What is surprisingly beautiful and touching second time around romance. Both characters have been unlucky in love, one with a divorce and one with a death, and were not looking for anything on the romantic horizon. What comes from Willa & Hudson meeting is a story of how people will grow and change over time to become stronger than they were in the past.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy.

Willa is 46 years old, which is the same age I am currently… so that was kind of fun. (Romcoms for people in their 40s seem to be few and far between.) She is starting over in the Pacific Northwest after her husband died. Her new neighbor is Hudson, a single father (kids in their 20s) who is instantly attracted to Willa.

Besides the romance, I really enjoyed the food science/cookbook part of the storyline. And the side characters and an adorable dog named Noodle were nice additions as well.

Trigger warning: loss of spouse, diabetes

Thanks to NetGalley and Montlake for this ARC in exchange for my honest review. Watch for Do Me a Favor to come out July 23, 2024.

*3.5

Thank you to Netgalley and Montlake for the arc in exchange for an honest review :)

Are you looking for a sweet contemporary romance with a charming MMC and a sweet FMC?

This book should definitely be on your radar! This is your typical soft hearted romance, we have a fmc who is struggling to get back to her life after the passing of her husband and a single dad mmc who takes care of everyone but himself and bam together they bond a friendship which forms into a romance.

Nothing in particular really stood out to me but that's not an entirely bad thing... I just wish that we would have gotten more relationship development from the main couple.

One of the things I liked how the FMC was a cookbook ghostwriter for a guy who filmed shirtless videos while cooking cause LMAO it reminded me of the tiktoks that I've seen do the very same thing.

Overall it was a cute read!

Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me to read this ARC on NetGalley.

Overall rating: 3.5 ⭐️s

This book follows Willa and Hudson and their journey from being friends to lovers! I really enjoyed watching their relationship grow. Willa is recently widowed and Hudson is divorced. Willa is still grieving the loss of her husband and adjusting to her life without him. I enjoyed reading about how her character changed / developed. I really liked how this book had a dog that brought them together. If you are looking for a cozy romance this is i!

Trope: friends to lovers
Spice: 2/5 🌶️
Noodle: 5/5 🐶

I really enjoyed this read. It was sweet and witty. Plus, I definitely cried a few times but the ending was so cute.

I really enjoyed this! I've read a handful of Cathy Yardley books over the years and I love that she's moved over to writing characters at a slightly later stage in life that are still figuring things out! Willa and Hudson are super cute, I loved the supporting characters, I reckon I want to live on that island, and loving the lack of third act breakup. Just nothing but healthy communication 👏👏👏

I loved this book!! It was fabulous and well done. The characters were on point and I thought the plot was well developed. I would recommend this book to others.

DNF at 41%
I can't keep reading. I tried, I really did.
I never quite liked the book. From the beginning, I noticed it wasn't for me.
I didn't like any of the MCs and even though they had chemistry, it was all too awkward.
I skimmed a bit pass the 41% mark and nothing kept me interested, so I decided to pass.
The writing was ok, I guess.
I just didn't like them, especially the FMC
PS: what is it with Type 1 Diabetes that suddenly it's popping in so many books? And so terribly depicted at that. In this one they made it sound like it was the most gruelling, difficult and horrible disease to live with. As I've said before, cool that more people know about it and get that's it's relevant, but please, don't exaggerate that much

Thank you Montlake for the ARC for my honest review. Do Me a Favor was a sweet, low-stakes read about two people in their 40s. I didn't get a whole lot of swoon from the two MCs, but there was a pretty funny moment involving edibles. I just felt like there was a lot of telling, rather than showing in this book.

the first 5 chapters were rough to get thru- the writing was repetitive and the story was having a lot of plot holes. I pushed thru and I can honestly say I didn't enjoy the characters or how fast the ending was tied up. it only made me realize the "love story" wasn't even a lasting story to call a relationship. wasn't for me. will not be sharing my review to media outlets because I want to give this book a chance with maybe a younger audience.

This was such a cozy and fun read. Fell in love with Willa and Hudson right away. I loved the food science angle, and would love a recipe or two ;)

Given that Yardley’s “Role Playing” was hands down my favorite read of 2023, I had high expectations, and “Do Me a Favor” did not disappoint in the slightest. The fancy restaurant phone call (trying to keep it vague to avoid spoilers!) was SO Bogwitch coded and you can’t tell me otherwise :)

There was a scene (Chapter 16, AKA Willa’s TED Talk), that had me laughing so hard there were tears streaming down my face. There were a bunch of chuckles throughout. Yardley is great with her inner monologue zingers. The level of geeking out Willa and Hudson did about their respective passions was so relatable.

For me, what sets Cathy Yardley’s books apart from other romance novels is the humanity that pours off each and every page. There are so many small touches that she weaves through her stories to give her characters such clearly defined personalities.

I was grateful to receive an ARC from Net Galley to read and review; all opinions are my own!

Thank you so much to NetGalley for this ARC copy!!

Real Rating: 4.25/5 stars

I really enjoyed this book! This is the first book of the year that I can honestly say that I loved and would recommend. I thought the characters were great, I loved the setting, the romance, all of it. I liked that the characters were older (41 and 46) but were still trying to figure out their lives and their relationship. Willa is a 46-year-old widow who is a ghostwriter for a cookbook trying to keep herself afloat after the loss of her husband. Hudson is a 41-year-old single father who is the island's handyman, with dreams of restoring and fixing homes (and a passion for clockmaking).

The critique I have with this book is that I felt like the romance and the ending went way too fast. They didn't know each other very long before they realized they were in love with each other, which is something I'm normally not very fond of. The ending felt too abrupt too, and I would have liked seeing them together a bit more after their "conflict".

In all honestly, I really loved this one and it definitely brought me out of my book slump (hallelujah!). It was a quick read with easy pacing and a solid romance. I might have to check out more from this author!

Small town, single dad, middle aged mcs. This book was really cute. I am a sucker for drama so I wished there were more but overall it was a good book.

The definition of a cozy romance. I kept waiting for tropes and fights to populate, to flatten the book into yet another formulaic rom"com," but it never happens. Just two people falling in love and doing their best for each other.

She’s a widow and he’s a single dad. They’re both firmly in their 40’s and his children are adults. She’s a few years older. I’m not sure how medically accurate the stuff with Willa’s deceased husband is, and truly he didn’t sound like he was a very good husband to her anyway. I didn’t feel like she was really all that sad over him dying, more like dealing with the fallout of having spent 20 years with a selfish man. I liked that Willa and Hudson were supportive of each other and encouraged each other to pursue what they wanted, but I didn’t really like the way the last 15% of the book was handled. They didn’t get together for quite a while, and they never really spent any time on the page together as a couple officially. This is my second Cathy Yardley book, and I will continue to support her work, because I don’t see enough books with characters past 35 (unless it’s a big age gap with a very rich man) that still have a little spice.

ARC REVIEW (thanks NETGALLEY)

Yeah, I’m gonna dnf at 19% oh hey guess what? Apparently I have a trigger after all- it’s poor depictions of type 1 diabetes. Maybe if she had explained it better, that something happened to her husband but the way she depicts Willa’s husband as basically having a death sentence being diabetic was just ridiculous to me. Maybe I’m being naive since my son is Type 1 and has been since he’s 3 years old it wouldn’t bother me so much but Yardley makes it seem like he defective and on borrowed time. She called his body immunocompromised which is a falacy. An auto immune disease does not equate to being immunocompromised. And Willa being a martyr for marrying him, stop. I could be totally wrong in my summary and maybe some other health issues arose for Stephen to have him pass away but I just Can’t read any further, totally bummed too since I love This author and later in life romances.

Overall, I really enjoyed the book! It was lovely to read for once characters that are not in their 20s, and their chemistry was fantastic.

However, I couldn't help but feel that something was missing: the story seemed to progress beautifully, without it being too slow or fast, but then by the end of the book something happens (no spoilers) and you realize that they didn't spend that much time together for their story to abruptly change course.

Anyway, it was a lovely read with fantastic characters, Hudson especially!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

cathy yardleys books never fail to be so adorable! I love that her characters are often older and struggling, it's nice to see romances in that perspective! willa was adorable and I loved that hudson helped her open up but didn't want to change her in the process. hudson was also such a sweet and charming male lead. i love that they both found love in each other. it brought me so much joy to read. thank you to netgalley and montlake for the arc.

Willa and Hudson meet one dark and stormy night. While she is shy and new to the area he offers to help her get her house back in order and introduce her to new people, including his family. Soon, their friendly relationship turns into more. This story was super sweet, and I loved that the main characters were older and the woman was older than the man! There was some spice, not a lot but the story goes from friends to lovers to the characters really stepping up for each other, helping each other to discover what they want in life. Will definitely recommend!

Thanks to NetGalley, Cathy Yardley and Montlake for allowing me to review this ARC!

I HAD SUCH A FUN TIME READING THIS BOOK OMYGOD😭Hudson was such a good character!! I completely fell in love with him and so did i with our heroine. I laughed out loud many times during this book. Reading it felt like being wrapped around in a warm blanket. The story, the character, the romance, had me hooked right off the bat. Can't wait to read other books by this author in the future!!