As someone who adores her mother I had fun time reading through this. It was hard thinking about the decline of a parent but somehow this approaches it with love and laughter and sadness all in one go.

Lou Ann Hunter aka Lulu the Love Guru, has built her successful relationship business and is currently on her “Find True Love” tour. Her mother, Patricia, is suffering from Alzheimer’s and is in her third memory care center…she can’t leave the men alone. When Patricia has to leave the latest center, she asks Lou Ann to take her home, her family home in Louisiana. Moving, flying, and a cantankerous bird is driving Lou Ann to the edge. How will she deal with the changes in her mother’s life? A story of the circumstances that often make changes in your life and how you deal with those changes. A sad yet delightful story told with the humorous style that Ms. Gibson is famous for. I received an advance review copy at no cost and without obligation for an honest review. (by paytonpuppy)

Lulu the Love Guru is in a pickle. It appears her Mom, Patricia was kicked out of yet another Alzheimer’s assisted living place for being passionate with male patients some that are married and conscious while others not so much. Now Lou Ann,(Lulu) has to find another place that will take her mom and care for her needs. Lou Ann has no choice but to take Patricia home with her while looking for a suitable place, instead, her mom comes up with another suggestion, take her back to her ancestry home in Louisiana. This was a crazy idea but one that gave her one on one time she needed before her mother's eventual demise. This is a heartfelt story that will make you smile, laugh, and cry. It's an emotional journey one that shouldn't be taken lightly having lost both my parents I would give anything just to have one more day, one more I love you, one more anything!

Thank you to the publisher and author for providing me with a digital ARC of this title via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

First, may I say that I love this cover. It just speaks to me and makes me want to read it. Even now, after trying twice and not being able to finish it. I still want to like this book. It is so cute and just looks fun. The story, however, is tiresome and obnoxious. I quickly lost interest in the characters and their woes. This successful wealthy women taking care of her mom in their old family home. Her mom, suffering from dementia, who is also overly sexual and inappropriate with almost every male she meets. Then they meet the local handyman who grew up knowing their relatives, and some juvenille banter and flirting ensues. It was just tiresome and I had no interest to see what happened between them all or where the story would lead. I tried. Twice.

Most books do not speak to everyone the same. So often it depends on our current state of mind, as well as, past experiences. How Lulu Lost Her Mind finds me a year after loosing both of my parents suddenly and unexpectantly, with the loss of my mother specifically from dementia. Lulu has to put her life on hold to take her colorful, over-sexed, and Alzheimer’s suffering mother back to the family homestead. There were so many situations that took me back to those days of caring for my Mom that Lulu also experiences; trying to savor moments of normalcy together when her mind was clear; guilt, discovery of family history; wanting to pull the covers over your head because you are not quite sure you can take much more of the stress; the loss and finding of objects hidden away; the accusations from a loved one that you know are not true but hurt just the same; trying to juggle it all; and then ultimately saying goodbye and crying out painfully in grief followed by life going forward and joys returning but a hole always remaining. Beautifully relatable story that although it is a painful subject is full of light-hearted moments. The chapter titles are stories in themselves: “I’m alone and lost,” “Mom flirts with the Cheesecake Factory. A display of men. Choices,” “Return of Rattlesnake Patty. Bob’s gone. Raphael is MIA-again.” I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The relationship between a mother and daughter is an emotional roller coaster especially when you are Lulu the Love Guru. Raised by a five time married and divorced mother who gave the term free love a new meaning. Lulu doles out advice on relationships, sex and love. In How Lulu Lost Her mind by Rachel Gibson. Lulu also known as Lou Ann finds out her mother has Alzheimers after her free loving mother is kicked out of a third nursing home for misbehaving. Lou Ann's mother's wish is to return to her family home in Louisiana and to die and be buried there in the family cemetery. Lou Ann decides to put her career on hold to care for her. What ensues is often funny, touching and sad. Underneath the difficult moments, memories are made and love between mother and daughter is obvious. Enjoy!

As someone who adores her mother I had fun time reading through this. It was hard thinking about the decline of a parent but somehow this approaches it with love and laughter and sadness all in one go. Now let me call my mom and tell her I love her.

This was a arc from netgalley and all opinions are my own.

I found this book both hilarious and touching. I picked it up intentionally when my father was at the end of his life with a terminal cancer diagnosis. Caregiving and death can be hard topics but I thought Gibson handled it skillfully, wiring a book that neither was too heavy nor trivialized death. I also loved the description. I felt transported into her life and her home.

A sweet, heartwarming read about a daughter's love for her mother. Very touching.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for the complimentary early review copy of Rachel Gibson's latest book, "How Lulu Lost Her Mind."

This book was just okay for me. I was intrigued by the synopsis due to the references to mother/daughter struggles and Alzheimer's so I was expecting to somewhat relate. I feel like the story got bogged down by random, seemingly irrelevant side stories and way too much superfluous chatter throughout. I knew I was forcing myself to trudge through when I started wanting to skip sections and not being excited to pick up the book every day. But I chose to continue because when the book was good it was good.

Ms. Gibson took a horrific disease and painted an accurate portrait of its effects on those who battle Alzheimer's and their caregivers. Her book is a beautiful exploration of the often complicated relationship between mothers and daughters and how those issues are compounded by role reversals later in life. I'm still confused as to how this book got its title because I didn't leave with the feeling that Lulu had lost her mind but rather that she'd found herself. Overall, what I choose to take away from this book is the poignant portrayal of the powerful bond and love between a mother and daughter in spite of everything they experience over their lifetimes together.

This was such a cute and wonderful read. A daughter who gives up her big time business in order to spend the last few months of her mom's life with her. This was a delightful read and glad I am read it !

Only child, Lou Ann, is a media mogul when it comes to her baby, Lulu the Love Guru. At 38, she has spent her whole adult life nurturing this baby, which has given her fame, fortune, and much happiness. Patricia, Lou Ann’s mom, is truly the love guru. At 74 and with Alzheimer’s, she has already managed to be thrown out of three care facilities for her “passionate nature”. Patricia likes to wander into other patient’s beds at night.

This time, though, Lou Ann can’t buy Patricia’s way back into a care facility. Lou Ann is due in Los Angeles tomorrow morning. Patricia has nowhere to go but home with Lou Ann. In desperation, Lou Ann comes to grips with the fact that Lulu the Love Guru is going to have to take a hiatus so Lou Ann can care for Patricia.

But she can’t do it alone. She finds a nurse, Lindsey, who is more than happy to start immediately. A few days later when Patricia decides she wants to go “home” to Louisiana, and her childhood home, Sutton Hall. Having decided that what momma wants, momma gets, Lou Ann packs up Patricia and Lindsey and heads out to Louisiana to fulfill her mother’s last wishes.

How Lulu Lost Her Mind is a wonderful story told with charm and sensitivity toward a difficult subject. Lou Ann is tasked with her mother’s now mercurial moods, but she shares with us how momma has always been a little bit on the difficult side. Gibson writes about the challenges of living with someone in the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s in a matter-of-fact but in a keen way. A way that is not degrading or depressing, just the truth. The threesome of women have moments that are spit-your-coffee out funny.

Rachel Gibson writes in a way that makes a tough subject matter something to be treasured. Lou Ann not only finds her mother happiness in her end days, but also finds herself along the way, learning things she never dreamed. Loved every bit of this one.

A heartwarming story of an adult daughter taking her mother with Alzheimer’s back to her birth home to die. This story was a mix of emotion for me. I laughed out loud, I cried. To read about a mother/daughters relationship through the years and what they have learned about each other was wonderful.

This book kept me interested the whole way through. The characters were described in a way that you would think you know them yourself. This had a mixture of humor, sentimental moments and also very 'real life.' I would recommend this heartfelt book to anyone. It has a many different elements to its chapters that I'm sure everyone would enjoy this book!

Let me just started off saying that I am a big fan of Rachel Gibson's books. I have read every single book she has written and loved all of them. Saying that this is not her typical Romantic comedy book.

The book is about Lulu a blogger/love expert extraordinaire and has found herself taking care of her mom who has Alzheimer's. There is a small love story and a lot of mother/daughter relationship conflicts and joys.
As a Gen X I can appreciate that relationship between a mother and a daughter and the tribulations.
Navigating as a child relationship with your mom to being an adult relationship with your mom.
Always Rachel's writing makes me laugh out loud and even though it is not her typical Romance type book, I still enjoyed it.
Thanks for a chance to read the ARC

I'm writing this review on April 15, which just happens to be the six-year anniversary of my Dad's death. During his last eighteen months I visited almost weekly, taking him to Mass on Saturday night and then fixing supper for him. I started that routine when we realized it was no longer safe to leave him alone for long stretches of time. We had hired help during the week, one brother lived next door, and another took the Sunday shift. I live an hour and a half away so those few hours a week cost me most of my Saturday afternoon and evening, and during those eighteen months I only missed a few weeks. Looking back on it, I can say those months were hard, but worth it. I had to adjust my life, but I didn't have to make wholesale changes to it.

Lou Ann is a writer, blogger, speaker--an expert on relationships, or at least she plays one on-line. For all her expertise she has never found Mr. Right. Her mother, on the other hand, has always found Mr. Right for now and is still looking, despite her Alzheimer's, which, as noted above, gets her kicked out of her nursing home. Her mother wants to go home to Louisiana, and Lou Ann has enough money to make that dream come true, so they pack up their stuff and move to the old home place.

My Dad never became hard to deal with, and kept his mental faculties until the end. Patricia, Lou Ann's mother, wasn't so lucky. She could be mean and, of course, she had dementia. As they went through family treasures Lou Ann learns about relatives she never met. She meets neighborhood people who are unlike those she chose to be with in her "real" life. Yes, one is a man.

The book is set in southeast Louisiana, which is where I live. While there were things that sounded familiar like Lakeside Mall and chicory coffee, the plantation is outside a small town where people speak with a Cajun accent, and honestly there aren't many (any) of those with easy access to Lakeside Mall.

I enjoyed the book and there was one serious plot thread--Patricia wanted Lou Ann to promise to put her out of her misery when things got too far along. Lou Ann didn't fee right about doing that, but toward the end of the book, Lou Ann made a decision about a similar issue which turned out not to be important, but which could have been.

Actually the ending was pretty much the only part of the book that I didn't like. For some reason it just seemed sudden, almost like the allotted number of pages had been filled and it was time to wrap things up. But, maybe that's the way life is--we don't usually get to go out at what we consider to be the perfect time on the plot arc.

I'd like to thank the publisher for providing a review copy via NetGalley. Grade: B.

The characters are great and well written! I loved the relationship between mother and daughter, especially in light of Patricia’s illness. Really good read, thanks to netgalley for allowing the preview!

This was a sweet book about losing your mom. It was fun of love, laughter, and heart. The characters are rich and warm. You enjoy all of them. Patricia with her passionate nature is a treat. Lou Ann and her desire to be better and enjoy her mother. Simon is a breathe of fresh air and give Lou Ann some much needed advise and breaks. The topic of Alzheimer's is not light but this book makes it a little easier to take.

Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for my ARC. All opinions expressed are my own.

Rachel Gibson has been a long time favorite author of mine, mixing romance with her humor.
This book was no different, but combines more women's fiction than romance. The main story-line of this book is between a successful daughter and her M other who is battling dementia. While Lulu is at the height of her career, she is also struggling with the care of her Mother, and getting her in the right facility.
Many emotions went through me reading this book. While there are mild parts of romance, the relationship between Lulu and her Mother was something that hit home.

I absolutely loved this book. My mom is also suffering from dementia , so I can find the humor in some of the situations she put her daughter in. Also the feeling of helplessness and overwhelming need to "fix things". Bought tears to my eyes and got to my heart.