I loved this book! I received an ARC from Harlequin Trade Publishing via NetGalley… and I am so happy I had been approved to read this one.
Emma is a recovering alcoholic at her 1 year sober mark trying to navigate life as sober Emma/work Emma. We are taken along on her journey of getting through day by day of working and dating as well as dealing with her distant relationship with her father and her mother moving in with her new boyfriend. There is a lot going on, but it all felt so relatable even though I have parents who have been married for 61 years, been married since I was 25, and have never had a drinking problem. I was rooting for Emma in all her relationships… dating Ben the IT guy at work, making peace with her ailing father, making friends with Vanessa her cubicle mate, checking in with Lola her sponsor, and accepting her mom’s new relationship. I felt like Emma was someone I wanted to be friends with and wanted the best for her. And BEN, swoon - so sweet, nice, understanding, and hot! This book was at times intense, uplifting, inspiring, and sad… giving me all the feels! I highly recommend!

Wonderful contemporary novel in the book club fiction genre, a twenty something New York woman hits her 1 year of sobriety in AA and this book is about Emma figuring out how to navigate life and dating sober. Although I am much older than the main character, I found this to be an enjoyable and moving read.

Emma celebrates her one year mark with her AA friends and stays anonymous at work. In AA, it is generally recommended that you do not start dating within your first year. There is a lot of work, meetings, step work with your sponsor, and a lot of change involved in the first year. There are also a lot of celebrations, you get a month medallion every month. The one year coin is nicer, but then it occurs to you how differently life can be. You aren't as busy in AA, there aren't as many calls to your sponsor, and you don't get celebrated every month. This book is about that transition into long term sobriety for a young person.

Along the way we also have a MBA bro villain, a love interest, reconnecting with Emma's parents, grief and loss, and typical office malaise. It is a deep and meaningful book, if you are looking for a lighthearted rom com, this isn't it. The way that the book portrays meetings, sponsorship, step work, and AA "culture" is incredibly accurate and valuable. I love that it doesn't paint an overly rosy picture or suggest that once we get sober, everything is A-ok. We are never fixed. I am 13 years sober in Alcoholics Anonymous so I can attest to the transparency and validity. Emma's story isn't everyone's story, but the book does a really good job of highlighting that.

There are many sober and sober-curious "quit lit" memoirs, which I loathe, and a few fiction books that are well done about early recovery and very very long term recovery. This is in the middle, a story that is not often told.

Thanks to @netgalley and @harlequinbooks for the ARC. Book to be published December 31, 2024.

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A super relatable & well written story about addiction & recovery. The emotions in this story felt so relatable and real- it was hard to feel so connected with it on such deep & tough topics but also so well done that I couldn’t stop reading.

Definitely a book I was given that took me by surprise in a good way & that I feel better having read. Worth the read & recommendation 100%!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity read this amazingly well written story.❤️

What an emotional ride this was. A very strong debut with a fresh perspective. Emma is newly sober and trying to figure out where her life goes next. Her journey is heartfelt, real and inspiring all at once. I didn't want this to end.

I love Emma. It's not often I fall in love with a character but I loved her. There was just something about her that I found to be relatable. Ava RObinson does an excellent job of tackling hard topics in an easier way. This book will be a reread for me.

Just meh for me. Too drama laced for me. At time overwrought and overwritten. It is, though, a light fast read.

Ava Robison's debut novel is a powerful and emotional read—heartbreaking, yet beautifully written. I didn’t know what to expect when I picked it up. At first I was initially drawn to it because of the beautiful cover and the intriguing synopsis on NetGalley. What caught me off guard, though, was the depth of emotion and heaviness in the story. As a mood reader, I had to DNF it for a while, not feeling ready to fully engage with its heavy themes. But once I was in the right headspace, I appreciated its depth even more.

The book tackles complex issues like addiction, grief, and broken relationships e.t.c. . Robison's portrayal of addiction, in particular, is sensitive and well-researched, offering readers a thoughtful perspective. Without giving away too much of the plot, the story revolves around Emma, a woman trying to navigate life after a year of sobriety. She’s a deeply relatable character—at times, you find yourself sympathizing with her, and at other moments, you may see pieces of yourself in her struggles. While there is a romantic subplot, it doesn’t overshadow the more profound, emotional journey that lies at the heart of the book.


The reason I didn't give this book a five stars is that the beginning felt a bit slow, making it harder for me to get into the story at first. However, once it picked up, it turned out to be a fantastic read that I definitely recommend. I'm excited to see what Ava Robison writes next and look forward to reading more of her books in the future

Thank you to netgalley and Harlequin Trade publishing for the Arc . This Arc was provided in exchange for my honest review

Loved the writing style of this book! Emma was very like able and relatable. Great banter and an overall sweet despite some heavy topics. Loved the themes of sobriety and recovery. and would recommend!

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this lovely book. What an amazing debut! I enjoyed every second of this heartfelt story. Following Emma on her journey post-alcohol was a pleasure and felt so very realistic. This book is about so much more than recovery.

I think Emma is one of my favorite main characters of all time, and sweet, sweet Ben is just the best!

Looking forward to more from this author!

Witty, funny, smart all at once. This book is incredible in all the best ways. It’s the right amount of fun coupled with a sense of realism.

Ava Robinson's Definitely Feeling Better Now is a charming and relatable debut novel that follows Emma, a young woman navigating the challenges of sobriety in her twenties. With a blend of wit, heart, and humor, Robinson paints a vivid picture of Emma's journey as she grapples with family drama, romantic entanglements, and the complexities of starting over.

What I Loved:

Relatable Protagonist: Emma is a character who feels genuinely authentic. Her struggles with addiction and her attempts to rebuild her life are both relatable and inspiring.
Witty Dialogue: Robinson's writing is filled with sharp wit and humor that keeps the story light and engaging, even during the more difficult moments.
Compelling Characters: The supporting cast, including Emma's family and friends, are well-developed and add depth to the narrative.
Exploration of Sobriety: The novel offers a honest and insightful look at the challenges and triumphs of sobriety, without shying away from the darker aspects of addiction.
While the book does have its moments of heartbreak, it's ultimately a hopeful and uplifting story about resilience and finding one's way. Definitely Feeling Better Now is a must-read for anyone looking for a heartwarming and relatable tale of personal growth.

I really wanted to like this book but it was so hard for me to get into. It wasn't even that I couldn't relate to Emma, the main character, because I can... I have a rocky relationship with an alcoholic parent... but I guess that's it. I can appreciate this subject, made me feel seen. Honestly, I would like more books about/around this. Even though I wanted to love this book, the writing was so slow and boring. Sometimes there would be an overwhelming amount of details and others it was sparse.
I love the cover and it led me to believe this was going to be a romance but that's ok, that might've helped keep my attention more if it was but...
Anyways, Definitely Better Now is about twenty-something year old, Emma, she's a recovering alcoholic. She keeps her personal life close to her chest and has a "fake" persona at work. She has a rocky relationship with her father who is/was also an alcoholic. She has recently celebrated her one-year of sobriety and is opening herself up to life more and figuring out who she truly is without feeling like she's walking on eggshells. She's entering the dating pool, open to having coworkers be more than that; they're becoming friends, etc.
I love the idea of this book and think with better pacing and maybe more romance, this could've been up there for me.
I know the author probably wanted this book to be deeper than a romance but it made it feel mundane without any real development. I felt like even by the end of the book Emma still wasn't happy with her life, therefore I didn't feel complete or pleased with the end either. Others may read the book and disagree with me, but nothing felt truly resolved.
Overall, I'm happy I read it.
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Thank you, NetGalley, the author and the publisher for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is my very first NetGalley ARC! I was so excited when I got approved but it took me forever to actually pick up. Once I did, it took me a bit to get into. I felt like it took me a while to connect with the main character. BUT towards the middle/end I really started to enjoy it. I really loved how she got more insight into her father’s life towards the ending, I think that’s what gave her the ultimate motivation to stay sober. 3.5 ⭐️!

If you are a fan of shows like Mom, then you’ll wanna pick this book up. The banter between characters was great and I really enjoyed the development throughout the novel.

Loved the MC so much, found her so relatable and likable through out everything. She’s felt so fully formed too, like you understood he struggles and rooted for her the whole time. Sprinkle in some romance too just made it even more fun to read, even though this book is so deeply emotional! So to me it was perfection! One of my top reads of the year!

I really loved this book. So often you see the "epiphany" stories, where someone hits bottom and it's about their decision to better themselves, but that doesn't always include the "after." It was so refreshing to see someone work through the rest of their lives and realize that maybe fixing this one thing wouldn't actually fix everything else. I thought it was a beautiful story. At one point the MC comments that everyone has a moment where they realize their parents are just people, but she's always known. I think sometimes we forget that other people are people, too.

I have noticed one trend in books recently that I don't love, and it's an abrupt ending. We're getting somewhere, things are being resolved, and then it just... ends. I love an epilogue as much as the next person, but I think we might be relying on them too much to actually wrap up the story. Anyway, that's my only problem with this book and other people may not agree, so definitely read it.

I enjoyed this book. I enjoyed the character development of Emma and how the book was set up. This book was heavy with real world issues of fighting and breaking the cycle of sobriety. It was written like it actually happened to her because honestly most of this book I could see happening to a person and wouldn’t bat an eye. It was so raw to read how someone could be bettering themselves but not even full be what they believe themselves to be. A very good read overall.

This story follows Emma who is one year sober while also navigating her family, work, and her romantic life as someone newly sober (which comes with a whole new set of challenges). I enjoyed that this book featured real struggles even though they are struggles I do not deal with myself and the romance plot was not the main focus. This book has a little bit of everything and although it was a bit of a slow start, once I got going it flew by! This book was so interesting and authentic and I found myself so attached to Emma by the end of the story. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Emma is officially one year sober, ready to start a new, fresh life. She considers finding love, and even reluctantly agrees to join her office’s committee for party planning. But she eventually finds that life’s disasters won’t disappear once sober. When her estranged father returns with devastating news and her mother moves out to live with a new boyfriend, Emma must learn how to navigate her imperfect sober life. Ben, the cute IT guy, just may be the silver lining during an otherwise chaotic time.
.This book was also much more emotional than I anticipated—I went in thinking it was going to be a fluffy/smutty rom-com, and instead was met with a story about grief and sobriety. It was a pleasant surprise, but I did find myself needing to take my time with this one! The beginning moved a little slowly, but the last quarter of the book really made it up for me. I don’t want to give away too much before this book releases in December, but you will need to have your tissues ready!

As the child of an addict, this fictionalized story really spoke to me about the pains of generational addictions and the nuances of self-improvement amidst turmoil. The plot did a stunning job of showing how you can take responsibility for your own life despite the choices of those around you. Went in expecting a quirky contemporary romance, left with a new perspective. 5/5

Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing for this ARC.