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What Becomes of the Broken Hearted, The most heartwarming and feelgood novel you'll read this year,  Lisa Hobman

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre:  Women's Fiction, Romance

Gah! Once more “women's fiction”, and as usual I have to have a quick moan – why do we do this – cut off potential readers? Who says men won't/don't read romance, they certainly write it, so why exclude them this way?

So, this story...I'd loved Lisa's A Year of finding Happiness, the only other book of hers I'd read, and was hoping for something similar, romance, with a solid story and some drama. I did get it but...in a much more muted way.
I couldn't see why Cassie ever thought she was in love with Seth in the first place, he was clearly so arrogant and supercilious, and when he's caught out his reaction is exactly as you'd expect. I also wondered why Seth was with Cassie. Did he ever love her or did he just want a complaisant wife he could mould, as he clearly was already shaping Cassie's day to day behaviour. I like to think he loved her at the start at least, and just maybe it was Cassie's low self esteem that let her stay with him when clearly he was trying to change her.

Then That happens, and Cassie's off. Wow girl, you go! I was cheering her on even while I could feel her heartbreak, and up til now things kind of went as I expected.
When she reaches the new home though she's really a first class b itch to Mac, she's hurting I know, but it wasn't Mac that hurt her. They have a few not so good interactions, but slowly she opens up, and Mac tries for a fresh start and to help her. He's a genuinely kind man, one of the good guys, and for all Cassie's rudeness he sees she's hurt and still looks out for her. I loved Mac. And his uncle Rab, they felt like people I'd love to know. Cassie – well, I so felt for her at first but she was so outright rude to Mac I got cross with her. I hate plain rudeness.

Looking back at A Year of ….I can see what I enjoyed about that, and its the drama and the unpleasant ex that topped the story for me. We've both of those here, but Seth somehow didn't engender the same feelings. I guess I felt the drama in the later part of the book just didn't fit the character I felt he was, whereas in A Year of it was exactly what I would expect Alice to do. The actual drama itself was fine, added to the story, and worked to move things forward.

I adored Rab, was so emotional over him, the village setting and characters were perfect, Mac was just wonderful, Cliff gets a special mention, and an extra helping of imaginary dogs treats ;-) I guess its just the Cassie/Seth relationship and the actions that sprung from it that didn't work so well here for me. Its a good read, but unlike a Year of, it was one I could, and did, put aside at times for other things. I did love the ending, kitsch, but still just perfect and left me feeling a little choked. The magic moment all we romantics dream of!
Its a perfect beach read, or one for those times when you need a story you can pick up and put down for a while, but it wasn't a must-keep-reading five star for me.


Stars: Three and a half, some really great elements let down for me but a few things that felt out of place. As ever though, that's just one opinion, it will be perfect for others.

ARC supplied by Netgalley and Publishers

Sweet, romantic story about Cassie Montgomery, who is forced to reevaluate her life after her fiancé, the “perfect” and gorgeous Seth betrays her. I really enjoyed this quick, fun read, but I felt the first 25% of the book could’ve been shortened to just a few chapters. From the beginning, I would tell that Cassie was miserable...so the portion of her life with Seth just dragged on a bit too much.

However, when Cassie leaves and ends up in a small Scottish beach town, the story is FANTASTIC! I loved the dynamics of her trying to rebuild her life and trying to find her way in a world when previously she only identified as Seth’s girlfriend. Mac was my favorite character and I loved their fun friendship from the very beginning. Loved the ending!!!!

A huge thanks to NetGalley and Aria for the opportunity to read this wonderful book and provide my honest review!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Thanks to the author for providing a copy of this book via Netgalley

I wish this book was not so long. It had too much ex-drama (he was a psych..., he didnt understand “NO”).
I almost DNF, but at 30%, when the heroine got some balls and left him, it was more interesting. But then too much, drama. This drama ruined everything. I liked more if there were more sex scenes, LOL.

The girl was not strong. Yes, a bit strong after she left her bf, but not strong enough for me. The hero was good, all my 3 stars goes to him.