Perfect for anyone who wants to read a book that will give you Hallmark movie vibes! Evangeline is working my dream job at a publishing company where she meets Roane. She's 33 and I love that this book focuses on two adults going through life.

This was a great contemporary romance featuring a solid “friends to lovers” structure. My first by this author, but the book lived up to the praises for her past works.

What I liked:
* Great location and supporting cast
* The “meta” way that the Shakespeare fan moves to a town where everyone is the living embodiment of various
plays, complete with a “If I Were a Man” hat-tip
* Tropey classic Romance format (we love these for a reason!)
* Bookshops and libraries are my kryptonite, these settings are always a winner

What I disliked
* Fatphobia. It is very important that Evie be “not like other girls,” but the hyper focus that she is just
tall/unique/curvy, but definitely Not!Fat! (as if that would be a bridge too far for someone to find her attractive)
missed the mark on body-positivity
* The handling of race, especially the “villagers don't see color” aspect could use some sensitivity reading.

Overall a good read that has me putting many other works by this author on my TBR list.

I love the Samantha Young On Dublin Street series! This was a very sweet fairy tale. More than one happy ending!

Much Ado About You picks up with thirty-something year old Evie Starling as her life hits rock bottom in Chicago. On a whim, Evie applies to run a quaint bookshop - Much Ado About Books - in the Northern English seaside village of Alnster. Evie is immediately welcomed into the small community, and even saves the local farmer's (and most eligible bachelor's) dog from a potential accident. The farmer, Roane Robson, quickly takes a liking to Evie where their friendship always walks the line of possibly something more. It's up to Evie to see past what is holding her back from welcoming Roane and happiness into her life.

This book was such a delight! I loved that there were so many sub-plots with such heart from the local villagers: involving emancipation from abusive guardians, a 30-year-old village feud that keeps two fated lovers apart and a tale of love and acceptance of an LGBTQ child. The author does a wonderful job of fully immersing the reader in this town with her poetic descriptions of the scenery, as well as her thoughtful inclusion of some tips about the local dialect through the main character's thoughts! As for Evie and Roane's relationship - WOW! I loved this tale of friendship to love - it was so heartfelt (and heart-racing), yet realistic! I loved every moment of it! Also, huge thank you to the author for making sure that Evie had not only a body type that I felt represented myself, but also including moments of Evie's introspection around her body-type!

If you loved - The Switch by Beth O'Leary, In A Holidaze by Christina Lauren, One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London, A Rogue of One's Own and Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore, Beach Read by Emily Henry or any other recent "friends to something more" romance novel - you're going to LOVE this one! I promise!

I came into this a big fan of Samatha Young. I adored On Dublin Street and Fight of Flight!! Much Ado about You seemed to have all the ingredients I usually love, but it fell a bit flat for me. The romance itself didn't give me a whole lot to latch on to. That said, I still enjoyed the idyllic UK setting and bookstores are still one of my favorite romance tropes. Not the best Samantha Young, but I'll still read anything and everything she puts out!!

I couldn't get into this book. I'm not sure if it was the writing or the plot but I was really struggling. DNF.

Sweetish- softish- swooning and absolutely Hallmark-ish, feel-definitely-good romance takes places in magical Northumberland!

And a lucky cow heroine having a dreamy holiday at this sweetest town, taking my dream job (a special bookstore with collections of Shakespeare plays) , meeting with friendly, quirky but also vivid town’s people ( I loved how the characters were portrayed in this story),flirting with charming farmer Roane!

Nope, I’m sold! Amazing escape opportunity from the compelling real life problems and stressful situations! Just open it and start your entertaining, lyrical journey at this small town, in this lovely bookstore!

Evangeline Starling struggles in her life. Since 10 years, she’s been working as an assistant position at the same publishing company. For 2 years, she stopped dating after her heartbreaking experiences but now she’s 33.

All of her friends moved on, getting married, changing their career direction, living their dreamy lives as she suffers from loneliness and emptiness. Of course she has also problems with her mother which holds to live her life fulfilled. Now her best friend is pregnant which makes her feel like third wheel at the other people’s lives.

After being stood up at her last date and losing the promotion to a 25 years newbie, she decides to think through what she has been doing wrong in her life. She plans to take a break, quitting her job, spending her 4 weeks at small English town, working in a bookstore, discovering the scenery which will help her gather her thoughts for making her fresh start!

But unfortunately when she jumps in from of a car to save a dog’s life, her heroic maneuver results in meeting with one of the hottest guys also the dog’s owner she’s ever seen in her life: farmer Roane Robson.

She promised herself to stay away from the men to find out who she is and what she really wants in her life but Roane is big distraction. He accepts to stay friends with her but why he needs to be so sweet, caring, protective. He’s the one, isn’t he?

Maybe staying friends is not good idea! Maybe he’s more than a 4 weeks long holiday fling but what if he’s hiding something which will be game-changer for her!

I already gave too much away. I had incredible time and visualize to spend my holiday at miraculous Northumberland and spending my time with those amazing fictional people.
I’m giving 4, Shakespearian, I feel good like I said I wouldn’t so good, I feel nice like sugar and spice stars!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for sharing this incredible reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.

This was so cute! I loved the characters. The village was a character in itself. I read Fight or Flight a couple years ago and purchased it for my library where it has been popular. I will buy this one as well, and expect that it will also be checked out often.

I enjoyed Much Ado About You at the beginning but it started to fall flat about half way through, and I kept waiting for the "punchline" to be delivered. Main character Evie promised to be a strong character but felt wishy-washy toward the end, and completely oblivious about what was really happening with her love interest, much hinted-at implied relationship deal-breakers which, in the end, didn't make a bit of difference after all the drama.

Solid 3 stars for the setting, I think Much Ado About You will appeal to a lot of readers but contained some of my own personal book pet-peeves which might not bother other readers at all.

*As always, not purchasing this adult title for my HS Library.*
Sooooooo......I go around and around with this one. It took me almost a full day to write this review because I wasn’t sure what I’d give it. Ultimately, it felt like a 3-4 type range.....maybe a 3.25? Here’s why:

There were some excellent lines, like “I am going to Much Ado About Nothing the shit out of this thing!” So that endears me to it right off the bat. I also adore the dog and dog focus in the story, as well as the setting. I mean, coastal England in the Spring and Summer??? Come on. Ridiculously good. I also like the development of the secondary characters.

However, all of that was overshadowed constantly by that tropes: 1-he’s immediately in love with her and 2-he’s the most beautiful man she has ever seen and 3-everyone automatically loves her in this tiny, insular, not very welcoming to most outsiders coastal town. It’s WAY overdone. And I just think there are too many lessons vying for solutions and so many other issues that muddy the waters.

A very cute book! I really loved the characters and especially liked Roane what an awesome character! The plot was really good and the twist was quite surprising I also really enjoyed the will-they won't-they and liked that it actually had some substance. Samantha Young is an awesome writer and I can't wait to read more from her!

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for providing an arc for an honest review!

I really liked Much Ado About You a lot. It was perfect for my unable-to-leave-the-States-because-of-Covid wanderlust. Roane was dreamy, the setting was dreamy, and owning a bookshop on the English coast is dreamy. There were 2 quibbles with this book that I had though: First, as Evie is describing herself at the beginning she says she's a bigger girl but is quick to say she's not fat and that she hates when she's called fat. Like... can we just not with that? Let not use fat as a bad word. Second, toward the end, Viola mentions that most people in the village didn't see the color of her and her dad's skin. Let's not with that either. Color-blindness has no place in 2020 and beyond.

I went into this book with high expectations since Samantha Young is one of my all time favorite romance authors and I was NOT disappointed! One of my favorite aspects of her writing is setting which is very unlike me. Placement rarely matters to me but the was she writes makes me feel like I’m there and falling in love with the cities themselves. Evie is so relatable as a character and I loved watching her grow and no longer accepting treatment she didn’t deserve. Romantic interests aren’t the only relationships that can be toxic and watching Evie navigate making her relationships and her own way of thinking better was 100% perfect. And I haven’t even mentioned the romance yet! SWOON ROANE SWOON. Can I run an English bookstore and meet a handsome farmer to sweep me off of my feet??? Absolutely loved this book.

I love Samantha Young! This book had me laughing and imagining myself as the main character. Imagining finding myself and falling in love in England while working in a quaint village at an adorable bookstore with a handsome stranger!

Such a fun read! I had NO idea you could actually RENT A FREAKIN' BOOKSTORE IN ENGLAND FOR A WHOLE MONTH. Um, if I could write a romance novel, I would 100% do what Samantha Young has done so well. Although I'm not a huge fan of insta-love, Evangeline's story was genuinely written and not easily tied together, which made for a joyful read. As Evangeline leaves her Chicago life behind her and decides whether to live the rest of her life in England (uh, with a hot English farmer? duh.), the reader is pulled into the story and characters who truly come to life--Caroline's side story is a heart-wrencher but wonderfully written. Loved it--for bibliophile romance readers everywhere!

As someone who's visited The Open Book bookstore/airbnb in Wigtown, Scotland, which serves as inspiration for this novel's setting, there was so much to enjoy about Much Ado About You! And I adored the way the author incorporated real-life places in Northumberland that had me rushing to google to find out more.

But there was one tiny snipped of dialogue that is going to make this book nearly impossible to recommend. This isn't my quirky opinion but the prevailing sentiment during a time when it's incredibly important to get the language right. My hope is that, with plenty of time between this review date (September 28 2020) and publication date (March 2 2021) that this line can be changed.

The lines appear at location 2941 in my egalley, when a Black character explains that, instead of the predominantly white community being racist towards her family, "most people are fine. They don't see my dad's skin color or mine..."

It's the "not seeing" color part that makes me uncomfortable, and I anticipate those lines doing the same for many potential readers. Please, edit this while you can!

Evie seems stuck in life. Her job has reached a complete dead end and online dating has left her struggling and alone. In a compulsive moment she packs up and heads to northern England to run a bookshop in a fishing village. By happenstance she soon meets Roane, a local hunk, ahem, I mean, farmer. He is hot for her and pulls no punches in blatantly showing his interest in Evie. She immediately feels the attraction, but sets up her boundaries, and boy, does she have some very specific criteria keeping her from him.
I found Evie to be somewhat contradictory. In England she is fully self-possessed. She espouses forgiveness, body confidence, trust, and tends to call everyone out in the town with no reservation. Yet she is the first to run off when she is challenged by someone. Young tries to give her some insecurities about her body, but otherwise, she's pretty full of herself, ahem, I mean confident, about her brains, her legs, and her opinions. I am just surprised that a woman with this attitude toward life and these new people she just met was stuck in a job below her ability and trapped in failed online dating attempts. The change from one woman to the other is so abrupt it makes the escape falter a little for me as a reader.
I also wanted to see a little more rounding out of Roane's character. It wasn't completely shallow, but about 50% of the way through I was growing tired of the same adjectives describing him.
Thanks so much for the ARC! I would give this a solid 3.5 to 4 star rating. A fun, sexy escape.

Until I read this wonderful book, I had no idea that you could pay someone to let you run an old bookstore in a cozy English village as a vacation. Where do I sign up? It's such a great premise, and very well fulfilled. Evie's career and love life have just taken a spectacular downward dive, and she impulsively books a holiday that will allow her to be the proprietress of a little bookstore. She immediately meets a handsome farmer from the area, and romance begins. But can it be real and lasting? Or is she too hurt, too vulnerable, and too much of an outsider for them to have a future?

I've enjoyed Samantha Young books, like the Hart's Boardwalk series, but I felt Much Ado About You was very stale, culturally inaccurate (cheerleaders and collegiate sports like basketball do not exist at most UK and European university), and a bit dull over all. I liked the premise of the book, a bit like the movie The Holiday, but I felt that the plot was predictable in ways that her other new title, The Truest Thing, was not. One thing I really did like is the age and maturity of the main character, and the struggles she felt with her best friend moving on without her in life (pregnancy) while also at a crossroads at her career. Overall, I would still recommend to her fans and newcomers as a whole, particularly since the market in contemporary romance right now seems to focus on fresh young things out of college with great career opportunities and acceptances of self.

This book was EVERYTHING I look for in a Contemporary Romance. Evie was so real and relatable. Her body wasn’t a perfect 10, she had insecurities and doubts and felt like everyone around her had found “The One” while she was getting stood up by guys she met on online dating apps. She had me rooting for her to finally find her HEA.
Roane... OMG, what can I say other than, SEXY FARMER with an adorable giant dog as a BFF!! SWOON!
This book made me want to pack up my life and move to Northumberland. It made me laugh, it made me sad, it made me mad! It gave me all the feels and I loved every page!
It was an awesome love story and I would recommend to anyone who loves a good slow burn without the angst and drama that a lot of other books have.