📚 PUBLICATION WEEK BOOK REVIEW 📚

Happy After All By Maisey Yates
Publication Date: January 1, 2025
Publisher: Montlake | Amazon Publishing

📚MY RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨
(Rounded Up To 5⭐)

📚MY REVIEW:

Happy After All was one of those rom-coms with so much more to its story than just a romance! Because of my own life experiences, this book really resonated with me and touched my heart.

This is the story of Amelia, who uproots her entire life in LA after she literally finds her long-term boyfriend cheating on her. In a spur-of-the-moment decision, she buys an old motel in the desert of California and moves there to start anew. She's settling into her life as a desert motel owner, enjoying her new community of the much-older permanent residents in her motel, when Nate checks into the motel for a month. There's instant chemistry with grumpy Nate, but he makes it clear he's there to work on his latest book - not for any type of interpersonal connections. And of course, the slow burn romance storyline begins.

As the book continues, we learn that Amelia lost a baby not long before she caught her boyfriend cheating (Trigger warning to anyone who might be affected by this part of Amelia's story.) However, as someone who has experienced this loss personally, I can tell you that this topic was handled so genuinely and so heartfelt in this book. Honestly, it made me feel seen and validated my emotional journey since my pregnancy loss in a way no other book has when mentioning this topic. Yates wrote about the loss of a pregnancy in a conversation between a group of women that felt very real and was filled with so much wisdom that it knocked me sideways with an emotional sucker-punch...in the best way. The way this grief was addressed resonated so very much with me, and I just have to say thank you to the author for creating this inclusive and healing storyline in this book.

"Women were supposed to be mothers. I failed at that. It made me feel useless for a long time. I didn't want to feel different, I didn't want to be different...But I am. I'm different, and my life is different than I planned for. Different doesn't make it wrong, or bad, or failed. When I accepted that, I found a lot more peace."

Happy After All is a story about found family, second chances, letting go of grief, acceptance, community, and of course - love [with a side of yummy spiciness]. It's just such a beautiful story with a heart-filling message - I really needed this read in my life. Thank you so much to NetGalley, Montlake, and Amazon Publishing for the advanced copy of this e-book in exchange for my honest review.

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Happy After All is the story of Amelia, a kitschy motel owner and romance novelist starting her life over after loss. A handsome and mysterious writer checks in, and the story goes from there.

The plot holds promise, but the execution falls flat. The attempt to prove that romance novels are superior and should be taken seriously is marred by incomplete sentences and jumbled prose. The dialogue did not flow.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this book in exchange for my honest review.

I really really wanted to like this. I was getting 'Any Trope but You' vibes from the description and loved that one so I was looking forward to getting this one.
I've never had a book spout so much unneeded filler before. It was like Maisey Yates needed to reach a specific word count in the beginning chapters. I fully understand character development, slow burn romance and all that, but this just went on and on about absolutely nothing and by the time it actually started moving in any direction. I was bored.
The only bright side was in the beginning with 'The Golden Girls'.

I hate giving one stars, but I did not enjoy this book. When I started it, I was interested in the narrator’s/ Amelia’s quirky monologues and behaviors, but everything just felt so surface level. The monologues were also scattered throughout and often interrupted dialogue that would get lost in the mess. I was just lost in this one and couldn’t connect.

*An ARC was received for an honest review.

Happy After All is about a romance author who is writing to give herself hope about romance and to help her rebuild her life after a devastating breakup. Books about authors and tropes seems to be becoming a trope in and of itself, though one that I enjoy. I appreciate the insights into the book industry, specifically the romance genre, and the tongue-in-cheek nature of the narration. Happy After All reminded me of the book Thank You for Listening by Julia Whelan in that sense.
Yates writes with humor and emotional depth. The book had many positives:
1) that Amelia’s life isn’t just about romance, so we find out about her community
2) The relationship between the two protagonists isn’t a “whirlwind” and doesn’t take place over just, say, a week or something unrealistic
3) The format of using romance trope definitions at the start of some chapters like some authors use quotations
4) It was well-written and well-paced

However, this book was not for me. I stopped reading at about the 50% mark because of the open-door sex scene. While I’d love to know how it ended, I didn’t want to read so many details about the sex part of their relationship and her sex-related thoughts. I also felt like it wasn’t realistic in some of the same ways the author was poking fun at the genre - the impossibly handsome guy, the world-altering sex the first time they get together, and the Hallmark-y part relating to her ex.

If you enjoy books with open-door sex, then you’ll likely enjoy this one. If you don't, pass on this one.

Amelia is a former scriptwriter and current romance author, and the new owner of the Pink Flamingo Hotel (home to a large number of elderly, long-term residents). She is estranged from her distant parents, and is reinventing herself in the California desert after leaving Los Angeles. Nathan is a distractingly handsome and standoffish hotel guest at the Pink Flamingo, he is stoic and tries to keep to himself despite the other residents' best efforts. Both are hiding pain and past secrets, but are reluctantly drawn to one another. (I get a Crusie/Mayer vibe from these two, albeit with softened edges.) I liked it, I thought this was going to be a quicker read but it was a more complex story than I expected. The book is written in a singular 1st-person POV from Amelia's perspective, which limits our ability to fully see Nathan's viewpoint. The story was written well but was a little dense and overall a little lighter on the dialogue for my liking. Sometimes it felt like two different books: one a little lighter and rom-commy, and the other a more somber literary fiction story. But I think that's reflective of Amelia's personal journey, so it works. Nathan sometimes felt like a secondary character, but I think that ties into this being Amelia's story as she's truly the main character here. There were points in the book that I wasn't sure how much I actually liked Nathan, as his moodiness without explanation was initially a significant issue between himself and Amelia (and it was a bit much for me too). That said, it was definitely representative of his mindset at various points, and as his backstory unfolded I eventually warmed up to him and found him to be more sympathetic.

There are deeper themes of sadness and grief (don't let the cheerful cover fool you, and definitely pay attention to content warnings), but there's a sweetness there too along with some humor. It's actually a nice change of pace to read a romance where so little is easy for the main characters, and it was rewarding to watch Nathan and Amelia open up to one another. It always feels a little meta when a main character is a writer, but the author weaves this very well into Amelia's identity and observations on life. The trope chapter headings were a nice touch and acted as guideposts for upcoming events in the story. There is a great cast of supporting characters, and the writing is both witty and thoughtful. If you're a fan of slow-burn, open-door romances with deeper themes and touches of humor, then this is the book for you!

Thank you to NetGalley and Montlake Romance for an ARC of this story, this was my objective review.

Tediously slow pacing, a whiney MFC, and ten pages of monologues for a two-minute conversation made this book a chore to read. This book was very well padded, I think it would have been a better read if it had been a novella.

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this ARC in return for my honest review.

I received an arc from NetGalley and this is my honest opinion.

This book was a little hard for me to get into at first but the last quarter reeled me in. Nathan and Amelia both had tragic and emotional pasts but Amelia’s sunshiny personality came through and won Nathan.

Lots of heartache and tough subjects in this book but one that had a nice ending.
3.5 stars

Lo sentí muy forzado y artificial, sobre todo en la primera mitad. La segunda parte me pareció un poco más amena, pero no lo suficiente como para quitarme la sensación de que Nathan parecía un robot, de que Amelia había pasado por muchas cosas y parecía estar escondiéndose, en negación, ya que, en lugar de enfrentar sus problemas, inventó una atracción entre ella y Nathan. Cada una de sus interacciones me resultó extraña, y cuando ella decía que se notaba que él también se sentía atraído, no podía verlo. Solo lo creí cuando finalmente se acostaron. En la última parte, sí se logró ver un avance en Amelia, pero no dejé de sentir que se trataba de la típica idea de que "el amor lo cura todo".


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

Amelia is a romance author who ran away from her life in LA and then buys a motel in a small town called Rancho Encanto. Her life is going great until Nathan checks in to her motel. There is an instant electricity between Amelia and this handsome, grumpy and broken man who stays in room 32 for the summer. As a tentative friendship grows into a deeper connection, Amelia and Nathan both realize that facing each other’s painful secrets takes courage. Do they dare take the risk and hope it ends happily after all? Maisey Yates delivers a deeply emotional and beautifully crafted story in "Happy After All". "Happy After All" is more than just a love story; it’s a tender exploration of grief, healing, the courage it takes to open your heart again after loss, rediscovering hope with a sensitivity and depth that leaves a lasting impression. Yates delivers a poignant narrative that feels both deeply personal and universally relatable. Amelia and Nathan's journey is the soul of this book. Both scarred by their pasts, they grapple with the weight of their losses while learning to trust and love again. Yates paints their struggles with raw honesty, making their eventual steps toward hope feel earned and genuine. Their story reminds us that grief doesn’t have a timeline and that healing is messy but possible when we allow ourselves to connect with others. It also shows that healing is not linear and that allowing oneself to hope again takes immense strength.
What I loved most was how the author infused hope into every page. Even in the moments of deepest sorrow, there’s a quiet undercurrent of resilience—a reminder that life, even after unimaginable pain, can still hold beauty and joy. The emotional depth of the characters made me root for them, not just as a couple but as individuals trying to rebuild their lives. One of the book’s greatest strengths is its portrayal of love—not just romantic love, but self-love and the love we find in unexpected places. It reminds us that hope is not the absence of pain but the belief that joy is still possible despite it.
If you’re looking for a book that will touch your heart and leave you reflecting on the power of love and second chances, "Happy After All" is a must-read. It’s perfect for fans of emotional, character-driven romances that linger with you long after the last page. It will remind you of the power of love—not as a cure-all, but as a guiding light through life’s darkest moments.

This was so fun to start the year with this. Easily a 5 stars read. So well written, the plot and tension between the caracters was to die for!

This book left me in a constant state of feeling fulfilled in the way only a great read can whilst causing serious emotional turmoil. First book that’s really brought me to tears but I was smiling at the same time, take from that what you will.
Really well written, particularly the dialogue between the MCs which was at time painfully accurate to real life which made it hard to read whilst I also couldn’t put the book down and read it cover to cover in one sitting.
I’ll be looking for books by this author again!

Happy After All by M. Yates, published by Montlake, is a witty and fun rom/com. Excellent written beautifully tol with quirky characters that had me laughing out loud at some point. Amelia and Nathan's story is a wionderful red, 4,5 stars.
Blurb: A city girl leaves her life behind in LA to start over in a small town…
It’s a cliché, but it’s also Amelia Taylor’s life. And her new life as a romance novelist and motelier is going great—until Nathan Hart checks in.
Of course he’s disastrously handsome, thoroughly disagreeable, and seems to be set against Amelia on sight. Of course there’s smoldering tension between them that can’t be ignored. They’d make the perfect enemies to lovers story. It’s one of Amelia’s favorite tropes.
But the man in room 32 seems genuinely broken, and it’s going to take more than romance tropes and wishful thinking to get past his wounds. As a tentative friendship grows into a deeper connection, Amelia and Nathan both realize that facing each other’s painful secrets takes courage. Do they dare take the risk and hope it ends happily after all?