Contemporary romance is a genre I usually find cliched and tacky and, therefore, I very rarely seek out. Tess Woods’ Beautiful Messy Love was recommended to me, however, so I decided to give it a go. I’m glad I did. Yes, this is a contemporary romance done right.

One of my biggest beefs with some contemporary romance books is that writers think they’re offering us something fresh and modern just by adding a couple of modern references. A stray mention of a twitter feed or someone talking about online dating in passing is all it seems to take for some writers to think they’re hipster novelists. I imagine some have a list of what’s hot at the time which they tick off as they write! In Beautiful Messy Love, however, Woods uses modern references and topical political subjects to actually add to the plot and characterisation. Social media, terrorism, fear of Muslims, asylum seekers, Australia’s off-shore detention centres - they’re all integrated into the plot seamlessly.

The book, set in Western Australia, centres on two couples, Nick and Anna, and Lily and Toby.

Nick is a famous AFL player who meets Anna, a young Muslim Egyptian who has been granted asylum by Australia. Nick’s whole life is in the spotlight. Not only do reporters follow his every move, everyone with a mobile phone tries to catch him in a compromising position for their 15 minutes of fame. Meeting Anna means he buries his penchant for womanising and hard drinking but he soon learns the fickle Australian public would find this preferable to dating a Muslim and fighting for human rights. Anna has her own issues even without Nick coming into her life. The two most pressing being that her mother is suffering from debilitating depression and that she’s adopted/fostered a young boy with cancer.

Meanwhile, Nick’s sister, Lily, is struggling to find motivation to complete her four year medical degree when her boyfriend dumps her to work overseas. Whilst doing some training at the hospital she meets Toby and they fall instantly in love. Sounds simple enough but Toby just happens to be at the hospital because his wife is in the oncology ward with terminal cancer.

If you’re looking for a book that represents how Aussies really think, talk and act, this is the book for you. The dialogue and slang are spot on. Woods’s Egyptian background means Anna and her hilarious relatives are also most likely accurately portrayed. (I enjoyed all the supporting characters. Toby’s brother, John, especially was so real it hurt.)

Although I enjoyed both couples’ storylines, I was more drawn to Lily than the other characters and I flew through the book eager to know how Woods would sort everything out. I don’t really want to reveal anything about the ending but I will just send a shout out to Woods to hurry along with the third book in the series.

Yes, sadly, I didn’t realise Beautiful Messy Love is actually a sequel to Love at First Sight which had Nick and Lily’s mother, Mel, as the lead character and I guess I know how that novel must end given everything that is happening with Mel in this outing. I’ll still read Love at First Sight though.

I also must mention the publisher’s saying Beautiful Messy Love in the vein of Nicolas Sparks in their marketing. What an insult! (Yes, I do hate Sparks and his banal books.) I will admit though there was a few times I needed a tissue.

4 and ½ out of 5

*Thanks to Net-Galley and Harper Collins for my copy.

I liked each of the characters in this story. I could not have predicted the way the story eventuated, as it was an up and down read with many surprise moments. A lot of emotional baggage and turmoil portrayed in the read, as well as some uplifting moments. A story that was emotionally affecting and emotionally turbulent throughout. A very aptly titled novel.
Review copy received from HarperCollins Publishers Australia

Beautiful Messy Love is a light romantic tale from the author of Love at First Flight.

In Love at First Flight, Woods had two narrators and now in Beautiful Messy Love, there are four narrators whose narratives intersect. Two characters from Love at First Flight appear in Beautiful Messy Love (the children of Mel; Lily and Nick). I enjoyed this connection between the two books – I like it when authors have characters from other series or books show up and you are able to see them from a different perspective). Along with Lily and Nick, we have Anna (or Anwar) and Toby.

Lily is a medical student unsure of her decision to become a doctor, but sure of her relationship with Ben; that is, until he tells her he is moving to Nairobi to do humanitarian work. Instead of asking her to wait for him to come back (or proposing, as Lily had imagined was his intention), she must read between the lines that his missionary work means an end to their four year relationship. Devastated, she tries to hold it together at the hospital where she is doing her placement but finds herself blubbering to a stranger in the hospital cafe, Toby. Enigmatic and gorgeous, Toby strikes Lily’s interest and her crush is at first a helpful tonic to ease the pain of her breakup. But Toby comes with baggage and even if they are attracted to one another, Lily must decide whether he is capable of the type of love she wants and needs.

Anna is an Egyptian refugee who has her sights set on becoming a human rights lawyer. Nursing a mentally ill mother and a fellow refugee – a child who is battling cancer – romance is not in her plans until she meets Nick, who, unbeknownst to her, is a famous AFL player. Although she is initially hesitant, Anna gives lovestruck Nick the benefit of the doubt and decides to date him. But dating someone in the public eye brings its own challenges, and Anna already has enough personal demons to deal with. Will their love be strong enough to stand up to public scrutiny or will they both lose all that matters to them?

Beautiful Messy Love is a comic, entertaining, and light romantic drama that will keep you flicking through the pages. Although I preferred Love at First Flight, I feel that lovers of romance will quickly take to this second novel which, like Wood’s debut, charts the difficulties of love.

Rating: 7/10

I wasn’t sure if I was going to enjoy this book. I don’t read a lot of romance and when I do it’s because it has a good strong storyline, great characters and is not too mushy! Fortunately, this book ticked all those boxes splendidly and I raced through it.

The book is based on four young people, all trying to work out what they want to do with their lives. Nick, a professional football player who plays fast and loose with the girls but is suffering from injuries that may affect his career. Anna, a refugee from a mixed Egyptian Muslim-Christian family forced to seek asylum in Australia with her mother, a political activist, after her sister and father were killed by religious extremists in Egypt. Lily, a medical student recently dumped after a long term relationship, who is having doubts about becoming a doctor and Toby, running the building company his dad has worked hard to build up, but dreaming of being a photographer.

Love between the two couples that form out of this group of four does indeed seem beautiful and simple in the beginning but soon becomes complicated and messy and some will feel the need to back away so others don’t get hurt. Their lives also become complicated by the expectations of their families and the world. The intrusion of the media into the private lives of celebrities and the politics of Australia’s treatment of asylum seekers, particularly children held in detention are just two themes explored in the novel through the stories of the characters. The characters are all really well developed with interesting and complex personalities. Tess Woods has a strong understanding of the passions and difficulties of young love and relationships and her writing makes for compelling reading.

This is the first book that I have read by Tess Woods and I loved it. It is a cleverly written, well presented story of imperfect love between flawed characters. Everyone in this story has felt tragedy and is completely and utterly unsure of themselves, just the way most people are. It's an easy read, but one that will make you feel everything these characters go through.

I said it's cleverly written and I do mean it. When characters show their religious or political beliefs, it never feels too preachy or that you are being lectured to. There were a couple of moments in the third part of the story that I was afraid it might become sugary sweet, but then the story hits you with a twist that stings your heart.

This book is receiving great acclaim and I can see why. Divided into three parts, with alternating character chapters, you are provided with great insight into each of the four main leads and how their lives are entwined. With everything from an AFL (Australian Rules Football) Grand Final to asylum seekers - this book truly has it all.

At its heart this is a book that puts a microscope on contemporary Australian living with its honest portrayal of not only multiculturalism, but also drawing attention to the ugly side of social media. Tess Woods gives honest accounts on diversity, prejudice and religion - so very topical and handled so well. Her serious exploration of contemporary issues are not only wide ranging, but heartfelt and compassionate. Woods shines the light on everything from the plight of asylum seekers, privacy issues in this digital ‘tell all’ age, cross cultural relationships, religious bigotry and the debilitation of depression on all those who come in contact with it.

‘This is the worst situation ever.’
‘It is,’ I agreed.
‘I don’t know how we can make this work. It’s too messy.’
‘I don’t know either, but I know that I really want to try.’

Yes, this is also a tale of two love stories, but Woods definitely strikes a balance between that and the social spotlight investigation. In keeping with the social realist approach, the love here is real with its ‘warts and all’ approach covering not only the joy and passion, but also the loss and heartache. The array of supporting characters, the detail provided to their stories, is also demonstrative of how each has a role to play, adding real depth and support to each of the many themes.

The title could not be more apt - this is a book where the central theme is about finding your way in life, navigating as best you can because it’s not always smooth - it’s messy! Complex! But also, it can be very beautiful!

‘Let me tell you something important –it is better to be a fool who experiences happiness than a genius who misses out.’

This is a powerful and thought provoking book with its contemporary focus on the messiness of life and having strength of character to stay the course, grow and develop despite what others may claim. It’s beautiful, it’s messy, it’s love.

The love I had for the people who surrounded me and the way I loved those I had lost was messy –it was complicated, difficult and sometimes unbearably painful. But that didn’t make it any less beautiful.

‘Beautiful Messy Love’ is the second Women’s Fiction/Romance book from Australian author, Tess Woods.

Full disclosure: Tess is an author with the Literary Agency I work for, Jacinta di Mase. My review though, is in no way impacted by my connection to Tess (really, if I don’t like a book these days, I just don’t write about it). But I will say – I loved ‘Beautiful Messy Love’ so much, I texted Jacinta late one night, asking when Tess would have a third book out – so that’s just a little bonus to the connection!

‘Beautiful Messy Love’ is the story of two whirlwind romances that start in the most unlikely of ways, and meet their fair share of hurdles along the way. One concerns an AFL-footballer with a reputation, deciding to turn his life around right when he meets a beautiful Egyptian refugee who he falls hard and fast for. The second concerns a young medical student starting a risky romance with the estranged husband of a patient she meets during her oncology-ward rounds.

The novel is written in alternative-POV chapters from each of the four players – as we get to know all the baggage that each person brings to their new relationship, and the outside complications that threaten them all. Everything from media scrutiny to xenophobia, past-trauma and heartbreak are detailed and examined with lovely tenderness and cutting observation.

I absolutely adored this book, and gobbled it up in two days. I was actually surprised that I connected so viscerally with both couples and their stories – especially because one romance, between med-student Lily and the very tricky coupling with a grieving ex-husband Toby, sounds absolutely shocking in theory … but on the page, Woods teased this couple out with so much heat and sensuality, it was hard not to fall for them and root for them, even as all their biggest problems and obstacles were still painfully obvious.

The stand-out in this book though, is the romance between footballer Nick Harding and young refugee woman Anwar ‘Anna’. Tess Woods has written such a beautifully complex romance between them – that I also appreciated for how thoroughly Australian it is, and the bigger discussions it allowed Woods to have.

Anna has an awfully painful story of how and why she sought refuge in Australia, and coupled with the combustible media-landscape for AFL celebrities – Woods was really able to peel back a rather ugly underbelly to Australian society, media and politics that made for higher stakes in this romance, coupled with really thoughtful discussion about much bigger issues. There’s no lecture here, just a very human story that was all too believable and heartbreaking.

The book does end on a sense of … open-endedness for some that left me just a little sad to not know for sure that everyone got a happy ending. But that also felt very true, and anything neater than what we got would have felt rather disingenuous and perhaps too sickly-sweet? So I almost appreciated the sour with the sweet. But not so much that I won’t be hoping that some of these character pop up in another book – or short story/novella?

I’ve been in such a reading-slump this year, purely because I’m doing so much manuscript reading and assessing that my recreational-reading has felt a little clogged … but now I’m well and truly back in a reading rhythm, and thanks in large party to the addictiveness of ‘Beautiful Messy Love’. It’s romance that packs a punch, tender and thoughtful with a fantastic hot-streak. Tess Woods has now leapt to my auto-buy list, and I cannot wait to read more from her!

You know when you pick up a book that is truly epic and life changing, and you just want to put everything on hold to finish it? Ignore the family, call in sick to work, just refuse to budge until you have absorbed every last page?

Beautiful Messy Love is one of those books.

I was lucky enough to get a copy from NetGalley in exchange for a review. But you know what's? I love it so much I'm going to go out and buy a copy to give to my mum and everyone I know who reads. It's just the darned good.

Lily. Toby. Anna. Nick.
A med student. A builder. An Egyptian refugee. A professional footballer.
4 people who have a chance encounter with each other than leads to love, friendships, heartbreak.

All 4 characters were so well rounded. Even the side characters had depth. They were people I actually came to care about, I wanted things to work out and them get their happily ever after.

Seriously, just read this book. You won't regret it.

*I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

Another fabulous novel by Tess Woods. This book picks up where her first book - Love at first flight basically ended, and continues the story about Mel's children Lily and Nick. Nick is now a top AFL player in WA and Lily is a med. student. They both meet people who turn their lives around - Anna who is caring for her mother and a young refugee boy, and Toby who has recently lost his wife through cancer, what transpires definitely matches the title - Beautiful Messy Love.

This book covers grief, asylum seekers, love, lust, cultural changes and many other aspects of life. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys Life-lit or women's fiction. Tess has an amazing ability to draw you into her stories and writes with a lot of compassion and understanding. The bad thing is I have to now wait another year to read her next book.

Thank you to Net Galley and Harper Collins for providing me with an ARC of this book to read and review.

I've heard a lot of positive things about Tess Woods' first novel 'Love At First Flight', so when I saw she had a second one, I was interested to see what all the fuss was about. I can happily say that she didn't disappoint in my expectations.

There seems to be six degrees of separation between the main characters. Lily, a fifth year student doctor, who is second guessing her choice of career and being unceremoniously dumped by long term boyfriend Ben, as he wants to build mud brick houses in Africa. Her brother Nick Harding, bad boy from the AFL team The Western Rangers, who after another night of drinking and a girl he doesn't want to see again, meets Anwar, or Anna as she also calls herself and falls hard for her on the very day he decides to change his life. Anna is an Egyptian refugee working hard in two jobs and struggling to cope with her mothers depressive illness. And then there is Toby, who begins a passionate relationship with Lily, just after his wife dies from cancer.

I loved how all these characters are so intertwined, without them initially knowing, it shows that the world is so small. They drew me in from the first pages, their stories so real that I was enveloped in their lives. Family and family loyalty, beliefs and the empowerment to change yourself are the themes of this novel and I found them very powerful.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy to read and review.

Once again Tess has blown me away with her second novel. I have literally spent the whole day reading this story, this rollercoaster of a story that follows the lives of four young people as well as their families. The characters were so real and so well written that I could identify with them all. I'm often angered and saddened by the way refugees are treated in this country, and reading about the character of Anna, her experiences and her fight for better treatment and outcomes for all the refuge children out there made me wish I could do something more to help. This was a story of love and all the many messy aspects that love in its many forms can take. A story of dreams and of growing up and finding out who you are. I highly recommend Beautiful Messy Love.

Thanks to Netgalley and HarperCollins Australia for this copy

3.5 stars
My comfort zone and guilty pleasure genre is Women's fiction, especially those with realistic, likeable characters and more than a hint of romance.      Beautiful Messy Love had four main characters Lily, Toby, Nick and Anna, two love stories and a handful of interesting side characters.    So far so good.    From the beginning I was captivated by the characters and yes they were realistic and likeable.   As an added bonus their story was set in Australia and it felt familiar.   Ultimately it was a story about these four uncovering their true desires and making changes in their lives to fulfill their dreams.    As in real life, nothing was plain sailing and they each encountered obstacles, some self imposed, others completely out of their control.   

Nick, a high profile AFL star, has a bad boy reputation for a reason and he's decided to make a change for the better.    He meets and falls hard for Anna a young Muslim girl who is unaware of his fame.    Anna is completely unlike his normal type but she makes him want to change his ways.     Meanwhile Nick is completely oblivious to Anna's traumatic and very high profile family history.    Anna and her mother Leila, a fomer political leader in Egypt,  have made their lives as refugees in Australia after a suicide bomber took the lives of their family.       Anna and Nick's relationship brings out the worst in some fans as religious discrimination, racism, social media bullying, inaccurate media reporting and various other obstacles stand between their happiness.    Meanwhile, Anna's mother is unsuccessfully battling her depression.   Theirs was a story I loved and wanted more of.

Lily is a 5th year medicine student plodding along after the breakdown of a four year relationship.  Toby spends his days in the hospital supporting his wife Jen who is dying of cancer.   When  they meet in the hospital there's an instant attraction between them.    Though it feels like fate and they quickly fall in love, the timing is wrong.   Neither Lily nor Toby are being true to their hearts desires and change is afoot.   Their story was less dramatic yet I was equally invested in wanting things to work out for them. 

Writing this review has clarified my thoughts and though I liked this book alot I wanted to love it so much more than I did.    Though there were some important and highly thought provoking topics covered,  the sheer number of huge obstacles being introduced felt overwhelming at times.   Instead of being more emotionally involved I somehow felt myself pulling back.   That was purely my response and may not be so for other readers and would recommend to anyone who likes a good love story. 

Thanks to Tess Woods the author, HarperCollins Publishers Australia and NetGalley for the free digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.