spend days together stripping wallpaper and picking out new furniture as they get to know each other better. In this novel Jess learns how to start over and be happy again after her last relationship and begins to understand the full power of kindness.

I went into this book completely blind and that led to a peculiar reading experience since this was not at all the book I was expecting to read. Although I did really enjoy the heart of the story and everything that it stood for I had a few problems with how it was executed. The majority of the first 60% of the book was constant dialogue and although it was nice to help the reader familiarize themselves with Jess and Gethin it felt unnecessarily explicit at times. And for how MUCH conversation there was I felt like it wasn’t supportive enough in moving the story forward. Also, this could be because I am not completely grasping the Britain phrasing but a lot of the dialogue felt very choppy and like it didn’t flow very well. Additionally, I read this book relatively quickly and by the end I was quite done with Jess as a character. She felt very stubborn and incredibly unrevealing. I felt like she never really had any significant character growth until the very very end. Throughout 90% of the book she felt incredibly stagnant as a character and also in her opinions of the people around her. Once we neared the end, every time she said how “grateful” she was for all Gethin has done for her (using the word “grateful” specifically), I cringed. In the third act she felt VERY one dimensional in her responses to the people that were attempting to help her relationship with Gethin improve. I liked Gethin as a love interest for Jess and I thought he was written very well. All in all, I did read this quite quickly and in that sense I guess I enjoyed it to a certain extent but I don’t think it’s a book I would really recommend to anyone else. I’m not upset that I read it but it also wasn’t anything captivating.

I had a hard time getting into this one. I could definitely be cause I’m exhausted, but it’s about a women in her 40’s and she acted way younger. I kept forgetting her age.

I loved her first book so I was really looking forward to this, but I had a tough time convincing myself to pick this up. It did get better it just took awhile.

this is exactly what I needed. I really enjoyed it and I highly recommend. I loved the plot and the characters.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Beginning of Everything
Author: Jackie Fraser
Source: NetGalley
Pub Date: September 26, 2023

The Beginning of Everything is about a late forties couple who meet under the most unusual circumstances. Jess (female), the protagonist, has always picked the wrong guy, the wrong life direction, and the wrong career path, which leads her to a vagabond life on the road, sleeping in a tent located in a church cemetery. Gethin (male) has money, and a celebrity ex-wife but an unsatisfying life. In the dead of Welsh winter, Jess finds a vacant home. She breaks in with her lock pick mechanism and takes up residence in the empty house with the heat turned so she lives a tidy and considerate manner while working at a restaurant washing dishes to save money for a rental. When Gethin checks on his home one day, he gets a shock finding the feral Jess in residence, where she is a squatter. Once discovered, she is prepared to return to her cemetery lifestyle (in a tent), but Gethin leaves her a note and welcomes her to stay in his house until he moves in. In exchange, she starts to strip wallpaper for him, tear up rugs, and commence interior renovation work on this dated home. It sounds like a perfect way to meet your forever man. Well, yes…they start to fall in “like.” It’s a super slow burn of a romance book, and I never feel the chemistry between the couple. Neither of them is hateful nor evil people, but they aren’t super charismatic either. Lots of potential here, so we will see how the general reading public likes this one. Publication date: September 26,2 023.  #romance #life #future #love #roomies #lovestory #TheBeginningof Everything #JackieFraser @randomhouse @netgalley #secondchances
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I received a complimentary copy of this ARC. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own. Thank you to Random House, and the author for the opportunity to read this novel. Pub. Date: September 26, 2023.
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#book #books #bookaddict #booksofinstagram #bookstagram #bookstagramer #dellbooks

This, unfortunately, is not for me. I found it way to hard to suspend the disbelief that Jess would just be allowed to stay in a house she was choosing to squat in. Also don’t buy that she would be willing to live with a stranger - and a man - right after what she just went through.
Also, the writing style was weird with all the questions and ellipses. While this isn’t for me, I know others have enjoyed it, and I hope it gets into the right readers hands.

This one is okay. Not my cup of tea but I know others would like it so our library would still get it for circulation. I thought it was interesting she was living in an abandoned house that recently sold, I don’t like encouraging squatting to people… The forced proximity trope is one of my favorites so I do like how the mmc ended up being kind and letting her stay.

Jess has run away from a difficult situation and had been camping in a cemetery until she discovered an empty house to live in while she saved up enough money to rent a room. She knew that the place had recently been sold and hoped to move on before the new owner arrived. In a case of bad timing, she was eating when she heard someone at the front door and rushed out the back with only what she could grab quickly. When she went back later to see if she could retrieve her tent and other stuff, she was surprised to find a note from the new owner, Gethin, inviting her to come back. This is a story of rebuilding their lives and finding friendship in an unusual way. I would give it 3.5 stars.

I felt a little back and forth on this one. I think if I go to a place of very suspended belief, I absolutely loved these characters and what this story conveys and stands for. Watching the characters see such development while also falling in love was wonderfully heartwarming. I also loved that the main characters are older; this is rarely the perspective shown in contemporary romance. If I cannot suspend my belief, this makes very little sense to me. The prospect of Gethin genuinely letting Jess stay in his home is mind-blowing to me. I also felt that the dialogue between Gethin and Jess was a bit awkward. Overall, this was a nice and heartwarming read.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for this Advanced Readers Copy of The Beginning of Everything by Jackie Fraser! It wasn't my favorite book, but still enjoyable to read.

I just reviewed The Beginning of Everything by Jackie Fraser. #TheBeginningofEverything #NetGalley

Jess has run away from her life and is squatting in an empty house. When the house is sold, she is found by the new owner, Gethin, who offers to let her stay on even though he knows nothing about her. Jess & Gethin become roommates with Jess helping Gethin remodel the house. The relationship grows but Jess is hesitant to trust. This is more a story of two people growing as individuals and the romance is secondary.

The Beginning of Everything is a heart warming novel following Jess, a woman in her mid-forties who has escaped from an abusive relationship and is trying her best to move through life while making as few waves as possible. After squatting in an empty house, she unexpectedly meets its owner, Gethin - a charming man who, to Jess's surprise - invites her to stay. After living at Gethin's home and helping him get the house sorted, the pair grow a friendship that transforms into something deeper. This novel is about new beginnings, trust, and kindness, and I absolutely loved spending time with these two in Wales!

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley for letting me read this book for an honest review!
The story was very heartwarming. The main characters are middle aged. The FMC has an abusive past and ran away from home. The MMC had a family member struggle with the same past and invites her to stay with him and help him with the house. This book really shows what hope and trust could lead to. It is a slow burn book but still keeps you engaged.

Thank you for my eArc Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Dell.
I’m so grateful to you and the author for sharing this story with me, however it didn’t hook me. I was unable to read past the first 20 pages of the story. Just because it’s not my cup of tea, doesn’t mean it’s not a good book. I wish the author nothing but success and the amazing feeling of sharing their stories.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for this Advanced Readers Copy of The Beginning of Everything by Jackie Fraser!

It took me longer to get thorough this than I would have liked. It's possible that I'm not the target audience for Fraser's work since I'm only in my 20s and most of her protagonists are well into their 30s, but I found I had a harder time connecting with this one than other books I've read lately. It's also likely I've read too many romance novels lately and needed to read something darker in between.

Jess has recently run away from a boyfriend who leaves much to be desired. She finds an abandoned house and essentially squats there until the owner shows up one day .Much to Jess' surprise, he doesn't kick her out. Instead they strike up a deal where she helps make the house habitable in exchange for a place to stay. But of course he's of a similar age, is recently single, and handsome, so shenanigans ensue.

Again, I liked it, but I didn't love it.

Such a fun read! I highly recommend this! This was awesome a new author for me and I was so glad to find!

I received an electronic ARC from Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine through NetGalley.
Others will love this story but it did not work for me. The premise felt off from the start and the characters were a bit flat. The overall story looked intriguing but there were some huge plot pieces that did not mesh well. From the start, it felt contrived that Gethin would simply open his home to a stranger who broke in and lived there. Jess hides her story well and only offers hints about what has happened to her until late in the story. These two characters in their forties offer insights and wisdom but also show their flaws without maturing and learning from them.
Again, other readers will connect to the plot and appreciate the story but I did not.

As someone in their late 20s, I was weary that I would relate to a book about a woman in her mid 40s - but I am glad I was wrong. Jessica is emotionally stunted from a lifetime of trauma. She starts her life over, but in order to do that she had to leave everything behind and start with nothing. She is squatting in a recently sold house and one day the owner finds her in his home.

Gethin, who is a couple years older than her, leaps to help her instead of throwing her out like any sane person would.

Over a year they platonically build a home together. But Jess is never open to more because she is still fighting the demons she ran from. There is a lot of will they or wont they because it is obvious Gethin and Jess care for each other. But each moment/page of this book kept me captivated. I highly recommend.

Thank you to Jackie Fraser, Random House Publishing and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for my honest opinion. The Beginning of Everything comes out September. 26, 2023.

After fleeing an abusive relationship, Jess doesn't have anywhere safe to go. So, when she finds an empty newly sold house she decides to stay there until the new owners come. When Gethin, the owner, finds her in his house not only does he not call the police, but he also offers his house for her to stay in.

This book was kind of hard for me to not only enjoy but believe. Both characters are in their 40's, but due to lack of communication and their actions they act way young. I think Gethin was incredibly sweet, but way to trusting. It didn't strike me as believable that he would open his house to a woman who had been squatting there, even with his and his brother's history. I loved seeing Jess start to trust in this future she is being presented by Gethin, but it was hard to completely understand where her decision were coming from. I would have loved to see better communication between the two.