Another lovely story from Amanda Prowse, set in Cornwall beautifully descripted with characters you want to read more about. Thank you netgalley for the advance copy

A funny bittersweet read filled with moments of heartbreaking loss but the relationship between Merrin, Ruby and Bella adds a sense of humour to the story ,Amanda wrote in the back of the book that She wants to write the type of story that the reader finds difficult to leave down and She does that time and time again, while I was at work, I was thinking about the book and while I’m not always keen on a happy ever after, it was justified in this book.

Any book by Amanda Prowse is guaranteed to be a good read and this one is no exception. Her characters are always so well described that you feel like you know them. Merrin was a lovely character and I felt such pain and sympathy for her but it all worked out for her in the end. Great description of Cornwall and all round great story. Five stars from me and highly recommended.
Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read an early ARC

Mending Your Heart

This is a remarkable story of family love and of a small town. Scandals, rumors and a wedding that didn't happen. It is about forgiveness and letting go, about learning to live and love after your heat has been broken and you have been humiliated and devastated by one that you loved and trusted with all your heart. It is a story of returning home to a family and a town that loves you as much as you love it.

When Merrin is left at the altar waiting for the groom that never shows she is completely heartbroken. She moves away and starts a new life far from her family and the lovely seaside village she grew up in and loved with all her heart. It is only the death of her beloved father that brings her home.

Once home she realized this is where she belongs and decides to stay. However along the way she must mend her heart as she once again rebuilds her life and regains her confidence. Only when she confronts those that hurt her so badly and forgives them can she find peace.

I really loved this story of love and hope amongst heartbreaking events. It is truly a wonderful story and I know you will enjoy it as much as I did. I recommend this book.

Thanks to Amanda Prowse for writing a great story, Lake Union Publishing and Amazon Publishing U.K. for publishing it and to NetGalley for making it available to me.

Amanda never fails to create likeable characters who have you rooting for them, and Merrin is no exception. I was instantly taken to the Cornish coast and involved in the lives of the lovely characters I found there. Another very enjoyable read from one of my favourite authors.

another good story from Amanda Prowse. She does not disappoint a very good read.. Thanks NetGalley and the Publisher

Thank you to Amanda Prowse and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy.
I’ve read several of Amanda’s books and thoroughly enjoy her writing.

We all want to Love and Be Loved. In this story we find a young couple (Merrin and Digby) in a small fishing village, madly in love and ready to be married. He comes from wealth and she is the daughter of a fisherman. Life doesn’t always work out as we imagine it. Merrin flees her beloved village and settles into a new life for many years until tragedy calls her home. Sibling discord, well-kept secrets, confessions, forgiveness and love. Another smashing novel by Amanda Prowse!

I hold my hands up and say that Amanda Prowse as one of my favourite authors, she never fails to produce fantastic books and I’m always looking forward to any new books she writes..

Amanda has such a unique gift of understanding and explaining everyday lives and events which makes the reader connect to the characters so easily. As I was reading the book I was matching some of the characters to people that I know in my life and the similarities were remarkable. Also some of the life experiences I have had were so well portrayed it was like the author could read my mind.

Overall this book was about love. being in love and the consequences of love breaking down. The absolute heartbreak of a breakup was so well portrayed it brought tears to my eyes. I felt so much for the main character Merrin. I was hoping she would find her happy ending. How our roots and upbringing impact on our lives and choices were also beautifully explored.

I really loved the Cornish setting and I could imagine the sea breeze on my face as I turned the pages. I was sad to finish this book and can only say Amanda you have done it again, I don’t know how you manage to write books each one unique but each one equally brilliant..

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for my chance to lose myself in this fantastic book

Merrin and her family live in Cornwall. When she faces devastation in a situation in her life, Merry decides to move away from her home, family, and friends. After a time, filled with many ups and downs, she begins to realize that she is still blessed with many who love her, leading her to an eventual life filled with love.

this was such a sweet and precious book, i will keep it close to my heart for always. thank you netgalley for always blessing me with beautiful books.

3 Stars

One-Liner: Some great side characters, but not enough.

*Minority Opinion*

Merrin was in love and excited to marry her beau, Digby. She could see her entire future with her family and Digby in Port Charles, Cornwall. It was her home, after all. But the day of the wedding leaves her shattered and vulnerable. Merrin leaves her home in the fishing village to rebuild her life.
Six years have passed, and Merrin has a life of her own away from home. She doesn’t want to go back but has no choice when a tragedy strikes. Merrin realizes what she missed by leaving her community and dear ones and changing into someone she isn’t. Back home, Merrin has to decide who she is and what she wants from life. What does her future hold? Is she willing to move on and be truly happy?
I’ve had some of the author’s previous books on my TBR list for a while. When this one showed up in the Read Now section on NetGalley, I decided to go ahead and give it a shot.
Plus Points:
• Ruby (Merrin’s older sister) and Bella (Merrin’s bestie) are two fab characters in the book. Merrin’s mother was just as good.
• The tension between Ruby and Merrin is a highlight of the book.
• Women have a larger role to play (as expected) throughout. They are the decision-makers.
• Beautiful descriptions of Cornwall. Something different from the city/ small town descriptions I usually read.
Not-so Plus Points:
• The narration is too slow. I understand slow beginnings, but this one is slow from start to finish. At no point did I want to read fast to know what happened next. The story went its own sweet way.
• Despite Ruby being painted as the insecure sister, Merrin seemed self-absorbed in many scenes. It was about her most of the time. Even when I understood what she went through, I couldn’t continue feeling sad for her for the rest of the book.
• Multiple POVs (in the limited third person) but none for Ruby. I wanted to know her more. She seemed more real and vulnerable than many others.
• No clear indication for time leaps. We won’t know that a few months/ years have passed until we read the first 2-4 paragraphs in a chapter. Makes it a little hard to track the timeline.
• The happy ending was good, but bringing a new love interest in the last chapter somehow didn’t work for me. Given what Merrin repeats throughout the book, it felt surreal.
• Some weird adverbs (I forgot to note them but I remember wondering why they had to be used).
To sum up, To Love and Be Loved has its merits but hasn’t been a noteworthy read for me. Pick it up if you want something slow and sedate with bursts of emotions.
Thank you, NetGalley, Amazon Publishing UK, and Lake Union Publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

To Love and Be Loved by Amanda Prowse is the story of Merrin Mercy Kellow, a young woman from Cornwall, England who finds the love of her life only to have it dashed away at the last minute in humiliating fashion. Unable to stay in her small village where she's the talk of the town, she takes off to recover, to sort out her life and to discover what she wants and if she can live away from the land and people she loves. Eventually she returns, but can she ever be happy there again?

Amanda Prowse once again hits it out of the park with a heartfelt novel filled with love and compassion. You won't want to put this one down...her descriptions of the Cornish landscapes will speak to your heart. Thank you to the author, Amazon Publishing UK, Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

This author is one of my favourites and I was so excited to be able to start to read this and as always was blown away by this authors ability to be able to get right to the heart of human emotion. This was a book above love and being in love and also the consequences of love breaking down and learning to love yourself again. I couldn’t put this down once I had started reading and read it in a couple of days and felt like I had been transported to the Cornish village it was set in. I would love a sequel to this to see how merrins journey in life continues

Amanda Prowse never disappoints and I LOVED her latest, To Love and Be Loved. Loved this story, loved the characters and loved the setting. Might be the favorite of mine to date!

Thank you to net galley for the arc in exchange of an honest review.

I absolutely love Amanda’s books and To Love and Be Loved wasn’t any different. Merrin lives in a quaint little Cornish village and about to marry the love of her life. Getting jilted at the altar wasn’t what she expects to find when she arrived at the church! Devastated, she realised she needs to move away if she is to get over it.
Will she ever come back to the village?

I found the book a little old fashioned at times but then I realised that many quiet villages are a little slower at getting with the times! A lovely read

Another Amanda Prowse book I enjoyed although I did find with this one there were just too many tears and grief. Romance on so many different levels plus the solidarity of families and friendships. I did find the main character, Merrin, a little weak and frustrating at times but there were some terrific peripheral ones. Somewhat old fashioned overall with the scenes in Cornwall stuck in a time warp but enchanting nonetheless. The ending was a little unexpected and rushed but then again, some of the earlier passages were a little drawn out particularly all the teary ones!

Thank you NetGalley for my advance Ebook, To Love and Be Loved by Amanda Prowse. I am a fan of this author and she did not disappoint with this one! Merrin gets stood up at the alter and needs to rebuild her life and her confidence. Luckily, she has great friends and family that stand behind her and support her leaving home to accomplish this in hopes she returns stronger. Although, I did feel this book dragged at times, I enjoyed the characters and was a little surprised at the ending. I will be recommending this book for my book club.

I sometimes felt I was reading a historical novel. It was only when I read that Merrin was using a mobile, partway through, that I realised the story was set in modern day. It was so old-fashioned - the girls were all so old-fashioned in their attitudes, their main goal in life to marry, make a home, have kids. I didn't really warm to Merrin. Yes, what happened to her was terrible, but her subsequent actions were OTT. There were overlong passages, and it was saccharine sweet at times, all about home sweet home. I did like the description of the scenery. Bella's character was great. I also thought the ending to be realistic. With thanks to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Merrin and her family live in a beautiful coastal fishing village in Cornwall. She can’t imagine ever leaving, her roots are tethered to the land she loves.

Everything seems perfect when she meets the man of her dreams- Digby, the son of a wealthy local landowner- and he asks her to marry him. As the wedding day approaches, tension spirals between Merrin and her older sister, Ruby, causing a dark cloud over the fairytale story of the rich boy and the fisherman’s daughter. But then Merrin is left at the alter and her idyllic life falls apart.

Hurt and demoralized by the well-meaning village gossip, Merrin does the unthinkable and flees her home.

Years pass as Merrin tries to regain her lost confidence. She has a relationship with a kindhearted, handsome chef, but her heart is still damaged, and she can’t fully invest in the relationship.

It takes a wedding and a devastating loss before Merrin finally faces her fears and can move on with her life.

I enjoyed the rich coastal setting and the captivating characters in this story but felt Merrin overreacted to an admittedly horrible event. It cost her dearly in the end. I also couldn’t accept the last-minute addition of a love interest who becomes the love of her life- all in the last chapter or two of the book. I think it would have read better if she woke to the realization of how much the chef meant to her.

Overall, an enjoyable read.

What a book! It was so good I didn’t want to put it down. I’ll be recommending it for my Book Club along with reading more by this author. Well written.