Something is VERY WRONG here...
I understand the low ratings this book has been getting, because when you pick it up, believing it to be a romantic comedy, you are 100% going to be disappointed.

It is NOT a romantic comedy... It is, however, a very deep look into anxiety, and how crazy it can seem for everybody else than the person living in it.
Why, oh why do the publishers want to give such an important topic anything else than the seriousness it deserves?!?

I loved the story for all the "cringe" moments that I, too, have experienced with my anxiety.

I absolutely hate how this book is being advertised.

5 stars for the story - 0 stars for the marketing

In today's society everybody seems to have anxiety, there is not a week that goes past, when I here somebody say this or that gives them anxiety and stresses them out. I am not saying that their anxieties are not genuine, however there are different levels of anxiety. This novel is quite an eye opener into the world of somebody who is living with high level anxiety, and just how difficult it can be and how much it overpowers their life.

Kat's world is a little messy, her beloved support companion "Lily" a golden retriever has passed away and Kat is missing her terribly. She has resorted to drinking excessively with her girlfriends of an evening and is getting sloppy in her performance and attitude at her workplace.

Her long term boyfriend, Sam, of 5 years had gifted her a membership to a fancy new gym, and one day Kat decides today, is going to be the day I am going to make some changes. She goes to the gym and registers, does a tour of the fancy gym, which has multiple different classes, a cafe, a bar, a child care, massage rooms, swimming pool etc. Once Kat has finished the tour, she decides to hop on the exercise book for a bit, after a brief 4 minutes she is exhausted and then her phone rings it is her work number. Kat is terminated from her job effective immediately. She is furious and decides to do a few more rounds on the bike, taking out her frustrations on the bike.

Kat decides to give Sam a call, tell him that she is at the Gym, as he would be proud of her, for taking the plunge. Sam is unhappy with Kat, after a big fight they had the previous evening, and says it has been coming, and he then proceeds to break up with Kat, as he says she is not the same person she was when they were first dating.

By now Kat is at a complete loss, and is falling apart, she does not know what to do next or how to control her emotions, she attempts to leave the health club, but finds her anxiety is kicking in highly and she cannot force herself to take the last few steps out the front door.

Kat decides to wander around the gym, she discovers Yummi's cafe, the bar where she orders herself some drinks. She relaxes by their swimming pool, has a spell in their Sauna. The gym also has massage rooms, a hairdresser and beautician, a shop that sells clothes, shoes and underwear, a child care centre. This Gym has everything, so much in fact, you could practically live there.

I found myself getting cranky at the character Kat, at times I wanted to shake her and say come on, you can do this, and at other times I was in tears with her, feeling her pain and stress levels.

It is extremely sad to see how she turned to alcohol in her times of needs, and the thoughts of Zanax were never out of her mind.

Kate Hanford did a great job as Narrator and make the novel, interesting and a pleasure to listen to.

This books shows us the difficulties and the strains of living with high level anxiety.

Thank you NetGalley, Bookouture Audio and Bookouture a for this advanced audio. This book is available to purchase from May 23rd, 2022

3 Stars: It was a good book and well-crafted. I would recommend it to the right person.

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I honestly do not know what to think of this book. I think it was extremely mischaracterized, it is not the silly romance that is is introduced as. This book is filled with dark themes that I felt were not adequately warned for in the description of the novel. It took me a long time to get through it because it was anxiety producing and I was having trouble listening for more than a chapter at a time.

The writing is good, the author is clearly talented and created a dynamic world filled with interesting characters. But this is in no way a rom com. It is being marketed for the wrong genre, and there are no proper trigger warnings to be found. The synopsis mentions the panic attacks and anxiety obviously, but the level of in depth mental health issues described with no warning is quite honestly terrifying. By the end, I felt zero connection to any of the characters and just was glad that I had gotten through the book without having a panic attack myself.

Yes, this is a good book and I did enjoy it once I understood what it was actually about. But I think that the romance element is nonexistent, and this would have been better marketed as just contemporary fiction. Please check trigger warnings before picking this up.

The cover and title of this book is very misleading. It seemed like it would be a cutesy romance book and I kept waiting for it to take that turn. The entire theme of the book is anxiety, which I think portrays it in a poor light. It glorifies health clubs and makes it seem that they can help solve life problems, to the point where Kat doesn't want to leave the gym because life is so good there. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Come Here Often? By Ellie Center was an interesting read. I’m not sure what I was expecting to listen to when I started the audiobook, but that was not it.

I really like the idea of the author shining a light on anxiety and how it effects some people. But I felt that it was very slow paced and repetitive.

Overall it was a good book to listen to and did like the mental health aspects that we discussed.

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for a copy of this audiobook. This is my honest voluntary review.

I think my main issue with this book is that it's simply marketed wrong as a rom-com. Once I got over that disappointment (at 60% through there was still no romance) I began to appreciate it for what it was; a dramedy. The reader spends most of the book listening to Kat's inner musings about her anxiety and her break up with Sam. I didn't understand why she felt that she was better off without him...he was definitely better off without her at the beginning of the book.
There is humour in the book and Kat is quite droll. She's an Eleanor Oliphant kind of character. I loved how she grew as a person and was more likeable as the story progressed. I really liked Sam and I thought it would have made a better rom-com if they had reconnected at the gym, got jealous of each other over all the flirting with other people there and eventually wind up back together. After all, they spent five years together and had been crazy about each other. However, the story does end in a satisfyingly uplifting way.
The audio production of this book is excellent. The narrator does a great job of performing Kat and made my enjoyment of the book that bit more heightened.

Oooooooofff, unfortunately I had to DNF this one at 18%. I just hated the main character and found her unlikeable and annoying. I also wasn't a fan of the portrayal of anxiety (this may not be true for everyone) because it didn't really match up to my own experiences, and I felt like the self-talk and the actions that came as a result of the anxiety weren't realistic. It's possible that the narrator influenced this aspect, though.

I'll be honest this book was not for me. I was expecting a very funny very flirty novel... and it was lacking romance. Tthe cover, the title, the marketing all made me believe my heart would be melting over love... tad misleading.

well it did have very good anxiety rep I didn't go in thinking that anexity (Big A) would be the main focus of the novel. I found the charcter a little bit insufferable and honestly kinda brought me down... my heart was not melting with love more like filled with pity.

This was such a complex tale of mental health which delved deep into anxiety, panic attacks and isolation through Kat’s experiences of handling sudden big changes in her life and also her past trauma. It was a really valuable read that I learned a lot from - it encourages empathy and compassion, and it’s impossible not to feel for Kat and all that she’s going through. There were moments of humour in the book but I don’t think the blurb conveys the tone of this book too accurately. I was expecting something light, humorous and romantic and yet this was quite a heavy book handling the difficulties of mental health struggles. I’m still happy to have got my hands on it and felt that I learned a lot, but would have enjoyed a bit more of the lightness and humour I was expecting - especially since it’s self-proclaimed as perfect for fans of Beth O’Leary and Emily Henry.

I imagine this could be a great book for people who suffer with anxiety and struggle with change but expect to be filled with your own anxious feelings throughout Kat’s struggle - I wanted so desperately for her to break herself out of Great Fitness and find a solution to her problem, meaning I was on edge waiting for her to get caught! However, the story had a lot of unrealistic elements and was far more character driven than plot driven, which isn't my preference.

📚BOOK REVIEW: Come Here Often, by Ellie Center📚

Format: audiobook
Rating: 3.5/5
2022 Read #: 52/100

I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to read this book ahead of release thanks to Bookouture

This book is billed as a romcom, though to me it was light on both Romance and Comedy. Kat has severe anxiety and is prone to panic attacks. And one day, after her life falls apart mid workout at a luxury health club, she becomes too anxious to leave. And so Kat begins living at Great Fitness.

As someone with a lot of anxiety, this book was not necessarily the easiest read for me. The descriptions of anxiety and Kat’s panic attacks were visceral and a lot to take in. I related a little too well to her journey, even though my anxiety has never trapped me in a gym.

And the gym- well it sounds like the greatest gym in the world. A shop where you can buy workout gear, heels, and bandage dresses??!! A hair salon that manages to fix the one thing about your hair you’ve always hated?! A bar??!! This gym has everything, including plenty of celebrities! Apparently Jake Gyllenhaal amongst them. Sign me up so I can ask about the scarf!!!

Anyway, Ellie has created a world that is believable and characters that are so real that it is uncomfortable at times. I highly recommend. It reminded me of Evie Drake Starts Over.

Come Here Often is available now!

Thank you to @netgalley for providing me with a copy to review.

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DNF at more or less 50% of the audiobook.

I stopped reading halfway through the book. This book has a description that in no way corresponds to what it really is. This book is not a romantic comedy. The main character suffers from many mental issues and I couldn't continue this audiobook, even the narrator herself gives off a melancholy vibe. It's a very heavy book, not at all what I was expecting when I requested the arc version.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing the audiobook for an honest review. I am very sorry that I was not able to listen to its entirety.

Monday morning, as Kat is trying to improve her life at her new gym, she get both dumped and fired via telephone call within an hour. Her anxiety causes a major panic attack and she can’t seem to leave the gym. Kat ends up spending one night, then the next, and eventually a week, dodging security guards, early employees, her dad and her boyfriend while living at the gym and trying to deal with her anxiety enough to leave.

Come Here Often? just made me angry. I wanted to punch Kat. She’s such a tool, whining and complaining about her anxiety but doing nothing to resolve her issues, even though she does have options available to her such as a therapist or friend. I was disappointed in the lack of storyline as it felt like she just repeated the same day for a week. Advertised as a humorous read, this novel does quite the disservice to people with anxiety. It disrespects the journey Kat goes through and almost pokes fun at it.

kat is secretly living in the gym, her boyfriend dumped her & she also got fired from her job.

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

"So now I’m stuck in this health club, 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."

triggers - severe anxiety, mental health issues, panic attacks, depression, loss, abuse

the cover of this book & the synopsis of this book seem fun, it looks like a typical romcom book. unfortunately it wasn't funny or romantic. i was hoping for a fun romantic comedy of a girl that is secretly sleeping at the gym & gets caught by a cute trainer but instead I got Kat with severe chronic anxiety issues. as someone with anxiety i felt that Kat's overall thought process and actions made me stressed out lol, it was difficult for me to connect with kat's character, she was severely mentally ill but not in a funny way. the book had a depressing theme, severe anxiety, mental health issue, loss vibes, alcoholism, negative thinking.

“totally hilarious romantic comedy” not sure why it was marketing as such, i didn't get a funny romantic book when reading this. now if this was marketing towards a fiction story of a girl with anxiety issues, fine but i think what disappointed me the most was the misleading marketing/verbiage used to describe this book.

i received this arc from NG & this is my honest & voluntary review. on a good note, i do like the narrator for this book, she had a calm/clear voice, the cover design is cute, the book had a good synopsis, but the execution of the overall story/character development came up short.

Come Here Often? sounded like my perfect read! A cute rom-com novel with an interesting premise. Even the cover pulled me in!

Unfortunately though the book didn't offer any of that! It was completely lacking in romance and humour for me. Instead this book is much more focused on Kat and her Big A (anxiety) which was really interesting, but not what I was expecting! It really surprised me and it completely threw off my enjoyment of this book.

One of the big takeaways from this book was the writing. It was really good and engaging, I kept listening because of it. I just wish the story was what had been promised!

Overall, I think the marketing on this book would benefit from a change as I found it to be quite misleading and this story could actually be really helpful for those looking for these topics.

Come Here Often tells the story of Kat, a woman whose life goes upsidedown at a moment's notice. She is fired and dumped in the space of ten minutes while, I kid you not, on her first day at the gym, nursing a hungover and, wait for it, it's Monday too. Her anxiety issues paralize her and she can't make herself leave the place. Literally.

Looking at the cover, title and blurb, it feels like it has all the ingredients for a fun romantic comedy of sorts with some serious bits thrown here and there, right? RIGHT? Well, it's not. There are a lot more sad moments than laugh-out-loud ones, including topics that might be triggering for some readers. And, for me, that is the main problem: the novel doesn't seem to know what it wants to be; it overdoes the drama if it wants to be a comedy, but the setting and protagonist just don't work with the more serious issues.

Kat was a bit difficult to sympathise with at times and throughout the book I was clueless about why the secondary characters (ALL of them) seemed to shift her to the centre of their lives the moment they met her.

It really is a pity because the plot does have potential for a fun novel, but it just doesn't really work.

I feel in love with this book and main character straight away .kat who suffering really bad anxiety. ( which she calls her big A ) has broke up with her boyfriend and lost her job . She living in the gym where she works out I mean she would rather be home eating chocolate or whatever but she made it there now she can't leave she living in the gym ,having to hide from security. And then she starts to fall for Marcus the instructor. He dose sound to me very oh lala !.

Evening tho the book focuses on mentle health .it's also showing you that when your down and feel like hope lost, its about empowering yourself and finding your happy , And kat definitely did that with her witty humour ,I was laughing alot .

I loved the relationship ship between kat and Marcus I so want more from them would be great to have a second book to see how they cope with life and kat big A .

You know the saying never judge a book by its cover well this definitely is that book . It charming ,witty , everything you want .

If you love emily Henry or linsey kelk Qnd Beth o'lorey this is a book for you .

I received a complimentary copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This did not affect my rating.

Kat is trying out Nashville’s fanciest health club, time for a change! But while she’s there, she's being dumped over the phone and fired from her job in the space of minutes. Kat’s distress at this turn of events is so intense that when she tries to leave the health club she has a panic attack and finds herself trapped and starts living at the gym.

The marketing team did an excellent job because I only request this book for the cute rom-com premise. But this book is a big ball full of my anxiety wrapped in a beautiful cover and a misleading plot.

This book is not funny and the romance is barely nonexistent. The focus is on Kat's anxiety issues and it would be totally fine if it was not literally the entire book. I think if the book had a different cover (it's a typical rom-com cartoon cover) and the description made less of her relationship with Marcus, I may have felt differently.

The writing style is excellent and the narrator did a great job. I may give another chance to Ellie Center's future books if she chooses to write more in the literary fiction genre.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for letting me read an advanced copy of this novel.

🎧“Come Here Often” by Ellie Center

⭐️⭐️⭐️

A chick-lit book set inside of a gym…as a personal trainer I was excited to read this.

Kat has the worst day ever. Set to start her “Day of Change” she walks into Great Fitness, gets a phone call from her boss who fires her, gets another call from her live-in boyfriend of 5 years who dumps her and then has a massive panic attack. Talk about a rough 30 minutes! So Kat finds herself stuck inside Great Fitness, an all-inclusive health club with a bar, restaurant, juice bar, pro shop, sauna, childcare, masseuses, salon, and night security. Honestly if you have a panic attack and can’t leave a place, I would choose Great Fitness too!

This romantic comedy story hit close to home for me as I also suffer from anxiety and panic attacks. Kat reminded me of myself years ago and all that mind circling down a rabbit hole. The book is a little repetitive but I feel it gives a good image of what anxiety does to a person. I have never had a panic attack and wanted to stay somewhere.

Thank you @netgalley for the audiobook


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The blurb of this book had me thinking it would be a funny romantic story, but it didn't really live up to those expectations. There were a few funny bits, but barely any romance.

This story was more about Kat going through a terrible time and her anxiety setting in, in the worst possible way making her a prisoner in her health club. It's entertaining making you want to find out how it will all finish.

The story is told by Kat in first person and the narrator does a really good job. Her voice and narration style was the perfect choice for this story.

If you're looking for a story about mental health with a few funny and touching moments this might be just the book for you!

Kat used to tell everyone that exercising was not for her, but her boyfriend bought her a membership to an incredibly large gym with many amenities. On her day off from work, she decided to venture to the gym to start a new healthy lifestyle. After getting the tour of the facility and exercising, she gets a call from her boss. Her boss tells her that a good client reported that Kat had been very rude to him. She said that Kat's attitude had been bad for about 6 months, so she was firing her effective immediately. Shortly after that she talked to her boyfriend of 5 years, and he told her that it was over. He said that she had changed and that he couldn't take it anymore. Kat had a history of having really bad panic attacks. As a result of those two incidents, Kat's anxiety was taking over. She started having a major anxiety attack as she tried to leave the facility. She was basically a prisoner in the facility due to her anxiety. Kat exercised during the day, had meals in the facility cafe and had drinks in the bar at night,
When she needed new clothes, she bought new dresses at the facilities store. She slept in various places such as a massage table and on a yoga mat. The employees at the facility were so impressed at her dedication to exercise and she came to know many of the employees. This is a fun story that I recommend.