When I started this book, I thought it would be an all time fave. It started SO. GOOD with the beginnings of a second chance soulmate story of two troubled people who found their way back to each other.

And while that is true, after depicting a disastrous date, the story falls a little flat to me as it is rife with misunderstanding. Also packed with a litany of different traumas including the passing of a parent that was dealt with WAY too fast.

I would still say I enjoyed this book but it had so much potential but the characters have so much baggage that I don't think was completely unpacked by the end of the book.

July Tate is a force to be reckoned with—a big, strong blond with a heart the size of her whole town—but beneath her capable exterior lie the scars of a devastating lost love. To July, love equals vulnerability, and she can't afford either.

Joe Anderson knew from the first moment he saw her that July was The One. Now, after years apart, he's back, driven by the need to explain his disappearance. In search of the girl who filled his teenage dreams, he finds instead a powerhouse woman who steals his heart and soul.

Joe embodies everything July has been missing, and together they spark as brightly as ever. But with Joe around, July, who can usually outwork four men is suddenly making mistakes right and left. And that scares her. Because if July falls again, this time her beloved town could go down with her.
Loved it. Cannot wait to read more from the author. Will recommend to others.

*2.5

I liked the first 20 percent and then the very end but that's about it. It was a lot of telling me what was happening rather than showing me. They didn't talk that much and it was really annoying. The one sex scene that happens before they actually get together was really weird and I did not like it. It's strange because I really like the first book but this one missed the mark.

I received an arc through netgalley.

Laura Moher does it again! I thoroughly enjoyed July and Joe's story and revisiting the town of Galway. Lost young love may have broken their hearts but these two, even after years apart, truly do fit together like long lost puzzle pieces. I love these characters and their lovely town, Galway.
I can't wait to read her next book, Hard to Get, coming out next year!

I loved Laura Moher's debut romance and was delighted to see this follow-up novel! "What She's Having" was less focused on the romance storyline, but was a good community story featuring multiple hard childhoods as strong plot points, The highlight here was the sweet found-family stories with the side characters.

July and Joe's romance was a little bogged down by miscommunication, but I appreciated that they were adults about their time apart. It was also a nice change of pace to read about a couple in their thirties! I only wish the romance hadn't come together so late. And I would love to see more serious consideration for mental health - this would have been a great addition to July's character growth.

Moher is a great writer and her stories are very heartfelt. I would love to see more from this series!

Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

What She’s Having is everything I could have hoped for in a Southern second-chance romance! July Tate is such a powerhouse heroine—strong, capable, and carrying more than her fair share of burdens. Watching her wrestle with the scars of her past and the return of Joe Anderson, the man who broke her heart, is emotional and gripping. Joe is just as irresistible, and the chemistry between them literally lights this book on fire. I loved how their history added so much depth to their connection, making their journey to reconciliation all the more satisfying.

What really made this book special for me was the seamless inclusion of the characters from Curves for Days. Seeing how they're still woven into the fabric of this new story gave it a richness and a sense of continuity that I adored. It felt like catching up with old friends while falling in love with new ones!

Now, I’m counting down the days until book 3—I can’t wait to see what Laura Moher has in store for us next!

I didn't know this was the second book of a series but I don't think you have to read the first one to understand this one. Please check the trigger warnings before reading this book! It's not because that the cover is so cute that it can't be heavy for some people. It was a fast paced, sweet and emotional book and I enjoyed reading it. It was such a quick read, I recommend this book if you're looking for something to get out of a reading slump.

A wonderful continuation of the Big Love From Galway series. July and Joe's second chance romance sparkles!

After loving Curves for Days by Laura Moher, I was so excited to step back into the lovely and supportive small town that is Galway, North Carolina. And of course What She's Having did not disappoint. Hinted at in the first book, this sequel follows restaurant owner and town do-gooder July after her summer high school fling from 20 years before shows back up in her town with an explanation of what happened all those years ago.

I really enjoyed this book. It has all the charm of a small town romance while also tackling some heavy issues such as parental abandonment/abuse, minor emancipation, and depression/mental health. The central relationship felt real and caring while also working through their issues instead of just sweeping it under the rug in the name of lust as is a complaint I have in some other romance novels. Truly, I loved this book and can not wait for the third book in the Galway series!

💫 Small town romance, second chance! The MCs loved each other in high school but we're tragically separated, and now, decades later, they have their chance again!
💫 So much raw emotion in this book 😭 I really loved the MCs' journey towards trusting each other again, and going from long-term missing each other longing/hate to hesitant friends to lovers
💫 Same universe as the author's first book, Curves for Days! We also see the first book's couple, and they are still so swoonily in love, I love them 😭
💫 Hurt/comfort! Found family!

TWs - domestic abuse faced by the MMC as a kid from his father, on page and flashbacks of depression faced by the FMC, homelessness faced by a teen character due to homophobia, death of a teen's sole parent, bullying faced by teens

-- ty to the author, the publisher and Netgalley for an advanced copy!

I could not connect with the story, it was a slow pace and very unrealistic storyline to keep up with.

A cute second chance romance read with some emotional and serious moments. I enjoyed the main two characters and their relationships as well as who they are in their community. The side characters were mostly all likeable too and definitely created a cozy and supportive environment. The author using letters and journal entries to help tell their past was a great way to wrap the whole story together.

SIGHHHHH I love this series.

When July lost the love of her life as a teen, she has avoided making any real attachments since, but when Joe walks into her restaurant, she can barely hold herself together.

When he explains what happened, she understands but can she reopen her heart to the man her almost destroyed her?

I really loved the first book in the series and I set the bar really high. The author has created a world that includes beautiful plus sized women who are vunerable and so sweet that I get super attached.

My heart broke for both July and Joe. He just disappeared on her one day and she never heard from him again and she fell into dispair. I loved how gently the book tackles severe depression. Joe's father literally midnight moved them to another country and it was some hellish abuse for Joe and he didn't know his letters weren't being sent. UGH I was so sad and mad...

The story was devastating and heartfelt and I was completely invested.

I need the next installment NOWWWWW

This second chance, small town book will warm your heart.

There is a ton of miscommunication and I'm not usually ok with it in books but I understood the need for it here so get both the books in this series today!

4.5 stars

I loved Laura Moher’s first Big Love from Galway romance, Curves for Days, and so looked forward to #2. I wasn’t disappointed; au contraire, delighted would fit the bill. If you’re looking for high drama, melo or otherwise, for action and reaction, this isn’t where you’ll find it. Instead, two older protagonists (nearing their 40s) with a world of hurt, a shared past, joyous and full of love as well as hurtful and full of loss and disappointment, through no fault of their own, have to find a way to make their way back to each other, overcoming internal obstacles of fear and doubt. But it’s not a singular focus romance, as Curves wasn’t either; it’s about a town and what good citizens, good people, do for their town and each other: it’s about helping vulnerable youth and building community. It’s about being selfless and giving as much as it is about Moher’s deserving Joe and July getting their HEA (the alliteration I’m not sure about, but it’s a minor-moue-of-meh note). To orient us, the publisher’s blurb:

She may be strong, but she’s not unbreakable.

July Tate is a force to be reckoned with—a big, strong blond with a heart the size of her whole town—but beneath her capable exterior lie the scars of a devastating lost love. To July, love equals vulnerability, and she can’t afford either.

Joe Anderson knew from the first moment he saw her that July was The One. Now, after years apart, he’s back, driven by the need to explain his disappearance. In search of the girl who filled his teenage dreams, he finds instead a powerhouse woman who steals his heart and soul.

Joe embodies everything July has been missing, and together they spark as brightly as ever. But with Joe around, July, who can usually outwork four men is suddenly making mistakes right and left. And that scares her. Because if July falls again, this time her beloved town could go down with her.

One of Moher’s strengths in What She’s Having is moving us with Joe and July’s double-narrative of past and present, of sweet memories and psychic pain, of teen-age Joe’s letters to HS-sweetheart July. Moher uses the letters to beautifully launch her narrative: as his mother lies dying, she confesses to adult Joe she kept back his letters to July. We learn Joe’s father suddenly wrenched the family from their Galway home and took them to Germany. Teen Joe never had a chance to see and tell July, who felt abandoned and betrayed. As teen Joe wrote letter after letter without any from July, he felt equally abandoned and betrayed. EXCEPT SHE NEVER GOT THEM. At his mother’s confession, Joe resolves to find July, to tell her he never abandoned her: might he also tell her he still loves her?

While I enjoyed this dramatic opening, what I loved more was its importance to one of Moher’s key themes: adults can fail the young, or they can help them. There’s a wonderful secondary narrative in two young people, Maisie and Sam, July’s high school student employees, who need help to survive and thrive. Joe pitches in, July pitches in, the town pitches in. (Angus and Rose pitch in. As a matter of fact, the wonderful Curves couple play quite a role in Joe and July’s stop-start refound love and I loved how Moher brought them back.)

There’s something good-people-ordinary in Moher’s characters, though its their ethic and hers as she chooses to portray it, that makes them extraordinary, the gist of which is to overcome your crap, choose love and the other over the self. And yet, “they” say romance can’t be serious: it can be serious, hopeful, optimistic, maybe Pollyanna-ish, but it doesn’t make its seriousness any less. Like Moher’s. That being said, Moher can also write lovely sentences, near-lyrical (though in litfic, this adjective gives me shudders). Witness July’s dream of Joe (because she won’t give in to her love, it shows up, in lyrical prose, in her dreams): “But at night sometimes, he comes to me in my dreams, his smile quicksilver, his eyes bright and changing like a mountain river slipping around rocks, his voice dipping low so only I can hear.” Joe’s first glimpse of July: “My blood is humming in my damn veins, wanting to burst out of me and go to her with little messages from my heart.” Aren’t Moher’s little phrases lovely?

Joe and July have to work through what happened to them, how they were betrayed by Joe’s family and not each other. For July, forgiveness comes easily, but not allowing herself to love. She’s afraid and Joe is brave, but until July works her way in her heart and head to where she can meet Joe, she can’t let herself be loved and love in return. Moher gets it right because she has Joe love July as much as she’s ready for. I do have to mention one perfectly rendered moment (I’m fragile these days, so I had a little weep). When July is sick, Joe steps in and helps out her restaurant employees: she texts a thank you note and asks what she can do for him. He responds: “I could use a running buddy.” Why perfect? Because running in sync, occasionally talking, together but apart, it’s what July needs. For Moher, support and love, whether to your soulmate, children, friends, is gentle and honest: you can love and help, but you must also allow people the space to figure things out, to set the pace; patience and attention are the keys. That patience requires patience of the reader because, truth be told, I found waiting for July to accept her feelings and Joe did feel a tad long, but it does make sense for the character Moher has drawn. Miss Austen would agree; Moher’s What She’s Having is “a mind lively and at ease,” Emma.

Culinary pet peeves:

Why that cover? No one ever eats pie and pie doesn’t feature as important. I love pie, but Moher’s romance is void of pie.

Moher’s characters eat way too much quiche (who easts quiche anymore?).

Laura Moher’s What She’s Having is published by Sourcebooks Casablanca and released on August 20. I received an e-galley from Sourcebooks Casablanca via Netgalley. The above is my honest, AI-free opinion.

I received a DIGITAL Advance Reader Copy of this book from #NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed the first book in this series, this one not as much. It was fine but I didn't love it. It was a very slow burn which I'm usually okay with but this felt even slower than normal. Especially since when they first meet up again and clear the air you can already see the love that's still there between them. All the miscommunication and everything just took too long. The side story with the kids was the most interesting part of the whole story.

One thing I couldn't stand though was the first time they had sex. It was awkward and confusing and I couldn't even tell if it was a dream at first or what exactly was going on.

2.5 stars rounded up, I'd still give another one in this series a chance though

BOOK: WHAT SHE'S HAVING
AUTHOR: LAURA MOHER
PUB DATE: AUGUST 2024
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REVIEW
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
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THINGS I LIKED
1. The small town vibes, the people, the amazing side characters.
2. July's personality and how she helps the people in her community
3. The kitchen, I love chef main characters
4. The author's description of Joe's abusive childhood
5. I liked the tropes
THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE
1. I really tried to like this book, but unfortunately, I couldn't feel any chemistry between them in the book. The book also got boring in the book, but I just kept on reading until I finished.
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I didn't really like this book because of personal reasons, but you might.

What She's Having by Laura Moher

This is the second book in the series. This book deals with difficult topics, domestic violence, child abuse, depression, eating disorder, homelessness and more. This subjects are woven into the story seamlessly and done with care.

July and Joe are the second chance story. Torn apart by outside forces now with the chance to right the wrongs and finally be together. Yes, there are obstacles of course, would you want to read that book? BLAH! So much miscommunication, my least favorite plot device. Yet they finally get out of their own way and the honesty starts flowing, cue the ultimate do over.

This was a wonderful second chance romance. It has a tinge of sweet teenage romance, heartbreak, and reconciliation in the 30s. Joe is an interesting quirky hero that finds his way after finding out he was deceived by his parents. Their story is set, heartbreaking, and the HEA is pretty great.

I wasn't expecting this book to be so much more than a light romcom. Requested it on NetGalley before they had a cover for the book and when I did see the cover, it gave me cozy vibes. The story actually brings up a lot of childhood trauma, neglect, and abuse, which make for misunderstandings and hurt that last for decades. The romance is there, but much lesser than what I expected and not at all in the way I assumed it would be. All of that said, I appreciate the author's effort in making breakups and trauma realistic, bringing forth the perspective that life isn't all sunshine. I think the execution of the book could've been better because I can think of a number of scenes in here that felt very out of place.

This was a charming and heartfelt romance that beautifully captures the complexity of second chances and personal growth. With its endearing characters and a narrative that balances humor and emotion, this novel is a delightful read that will resonate with fans of small-town love stories.