This story is a sweet easy read. It was well written . Her fiancé leaves her for he maid of honor and she needs to navigate this new reality. Will she find love again? You will have to read to find out. If you are into cute romance novels , then this one is for you. Thanks #netgalley and #AngelaTerry for allowing me to read an advanced copy for an honest review. Book comes out August 4th. #charmingfallsapart

Alison has just turned 35 and her life is falling apart. She’s been fired from her job and her fiancé tells her just weeks before the wedding that he’s been having an affair with her maid of honor. Alison feels lost and confused. Through many self help books, some spiritual retreats, and the owner of a new coffee shop Alison starts to realize the life she thought was perfect was merely boxes checked off on her list. Alison has to rediscover herself and learn how to be happy on her own first first time in years.

This was a really cute book. I wish the self discovery came before 90% of the book was over though. I would have liked more on her life after discovering what she wanted to do with her life and deciding she was ready for dating. Overall I still enjoyed it and felt very empathetic towards Alison as a character. I couldn’t imagine going through what she did and she handled it with such grace. I enjoyed her relationship with her best friend, Jordan, as well and how she constantly was there when Alison needed it.

Thank you to Netgalley and Angela Terry for those e-ARC. Charming Falls Apart is out on August 4, 2020.

Thank you to the author, Spark Press and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a quick read, picking up the story immediately at crisis point for the heroine - she is unexpectedly fired from her job, and comes home to her fiancé breaking it off with her shortly before their wedding within the first few pages of the book. So it's clear from the get-go that there will be introspection, reflection and - hopefully - finding oneself through the story. And then the plot kind of stalls, and not a lot happens. Although I've never been in the heroine's situation, I can empathize with the impulse to withdraw and veg out on the couch... but moving out of that, there wasn't much that engaged me in what was happening. I did really like the character of the best friend, who was there for the heroine in so many ways. But I find it hard to believe that a 35-year old career woman would be so blithely self-unaware, and such a doormat. The romance developed slowly, and with the requisite misunderstandings and much agonizing by the heroine. Who ever heard of just straight up openly addressing things and clearing up murky issues? Not here. It's an okay read, but for me, not a great one.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

I am torn on this book- it became quite repetitive for the middle third. Allie gets upset or set back by something, goes to the bookstore, buys a different self-help book, and has another "epiphany". Repeat, repeat, repeat. However, the first and last thirds of the book are interesting and engaging, and make you want to keep reading! Allie can be a frustrating character, because she will listen to pretty much anything or anyone. That made me want to read it even more though, to find out what would happen to her.

'Unemployed, dumped, and, ultimately, bad at life'

This quote describes the protagonist really well, or at least her starting point when this book starts. It seems like everything in her life has gone wrong and the seemingly perfect life she had built for herself was not as perfect as she thought. She loses her job of 12 years and her future husband all in one day. Anyone in her position would, rightly so, be crushed by the weight of it all.

This story is incredibly uplifting: through ups and down Allison tries to get her life back together, which I personally found very inspiring. We all go through difficult times in life and the best thing I learned from this book is to never just admit defeat. Yes, you can have a moment or two of self pity and indulging into comfort food in your pjs for days, but at some point you have to pick yourself up and try to put the pieces back together.

Through the help of an amazing life-long friend and a new cute barista/entrepreneur, through meditation retreats and a few self-help books, Allison finds a way back to herself, discovers that maybe she wasn't so happy about her job and realize a lot of things about the people she had surrounded herself with and the kind of person she had become.

The only reason why I didn't give this book five stars is that I would have wanted a bit more of Eric, but beside that, this book was perfect.

I enjoyed this book! It was a great “easy read type of book for the summer. I appreciated the character and what she had to discover about herself to pull herself back up. There were times when I found myself skimming a bit, but overall this was a good read!

This book was just okay for me. I didn't hate it, and I actually read it all in one sitting, but I definitely skipped over large chunks to get to the end. I didn't feel very invested in any of the characters, and I'm typically a sucker for any type of romance. That being said, I wasn't that interested in Eric, the love interest. I felt like nothing really happened between them until the very end. And while I appreciate a good "find yourself" story, something about Allison's just felt too overdone and generic.

I did enjoy reading the banter and friendship between Allison and Jordan, and I thought that gave the story a little more life. I think I would actually be more interested in Jordan's story, rather than Allison's!

I related to Allison from the jump. As a fellow Type A rule follower who often identifies by my job I appreciated her mindset and reactions even if I found her too rigid at times — especially when it came to food so I appreciated when she began to lighten up.

This book was cute — it gave me Evvie Drake Starts Over meets By The Book Pod vibes.

I’d love to read about Jordan, the real hero of this book!

Note: I found the flippant use of agoraphobia to be insensitive and unnecessary. It’s a mental illness not an adjective to describe staying home and moping for a few days.

Review will be posted to my bookstagram within a few days.

I love when a book starts right in on the action of the novel. Charming Falls Apart bring us right into Allison's worst day in progress. Allison is fired from her PR job, her fiancé is leaving her, it is her birthday, friendship betrayals, work betrayals and a mom that cares too much.

What is unique is that this story is written almost like journal entries, which tie very nicely into the themes of the book. We get to see her re-evaluating her life and work. I love the support from her best friend, Jordan. Jordan is a great secondary character in the novel and we see some changes going on with her as well, Allison also becomes a regular at the self help aisle in Barnes & Noble and at a new coffee place. The coffee shop has a handsome owner, Eric and delightful flirtation happens when they instantly connect.

With the journal entry style we really get to see Allison grow throughout the story. We are there for her busy days and also quite a few downer days of watching Bravo and HGTV. I can relate!

For readers who may be triggered or sensitive to alcohol: there was a lot of social drinking in this story.

Charming Falls Apart was a pleasant surprise! A quick, fun read with characters I was rooting for.

Netgalley provided me with this book for an honest review.

From the start of this novel, it was clear that this novel was a story of finding oneself during loss and struggle. Whilst there were funny elements to this story through its dialogue, it was almost a self-help guide to life, love, and occupations.

The protagonist, Allison, finds herself lost before her 35th birthday when she loses her job and fiancée on the same day. Although I am not 35 and haven’t lost both my job and fiancée, the way in which she handled the situation felt very authentic and I related to her thoughts and feelings about the situation and her life in general. It also provided a lot of advice that I felt enhanced the novel and its plot. Furthermore, the way in which the characters were written was very fleshed out and they were ultimately flawed, which added more realism to the story. The love interest was also written exceptionally well and came together naturally as it does in life.

What let this story down though for me was the plot. There was nothing bad about it but there were little ups and downs and it felt as if the entire story was on one continuous path where there wasn’t a lot happening. I was expecting a lot more turbulence on her path to self-discovery and from her trip to Costa Rica, which I thought was going to be the majority of the story and ended up just being around 10% of the novel. Overall, it was a quick and addicting read that felt authentic and gave good advice, but it needed more ups and downs in order to be more engaging and fully captivate me.

I love a good light read for the summer and I gotta say Charming Falls Apart was a welcomed distraction from this less the amazing summer.

Assuming read the summary, you don't need my help telling you what it's about so I won't spare you the details. What I will say is that it's refreshing to get into a story about woman dealing with a breakdown in her life, and doing the work to fix herself. No man to come in and save her (but yes, there is a man present in her journey to saving herself). Yup, I gotta say I liked it a lot.

Not sure if the title really did it for me. A weird criticism I know, but that's how I feel. And for some reason, this book felt a little bit too long. Or perhaps there was unnecessary filler that made me tempted to skim. But it was a read I needed in these crazy times, so I accept the flaws for what was an otherwise nice story.

This wasn't a romance that really hit home for me. I couldn't connect with Allison and Eric's chemistry.
Plot was not very unique to me, and I found myself rolling my eyes. I didn't become somewhat invested in the story until around 25% in.
Also, the formatting of this book made it a bit difficult to read via kindle.
I don't regret reading this - I don't like everything I read. But it was by far my favorite romance novel.

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book! I thought it was going to be purely a romance book, but the story held so much more depth than just the main character falling in love.

The first half of the book describes the pain that Allison experiences after losing her job and her fiance on the same day (yikes)! The romance snuck up on me, and didn't play a role until Allison did quite a bit of soul searching on her own. I was thankful for that––it showed that Allison didn't rely on a man to pull her out of her funk, but instead she found healing on her own. Plus, she continued to stand up for herself and not take any sh*t, even though her life was turned upside down in some really difficult ways. Her friend Jordan was so fiercely loyal and encouraging. Eric, the love interest, was very like-able, and I loved watching their friendship grow. I really enjoyed this book. Angela did a great job of writing characters that I could relate to and imagine while I was reading.

This book covered quite a bit: heartache, complicated family relations, female friendships, personal growth, and healthy relationships.

Rating: 4.5/5

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book!

Charming Falls Apart by Angela Terry
SparkPress

I was so happy to have the chance to review this ARC novel from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Allison, the book’s main character, has the picture perfect high achieving life. When everything comes crashing down on her at once, she is left questioning her life choices. Allison begins a journey of self-reflection which is central to the story’s arc. She relies heavily on a wise friend and becomes well-acquainted with the Barnes and Noble self-help aisle. A budding friendship with a cafe owner becomes a source of anticipatory tension and unexpected wisdom. He is also quite obsessed with Cross Fit, the results of which conjure pleasant images.

This novel was a fun one to read. The pacing was good and the characters were generally relatable. Plot twists, although somewhat predictable and convenient, kept the story moving along nicely. I can’t honestly say that I think this is the best title for this book. Perhaps Allison can use her sharp PR skills to come up with another! Regardless, I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a light, fun summer read. You won’t be disappointed.

Oh my god, poor Allison! The book starts out with her having the worst if luck; being fired, and then dumped by her cheating fiance. I really liked how Allison didn't have the smoothest path to recovering from her horrible day; she gave herself breaks when she needed them, and let herself wallow. Finished it in a little over 24 hours, very cute read.

Allison has a rough time of it. She has been the top PR rep at her firm for 12 years, but gets fired. While she is reeling from being cut, she goes home to her fiancé. Expecting support and comfort from him, he turns the tide and tells her he is breaking up with her because he is not in love with her. Wow! As Allison goes on a self exploration path, she finds solids and support in the least likely place-her local coffee shop. In a similar plot line of Eat, Pray, Love, Allison is on a journey to find herself, people she can train, and try happiness.

This is the perfect breakup/starting over book! I loved the self-help and self-care that Allison chose and it's something that I don't see very often in a book. However, the ending really fell short for me; there was the hint at romance throughout the book (I mean her fiance broke it off with her..) obviously I was still trying to find where she was able to start over in that regard and the author gave us a tiny hint at that at the end. I would have loved an epilogue or a little bit longer of a book just to give us a little of the romance that was hinted at.

CHarming Falls Apart is a terrific read. Alison receives a double whammy all in one day: she is canned from her job and her fiancé dumps her for her maid of honor. She'all receive more bad news before she begins to turn her life around. She reads self help books, cancels the wedding, and reinvents her career, while hanging out at the local coffee shop. I thought she was way too passive with the dirtbag fiancé, and 'friend' Katie. The character I liked the most was Jordan. She was the only person who was there for Alison the entire time. Personally, I thought she stole the limelight from Alison's character. I wanted to read more about Jordan and less about Allison.

I didn't hate this book but unfortunately, I didn't love it either.
I read it about 3 days ago and when I came to do my review, I was surprised to remember absolutely nothing about this story and had to che k the blurb to jog my memory.
I knew that I enjoyed this book but it was just completely forgettable, not the sort of book that stays with you. It's ideal for a holiday read or a lazy weekend and the author writes her characters well and there is a GREAT best friend in there!

I enjoyed this book but it's not my forever book! Although, that doesn't mean that I don't recommend this and I'm definitely willing to give this author a go again :)

3 stars

When Allison's life falls apart at the seams, she begins to self reflect on who she really is. After decades of morphing herself into whatever woman her current boyfriend wanted, she is left wondering what her own likes and preferences are. With one good friend and the self help isle at the local bookstore, Allison begins a journey looking inward for love and appreciation instead of seeking another person to fill the void.
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I really enjoyed this book. It gave me exactly what I was looking for in a romance, one where you have to unravel yourself to find the one who matches you most. Allison's character is written with emotional depth and void of any self pity or whining. I also enjoyed that she did not go down a "my life is over" spiral. I mean sure she was depressed for awhile, as anyone would be. But it's a healthy level of sadness that propels her instead of crippling her. Highly recommend.