Owner of a Lonely Heart begins with what the reader thinks is Emma and Andrew’s wedding. The reader soon learns it is Emma watching her wedding video. Her marriage was short due to her husband dying from cancer. She fills her days with work and volunteering at the children’s cancer ward with her therapy dog, Bear. It is here that she meets Dan and Casey. This was a really good story about second chances, revolving around three main characters, Emma, Dan and Casey. Casey is Dan’s 12 year old daughter that he has never met. She is receiving treatment for a brain tumor.
The book goes back and forth between the three characters and how their lives become entwined. Each character is struggling with their own issues but learn that each other might be the missing piece to their puzzle. Eva Carter explores the feelings of loss, infertility, absentee father, anger of a single parent through her chapters around the adult characters. Carter gives a detailed and touching look at life through the eyes of a young girl trying to keep it all together. Her mother has become afraid of anything that might be a germ which includes air quality, food and dogs. Casey tries to neutral and supportive to her mother who is on the brink of a mental breakdown while getting to know a father she had never met all the while living with a brain tumor that may or may not kill her all the while wishing she was a normal 12 year old.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballentine for this ARC.

This was a really good story about second chances, revolving around three main characters, Emma, Dan and Casey.
Emma lost her husband to cancer, not long after they were married, and her dreams for her life came to a stop.
Dan, is also trying to get on with his life. After many years he finally gets to meets his daughter Casey now twelve.
Casey, Dan's 12 year old daughter has come to town to have treatment on a Benign brain tumor, and wants to meet her dad, and needs a place to stay with her mom while there.
The three characters meet at the hospital where Casey is having her treatments. Emma and her therapy dog, Bear are there to support the children going through their treatments, and Dan comes to pick up his daughter.
The book delves into the back stories of all three of these characters, the hardships they have gone through, and between the three of them, they finally have a way to connect and move forward with their lives.
A wonderful story of people leaving their comfort zones, to open up their lives.
I would like to thank NetGalley and Random House publishing Group – Ballantine for a copy of this book.

What a treat!!! I was not expecting to enjoy this one as much as I did. This book covers heavy topics such as cancer and infertility however the author does an amazing job at navigating these topics. I really enjoyed how it was also told in the point of view of three different people ! My only compliant is that I wish we would have learned a bit more about Angelica. She was portrayed as the grinch but I wish there would have been more depth to her.

A story about loss, illness, grief, family and second chances at love, told from the viewpoint of multiple characters. At times it was frustrating to read one character's viewpoint and see how they were misunderstanding or misconstruing another character's actions or words. Very sweet ending. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book!

I wanted to love this book so badly but I found all of the characters to be so unlikeable for such a large portion of the book that I really had to convince myself that it was worth it to keep reading. The story was written pretty well but I found that the first half of the book really dragged. The whole time we knew all of the characters were being untruthful about something bu there’s really no explanation for anyone’s actions until the very end which made it extremely difficult to stay interested. Overall I liked the story and the concept behind it, but I thought it could have been done a bit better.

*would give a 3.5 if I could!*
The second half of Owner of a Lonely Heart helped redeem itself. The first half felt disjointed at times and didn’t really pull you into the characters. After a while you feel connected to the characters and invested in their relationships. The twist at the end and puzzle were adorable!

What a moving story! I wasn't sure where this was going to head, but the heart knew the way. This story was one that was interwoven with so many emotions. I appreciate the opportunity to read this one. Thank you!

I became a fan of Eva Carter's writing when I read "How To Save A Life" last year and it became one of my favorite books of the year. I was so excited to get the email invite to read and review this book (thank you netgalley). It absolutely DID NOT disappoint. From the very beginning you are on this emotion ride full of grief, happiness, excitement, wonder, with just a little bit of mystery thrown into the mix. You follow a grieving wife, a hopeful father, a scared daughter, the characters are woven together so beautifully and the ending is wrapped up great. Such a great read. 100% recommend.

Owner of a lonely heart

Life is too short to be lonely. You deserve love.

How can a father be there for his daughter, when no one was there for him? After not being in his daughters life, he’s trying to learn how to be a father when she needs him the most. A woman desperately wanting to be a mom with the recent loss of her husband. This book tugged on my heart a bit and from the very first chapter. Dan wasn’t that loveable of a character to me. I loved Gemma and Casey! While I think this story is adorable, it was also a little predictable and the ending was not very realistic to me.

Read this if you like:
-emotional romance
-things a bit cheesy
-therapy dogs
-unlikely friendships
-multiple POV

Thank you Random House Publishing and Eva Carter for sending me this book to review! Owner of a Lonely Heart comes out January
17, 2023!

Gemma and Dan meet each other on the medical campus where his daughter is receiving cancer treatment. Gemma’s dog plays with kids in the therapy center. They’re drawn to each other, even though both have many past issues to overcome before they’re ready to move on with their lives.

This story was told by multiple narrators, including excerpts from the book Gemma’s husband wrote for their unborn child. This was an emotional read that touched on grief and fear. It was mainly about hope, though. Letting go of the past and being brave enough to change and look forward to the future. I shed tears at the end when Casey finished her treatment.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballentine for this ARC.

Cute love story. I think the father-daughter relationship was the strongest part of this read.

From the author of How to Save a Life comes a heartfelt story of two people finding the courage to choose love, no matter how hard it may be.

Lovely, lovely novel exploring the impact of loss, fear, longing and love. The story of Gemme, Dan, Casey. and Angelica has many faces. Angelica and Casey worry about Casey’s prognosis and whether her treatment will work. Casey longs for a relationship with her absent father, Dan. Dan has many regrets about his past and longs for a better future. Gemma is undergoing IVF with her deceased husband’s embryo and fears it will not take again. In all of this, Gemma and Dan begin to have feelings for each other that cause complications. Emotional and beautiful.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Can't help singing this title in my head every time. Besides that I enjoyed this story of messed up people and families. Lots of life lessons in it. Thanks NetGalley for the advanced copy. #NetGalley #OwnerofaLonelyHeart

Owner of a Lonely Heart is about finding yourself, whether its about grieving a spouse, finding your role as a parent, or getting to know a parent you've never met before. The book is a sweet, emotional read that balances delicate issues (TW: childhood cancer, infertility, grief) with hopefulness. I enjoyed this read and highly recommend it!

Many thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Random House for the opportunity to read this book.

Wow, what an emotionally charged story! Owner of a Lonely Heart follows two families whose lives have been turned upside down by medical situations. Gemma, lost her perfect future and beloved husband to cancer, and Dan's long lost daughter, Casey, has turned up on his doorstep to have special proton beam therapy for her brain tumor at the local hospital. The two families collide when Gemma brings her therapy dog, Bear, to the hospital and we get to watch their lives become intrinsically connected.

Gemma's storyline is interesting. We don't particularly get to see her upset/deep in grief from her husband's passing, not sure the time gap but she appears to have since gotten Bear and been through two rounds of egg implantation since. I liked that we got to see her after time has passed. It showed that whilst she is back operating in society and has purpose again, her life and decisions are still caught up in the desire to hold onto her husband as long as possible. She is cautious after being hurt by love and we see her question whether she should explore whatever she is feeling with Dan multiple times.

Casey, Dan's daughter, is a delight. I adore that we got to see things from her perspective! A child's whose carefree childhood has been ripped away by a benign tumour that needs treatment. We get to see her yearn for a relationship with her newly found father. In addition, Casey is not only is trying to get herself through her medical treatment but also her mother, who we first see as an uptight overprotective clean freak (can anybody blame her?) but who starts to show cracks and crumbles under the pressure.

Dan, is a literal wild card. He has a past he is trying to keep secret. Literally lying to Casey and her mother by pretending to live in his best friend Vijay's penthouse. But also a dark past that he is trying to keep from Gemma. He seems to spend every moment questioning what he wants and a fingersnap away from disappearing under the cloak of night. He is a good example though of your past doesn't have to decide the happiness and success your future can hold. I could feel the connection with Gemma and enjoyed watching him get to know Casey though. I think he has the biggest growth arc of the story.

Overall, a quick and heartwarming read. It touches on a lot of hard topics which tug at your heartstrings but is balanced with banter and hope.

This romance is sweet but also heartbreaking. The main characters are all connected through the backdrop of a hospital where they've experienced hardship in one way or another. The protagonist, Gemma, is dealing with the loss of her husband to cancer and the struggles of imagining a new life for herself after the one she had always wished for fell apart so quickly after having achieved it. She meets a single mother, a sick 12 year old, and her absentee father Dan... who Gemma feels drawn to despite misgivings about him. There's also a DOG. Swoon. While it sounds saccharine and formulaic when I try to summarize it, the characters are actually carefully wrought and thoughtfully constructed. It's definitely not a story to read when you're feeling raw, as you'll span emotions from joy to despair when reading... but it's very well done and reminds me a bit of Maddie Dawson's work (not in the writing style, per se, but in how Eva Carter does such a wonderful job of balancing the heavy and the light and ultimately leaves you with an uplifting tale even though it included some very sad plot points).

Thank you to Eva Carter, NetGalley and Ballantine Books an imprint of Random House for the opportunity to review this ARC prior to publication.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for this ARC. Gemma lost her husband to cancer and spends her time taking her beloved dog to the hospital to cheer up the pediatric oncology patients. It is there she meets Casey and her dad Dan. Though Casey is 12, Dan is just now in her life and they are learning to be a family. Is there room in Gemma's life for Dan and is there room in Dan's life for Gemma? Sweet read! #OwnerofALonelyHeart #EvaCarter #Jan2023

Oh sweet Gemma. Love her story. Right on portraying someone with a big loss and trying to live after. Some might think it’s a bit sappy with these new people (father and daughter) who happen to come into her life but I found it realistic and lovely. Well written characters make this an easy book to promote!

I’ve become a huge fan of Eva Carter ever since her novel, How to Save a Life. I was beyond thrilled to receive an ARC of her newest novel, Owner of a Lonely Heart. This delightful cast of characters became near and dear to me as I read along. Gemma, a recent widow, is exploring IVF with the embryos from her deceased husband. When she takes her therapy dog to the hospital for a visit, she meets Casey. Casey is receiving treatment for brain cancer, while staying with her overprotective mom and her newly discovered father, Dan. The story is complicated, filled with layers and should probably have a million disclaimers, but somehow Carter seems to tie it all together. I really enjoyed Gemma and her journey of discovery, figuring out who she was as an adult, after the passing of her husband. Owner of a Lonely Heart is an accurate depiction of how complicated life is for each of us and how when we learn to lean on one another, the burden becomes lighter. Out in January, fans of Eva Carter should not delay in ordering!

A sincere thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Dan lives the single life, he doesn’t think he’s a family man or capable of finding love. Then one day his daughter Casey sends him a message asking for help and she tells him that she has a tumor and has to go for treatment in Bristol . Dan decides to help Casey and her mother but he doesn’t want them to see where he lives because he’s ashamed, so one of dan’s best friends let’s him borrow his penthouse for the month.

Casey and her mother Angelica show up at the penthouse and Angelica is still very angry and at Dan. Casey however is excited to finally meet her father. Dan starts to take Casey to her appointments and he meets Gemma. Instantly he feels a connection with her but he doesn’t know if she feels the same.

Owner of a lonely heart was such a great book. I fell in love with this story. I honestly didn’t want the story to end I wanted to keep reading and find out what happened next. I highly recommend everyone read the book. I loved it so much!!!!