I was hoping to like this book based on the brief description. However, it was more than like. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It starts with 41-year old Lauren being left at the alter , and the fallout that unfolds after the fact. The book was an extremely easy read (start to finish in 2 days). The humor was wonderful. Often times I caught myself laughing out loud. I highly recommend!

Lauren Leo was left at the altar at 41, from a text her would-be husband sent to her sister. All her friends are married, have children and are living the life that Lauren dreamed for herself. She now has to pick up the pieces and figure out what she is going to do next.

This novel is a journey of self-love, understanding and learning how to love again. Lauren's growth during the book makes this a believable story, she has setbacks, makes assumptions and judges others but you can’t help but root for her to succeed. The story is realistic and down to earth.

I enjoyed reading this story and getting immersed in Lauren's life, but do wish that the romance was more prominent. The main message of the book is "You can't control what other people do, only yourself". It was a slower build but once you understood where all the characters were coming from you fall in love with them and don’t want to put it down. There are some good twists that move the plot along and keep it an entertaining read.

I would recommend this to anyone who doesn’t like a steamy romance novel but rather a cute love story in the context of a personal growth journey.

This is the first time I have read a book by this author and I really enjoyed it.

Lauren, got left at the altar by Eric. He texted Lauren's sister Stephanie to tell her. Margo her other sister did not attend the wedding.
Lauren left the wedding in the rain and went to the diner after that she went to her apartment and promptly went to work the next day. This is where the story of her getting herself back on track starts. Her sister Margo comes to stay with her and soon they all get their lives on tract.
Lauren, speaking up for herself and many other things.

Lauren is an inspiration in the book. So many women would be utterly broken by what Eric did to her, and she was, but she also found a strength inside her she didn’t know she had. It was lovely to read her family come together to support each other, and for her to finally have the guts to challenge her mother for the way she spoke to her and amongst all of the drama they were going through, this was a really funny and entertaining book. Margot and Rudy’s characters were probably my favourite, after Lauren’s of course. Overall an enjoyable and fun book that I raced through- would highly recommend.

This is the story of Lauren aged of 41, ditched at the alter on her wedding day via a text message sent to her sister Stephanie from her low life should of been husband..

We learn so much about Lauren through rothsteins great story telling. She's just a normal woman striving to be something in life and be someone to somebody. Wanting a family with children. She has a big insecurity about food and her weight which takes up a big chunk of her tale. (I may even say a little too much)
Her family takes on a big roll within the book. We delve into their stories and see just how important the support of a family is but also the struggles that come with it.

All in all it was an enjoyable easy read. I would of enjoyed it more without the constant hang up on Lauren's weight but still enjoyable all the same

3 stars

This was a fun and easy read that was a slow burner but that didnt make it a bad read like with some books. It was well written with good characters and a relatable storyline. It was an enjoyable read.

Crazy to Leave You delivers all we have come to expect from author Marilyn Simon Rothstein: witty dialogue; lovable, though imperfect characters; and not-so-perfect family dynamics. Underneath its lighthearted tone, however, is the story of 41-year-old Lauren’s battle to find her self-worth after her fiancé ditches her at the altar. Rothstein deftly takes Lauren on a singular journey to reclaiming her self-esteem as she learns to counter her mother’s body-shaming comments, tightens her bonds with her sisters, confronts her weaselly fiancé, and allows herself to love again. Combining heartache and humor as only she can, Marilyn Simon Rothstein has written another winner. Book Clubs are going to love Crazy to Leave You.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for my unbiased review.

I enjoyed reading Rothstein’s tongue-in-cheek inner dialogue as protagonist Lauren processed through the trauma of being left at the altar and her journey to finding herself through this. However, the plot was slow to develop and I found it difficult to stay engaged. While I understand that her weight plays a significant part of her story, I do wish she was portrayed with more dimension to her character.
(From a technical standpoint, I was unable to adjust the font size on my Kobo e-Reader which made it pretty difficult to read (haven’t had this issue with any other books)).

The book was simply enjoyable, without much fuss. There wasn't much to the plot, but the character exploration of the protagonist was commendable. There could have been more starking elements to the plotline.

Crazy To Leave You by Marilyn Simon Rothstein, overall, was a decent book. I loved seeing Lauren learn to stand up for herself and become a stronger person throughout the book. However, I felt that there was too much focus on her weight.
I did enjoy seeing the relationship between Lauren and Rudy grow. I did find it hard to believe that Rudy was a professional driver due to how to interacted with Lauren from the start.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advancecopy of this book. All opinions are my own.

This is a difficult read, it’s the first book I’ve read by the author so I will give them the benefit of doubt but the fixation on eating disorders distracted from the main story line I fel

I enjoyed Crazy to Leave You, it was super easy to get through + for the most part enjoyable. I did have a bit of trouble connecting to Lauren as a reader and found the focus on weight a bit jarring (as I did not expect it to be so prevalent from the get-go). However, I can absolutely appreciate what Marilyn was going for with this book in highlighting the effects of diet culture and the reality of eating disorders.

I can definitely see an audience for this book and think the message of making the most of a shitty situation and learning to love yourself will resonate with many people!

This ARC was kindly provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Bookreview „Crazy to leave you“ by Marilyn Simon Rothstein

Thank you NetGally for providing the review copy.

Statistics:
3.25 Stars
Spice-Level: 0
Character development: 8/10
Plot: 6/10
Trigger warnings:
Eating Disorder

My Thoughts:
I really enjoyed this book. It had some funny, some heartfelt, some infuriating and some awwee moments. Though it’s not your typical contemporary romance book. If you are more into the hot and steamy men drama or dreamy unrealistic fatelove (no judgment here from me here, I love both!) then this might be not your cup of tea. „Crazy to leave you“ is the self-acceptance journey of Lauren Leo. The main focus are the love for herself and dealing with her family. The story is realistic and down-to-earth, funny and believable.
The beginning was a bit to drawn out for my taste. It was rather long before finally, something happened. The idea of the plot was great, nevertheless, it was not always clear where the story is headed. I loved the age of the main character and her character development was amazing. Laurens weight and eating habits are a main topic in the book – be aware if this is something you are struggling with. The family drama, the revealing of secrets and that not everything is at it seems was skillfully written. All in all a good read that I finished in 2 days.

Tropes (SPOILER ALERT):
Self-acceptance, left at the altar, chauffeur love, standing up to the family, second chance

What do we learn from the book?
We can’t control what others might think of us, just how we handle it. No matter how flawed we or our life is, we can still make the best of it. Its never to late to love yourself.

#CrazyToLeaveYou #NetGalley


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Thank you NetGalley for this ARC.

I did not realize there would be SUCH a HUGE focus on her weight. (This could potentially be triggering for someone with an eating-disorder).

I found most of the characters really unlikeable. I did enjoy seeing the main characters growth throughout. This book wasn’t for me but it wasn’t bad by any means.

Lauren Leo is 41 years old and her now ex-fiancé just left her, on the day of their wedding. This sends her down a chaotic and complex rabbit hole and we see her fighting to overcome her self-destructive behaviour and tendencies to binge eat, which is something that she happens to have dealt with throughout her entire life.

Lauren’s relationship with food is a huge part of the story and her evolution did seem both realistic and believable, though I found it somewhat unpleasant that this was of such big importance to the plot of the novel. The first few chapters of this novel was filled with very vivid depictions of disordered eating that I at times had to force myself to read through, and that kind of put me off from the story.

Other than her fighting to overcome her negative self-image and the disordered eating, Lauren as a main character fell flat to me. She had all of these horrible people around her that kept pretending to want to best for her but who at the same time always behaved in the most condescending way possible. Her parents, her sister, and her ex-parents-in-law were all annoying and treated her like she was a child, which was probably so easy for them because Lauren didn’t stand up for herself. Personality plays a huge role here but at the age of 41 I expected for her to be able to speak up and set some boundaries, and maybe even cut ties with the people who have been treating her horribly for years.

It’s clear how Marilyn Simon Rothstein in this novel tries to shine light on diet culture and how destructive this can be. This is an incredibly important life lesson and is of course something that needs to be talked about more, though this novel wasn’t my favourite attempt at getting this message across. And with a novel about finding yourself and regaining confidence in yourself and your abilities, I expected for a better connection to the main character, which i unfortunately didn’t find here.

This ARC was kindly provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Left at the alter, Lauren is left to pick up the pieces. Her friends are all married, have children and are living picture perfect lives and Lauren is back into binge eating, avoiding conflict with her mother, and trying to accept her life hasn’t worked out the way she planned.

I enjoyed the novel and read through it fairly quickly. It was great watching Lauren finally learn to stick up for herself and fight for what she wants instead of taking the backseat to please others. I will say that in some parts the “woe is me and my life” vibe was a bit intense, almost in random portions and with her growth throughout, I thought some things weren’t as hardcore as I expected when she did stand up for herself. A fun read of a woman finally embracing what she wants in life and giving up on pleasing everyone else.

This book didn’t work for me. While the premise was interesting and the writing was okay I could not get past the focus on her weight. I understand that her weight was central to the story but the first few chapters were filled with so much disordered eating I could t continue

I absolutely loved this story, the characters, the writing, this was an amazing story!
Rothstein writes with a fresh voice that is colorful and in no way overdone.
She beautifully captures the characters and setting with ease!
While very humorous at parts, it was also extremely heartwarming and there was a lot of depth and character development of the main character. 
Rothstein's writing is warm and witty and so much fun!

Lake Union Publishing,
Thank You for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!
I will post my review closer to pub date.

Loved this book! I found it super funny and pleasant to read.. . The character growth and development was amazing & very enjoyable in this book.
I first felt sorry for her & the way she kinda feels about herself but I started to love her more into the book even tho sometimes she also got on my nerves 😂 but this just shows how great the developement is and how great the character is described! i loved it :)
Thank You so much NetGalley for the opportunity to read this in exchange of my honest review.

I must begin by stating that I have been a fan of Marilyn Simon Rothstein's books since I read both of her previous novels. Crazy To Leave You can be categorized as a contemporary novel with a large dose of Ms. Rothstein's humor and wit. As with her previous books, when you dig deeper, the reader discovers the reality of a dysfunctional family drama, the stigma of being overweight and left at the altar at the age of 41. Lauren Leo, the jilted bride, discovers that the grass is not always greener. I am a woman, who married for the first time in my early 50's (fortunately, I did not share Lauren's weight issues). The author accurately described the feelings of "shame" and "disgrace of not being married and being looked at as an oddity. I laughed and I cried with Lauren as she came back from defeat and learned to ask for what she needs and triumphed and found goodness and love in her life. Thank you to Marilyn Simon Rothstein for writing this heartfelt and funny drama. Also, thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!