I am definitely in the minority with this one sadly. I just could not connect with the characters or the story line. I found Evvie to be boring. I couldn't get past the first 100 pages on either of my two attempts at reading this one. But again, I know so many people love this book, but I just didn't connect with it.

I honestly thought this was just gonna be something to cleanse my reading palate after reading The Wives, but I fell in love with the story as well as Evvie and Dean. What a great book!

What a delight! This is easily one of my favorite new books. It's light and fluffy which is exactly what I wanted and needed.

I really wanted to love this book but it just felt flat for me. I was expecting more romance but it seems to be more women;s fiction or light on romance.

Linda Holmes' debut novel is, as you would expect, incredibly delightful. I'm waiting for the perfect moment to read it again. It was that good!

Romance is not my cup of tea but this book was really cute. Evvie Drake's life is going down the drain. On the day she decides to leave her abusive husband, he is killed in a car accident. Dealing with guilt but wanting to restart her life, Evvie leans on friends and family and eventually meets an ex-baseball player who is also dealing with his own problems.

It has been a year since Evvie Drake had decided that it enough was enough. It has been a year since Evvie Drake loaded up her car and was ready to leave her husband. It has been a year since Evvie Drake got the call that her husband had been in a serious car accident. He had died before she got there. Evvie has spent the last year in a daze. Everybody in their small community thinks that she is grieving but in reality, Evvie is - relieved. And nobody knows it. Her best friend, Andy, is worried about her wandering around the big house all by herself. He has a solution. A childhood friend of his is looking for a soft place to land. His career as a professional baseball player has imploded pretty spectacularly and he is looking for a place to hideout. To both of their surprise, Dean and Evvie hit it off. Their blossoming friendship is a treasure to both of them. And they cannot deny the underlying currents of attraction. Both Evvie and Dean have a lot of baggage, but are they willing to work through their issues so they can be happy together?

From the very first page I really enjoyed Evvie Drake Starts Over. I really liked Evvie and I wanted nothing but peace and happiness for her. She isn't just mourning the death of her husband, in fact she isn't mourning that at all. Instead, she is mourning the marriage that she longed for and never got to have. For her deceased husband, Tim was emotionally abusive. He made Evvie doubt herself and treated her like shit. But he was all she knew and it took her years to work up the courage to leave. And then he died. I loved that this author depicted a completely platonic male/female friendship. And that everybody accepted their friendship to be true and just friendship. Including Dean, and Monica, Andy's girlfriend. That is so rare to find in novels. The character development in all three of them Andy, Dean, and Evvie was pretty significant. And I just love novels where the character's growth is so visible. Of course, the end was exactly as you would expect for this kind of novel, but it was perfect.

Bottom Line - Evvie Drake Starts Over is an absolutely charming book. The perfect kind of book if you are looking for an escape from your daily life. Great characters and a great love story. What more could you want?

Details:
Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes
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Pages: 304
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Publication Date: 6/25/19
Buy it Here!
Thank you to NetGalley for the book in exchange for an honest review.

This one started off so good and I was very invested in the characters, but then the book lost some of its shine as it went on. The ending was a little lackluster.

3.7 - cute, with some great laugh-out-loud moments (cereal race). I’m not sure why I expected this novel to be “heavier” - but it still felt like it was missing something, despite all of the fun.

"Delicious" is the word that comes to mind for this novel by Linda Holmes. Witty, smart, and charming are also contenders. Grab a blanket and curl up on the couch because you won't want to set this one down. Characters are lovely and imperfect, and you want happiness for them...all of them. I really enjoyed this perfect fall read!

Reviewed on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3059328967

I loved this book. I felt that the characters were very relatable and I enjoyed the storyline. I would have liked a lit more detail on how things ended up and thought the ending was a little abrupt, but it didn't affect my overall opinion of the book. I would definitely recommend this to others.

Do yourself a favor and get this book. I love charming, heartfelt books and this was perfect. A brilliant story of starting over!

I loved this book. It was an incredibly moving and enjoyable read. I definitely expect to see this book made into a movie.

I have been a HUGE fan of Linda Holmes' podcast, Pop Culture Happy Hour on NPR, so I was particularly excited to have the chance to read Evvie Drake Starts Over. It did not disappoint. I was hooked from the very beginning - the opening page in fact. The writing style was refreshing and the characters were flawed, but lovable.

I am already a huge Linda Holmes fan so I couldn't read this one fast enough.

Evvie Drake was married to an emotionally abusive husband who has died. She struggles with her lack of grief all the while keeping up the appearance of "Grieving Widow" for the people in her life who didn't know he was a terrible human. Meanwhile, she rents the guesthouse of the house she shared with her husband to a super hot baseball player whose found himself with a bad case of the yips. Emotions are running high, adorableness ensues.

The visuals in this book really lend themselves to a cinematic rom-com but I would be so worried no film would do it justice.

One of my favorites of the year. HIGHLY recommended.

This was a heartwarming tale of loss, guilt and rebuilding a life, for both our hero and heroine. In a sleepy town in Maine Evvie lives alone after the death of her husband, keeping a secret that everyone mistakes for grief. Baseball star Dean needs a place to hide after his career goes south, and finds the perfect place in Evvie's house. While there is a happily ever after, the story focuses more on the relationships that Dean and Evvie build during their healing, as well as the friendship that grows between them.

I love the setting of this book as well, the description of the town, the houses, the ocean really puts me in the spot, and I enjoyed that aspect of the book just as much as I loved the characters and the storyline. I highly recommend this author and this book!

This was lovely! It isn't your typical romantic comedy: the characters are flawed, frustrating and complicated. It's a slow burn, but it's so worth the payoff at the end. It's raw and real and relatable and absolutely charming.

I am not a frequent reader of Women's Fiction or Chick Lit at all. However, Evvie Drake Starts Over was a nice surprise.

All of the characters have believable aspects to them surrounding their struggles: Evvie's lack of grief over the death of her husband was understandable while not making her a hated protagonist, and Dean, the baseball player and Evvie's love interest, was also likable with his baseball-related woes. The side characters were also fun to read about, such as Andy and his girlfriend.

The romance wasn't even bad like I usually expect in this genre (just because of the fact that I haven't read much Chick Lit). I liked how it progressed since it didn't take the whole book for the romantic build-up to happen. The fact that Evvie and Dean are likable makes their eventual relationship that much better.

I enjoyed Evvie Drake Starts Over, even though it wasn't as light of a read as I thought it'd be with Evvie's therapy sessions and her husband's death before the events of the story. I might even read more Chick Lit in the future because of this book!

This was so enjoyable and wonderful! This falls into the category of light but smart, which is exactly what I needed when I read it! Thanks so much to the publisher for sending me a copy to review!

Linda Holmes has written a charming debut novel, “Evvie Drake Starts Over”. Evvie is packing up her car to leave her emotionally abusive husband and her small hometown of Calcasset, Maine, when she gets word that her husband has been killed in a car accident.





No one knows she was going to leave, including her loving single dad who raised her on his own, or her best friend Andy, who is raising his two young girls alone since his wife left the family.



Evvie seems stuck. She is living in a big house that she never liked, with a job transcribing research that she does from home. She helps Andy with his two girls, whom she adores, but that is the extent of her social life.



Andy has a friend, a major league baseball pitcher for the New York Yankees who has lost his mojo. He can no longer pitch at all, every pitch thrown wildly, and no one has been able to help him fix his problem. With New York media and fans being brutal, Dean is looking to escape.



When Andy suggests that Dean move into the spare apartment Evvie has in her house, she reluctantly agrees. Evvie and Dean get to know each other, but they both agree that the topics of baseball and her marriage are off limits. Watching their relationship develop is sweet.



“Evvie Drake Starts Over” is a heartwarming story, and if you are someone who enjoys baseball and a good romantic story in a small town setting, this one is for you. Jenna Bush Hager chose this as her July pick for her Today Show Book Club.