I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. This book wasn't for me. The main character has just turned her life upside down and is trying to work out too. She's a very anxious person, and the dialog of her anxiety triggered my anxiety.

A quick and easy read that I found myself picking up after a long day to unwind. The characters are beautifully written and I came to love them within the first few pages and was rooting for them all the way to the end. At times I wanted to stop reading because I just wanted the experience to go on for longer.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: May 23, 2022

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Kat is having a mid life crisis early. In the span of 20 minutes her boyfriend dumps her and her boss fires her. All this while she is at the gym, trying to work out for the first time. Her overwhelming anxiety causes her to become agoraphobic and completely unable to leave the fancy gym she just joined. While evading security and flirting with Marcus the hotttie personal trainer is fun, can Kat overcome her own demons to rejoin the world outside the gym?

I struggled with this one. I don’t particularly like the narrative and I found that Kats anxiety was triggering my own. While I like this book in theory I didn’t enjoy reading it.

#Comehereoften #bookouture #Elliecenter #bookstagram #booknonrecommendation #notaromance

I have a bit of an obsession with covers like this. It’s no secret that I love a unique rom-com and I rarely read the synopsis or any reviews of them before diving in. Therefore, I was thoroughly surprised by the contents of this book and had a great time!

Kat Noad has just signed up as a paid-in-full member of the Great Fitness health club in Nashville, when she is ceremoniously fired and then dumped over the phone within an hour of being there. Her anxiety is triggered and she discovers that she simply can’t leave the place. Every time she tries to walk out of its doors, her body goes into panic and she is sent rushing back inside its safe walls. So just how long can Kat stay within the confines of this warm, welcoming haven before she is caught?

The health club is a huge place with all of the regular fitness facilities as well as a bar, shop, salon and wellness rooms. It’s easy for someone to live there undetected and I can imagine a lot of people would want to do exactly that. The entire narrative apart from the very end takes place inside Great Fitness, so be aware of that if you don’t particularly gel with claustrophobic plots!

I have found that spas and health clubs tend to be calming places with a focus on the inner self and relaxation. All thoughts go inward and it’s so easy to forget real life outside of its doors. Therefore, regular visits to them do wonders for anxious people. While I loved wandering around the place with Kat, I kept willing her to leave and I’m afraid I did find it a bit farfetched that she apparently couldn’t.

The description of Kat’s panic attacks definitely rang true and the author really nailed the physical pain of them. It does feel like you’re going to die and I certainly felt Kat’s fear and utter loss of what to do. Although it wasn’t stated, I got the feeling that she perhaps hadn’t had a panic attack for a while because naturally, she didn’t self-soothe or handle it very well at all.

I thought the discussion and treatment of anxiety sufferers was done really well. It’s true that sensitive people are more prone to mental illness in general. However, I would never have put Kat in that category at all. Apart from her understandable heartache over the loss of her dog, I didn’t think she showed much evidence of being a particularly warm or sensitive person. In fact, she was quite spiky at times. So, I think I’d have liked a better character who was easier to sympathise with.

Come Here Often? is a unique story, exploring mental illness and how severe anxiety can be triggered. However, I did find it quite implausible and I was confused as to why it was being described as a rom-com. Due to the seriousness of what was actually going on with Kat, I didn’t laugh once and the romance wasn’t really the focus at all, so I certainly wouldn’t say it’s a rom-com. It’s simply an account of a woman struggling to come to terms with her new reality and hiding from it in a cosy, safe place. While that’s relatable, Kat sadly wasn’t particularly likeable, causing a cocktail of mixed feelings as I finished it.

This was a very interesting read. I was a little unsure at first but I soon adapted to the style of writing and found it quite enjoyable. Kat is the main protagonist who has anxiety issues which stops her from leading a normal life but it has been written in a fun way although still delivering the core issue. I did find it funny in many places and enjoyed meeting the characters along the way. I think this is a good debut novel and would be interested in the next novel as and when it is published.

this book was great!! the only thing with this book was that i found some of the writing to be a little clunky? i dont know if that makes sense but there was a really great emotional thread throughout that kept me reading!! and the concept of the book was amazing i thought that it was really well done!! thanks for this arc!!

I really enjoyed this book, it's main character is funny yet in a heart warming way. Good book topic and relatable. The cover is also eye catching.

Kat is having the worst of days. Her boyfriend signed her up to a gym, in attempt she goes to check it out but two phone calls inevitably changes massive things in her life. Now stuck in the gym, crippling with anxiety and having no prospects of walking out of that gym, she spends a couple of nights in the safety of the gym to wrap her head around all the changes that will follow when she walks out.

Off the bat the book starts of fine, it just got worse for me as it progressed. The representation of anxiety wasn’t really written well for me, and for a books premise that made it sound like a romcom, there was absolute no humor, and like 20% romance max. The first few chapters gripped me and had me invested, and kept me going because I expected that level of writing again, and it just didn’t deliver.

Just not for me.

I really wanted to give this a try in hopes to enjoy it. However, any book that starts off being fired and dumped is never a go for me.

I could never fall in love with Kat even though the author tried so hard to make me.

I am not sure how I feel about this book. I enjoyed reading it but it seemed a bit far fetched, but I did like that the author showed how debilitating anxiety can be for some people.

It had a happy ending but there are some awful things brought up in the book, which may upset some people (her anxiety isn't just down to the dog as some other reviews have stated) but they aren't focused upon. A nice summer easy read, (unless you have anxiety!)

A fun read, with real issues facing the main character. I found her journey very realistic, and relevant to today with anxiety and the rat race etc pulling us all into stress we haven't encountered before. I rooted for her to find her head, and the moments of humour and romance were perfect. A great read, will read more from this author!

The book is a bit different not sure if it is my sense of humour but didn’t really find it funny, it also deals with anxiety there is a bit of romance but not much.

Kat is having her first session at the gym she was signed up for but we see how her first day goes and this where her problems start she can’t seem to leave the gym. So she ends up stuck there until she comes up with a solution of how to extract herself.

I thought I would enjoy the book but I am afraid it didn’t really grip me like I thought it would.

I absolutely howled with laughter reading this book. Kat is an incredible character and there’s a bit of her in all of us. The events of her life are pretty awful but so comically entertaining making this such an enjoyable read

the plot was a bit slow at times and the fmc wasn’t loveable at all. also, this book is described as being a romance but there was hardly any. the only thing i really enjoyed was the ending.

I struggled with this book but it was 100% me and not the book. Having anxiety myself, it was really hard to engage because I didn't want to experience the MC's anxiety with her. The first part of the book stressed me out until I decided to skim the rest of the book. I wanted to know what happened but didn't want to delve any deeper into the book.

This was a super quick and easy read, perfect for a long journey or holiday! I found this enjoyable and loved the journey that Kat went on personally, however I do wish that we could have seen deeper connections and relationships built as it did feel a little surface level and rushed at times.

What an interesting premise about finding romance of all places, but I’m a gym! Kait was a fun, interesting, and relatable character. I loved her sense of humor and determination. Marcus was a great live interest as well. I definitely was flipping the pages well into the night and can’t wait to read more from this author. Thank you Bookouture for the honor. It was so fun to see if Ellie was going to get caught or not! She had such a fun journey to follow. Funny, uplifting, and heartwarming,


Summary:

My name is Kat and I have a confession. For the last week, I’ve been secretly living in the gym.



Let me set the scene for you… It was my first day working out. Ever. My idea of fun is lifting Dunkin’ Donuts, so as if exercising wasn’t bad enough, it got a lot worse. In the space of minutes, my boyfriend dumped me over the phone and my boss fired me.



Cue a Code Red panic attack. Now, no matter how hard I try, my anxiety is stopping me from physically walking out of the door, back into the hot mess of my life.



So now I’m stuck here, spending night after night sleeping on massage tables, escaping security guards and hiding from my ex. Flirting with personal trainer Marcus, who’s carved like a Greek god and has a smile that makes my stomach flip-flop, is the silver lining to this craziness.



But what happens if I get caught? Can I finally sort my life out? And how personal is too personal when it comes to personal trainers?

I couldn’t get through this. The main character was frustrating (I didn’t stick around to see if she got over herself) but the whole whiney “I need my Xanax” and referring to her anxiety as the big A just had me rolling my eyes.
Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this but meh

This book is about anxiety. The main character is Kat. She is given a membership at a fitness center. She goes on to the fitness center for the first time, she meets lots of people but she has trouble too. First her boss calls and fires her and then she talks to her boyfriend of five years, he breaks up with her. She tries to go out the door of the fitness center but her anxiety will not let her go out the door. She tries again and again she evens passes out when she tries. But eventually she does make and finds another job.

Thank you to NetGalley and all for an ARC copy in return for an honest review.
It started out strong but fell flat. This is marketed as a romantic comedy, however, the romance isn't developed until the epilogue, and then it's not who I thought it would be. Also, it got really repetitive really fast.
I did really appreciate that it discussed anxiety and how debilitating it can be. I also liked the writing style, it had an easy flow.