From the cover you might think you're about to read a cozy romance. Well, buckle up. It's far more than that. It's gritty and messy and very very sad in places.

But it's also wonderful and warming and funny.

The star of the book for me is Hester. We all need a Hester in our lives. What a woman, what a tremendously kind and wise mentor, what a character!

This book is about love. But it's about trauma and how you heal that pain. It's about friendship, the ride or die kind of friendship and it's about sisterhood. Perhaps most importantly of all it's about finding self-worth and purpose after a life of chaos and fear.

It was no surprise which characters Beth Moran wanted us to like and despise, she makes it quite obvious. Although, occasionally Faith's fiance had some redeeming moments, you were also hoping against hopes that she would not end up with him. There were moments in the plot where it just felt a bit clunky, almost as if ideas were introduced late and there was a scramble to cohesively provide closure at the end. Overall, I enjoyed this book and it had the ending I was hoping for.

Another absolutely wonderful book by Beth. This book is sooo heartwarming and got me out of my reading slump. I loved the characters and the storyline. Recommend to all.

A good read
An emotional read
There could be some triggers in the book
But a well written book
Thanks NetGalley

This was the most powerful and poignant story I have read this year. It is very hard to categorise it, actually, but I will give it a go.

Faith is engaged to Perry, a rich guy she met whilst she was waitressing at his swanky club. She loves him, but is she IN love with him? Hmmm, that is the million dollar question of the hour, right?

What Perry doesn't seem to realise is that Faith and her brother Sam have had it tough. REALLY tough. With a mother who died too young, living with their grandmother and living on the brink of poverty for years, Faith is good at reaching deep within herself and working all the hours that she can, in order to pay her bills. Sam, on the other hand, has coped with the trauma of the past by putting as many different substances in his body as it takes, in order not to feel anymore. Faith feels obliged to help Sam as much as possible, as he was there for her when she was small. And she knows that Perry will be her guarantor so that she will never feel hungry and desperate again. She just has to get to the wedding whilst trying to avoid her future mother-in-law.

As a person who, until very recently, was also living right on the edge of poverty myself, I can relate to this on so many levels. When you are rockbottom like that, you will do pretty much anything not to be in that situation. Like Faith and Sam's mother, I have gone through DV although I am still around to tell the tale, luckily. And no substance abuse in our family either, whew!

Anyway, I SO admire Faith and her resilience. She is a wonderful sister and friend. She finds herself joining a choir and each member of the choir has been through very hard times. These women are survivors and the bonds they form are close and real. Strangely enough, I also joined a choir very similar to this, when I was at my lowest and my friends in that choir are what got me through. Our choir mistress was called Melissa and even though she was a very different person to Hester in this book, the way that Melissa coralled all of us was much the same!

This is a powerful story of friendship and sisterhood and even though there are some terrible things that happen in this book that could be triggers for some people, it is an incredible story and I am still thinking about it, several days after I have finished it.

5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books.

Lean On Me is novel packed full of trauma, secrets, addiction, and survival. The novel is also packed full of hope, friendship, and healing. Faith and Sam are running from their horrific past. Their names may have changed but they are still haunted by murder, abuse, and addiction. Fortunately, Faith finds hope for a better life for both of them in her fiancé, Perry, and in her new friends at the Grace Chapel Choir.

I enjoyed Lean On Me. The author wrote a realistic book with plenty of emotion on both ends of the spectrum. Their is sadness and despair, but also love and hope. The setting and world-building were well-crafted and wonderfully described. The characters were complex and fully developed.

Another brilliant read from Beth one of my favourite authors, lovely storyline and some fab characters could not put the book down

I love Beth Moran's books !! They are so beautiful and sometimes tortured. I was so happy when I got a ARC for Lean on Me. I loved the relationships with the woman and how supportive they were and the community they made. I recommend this book. There is some triggers of abuse and addictions.
4 stars.

I liked this book so much better than I thought I would. What I loved about it was the characters. They were realistic and relatable. Very impressed and highly recommend.

Faith is grappling with the shadows of her past as she navigates the road to her impending wedding. Despite the comforting presence of her fiancé Perry, Faith's doubts about love and self-worth linger, stemming from a traumatic childhood that forced her and her brother Sam to adopt new identities. However, an encounter with the spirited women of Grace Chapel choir, led by the indomitable Hester, offers Faith a lifeline of hope and healing. As she journeys alongside these resilient souls, Faith begins to unravel the tangled webs of her past and discovers the transformative power of community and self-acceptance. Moran's tender narrative delves deep into themes of resilience, redemption, and the enduring strength found in the bonds of friendship and belonging.

I really enjoy Beth's books and this was no disappointment, engaging, fun and a little playful with the right amount of seriousness.

Beth is a terrific writer and I'm always so thrilled to read her newest. This is a wonderful story full of wit and wisdom and heart - - her books alway have so much heart! Highly Recommended

Oh my goodness me! I could not put this down! Such an amazing read, it has it all. Friendship, burgeoning romance and a frisson of fear. My first read by this author and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is a complete rollercoaster of emotions and captures raw painful moments as well as the happier ones.
Great read.

Thank you Netgalley

Loved Lean on Me, it covered some tough subjects and I was rooting for Faith from the beginning. I think we can all relate to at least one of the choir members! A heartwarming story of finding friendships and yourself.

Beth Moran always does a great job of writing a feelgood romance that manages to sensitively include realistic traumatic experiences for some of her characters and Lean On Me is no exception. You probably wouldn't expect to read the words addiction, murder and domestic violence (to name but a few) in a book with this pretty cover but they're all covered in this book and add depth and grit to the story.

I'd highly recommend this book to listen to or read (I had the audiobook), you won't regret it.

Faith is an arresting central character. Full of insecurities, she also has a streak of courage which runs through her and you appreciate how difficult some situations are for her. Her childhood experiences are still impacting on her decisions and you sense that she is yearning to belong. Her brother is the most important person in her life, for complicated reasons, and looking out for him has become part of her everyday life. There are some dark issues in the backdrop of this story but the friendships Faith makes at her Singing group light up the narrative.

Community and friendship are very important in the story and offer Faith another way of living. This is an enjoyable read and one where you are rooting for Faith and hoping that she will make the right decisions. The romance is a slow burn but there is no denying the chemistry. In the background, there is a menacing presence which puts Faith's peace of mind at risk. You feel throughout that she is looking for somewhere to belong and doubting that she will find that in her imminent marriage.

In short: friendship. family, community

Like many of the author’s works (several of which I have reviewed on my blog), there is a serious undercurrent to the seemingly romance-based narrative. This is darker than any of her previous ones (however much the cover may make it seem otherwise).

Also, like several of her books, this was one that I could not put down once I started reading. I am not sure at this point if I am predisposed to enjoying her work or not, although I have liked some more than others. I would leave that dilemma for other readers to decide.

Our lead protagonist has few friends. Her life revolves around her brother and her numerous jobs. She is engaged to be married but getting buried under what that might mean for her regular lifestyle. Her fiance is not a bad man, just someone of a particular ‘type’. As the story progresses, we find out more and more about the kind of life Faith has lived, and when she joins a choir, she starts to gain mental strength and the support of other women who have their own problems.

Most of the women (and some men) that we encounter in the book have hard lives, which they cover up and appear ‘normal ‘ in social scenarios. I am not always fond of almost cheating, but there are bigger issues dealt with here, and the way the story unfolds distracts from the budding romance that would have been the focus in any other kind of book.

I will continue to recommend this author to fans of the genre and anyone who finds the blurb even remotely interesting.

I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience of this and other books by the author.

Beth Morán might possibly be my new favourite author!
In Lean on Me you feel every emotion and not just slightly, the highs are funny and laugh out loud but the lows as tearjerking and heart wrenching. I’ve already downloaded another of her books to read next.
This book follows Faith and her journey with her brother Sam and his battles with drugs and a past that is trying to catch up ok them.
Would definitely recommend!

As always with books by Beth Moran found this to be a thoroughly enjoyable read, both entertaining, emotional and interesting, I loved the key themes of family, friendship and of course love and loss. Thoroughly recommended

Oh, Faith! I just love this character. This is a beautiful book. Looking at the cover, you may expect another rom-com but this is deeper. (and I love a good rom com!) This one packed a lot of heart and sucked me right in. You'll love it.