Every Shade of Happy is a heartwarming story about independence and familial relationships. The main character Algernon is 97 years old, lives alone with his cat who he aptly named Cat, and is very set in his routine. He is a widow with one daughter Helene whom he has an estranged relationship with. When Helene and her daughter Anna find themselves in a need of a place to stay, Algernon reluctantly agrees to let them move in with him. Now they are all under the same roof and will forever be changed.

Prior to her life being uprooted, 15 year old Anna had never met her grandfather. When her mother was pregnant, she had a falling out with her father, and though him to be an uptight controlling man. Algernon thought Helene was too flighty and when she became pregnant, he felt like she had forever ruined her life. Anna has only heard about this tense dynamic from her mothers point of view but, her first interaction with her grandfather further cements her negative opinion of him.

Algernon has no idea what to do with this young girl who is now in his life. Anna enjoys brightness and colors and adventure which is not something Algernon has had in his life for years. Yet, the more time they spend together, the start realize they have more in common than they originally thought. I adored the dynamic between these characters. They both have experiences a deep loneliness in their lives and these feelings of being an outsider in society help bond them together. The chapters alternate in perspective which I liked because you learned the background of each of them and what they bring to their relationship.

As this is an intergenerational story, there is a strong focus on what the three individuals from three different generations bring to the family and their relationships. Helene really isn't sure what to think about the bond that is forming between father and daughter. She is also building and finding herself. The characterizations of all the characters is just so good. They are layered and feel real with flaws. They are all likable characters, and I also liked the friendship of Anna and the boy next door named Jacob. It was just the right amount of sweetness with a hint of young romance.

I became very attached to these characters and their growth as individuals and as a familial unit. This is a story filled with moments that will make you laugh and memories that will break your heart. Especially with Algernon - such a sweet cantankerous man. Everything that has happened to these characters has helped bring them to the place they are now in. I love how they come together, learn about each other, learn from each other, and grow. It's so beautiful.

Every Shade of Happy has so much heart to it. This is more than just a story about a young girl breaking down the walls of her grandfather. It is a story of second chances, trusting yourself, learning from the past, and embracing the future. There are just so many layers for both the story and the characters. This will be a real hidden gem for readers.

I will be very honest and say that I wasn't sure about this book at the beginning. Algernon just seemed to be a grumpy old man who didn't want his life disrupted. His daughter and granddaughter showing up was just a big disruption. And then some time passed, and Algernon slowly started getting to know his granddaughter and his daughter. I am so very happy to say I was very wrong about this book.

Algernon gets a call from his daughter saying she and her own daughter need to move home after breaking up with her boyfriend. It is supposed to be temporary. The fact that Algernon wanted nothing to do with his daughter when she got pregnant is hanging in the air and creating a lot of tension. It seems that things are never going to change. However, Anna, Algernon's fifteen-year-old granddaughter just starts living her life and slowly but surely chips away at her grandfather's tough exterior. The result is a heartwarming story full of connecting and reconnecting, learning the meaning of family, and truly embracing what life has to offer, especially in the later years of ones life.

Thank you Head of Zeus for this book. I voluntarily received a copy, and the views expressed are my honest opinion.

This book is just beautiful. Full of emotional scenes and interactions between such cleverly written characters. I loved the dual point of view for the story - Algernon finding the intrusion into his life so difficult and Anna struggling with being a teenager taken from her friends and home. Their time spent together learning to appreciate eachother was wonderful and many a times I laughed out loud whilst the next I was in tears. This is such a heartwarming read and I loved the journey they took and with the memories shared it really came alive for me.

Have you ever felt a deep connection with a book you never expected? This had been this type of book for me, I thought I would just like it but it made me smile and I loved the core of it. It will be in my top list for a long time!
This book is told between different voices, all important, all with their own story to tell. Because even in the beginning you don’t seem to find a connection between Anna, a fifteen young girl, and her grandfather, Algernon, who is ninety-seven. They don’t know each other and it seems that being forced to live together is not a very good idea.
But, sometimes, with the people you seem to have less similarities with, are the ones that you are more similar to; you only have to find the little thread to connect.
This is a heartwarming and inspiring story; it’s not difficult to understand the characters and hope that everything will be better for them. Believe me when I say that these characters felt real and it’s impossible to not love them!
Even if the summer is almost over, this is a book that you’ll enjoy all year around, believe me.
Are you ready to discover “Every Shade of Happy”?

Every Shade of Happy - Phyllida Shrimpton. Teenage Anna and her mother Helene have to move back to live with Helene's very elderly father, Algernon, who has never met Anna and hasn't spoken to her mother since her unexpected pregnancy. Algernon is very set in his ways and unhappy with this new disruption to his life, and Anna is very lonely living in the middle of nowhere, friendless and bullied out of her individuality at school. Algernon digs into his own troubled past to try to find a way to save Anna from turning into him. 4 stars, very nice book.

There is so much a young person can learn from an elderly relative (even if they are grumpy!)

Algernon’s wife Evie, his soulmate had died some years ago. Her passing had left him with a broken heart. Helene, his daughter had returned for the funeral but had not brought her daughter Anna with her. Anna’s birth – out of wedlock – had caused a huge rift between father and daughter. However, when Helene’s partner suddenly declares that he has found a new (male) lover with whom he is deeply in love, Helene has no option but to phone her father and ask him if she and Anna can move in with him “just for a short time until I find a job and make enough money to move into a flat.”

Algernon had all the brightness, happiness, and carefree nature that he was born with knocked out of him at a boy’s only boarding school, where punishment with a whip and bullying was rife. He’s never shared that part of his life with anyone except Evie.

Anna, a fifteen-year-old teenager with all the angst that presents itself at that age arrives and must face the challenges of a new school, midway through the year, and all the pitfalls of having no friends to help her fit into not just school but living with her grandfather – a man so close to the end of his life.

Each character must face huge challenges if they are going to make this arrangement work. Algernon must make amends with his daughter Helene and get to know his granddaughter, Anna. Helene and Anna must adjust to living with someone who has lived an exceptionally long full life and is stuck in the past.

It took me some time to understand the characters and their complicated pasts and present issues. However, the storyline slowly brings clarity and peace.

Rony

Elite Group received a copy of the book to review.

I absolutely loved this book! It truly did not disappoint and it has a special place in my heart. I was very emotional as I read through this. I loved seeing how the relationships developed throughout the book and it made my heart warm up. Such a beautiful read.

This is the perfect feel-good book that will lift your spirits and might even make you cry (I did)! Beautifully written with a wonderful cast of characters; I loved Algernon with his out-of-control eyebrows and selective hearing 😂 Anna was lovely, despite struggling with all the change in her life, and her relationship with her mum, Helene, was just gorgeous. I really enjoyed the trip to Cornwall which strengthened Anna and Algernon's relationship and allowed her to begin to understand her grandfather a lot more. I thought this section of the book was so well written.

If you are looking for a heartwarming and uplifting story then this is it! I’m so glad to have been able to read this book and would love to read more from the author. I rated it 4.5/5 but rounding up to a 5 here.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4948415205
A story about feelings, attitudes towards them and the effect on relationships across different generations. First impressions are not great from either side when Anna and her mother move in with her ageing grandfather. He resents them coming into his ordered life, Anna hates the changes in her settled life and having to start again in a new place and at a new school. There is, however more to all sides of the story
The book is narrated from different viewpoints and is well told. As the characters reach understanding of each others lives, the reader is taken on their journey. Well written, it feels realistic and the characters are well described and stay true throughout the book. Great descriptions of the Cornish countryside .
A great read
Thanks to Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

Hands down, one of the best books I've read this year so far. So many emotions, I don't quite know what to do with them right now. Sitting here, having a good cry knowing, I won't be able to pick up another book until I cure this book hangover. Perfect book, there isn't one thing I would change in it. If you only do one thing today, make it buying this book and dig in. You won't regret it

Every Shade of Happy

Every Shade of Happy will make you feel every shade of happiness, sadness and every other emotion possible.
It is a sweet and innocent read that highlights both the differences between the generations as well as the abundance of similarities regardless of age or decade.

Algernon and ‘The Child’, Anna, appear to be worlds apart when they first meet. Algernon is old and set in his ways. Anna is young, creative, and a free spirit, so what could these two possibly have in common? Well, as the story unfolds, it all becomes clear. And stranger still, it seems Algernon understands his granddaughter better than her mother.

I like Anna and her spirit, but Algernon stole the show. As the reader, we see the ‘real’ man. Life has hardened him, but we get to know the truth behind his prickly exterior and can’t help but feel warmth for this challenging man.

Unfortunately, there is one aspect I didn’t like at all, Cornish cream tea! This part pained me to read. Lol, It’s cream first, THEN the jam! Lol

Seriously though, there are plenty of cute moments and things that might be simple but add to the lovely story.

My favourites are Gary the Cactus 🌵

Stud the spider 🕷

Anna & Algernon have the same initials (AEW) 🥰

The end is a little predictable, but it’s still a beautiful story that will make your heart smile.

Thank you, Head of Zeus & NetGalley, for the eArc in return for an honest review.

Algernon is 97 and has a very strict daily routine. Each day is broken down into a highly structured regimen from shuffling to the corner shop to get his paper to feeding the cat (Cat, who adopted him) at 5.30 on the dot. All punctuated by the hideous carriage clock that he was gifted on retirement from a job that he hated. Every day.

Helene finds herself homeless when her partner Harry realises that he bats for the other side. Needing to find somewhere for her fifteen year old daughter Anna to live she has no alternative and contacts her estranged father who was displeased when she became pregnant out of wedlock, with no idea who Anna’s father was. Packing all their belongings into her small car they make the 300 mile trek to the old school house and an unknown reception from her father.

Beautifully written, you feel like you know all of the protagonists in this story. Not just characters on a page but real, fully fleshed, human beings. Crotchety Algernon Edward Maybury reminded me so much of my own grandfather (even down to the hearing aids and glasses!) and the book made me a little envious of Anna in that she got to have such an amazing relationship with him. By the time my grandfather came back into my life he was in the early throes of dementia so it was always a little stressful to say the least.

Every Shade of Happy is the first adult book by YA fiction writer Phyllida Shrimpton and the first book of hers that I have read. I really wasn’t expecting this story to touch me so much. By the end I was laughing and sobbing at the same time. Shrimpton has such a good grasp on what makes each of the individuals tick that the whole thing just feels so real. I’d love to see this picked up for a movie as it deserves a much wider audience than it will ultimately get as a novel.

Supplied by Net Galley and Aria in exchange for an honest review.

This is an absolutely beautiful book. The messages about love, and how it can take different forms are so well done. The journey the Anna and Algernon take together is wonderful and really important for anyone feeling like they are trapped, or life has given them too many lemons to make lemonade. An absolute must read. Thank you so much for the arc

I had high hopes for this book. Sadly I felt that the character development was a bit drawn out and as a result I didn’t really care that much about either of the main characters. The split narrative was a clever idea but the chapters were quite short and I just didn’t get that depth to the characters that the story desperately needed. I found the story quite slow at times unfortunately. Had really good potential but sadly not for me.

When single mother Helene's relationship comes to a very unexpected end, she has no choice but to move back into her widowed father Algernon's tiny Essex house with her fifteen-year-old daughter Anna in tow. Helene and Algernon have always had a difficult relationship, and he did not handle the news well when she fell pregnant after a one night stand, so this is not going to be easy for anyone concerned.

At ninety-seven-years-old Algernon is used to an orderly life. He is not at all happy about the routine he has settled into since his wife Evie's death being interrupted by the return of his daughter and the child he has never allowed himself to meet. He does not know what to make of colourful Anna and her modern ways. Anna, in her turn, is dismayed by the crusty old man who seems to radiate nothing, but disapproval for her. Missing her old home, school and friends, she finds herself feeling more and more isolated.

But as time goes by, Algernon begins to realise that he has something in common with his granddaughter that makes him reflect on the direction his own life has taken - loneliness. Can he find the courage to break out of the rut he has allowed himself to sink into and help Anna regain her spark?

Where do I even begin with this magical story? Told in alternating narratives from Algernon and Anna, this beautiful book is one that works its way right into your heart. I absolutely loved the way that Phyllida Shrimpton manages to write convincingly about both a crotchety old man at the end of his unfulfilled life and a fragile, sensitive young girl with her life ahead of her, gradually breaking down the barriers between them as they get to know each other and find common ground. Their characters develop ever so slowly over the course of the story, opening up to show you their thoughts, hopes, regrets, and heartache, and their little amusing asides serve to lighten the book in a way that stops it all becoming overwhelmingly sad. There are so many deeply touching and heart-warming moments in this book that I found myself crying on and off almost throughout the whole story - building up to pretty much constant sobbing for the final third of the novel.

The story transforms so wonderfully as we learn about the memories and regrets Algernon has kept hidden, even from his own daughter, and realises that the way he has lived his life is not what he wants for Anna. His acknowledgment that his own behaviour has meant him losing out on so much is so poignant, and his message that you must look forward, not back, comes across so well in the way Shrimpton weaves his story with both Anna's and Helene's. I could spend all day waxing lyrical about the enchanting way in which all the threads come together in such a suburb mix of heart and humour, but I would much rather you read it for yourself, because it is worth every moment. The supporting cast is small, but perfectly formed too - I challenge you not to be charmed by Cat, Jacob and Gary and the way they help everything along nicely.

I completely adored this book. As a first stab at writing for an adult audience Shrimpton has created something truly marvellous to behold, and I cannot wait to read more from her. This really is something very special.

Okay, I’m going to cut to the chase and say I was Team Algernon from the outset. Yes, he may be a little grumpy, rather lackadaisical about washing his smalls and definitely set in his ways but that’s just his way of coping with the world, particularly since the death of his wife, Evie. He feels she’s with him in spirit though, giving him a nudge when needed or the occasional gentle rebuke just as she did when she was alive. I loved everything about Algernon and, although he may be out of touch with modern technology – he favours a map over an app – perhaps he’s not wrong when he asserts a letter, a telephone call or a face-to-face meeting means more than an email, text or ‘like’ on an Instagram post.

It took me a little longer to warm to Anna’s mother, Helene. Initially, she comes across as someone who lurches from one crisis to another. Even Anna admits her mother is impulsive and clumsy, charging into things without due thought. It’s not Helene’s fault that she and Anna have ended up homeless but her precarious financial situation is the reason they’ve had to resort to living with Algernon. However, I came to admire the way Helene gradually gains control of her life, eventually finding something she’s really good at; as even Algernon is forced to admit.

Anna’s love of colour is about more than just wearing clothes of every hue or creating body art, it’s her form of self-expression. When forced to don a drab school uniform, she feels she’s no longer Anna, just a dull, grey version of herself. It’s one of the things, along with the upheaval of a new home, new school and having to leave her friends behind, that makes her retreat into herself, with only Gary her cactus for company. At this point I must mention one of my other favourite characters in the book – Jacob, the eldest son of Algernon’s neighbours – who literally catapults himself into the story variously performing the role of joker, protector, counsellor, delivery driver, cream tea devourer and much more besides. I also loved Jacob’s quirky sense of humour and his endless patience towards Algernon.

Dismiss any preconceived notion that Every Shade of Happy is the simple story of young Anna melting the heart of her grumpy old granddad because it’s much more nuanced than that. Although Anna and Algernon may appear to be running on parallel lines and that never the twain shall meet, in fact they have more in common than either of them thought. They just need a bit of guidance and encouragement to find out what it is. My first weepy moment was when an additional armchair was ordered – yes, really – and there were plenty of times after that I found myself reaching for the tissues.

There is a real warmth to the story perhaps partly because, as the author reveals in the Acknowledgments, the book is an ‘ode’ to her father whose wartime experiences were similar to Algernon’s, as was his reticence to talk about them.

Every Shade of Happy is a wonderfully affecting story told with warmth and wit.

What I was hoping for: A story about friendship across generations.

What I liked: Due to the two POV, Anna’s and her grandfather Algernon’s, we get a good insight into both their thoughts and feelings. This way, it is very good to realise that both their lives have been upturned and both struggle. I appreciated that it was also discussed how Helene helping Algernon make him feel like he is losing some reason to live and move about.

What I did not like: At times, the book felt rather long and drawn out. It is shown very clearly that Algernon lives mainly in the past but after a while, his remembering the past events – which somehow were all sad and depressing – was too much for me. The switch to Anna’s viewpoint and story helped to get the book moving because I would otherwise not have continued.

Conclusion: After reading the author’s note at the end, I got a much better understanding of the intent of the story and with that information, I was better able to appreciate it. Without it, I actually would have ranked it lower due to the overall depressed tone especially of Algernon’s story and the long-windedness.

I love the premise of this book, but the execution was poor. It took far too long for me to care about the characters and I generally found it underwhelming.

"Every Shade of Happy" focuses on the relationship between an elderly grandad and his teenage granddaughter. Algernon is perfectly happy in his well-ordered life, living in the same house as he did with his deceased wife Evie. When his estranged daughter Helene and granddaughter Anna come to live with him, a rocky period of adjustment takes place. As Anna and Algernon work through misunderstandings and differences, they find many things they hold in common. Anna learns a lot about the secret recesses of her grandad's life, and Algernon finds happiness and some little adventures with the colorful and artistic Anna. Readers should be prepared for tears as well as laughter in this book that bridges the gap between generations. The alternating point of view takes a couple of chapters to get into, but it is worth persisting. Be sure to read the author notes at the end for information on how this tender story originated.

I received this novel from the publisher and from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

Loved this story about 2 very different people connecting.

Anna and her mother need to find a new home and a good place to start is moving in with Anna’s Grandfather, but he didn’t approve of the girl as her mother had her young. Will it work out?

Algernon is set in his routine when his daughter and grand daughter move in, at first they disrupt his routine, but after sometime he gets used to them. He enjoys the company and the friendship.

This is a beautifully written book about the strangest two people having a lovely relationship. 4.5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for a copy for an honest review.