(actual rating 3.5/5)

I really enjoyed reading this book, because even though it's marketed as a romance, it's so much more.

This book follows Katharine, an aspiring art curator, as she upends and takes back control of her life. After quitting her job, dumping her almost-boyfriend, she moves back home to pursue her dreams of opening an art gallery. The story mainly follows Katharine and how she deals with her friends, family, and the work it takes to set-up her gallery. Enter: Kit, the handsome, brooding, and ridiculously stubborn local painter who seems to cross paths with her everywhere. Katharine's given up on boyfriends, but she just might fall in love. Accidentally, of course.

What I really loved about this book was Katharine herself. It's rare that I love the main character as much as I enjoyed reading this book from Katharine's perspective. She was determined and brave in an incredibly refreshing way. It was honestly quite fun reading about her character arc and all she manages to do.

The romance was absolutely adorable and I loved it. That's all I've got to say on that.

On the other hand, however, a really big problem that I had with this book was how rushed the ending was. For all I could rave on and on about the build and the character development, and just how amazing Katharine was in general, the ending just didn't do it for me. I very clearly remember being at the 90% mark in this novel and thinking, this is not going to end well, in that there was no way the resolution would be satisfying for me.

Unfortunately, I was right. I strongly disliked the way the book ended, because even though overall it was really cute, the ending ruined things a bit. It rushed to provide a happily-ever-after without giving me a sense that things were over, that all loose ends had been tied. Mostly, however, it was just plain disappointing, seeing as to how much I loved the story itself.

All in all, I really enjoyed this, if not for the ending. I would definitely recommend it to readers who want a bit more than just another rom-com, leaning almost towards women's fiction, or an all-around funny main character.

I very much enjoyed this book. I love good romances and witty characters. I like to stay spoiler free with my reviews.

What I liked:
I liked the characters, they felt real, and the story was a very nice light read. I liked how the characters worked together. I don't even know what to say exactly because I'm just content and happy with it.

What I didn't like / Would have wished for:
At some points i didn't like the writing style to much, but I can't pit point what I didn't like so it's a rather minor criticism. The whole books was working up to the two mayor events and in the end they somehow felt a little rushed. I wish the author took some more time on them and the resolutions of conflict. I also felt the conclusion of the romance also seamed a little early. Maybe I just wish the book was longer. I would have liked to follow the story of the characters further.

In conclusion liked the book, wished to story was longer, went at some point in more detail. Still would definitely recommend for a nice romance read, with witty characters that nicely harmonize. A huge thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author to let me read this book.

My rating system:
5 Stars: If I couldn't put a book down and highly enjoyed it. In addition, if it made me think and reflect it's a huge plus.
4 Stars: I very much liked it it gave me feels, and I would definitely reread. However enjoyed it a
little less then a 5 Star book.
3 Stars: It was a nice read I liked it but it doesn't make me feel as invested/ involved as a 4 star book.
2 Stars: It was alright but maybe not my cup of tea.
1 Star: I must have hated it.

I appreciated that this had a slightly different premise, and that the main character was moving both backward and also forward in her life. It was very much a message of 'find the silver lining.'

This was the first novel I’ve read by this author. Katherine and Lainey’s friendship is very realistically relatable. Katherine and Kit’s back and forth chemistry is addicting and cute! While it was a bit slow to start, it ended up to be a great book. I love Katherine’s relationships with the other characters in this book but her own character growth was perfect!

Before I dive into my review, let me preface with this: Give this book a try. Despite my review, please do!

Alright. So. I really wanted to love this book, and kept attempting to persuade myself that I should keep on reading, in hopes that I would fall in love with it. Ends up though, that this read just was not for me.

I wasn't drawn into the story, the main character's struggles, battles, nor her inner thoughts. I did not find myself cheering her on, which was an upset. The supporting characters tended to fall flat. I also wasn't drawn into the love interest and the main character's interactions with him. At more times than I had wished, their interactions felt forced. At first, the main character and her potential love interest are at great odds– almost like an enemies to lovers vibe –but then there's an automatic switch that is turned on, and bam, no longer enemies and straight to lovers.

Specifically, I think that is what did it for me– both characters were very aggressive towards each other, which put up some red flags in my mind. And instead of a slow burn or slightly coaxing the reader along with the characters as they fall for each other (without admitting it to themselves, love it when it's an inner struggle), it happens all of the sudden, like a dam breaking. Which some might like, but for me, it seemed a tad bit unrealistic and my heart was not into it.

I will say though, I was drawn to the parts when the main character talks about photography, since I'm a professional photographer. I did enjoy this, and it was cool seeing my job portrayed in a novel, as it rarely is (even though sometimes I read to *escape* my job, but, in this case, I didn't mind it).

All in all, this book just was not for me. It will be for some, and I'm probably a small percentage who just was not feeling it, so don't completely discard this read due to my review. If anything, pick it up and like I said, give it a try! You might find yourself falling in love with it and the characters!

Special thanks to NetGalley, HQ Digital, and Harper Collins UK for sending me a digital ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

4 stars!

i loved the writing style in this so much, and it was really easy to read. i also really loved the main character, katherine, and i’m honestly going to miss her now that it’s over. katherine is witty, she’s funny, and she’s determined. she’s just one of those main characters that you’ll remember reading about a long time after reading the book.

i also really enjoyed kit as a character, and i enjoyed both of their stories both as individuals but also their romance.

the pacing of the book was really good, which was another thing that made it easy to read.

overall, this was just such a fun time, and i’ll definitely be reading more books by this author!

The first half of this was a little slow for me. But the second half completely made up for that. I loved that there were no loose ends at the ending of this book. I adored how Kit’s personality blossomed through this read. I would have loved a little more banter between Katherine and Kit, but I can appreciate that the focus of this book wasn’t solely on a relationship. Really great and adorable read.

That book is incredible, exactly what I needed today.
Thank you for lifting my mood and providing a great escape.
Love love love it.

Sadly, I didn't vibe with this book. I just got bored throughout the whole reading experience and skimmed the latter half of it. It failed to pique my attention and interest. I still can see it being enjoyed by readers other than myself, though.

Please note that I received an egalley of this book from Netgalley, all thoughts are my own.

This review contains minor spoilers, please read with caution. (I'm actually not sure what I consider spoilers are, in fact, spoilers but they are for me so I wanted to give warning.) In short, I both enjoyed and didn't enjoy this book. There are things I really loved and others that bored me, which is why I rated it 3 stars.

This story was a roller coaster for me. For the majority of the book I was bored or annoyed with it, but not menough to stop reading.

I am torn about how I feel about these characters. On one hand, there were times they annoyed me and I wanted something different from them. On another I loved how real they are. They have faults and they each come into their own throughout the story.

By the time we get to some good drama and decent depth, there was less than 20% left in the book. I wanted more of the wedding and of the gallery being open! I feel like we have so much build up to both these events that, much like big events in real life, they ended far too soon.

I actually liked her with John in the beginning and was annoyed when I realized that she would most definately end up with Kit. But as the book went on, like our main character, I fell in love with her and Kit. I wanted more of them and their paintings and dark room! I want to see more of where they are now!

As I mentioned above, there were things that bored me. I was invested while reading, but for the most part every time I set it down I had no desire to pick it back up. Some of the day to day activities of eating and cleaning could have been shorted. On the other side, some things could have been longer and more in depth. There were parts of this book where I finished a scene and thought to myself "That's it?"

So, I suppose the main thing I had issues with was pacing and context. Overall I adored this story and the characters! I just wish some stuff was flushed out more and others not so much.

I loved the friendship between her and her best friend! There were moments where I felt like both of them were being not so great friends and in the end, their love for eachother and their friendship came through and they worked it out.

Back to the wanting things flushed out, what is happening to her dads store? Did the gallery do well enough for her to sign a longer lease? does she move in with Kit? does he move in with her? Does she rent the loft to her brother while she lives with Kit? Does he succeed in starting his own firm? Do her parents buy that yurt? What happened to John? Do Laney and Frank come visit and check out the gallery? I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS!!

If you're a fan of Hallmark movies, I would say pick this up. It has the feel of a Hallmark story and I adore it for that, I just wish I connected with it the entire story.

It didn't hit the spot with me. I just couldn't invest in our main characters relationship or the story in general. While it was a cute idea with the gallery and artist angle, it just didn't work. Maybe I wanted more passion and steam than I felt was there.

*** I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Katharine Patterson loves her life in London as an art curator, she has a friends with benefits arrangement with a hot lawyer and a regular Friday night drinks evening with her BFF Lainey, heck she's even got a great flat. Then she gets overlooked (for the third time) for a promotion and (yet again) her firm promotes an under-qualified guy. Thoroughly incensed she quits her job. Then when her FWB guy is less than available she dumps him and decides to move back home to Sheffield and open an art gallery.

But when she visits her father for lunch she's been set up with a supercilious, know-it-all local artist who criticises Katharine's teenage photography and makes sarcastic comments about snobby London galleries. Katharine can't think of anyone she likes less. Until she sees his work and realises he would be the perfect artist for her first exhibit.

I'm a sucker for enemies to lovers romance, throw in a life-changing decision and family angst and I'm all yours. I've read a couple of Belinda Missen's other novels and her heroines (at least in the ones I've read) do seem to throw over their old lives and start again. But that's not a bad thing.

This was warm, with a charming hero, full of friends and family, art and love (OMG also a man who makes you bread!) and I didn't want it to end.

Cute and romantic. I wanted it to sizzle more and be more alive, but it was still a good and fast read. The dynamic between the siblings is so fun that it's my favorite part of the book.

I loved this book! I was smitten with Kit and his ways from the beginning. What a match for Katherine! This book kept me up late into the night as I just couldn't put it down. I would definitely recommend this!

My rating went back and forth between 2 and 3 stars but overall I enjoyed the story so I went with 3 stars.

I have never read anything by this author and so I was going in completely blind to her style or how she writes her characters. The beginning of the book I found was really hard to get into and while now it makes sense to have had all of those chapters I was just waiting for it to get going. Despite the slow beginning I really enjoyed this book and loved the growth and change that we saw in the characters. It was a very sweet romance and I really loved Kit!

I really struggled a bit with the language of the book as I am from the USA and did not understand some of the lingo or phrases that were used. Some of them I was able to figure out, some just made no sense to me at all but luckily I was reading on my Kindle and could look things up otherwise I probably would have been very confused. There was also some of the ways that she described feelings that absolutely made no sense to me for example she said she didn’t know if she wet herself or if she was feeling this all encompassing happiness and that is just really weird to me.

Despite the language barriers and the slow beginning I did really enjoy this book and it was a cute summer beach read.

It was a good book, a fluffly story with a happy ending always helps me relax after a heavy plot fantasy book. The only thing i didt like about the book was the self doubt moments of our female main character, and i felt she had a lot of door mat moments and she didnt gave importance to the fact that people took advantage of her, this kind of stuff, for me, always takes something away from the book.

3.5 stars

Where to start with this book? This was my first book by Belinda Missen and while I thought the plot was good, the book felt choppy to me - I felt like it left certain days / events without fully finishing and we were thrust into the next day / event leaving me a little confused. It was not a bad book by any stretch of the imagination, but it certainly wasn't one of my favorites. In fact, this book took me three days to read and it's not even a long book - I found myself having to force the issue to get me to finish reading.

This book centers around Katharine, a 30 something curator who works all the time; has a complete dork for a boyfriend because he totally takes her for granted and she doesn't ever fight it; has a brother who is battling his own marital issues; has an eccentric father who remarried a wonderful woman many years after her mother passed away; has a best friend who is perhaps the most selfish friend around; and Katharine herself is going through an early mid-life crisis. When Katharine doesn't get the promotion she feels she deserves, she decides to quit it all - her job, her boyfriend, her home city of London to move back to her hometown three hours away to open her own art gallery.

As she tries to convince the best "local" artist to be her first showing, they may "accidentally fall in love". But this was no easy feat - Christopher pushes her away at every step and Katharine seems so forward to me. I honestly don't know how they fall in love because I just don't feel the chemistry.

There's many more side stories that happen along the way so I feel I haven't ruined the plot for anyone that hasn't read the book yet.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review. The opinions stated above are mine without biases.

I love a good enemy to lovers trope, or at least a dislike to love one, so I was super excited to get my hands on this one.

Katharine Patterson is going through some pretty major life changes and all in a very short amount of time. She quits her job, moves back to her home town, breaks up with her boyfriend, opens her own business, and meets an intriguing (but infuriating) artist.

I liked this book well enough, but I wanted more from certain parts. I didn’t totally buy the chemistry between the main characters, and wished there was more tension build up between them. Instead, it felt like the lead-up to Kat ending up back in her home was given too much focus and felt drawn-out to me.

But I liked Katharine’s journey to rediscover herself and her bravery in going out on a limb to create the life she wanted. Her courage was what endeared me to her the most.

All in all, it was a solid read, I’d just hoped for a little more depth and chemistry between the characters, and I didn’t find it to be the ‘laugh-out-loud funny’ I was promised. This book has been compared to Mhairi McFarlane’s writing, and I find her dialogue to be completely hysterical, so that was my expectation going into it.

4.5

Katharine uproots her whole life to move to her hometown and open her own art gallery. She meets Christopher and they initially clash, but soon they begin to fall for each other.

I love enemies to lovers. It's my favourite trope. I really enjoyed the characters and I found that Katharine was a very likeable character. It was adorable and I really liked the chemistry. I found that some of the side characters fell flat, but I honestly don't mind that in a romance book. My criteria for romance novels are: likeable characters, cute romance, happy ending. I'm very easy to please.

Cute, fun read! Love the cover! I really enjoy books that feature creative, artistic minded characters which this book had. I also really enjoy books that feature families, regardless of how goofy or quirky they may be, and this book definitely had some great family moments to enjoy reading about. Thanks Nergalley for the free advanced copy of this book.