This is a heartrending story of a ten year old boy trying to find his father who walked out 10 years ago. The story is told from 3 viewpoints - the boy, his mother and his grandfather. They are all troubled and are holding their own secrets. Although there is plenty of tragedy in the story, the young boy's beautiful naivety bring hope and redemption.

Ten-year-old Zac is about to launch his “Find Dad Mission.” Although they’ve never met, Zac just knows his Dad will want to meet him; and come to his 11th birthday party in May. That’s the plan anyway.
He’s had very few clues about his Dad from his Mom, Juliet and his Grandpa and Nan (Mick & Lynda). He knows his Uncle Jamie died very soon after he was born, and at young age. His Dad, Liam left them right after that. After ten years his Mom still cries about it and his Grandparents don’t seem to like Liam very much. Zac is so confused, but no one will tell him anything. Luckily his best friend, Teagan who lives near him, makes him laugh so he feels less anxious being around her.
Katy Regan, a popular UK author, has written a captivating family drama with US debut novel, "Little Big Love." Told from three POVs: Zac, Juliet and Mick. Zac is curious and intelligent and forever asking questions; trying to piece together the mystery of his father leaving them. Juliet’s dialogue is witty and sad simultaneously, as she can’t figure out the reason as well. She’s totally loves her “perfect son” but still pines for Liam, the love of her life. She does know that he left the same night her 18-yr. old brother Jamie, drunkenly fell or jumped off a bridge but doesn’t know if Liam had anything to do with it.
Her parents, Mick and Nan are good people and help her with Zac, but they won’t talk about the incident with Jamie because it’s so painful. Mick was a rough, seafaring fisherman for 25 years, but now in his 60’s, sober and content to be with family and his beloved grandson.
As Zac continues his quest with Teagan’s help, the eventual climax of his mission will bring truth, pain and joy. It’s a long road ahead, but it’s worth the trip especially if you have Zac by your side.
Please read this family story, for everyone grows a little, with love.

Thank you NetGalley, Penguin, Random House, and Katy Regan.

Zac wants to make his mother happy. There's only one way to make mom happy and that will make his grandparents unhappy. What should he do?

Berkley and Net Galley allowed me to read this book for review (thank you). It will be published on June on June 12th.

Zac finds his mother's love and finds he loves him, too. But he also finds out why his mother's brother died that night and how much his mother loves and how sometimes a small love can be very big.

When the whole truth comes out, who is going to be left standing? Who will love whom? Will there be a family any more? For Zac there will.

Loved this book. Didn’t want it to end. Highly recommend.

Love love love. Incredible book. Fabulous book club pick too

This is a truly heartwarming story about a little boy who sets out on a mission to find the father that abandoned him. The characters are all charming (even in their imperfections), and the setting in an English fishing town is perfect. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because I felt like there was a twist promised that didn't really pan out. No big surprises with the plot, but sometimes it's nice to read something that's a little predictable.

Writing: 4 Plot: 4 Characters: 4.5

A big story — simultaneously heartbreaking and heartwarming — about a family that fell apart after a tragedy that occurred ten years in the past and the young boy who now desperately wants to know his missing father. Part coming-of-age for 10-year old Zac and part coming-to-terms-with-the-past for Juliet (his mother) and Mick (his grandfather), the story alternates between their three voices.

Zac is a wonderful kid - sweet, funny, and with a great capacity for love. He is also overweight and subject to a lot of bullying. He traipses around the Harlequin Estates in Grimsby (Southeast of York) working on his Find Dad Mission with his best friend Teagan. I absolutely fell in love with Zac and with several of the other characters as well. Oddly enough, I had the least sympathy for Juliet, though this possibly says more about my “take charge” personality than it does about her :-))

Well-written (though it could be shortened by perhaps 50 pages in the middle which drags a bit), the novel deals with issues of alcoholism, body shaming, childhood obesity and single parenting. I like the fact that each character recognizes and seeks to address their issues not because of external pressure, but because they recognize that both they and the people they love will be much happier if they do.

I had not heard of Katy Regan before but she appears to be a well-known novelist and journalist in the UK. This is her American debut, and it is quite captivating. I’ll keep her on my “look for more” list.

Read all my reviews at: https://brainfartsandbooks.wordpress.com

Absolutely wonderful! ALL the stars! This book touched my heart with its wonderful characters and had a fantastically satisfying plot. Zac Hutchinson is the “fat” kid. He is bullied at school. His Dad up and left when he was a baby. But his Mom and Grandparents love him more than the world. In this sweetly written book about a boy, his Mom, his Dad, and all the people in between, on the boy’s journey to find his long lost Dad, find that sometimes things aren’t what they seem. Sometimes it takes a ten-year-old to figure that out. Gushing with happiness after reading this book.

Thank you to Netgalley, Katy Regan and Berkley for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I have nothing but praise for this book. A very personable young boy struggling with bullies, looking for his father, surrounded by caring grandparents and mum who are fighting their own emotional problems from the fallout of a son/brother’s death. It’s a great read!

Enjoyable "Brit Chic Lit." The author did a great job with the kid's voices, and although I didn't like Zac's mom very much initially, she grew on me. Nice "reveal" of the big secret at the end. I'm a big fan of Marian Keyes, so now I have another author recommend as a read-alike! Thanks for the galley!

This is a lovely story that begins at the beginning of 2015 in Grimsby, a fishing community on the English coast. Ten-year-old Zac, one of the narrators, explains that he has written a letter to his dad Liam to invite Liam to his eleventh birthday party. In the letter he confesses his anger that his dad left and he never knew him, “So I am giving you the opportunity to come to my party when I’m eleven."

Unfortunately, Zac doesn’t know where to mail the letter; his dad “did a runner” when he was born, and neither his mom nor his Nan and Grandad want to talk about him.

Zac and his BFF Teagan O’Brien, also living with a single mom, and like him, living on the Harlequin Estate (public housing), are focused on their imagining their missing dads. They even have a secret game rating local men on how good a dad the two think each man might be.

Zac is a smart and warm-hearted kid who shares, in his narration, what he has learned, such as “[other kids] don’t like anyone who stands out, basically. I don’t think any of these things matter - it’s the person inside that counts. But not everyone thinks like that, do they? That’s just not real life. . . . .You can’t see the truth, just by looking on the surface. That’s something else I’d worked out.”

These thoughts come to Zac often, since he is teased mercilessly because of his weight. Teagan is the only one he isn’t embarrassed around: “She’s the only person my age who knows I want to be a chef like my Uncle Jamie too. She never looks at me funny.”

Jamie was Zac’s mom’s brother; he died at the age of 18 after a fall in which he hit his head. Zac’s Nan has never recovered from the loss of Jamie. She still, after ten years, goes every day but Saturday to Jamie’s grave. Zac stays at Nan and Grandad’s after school on Tuesdays and Wednesdays because his mum has to work, so he too has gotten caught up in the Jamie cult. Sometimes Zac brings recipes he has made up with him to Uncle Jamie’s grave “so he can read it from heaven.” He likes that his family says he takes after Jamie since Jamie is such a hero to them.

In addition to Nan’s enduring grief over the loss of Jamie, she also harbors enduring anger over Liam. Zac says: “Nan doesn’t like my dad because he abandoned us. She says he’s a waste of space. But I think he can’t have been, not if my mum loved him so much, because she’s got good taste, my mum, she knows what a good person is.”

Thus, Zac starts the secret Find Dad Mission. Teagan agrees to help him and becomes his Official Deputy.

Meanwhile, Juliet, Zac’s mum and the second narrator, has been called to the school to talk about Zac’s weight. They tell her Zac has been the victim of bullying because of it, so it would help if he could lose weight. She even got a letter from the North East Lincolnshire Health Authority warning that Zac is too “obese.”

At first Juliet reacts in her habitual way of stuffing away the pain and anxiety with food. Even worse, when Juliet feels helpless she shoplifts. “I don’t even know what I’ve taken… “ It makes her feel as if “I’ve got one up, not on Mr. Singh, the shop owner - I feel eternally guilty about Mr. Singh - but on the universe. Because otherwise I feel like it will swallow me whole.”

But when Zac asks more and more questions about his dad, and indicates how upset he is over the fact that Liam left, Juliet decides she owes it to Zac to help him get in shape so he will be happier, and starts her own mission to that end. She enlists the help of a former boyfriend, Jason, who is a fitness trainer.

The third narrator is Mick, Juliet’s dad. He is a former fisherman and a former alcoholic, and it is his musings that gradually fill in the reader on what happened to Jamie and Liam.

Discussion: The family in this book is very dysfunctional, but not in a way we can’t understand. They are so wrapped up in their own lies, regrets, anger, and fear, they risk damaging the best thing in their lives, which is the endearing and earnest Zac. The author manages to create enough empathy for the characters of Juliet, Zac, and Teagan that you want to stick with the story even if you feel great enmity for and disgust over Juliet’s parents.

Evaluation: Two topics I tend to avoid are bullying and dysfunctional families. But this book has so much heart and charm that I was very glad I read it.

I can't finish so a review would be wrong.
This just isn't for me.

A beautifully put together story about a 10 year old boy and his search for his Dad. His Mother and his Grandfather both tell their stories . Katy Regan brought it all together beautifully.

*Thanks to NetGalley for providing an Advance Reading Copy in return for an unbiased review!*

I read "Little Big Love" by Katy Regan and "Flying at Night" by Rebecca L. Brown within days of each other, and I couldn't imagine not reviewing them together. Both are books about the extremely close bond between a mother and her only child (both sons), and both are told in the alternating viewpoints of the mother, the son, and the maternal grandfather.

"Little Big Love" made me fall in love immediately. Zac is such an appealing boy, and his mother obviously loves him, while dealing with her own demons. Zac has a burning desire to learn more about his father, who left before he was born. The reader comes to learn why Juliet is so opposed to Zac learning more about his mysterious father. The story is well-plotted and interesting, but it is Zac that steals the show. With his devotion to facts, love of cooking, and loyalty to his friends and family, he is a son any mother (and father!) would be happy to claim.

"Flying at Night" was a less ebullient book. Fred, too, loves facts, but maybe too much. His mother, Piper, has always dealt with Fred's eccentricities, but the school is starting to question some of Fred's obsessions. Piper is determined to be Fred's champion, especially because of the emotional abuse she suffered at the hands of her autocratic father. The narration by her father is especially interesting, as it changes so greatly in tone after his stroke. How Piper navigates a world dominated by two larger-than-life characters, and tries to take in stride the emotional absence of her husband, makes for a rich, satisfying read.

It's funny how both of these books fell into my lap at the same time, and I highly recommend reading them both-- maybe even at the same time!

A full five stars for this amazing story with the most appealing and realistic main characters. I loved Zac, a funny, sensitive, overweight ten year old boy, who makes it his mission to find his Dad, who he believes abandoned him. Juliet, his Mom, is also battling weight issues, while working and raising her son alone after a tragedy separates her from Zac’s Dad. And then there is Mick, whose voice resonates with guilt, yet love for his daughter and grandson. I love this moving, heartwarming story and urge everyone to read it.

I enjoyed this easy read. I especially liked the way the story unfolds and is told through 3 characters from 3 generations of the family. It was a good way to see the perspective of each family member on past events that had shaped their family dynamics, as well as those unfolding that would change everything in their family.

Charming, warm, and heartfelt. This multigenerational story about the things that make a family, the pains within a family, and the bonds of family was heartbreaking at times, but the strength of this family's love shone throughout. Grandfather Mick, mother Juliet, and son Zac have all experienced trauma through their lives, and the greatest one, the loss of Juliet's brother Jamie, also resulted in the absense of Zac's father from their lives. Now age 10, Zac is searching for the father he hopes has the capabilty of changing his family's life. The story of Zac's experiences with bullying, Juliet's struggles, and Mick's feeling of culpability for their situation was very sad, but Zac's hopefulness and dedication came through (though I felt he often read older than his age). It's a quick moving, engaging story that is perfect for fans of family dramas.

Lovely book, such an endearing boy and great characters.

This was a delightful story about a young boy who collects facts and a family that tries to protect him. The author addresses childhood obesity and bullying. It is told from several points of view, but, by far, the most poignant are those related by Zac.

Book was sent to me to review -
I liked the description, so decided to give it a try.

It is a Big-hearted love story and a young boy unites them all.

There are 2 emotions in life, 2 reasons we do anything, fear/love.

Book starts with a young boy writing to his father (that he has never met) on New Year's Eve...
the story switches between son/mother/grandfather
you get 3 views on life, the past, and then looking to the future.

I also enjoyed another view on childhood obesity-
the mother finally seeing it and asking- What to do?

Usually on netgalley I apply for books I am interested in. The case is this novel, the publisher sent it to me without my applying, so thank you for that. But unfortunately it’s not the type of book I generally enjoy, so I feel a little bad leaving a review that is less than positive. The writing wasn’t bad, although books narrated by a precocious child tend to get on my nerves, but my problem was just that not much happened over the course of the story. I felt like it too is too long to get where we were going. I did like Juliet though. She was my favorite POV in the story.