Reading Marie Bostwick books is like meeting up with a longtime friend - you haven’t seen each other in awhile, but you instantly remember why you like each other so much. Every one of her books is different, but there’s something so wonderfully cozy, comforting, and inspiring about each one.

Her latest novel, Esme Cahill Fails Spectacularly, has all my favorite women’s fiction elements. A female MC who is down but not out, a supportive and lovable and aggravating family, a few supportive friends, and a hint of romance. Esme was such a relatable character, although I can only dream of having half her energy or motivation.

I also loved this one because Esme works in the publishing industry, and the many references to book releases, editing, and the writing process made my bookstagrammer heart happy! A big part of the book also revolves around quilting, which is something I know nothing about, but I enjoyed. I can’t wait to pass this book along to my grandma and aunts, who are all avid readers AND quilters!

I highly recommend adding this to your summer reading plans! The lakeside setting will have you dreaming of a cozy cabin getaway.

About the photo ➡️ when the resort you’re staying at in Cancun has a rowboat art installation, and your book has a rowboat on it, you HAVE to take a photo right?! Pretty sure that’s in the booksta rules! It also felt like a fun nod to the artist characters in the book!

Thank you @uplitreads and @mariebostwick for selecting me for this campaign!!

This book is a book about findings.

Finding yourself.
Finding your true calling.
Finding your family.
Finding your story.

Esme Cahill starts this story off thinking she failed spectacularly at everything: her job, her marriage, her life. She heads from NYC back to Asheville, North Carolina where her life becomes something more than she anticipated.

I really enjoyed this one! Once she started writing “the story” I looked forward to getting more of it. And I absolutely loved the character growth, not just for her but for the other characters too.

Definitely recommend this one. Once you start you won’t be able to put it down.

ESME CAHILL FAILS SPECTACULARLY is about the meaning of family and the places we call home — making it a perfect summer read 💖

Esme returns home to Asheville after being fired from her New York City publishing job. Esme’s grandmother, before she died, begged her to return to Asheville. When she arrives, she discovers that the lakeside retreat run by her family is in financial trouble. While she is there, she learns more about her family’s past and realizes that sometimes your life takes you places you never expected — but that’s the beauty of it.

I enjoyed Esme’s journey of turning past failures into future successes. She had a complicated relationship with her mother, but they learn to work together and understand each other better. The story was full of hope and heart.

With a name and a cover like that, how could I pass on reading this one? This might be the perfect start to summer read. I do love the message of the book that sometimes by failing you end up exactly where you are meant to be. It has one of my favorite things, a book in a book. Well, a little bit. Or maybe that is meant to be a little bit of a dual timeline. And a hint of magical realism, but only a hint that you might not even notice. I was a little sad that there wasn’t a little more but I really did fall so much into this book, that it really didn’t matter.

I really liked Esme and rooted her to succeed. She was forced into a change in her life and found success. I am such a believer in fate and destiny, so maybe it was all supposed to happen. I really could picture the lake resort. And while I sad about Esme’s grandmother, I found a quite loved her grandfather. Such a spunky man. While I mentioned the book in the book, there are also a few sub plotlines that really bring this one together. In addition to Esme’s rise to greatness, there is a second chance with her mother and what her grandmother did when she first arrived in Asheville.

Esme’s charm and spunk are almost catching. There was a lot of talk about delicious food and this one even brought out a little bit of emotion in me. But don’t worry, not too much. This was a breath of fresh air read for me. I am a thriller junkie at heart, but this one reminded me I do have a heart.

Whether you are a fan of second chances, southern fiction, or just great characters, you should be reading this one. Thanks to UpLit Reads and William Morrow for bringing this one to my attention. While this is my first Marie Bostwick book, this is not going to be my last.

Thanks to Bibliolifestyle, Uplit Reads, and William Morrow for the copies of this book!

If you love dual timeline stories, generational stories of women, or stories of self-discovery and growth, this book is for you. I thoroughly enjoyed the balance of fun moments with emotional ones, and I loved the narrative around 'failure' as someone who is a perfectionist and hates to think of it. The theme of lakeside stories also continues with this book! They seem to be really popular lately, and this is definitely one to add to the list.

This is a good book. The main character is Esme. The book is about her family, her grandmother, her grandfather, and her mother. How her mother left due to drugs, how her grandparents took her in and raised her. How her grandmother called a couple of days before she died to request Esme come home her grandmother had something to tell her. Family is very important.

Esme Cahill is at a crossroads in her life when she returns to the lake lodge near Asheville where she grew up. Her mother is there, but they’ve never had a good relationship and Esme was raised by her grandparents. Life is complicated and so are families, but Esme learns a lot about herself as she discovers she is right where she wants to be. This book is heart-warming.

This is a cute book about a hott mess Esme. When her life takes an unexpected turn, she needs to decide what to do next! Thanks for my advance copy!

This was a nice uplifting story with a message that spoke loudly that it’s never too late to try again for the things you want in life, whether it’s love or career goals. I really enjoyed Esme’s story and watching the progression of her relationships and her resilient and brave spirit was so refreshing and inspiring.

Oh Esme and George, my heart! This story grabbed me and didn't let me go. I was fully in the resort/lake vacation mindset throughout; the setting came alive. The story of Adele mixed in with Esme's growth as a character...pure perfection. Another I will highly recommend all summer and beyond.

I received an advance copy. All thoughts are my own.

This was such an enjoyable read, I knew right when I started it, that I was going to love it! This is my first book by Marie Bostwick, but it certainly won’t be my last. This book took me by surprise with how much I enjoyed it!

Right from the start, you will get pulled into the story, and you won’t be able to put it down. I really loved Esme, and I loved seeing how much she grew as the story went on. I felt like I was there with her in this book, and going through everything with her. I really enjoyed the friendships in this book, the southern charm, and the summer vibes. If you’re looking for a feel good story to read this summer, I highly recommend checking this one out!

🛶Summary🛶
Esme left her grandparents in Asheville to move to New York City with dreams of being a writer. Her dreams come true for a bit, then failure... she gets fired and divorced and ends up driving back to Asheville to return home to regroup, a request her grandmother Adele made before she died was for Esme to come home and spend some time there. Upon her return, she finds the lakeside retreat her grandparents ran falling into disarray, so she decides to do what she can to help while she is in town. With her grandpa George, her estranged mother, Robyn, and the recently hired chef, Dawes, Esme makes a plan to turn things around.

🛶Review🛶
I didn't know what to expect from this story, and it was the most pleasant surprise. Alternating between Esme and snippets of her grandmother's past, we see how Adele came to be in Asheville, her relationship with George and how she became a quilter. Esme learns that dreams can change, her grandmother was more than she knew and spend time with George and maybe begin to understand her mom. It's a book about love and loss, finding out that what you hope for and what you need may be different than you imagined, and you can always return to the place that is home.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Family, connections, following your dreams, starting over, and, sometimes, accepting that the path life leads you to, the one that brings you to true happiness, might not be the one you had planned. That's the premise of this new thought provoking, humorous, quintessentially southern, and deeply satisfying novel by Marie Bostwick. Like a tall glass of sweet tea, a front porch swing, and a sultry summer's day, I couldn't get enough.

It's the characters who drive this book with a cast assembled by Bostwick that is intriguing, complex, relatable, and authentic. I happily immersed myself into their lives, celebrating their triumphs, mourning their losses, cringing, laughing, and shedding tears in more than a few places. Esme's relationship with her grandmother was lovingly portrayed and easily relatable. I was fascinated with Adele's (the grandmother) story as it emerged, the historical tie-in of which I was previously unaware, and the impact Adele's journey had on Esme's own life journey. George is the kind of grandfather I think we'd all enjoy having and the flashbacks to his love story with Adele were both entertaining and endearing.

I appreciated the care Bostwick used in creating the characters in this book, the ones mentioned above as well as others who all have some type of role in this story. Even the ones that would appear at first glance to be the villains have complex layers, unseen challenges, and growth that reveal unexpected qualities, eventually leading to understanding, forgiveness, and mended relationships.

The theme of family is strong in this book: biological family, found family, and chosen family. And, in one particularly poignant scene, Bostwick brings everything full circle, with caramel cake, from 10-year-old Esme and her grandmother to 33-year-old Esme and 4-year-old Hannah. It's a full-heart, tear-inducing, hopeful moment - one more layer of goodness on an already wonderful story.

Add in a backdrop of the soul-stirring, atmospheric beauty of Western North Carolina's mountains, streams, and waterfalls, the richly artistic and quirky vibe of Asheville, and the historical grandeur of the Biltmore Estate and I was well and truly hooked. Give this one a try. It has my enthusiastic recommendation.

ARC received from publisher. Fair and unbiased review.

A well written story of second chances and family memory. Esme lost her job as an editor, and goes back to Asheville to lick her wounds. When her mother Robyn was out of the picture while she grew up, Esme lived with her grandparents, Adele and George. Although Adele has passed away, Esme is close to George, and is determined to help restore his business. There is much more to this story, particularly as Adele’s art is discovered. We get to see Adele and George as they were in the 1940’s, and get to know Esme well. Recommended and thanks to NetGalley for this ARC.

This was a sweet book, filled with life challenges, self exploration, and lots of twists and turns. It kept me interested and was beautifully full of love, nature and joy!

** spoiler alert ** A strong book in some places, but a bit dragging and dull in others.
I really enjoyed the voice of Adele and George and felt the past time frame was more thought out and captivating. I found much of Esme's life dull- especially the beginning and her "list".
I also found the "romance" such a let down and WASTE OF TIME! You have a full book of are-they or aren't they and you end it with one single sentence. UGH! You can't have a love-at-first-sight meet cute and then a "not my type" in the last few pages. I can't even be excited for her next guy because Esme must fall for whomever is attractive.
The ending (besides the romance) did pull me through, but definitely took me a while to get through this book.

I loved this book! Great characters, an interesting storyline, and I loved the historical storyline, too.

Esme loses her job in NYC and heads back home to her grandparent's lakeside resort to recoup and figure out her life going forward. Her grandmother, Adele, has passed on but left her a box of memories and an attic full of quilts in crazy colors and designs. In her struggle to find herself, she follows Adele's history and learns all kinds of secrets. Esme is also reconnecting with her estranged mother and dealing with her grandfather's failing memory, all while remodeling the resort and writing a book. There is a lot going on, but it's easy to follow and kept me reading.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for a temporary, digital ARC in return for my review.

Set at the lakeside retreat of her family, Esme Cahill Fails Spectacularly is a delightful summer read. After life doesn't go as she had planned, Esme returns to her family's home while she decides her next life move and in the meantime helps them rebuild their estate. Esme finds many connections to herself in the life of her recently deceased Grandmother as she learns more about her past, and begins to rebuild her own future. This book is heartwarming, funny, and filled with imperfect characters that all have a place in each others lives. Thank you to Harper Collins and Net Galley for an advanced copy of this book, all opinions are my own.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this ARC publication for an honest review.

Esme Cahill's life if falling apart. She loses her husband, her job, and then her beloved grandmother, leading her to go home to the lakeside resort in NC where she was raised by her grandparents. Part of the story was historical fiction told from her grandmother's perspective. The other chapters were Esme's current timeline. The theme of second chances is weaved throughout, not only from our main character, but side characters as well.

This is a story of healing and finding forgiveness. Many of the characters are trying to find their place in the world, discovering who they truly are. The growth of the characters, and the changing bonds between them was an emotional journey.

While the ending came full circle, I was a little disappointed on the way things turned out with Dawes. There was a happily ever after, just not fully the direction my romantic heart envisioned.

3.5 stars

As a quilter I absolutely loved Esme Cahill Fails Spectacularly by Marie Bostwick. Esme has failed at everything in her life, and now fired and divorced she is heading back to hometown to help with the family lakeside retreat. Her grandmother requested that she comes home, but passed away before Esme arrived. While at home, she finds a box of beautiful quilts her grandmother made, and that, along with a few other things, help Esme turn her life around. But will it be to go back to NYC? Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.