It's always so interesting to me reading a heartwarming story in a man's POV. I loved Brian and his journey! I thought the past and present timelines were well done and you really got to know Brian. I was rooting for him the whole time.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC.

This is my first book by Richard Roper, but it won't be my last. I'm not generally an angst-type reader (my heart just can't take it), but this one was worth it. It was sad and sweet, hopeful and messy. Beautifully written, this book grabbed me and never let go. Highly recommend.

Just when you're cruising along, thinking you've got it all under control... BAM! Richard Roper hits you with another emotional rollercoaster in "This Disaster Loves You"!

Let me tell you, Roper has cemented his place as one of my absolute favorite authors. I stumbled upon "When We Were Young" by chance and was instantly hooked. Then came "Something to Live For (How Not to Die Alone)," and now this gem! Seriously, besides the eye-catching cover, this book is practically flawless!

From the get-go, I was right there with Brian, tagging along on his wild ride. It's like I was his invisible sidekick, cheering him on and cringing at every twist and turn. And can we talk about Brian's voice? Utterly captivating! His self-deprecating humor had me in stitches, and the dual timeline kept me on the edge of my seat.

But let's get real here – that ending? Talk about a tear-jerker! I haven't felt this emotionally wrecked by a book in ages. Richard Roper, you're officially breaking hearts and taking names!

Do yourself a favor and grab a copy of "This Disaster Loves You" ASAP. Heck, read everything Roper has penned. Trust me, they're like big, cozy hugs in book form. You'll thank me later!

I sobbed reading this wayyyyy past my bedtime.

This book tugged at every heartstring I have. Even though nothing is perfect, it made me so eager to find my person. Getting the flashbacks of when he met and then started a relationship with Lily (and eventual marriage) made me so sappy even though we know in the present timeline that she has disappeared and has been gone for seven years.

Slowing putting the puzzle pieces together throughout his journey to find her felt so, sentimental (?) almost. We find out, slowly, along with him what happened with Lily and how everything came to be how it is now. Through this, he finds inklings of happiness in his life without her in it, because when she disappeared he stopped living for himself in many ways. I don't really how to describe it but I just sympathized with Brian so much and I saw a lot of myself in him.

No matter what we may have planned for our life, when we fall in love, it often takes us in a direction that we never expected. And in This Disaster Loves You by Richard Roper, a man recalls the twists and turns of his own love story while he searches for his long-lost wife.

Full review published on NightsAndWeekends.com and aired on Shelf Discovery

It's been nearly seven years since Brian's wife, Lily, disappeared from his life without a goodbye, leaving Brian on his own to run the pub they bought and restored together. Now, as the anniversary of Lily's disappearance approaches, the once-thriving pub has fallen into disrepair, and Brian is in stasis, unable to move on, spending his evenings doom-scrolling the pub's online reviews. Then one evening, he finds an active reviewer account that he is convinced is Lily -- and he sets out on an excursion throughout England to track her down, following her reviews to landmarks across the country.

Unfolding on two timelines -- Brian's journey to find Lily, interspliced with the story of how they met and fell in love -- This Disaster Loves You is a warm, bighearted novel about the beautiful, messy, complicated adventure that is sharing your life with another person. Richard Roper writes with lightness, humor, and empathy as he explores serious topics: the hurt and confusion of being left without answers; the sorrow of loving someone desperately, but feeling powerless to save them when it matters most. Roper really nails the tone of the story, which feels hopeful and joyful despite its focus on such heavy themes. And the way he incorporates reviews of some of England's most well-known landmarks had me laughing out loud; I won't spoil it, but it's such a clever and cynical portrayal of modern online reviewer culture.

Brian is a genuine, relatable character, and I was rooting so hard for his healing and happiness. Because Brian narrates the novel in the first-person, we only really get to know Lily through his eyes -- but Roper's writing is so deft that we're able to see some truths about her that Brian himself isn't quite ready to face. It all makes for a moving, poignant reading experience that I found to be both heartbreaking and hopeful. This Disaster Loves You is a book about the messiest parts of life and love, and about how the light is always there, even during the darkest times, if you let your loved ones help you find it.

This is my first book by this author, and I must say I liked it. I enjoyed the dual timelines. I fell in love with the main character. I found him awkward yet really loveable. I loved his journey. Overall, this was a good read.


Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the E-ARC.

All thoughts and opinions are honest and my own.

This book is absolutely beautiful, I adored it and will be hitting Richard Roper’s backlist hard as a result. It has everything—romance. Humor, grief. I loved loved loved it.

Many thanks to Netgalley, the author and publishers for providing my review copy.

Just when you think you're going to get through it unscathed.....

Richard Roper has easily and quickly become a favorite author. I read When We Were Young on a whim and I loved it so I went and read Something to Live For (How Not to Die Alone) and now his newest...This Disaster Loves You. Aside from the cover, this book is near perfect! I was on that journey with Brian. The whole time I was following him like a ghost. I appreciated the self deprecating humor and the dual timeline, but I LOVED Brian's voice. I felt very connected to him and it was easy to empathize with him and what he was going through. That ending though....I haven't been near tears while reading in a long time. Richard Roper is breaking me!

Pick this book up and read everything Roper has written. They are ALL like giant warm hugs. You won't regret it.

This was such a heartbreaking story of love and loss, and even hope. It’s a dual timeline, and I was equally invested in both stories, which isn’t always the case for me. I loved the characters especially the MC Brian’s sweetness and quirkiness. This could’ve been a love for me, but I think it was just longer than it needed to be and I found myself skimming the last 1/4 of the book.

**Many thanks to NetGalley, Penguin - Putnam, and Richard Roper for an ARC of this book!**

"If I could you know I would
Just hold your hand and you'd understand
I'm the man who loves you" - I'm the Man Who Loves You, Wilco

Brian feels like Lily's only been gone for a moment...but at the same time, it feels like an eternity. He can still picture her in that vivid blue dress, smiling at him from behind the bar as though it was yesterday...but it's been almost SEVEN long years without her...and without any explanation as to why she left him. In that time, Brian has tried his best to keep the bar he ran with Lily afloat, and keep all of their dreams alive until she returns...because with the anniversary of her departure coming up, he knows in his GUT that she will be back soon.

But one day, Brian catches himself doomscrolling (or is it stalking?) TripAdvisor and finds a username that catches his eye: PinkMoonLily1972. With his Lily's affinity for musician Nick Drake (and especially his album PINK MOON) and her name in the username, Brian is convinced he's finally found her. PinkMoonLily has been all over the place, writing reviews of her adventures...and there even seems to be a method to her madness. Brian takes this as the sign he's been waiting for, and leaves the bar in the hands of his two employees to go out on a quest to bring Lily home to him at last. With a half-formulated plan in mind, Brian sets off, not knowing what to expect...but hoping he can stay two steps ahead of Lily and run into her at long last. But with memories of their long and complicated past flooding back to him along the way....and a curious female stranger named Tess who...catches him off guard, to say the least...will Brian's quest end in triumph? Or with such a tumultuous and at times tortured past between them...is it simply too LATE for their love to FINALLY conquer all?

I'm new to Richard Roper, so going into this read I had absolutely no idea what to expect. The beginning of the book is a little bit jarring to start, with bits and pieces of Brian's memories of Lily presented in flashes or as lists, and I was a bit nervous it would take me a while to find my footing and dig in to this read. However, by about 20% in, not only was I used to Brian's narrative style, I can only describe my reading experience as the best kind of mix between Fredrik Backman and David Nicholls....and I was nothing short of ENTHRALLED! I love a story that brilliantly blends past and present, and this narrative slowly unfurled, showing us flashes of Lily and Brian's relationship as it developed over time, but bouncing back over and over to Brian's current quest without feeling disruptive in the slightest.

This is a relationship you won't EVER quite understand...because Brian doesn't fully understand it either. He's self-deprecating, but never in an overly dramatic way, and at the same time, he both sees his worth and doubts it constantly. Lily's family and Lily herself are complicated creatures, and since we only get to know Lily through Brian's recollection, she is as much a mystery to us as readers as she is to Brian during her mysterious journey. Brian's sense of humor might take a bit of getting used to also...but as I mentioned earlier, he is right at home with the likes of some of my favorite Backman characters and has the perfect blend of wit, silliness, and still an air of melancholy about him...all with a heart of gold beneath.

Though I won't give ANYTHING away, because trust me when I say the journey is worth it, there is a WHOPPER of a twist towards the end of this book...and it is nothing short of a gut punch. I actually gasped out loud and said "No way" TO my Kindle while reading...it is that kind of breathtaking moment that feels eerily reminiscent of the most shocking moment in your OWN life, where you had to stop and look around for a second to make sure the Earth hadn't suddenly fallen off its axis. Once you come back into your body and start breathing again, Roper gives you a fitting AND intriguing end to Brian's story, with a charming final chapter that feels like taking the first sip of hot cocoa on a cold winter night: it'll warm you up from the inside out!

And though I won't say exactly WHERE Brian's journey leads him (or to whom!) Marcel Proust's thoughts on the nature of discovery sums up this quest perfectly: "The voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes."

4 stars

This Disaster Loves You by Richard Roper is a story of love, hope and tragedy. The story follows Brian, whose wife disappeared 7 years ago, leaving a postcard that she will be back, but needed some space for a while. Each morning, Brian, who owns a pub, watches the door to see if Lily is returning, never giving up hope. The story does alternate between the past, when he and Lily fell in love, married, opened the pub, living 20 years through life; and the present, with Brian sees a review on Pinkmoonlil1972, and is determined to find his wife.

Brian’s friend Jeff, is a regular, and he tells his friend he needs to find Lily, but before he leaves, he worries why his friend isn’t at the pub, and goes to his house, where he finds Jeff dead. Heartbroken, but still determined to go on his journey, he puts two young bar workers, Oliver and Sophie, in charge.

The many scenes from the past, gives us details about Brian falling in love with Lily; as well as her falling for him, their marriage, unable to have children, opening up their pub, and family issues along the way. In the present, Brian’s journey leads him to various destinations where Lily might be, with each encounter unsuccessful. He meets Tess, a charming woman from New Zealand, who become friends, and she helping him in his search to find Lily. The final destination has Brian finally meeting PinkMoonLily1972, who turns out not to be his Lily. He returns home to the pub, and knows he will have to close the pub, with serious financial situations. Tess ends up visiting Brian for a while, with her eventually going back to New Zealand. Then to his surprise, he learns that Jeff, his deceased friend left him in his will an enormous amount of money, allowing him to renovate the pub. A surprise twist at the end, was a video that shows Lily on the morning she disappeared, in a major storm, and the truths were revealed.

This Disaster Loves You was a very good story line, filled with love, loss, tragedy, family and friendship. This Disaster Loves You was very well written by Richard Roper. I wholly suggest you read this book.

Both hopeful and heartbreaking, This Disaster Loves You follows past and present storylines as Brian and Lily fall in love and build their life, and as Brian searches for her seven years after her disappearance. Brian is a lovable, socially-awkward character who ends up with the charismatic Lily. As the story progressed, I was surprised to find much of the book revolving around the choice to have or not have children - something I think about often. This ends up being a central theme and was written with great care and thoughtfulness.

Though it is not necessarily a happy book, there are moments of joy sprinkled within. I loved Roper's previous book, Something to Live For, and This Disaster Loves You is right up there with it.

Seven years ago Brian's wife disappeared. Now, he's on the hunt for her after reading a review online that he's convinced she wrote.

This book was interesting and has a really unique concept. There were parts that were a little hard to read because I felt so bad for Brian honestly. He really struggles as he searches for his wife. The book shows Brian in the present as well as his life with his wife from when they met to when she disappeared. This was an emotional one.

All in all, this was a good drama that really delved into trauma and moving on in life.

Thank you to the author and publisher for the gifted copy.

Brian’s wife, Lily, disappeared from his life without a trace almost 7 years ago, but Brian never lost hope. One doom-scroll on his business’s reviews later, he finds an active TripAdvisor account for PinkMoonLily1972 that he knows in his heart is his Lily. Interspliced with Brian’s journey to find Lily is the story of their love—how it started and the twists and turns that brought them to this moment.

Requested this arc on a whim and didn't realize that it's going to destroy my heart. I guess I deserve it.

This is one of those beautiful stories that will leave you speechless. Take it however you want. Brian's journey throughout the book was nothing but a result of love and dedication. The most sofest, compassionate character, I hated seeing him helpless. There were so many emotional moments.

I loved how the chapters are told from past and present povs that make it a bit easier to understand how things unfolded. You could see how cleverly both timelines had so much in common. And nothing is going to prepare you for what's to come in the last few chapters. But at least something good comes out of it (and you'll know when you read it).

<i>Thank you Netgalley and publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.<i>

This Disaster Loves You by Richard Roper is a enjoyable and entertaining story.
This book was so quirky and unique. It was unlike anything else I've ever read before.
The characters were interesting and brought a lot of life to it. They were quirky without being precious or annoying. They were real and you really cared about what happened to them. The story was overall fun and enjoyable.

Thank You NetGalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

An emotional tale about a man searching for answers about his missing wife and thinking about his future. Brian and Lily started off so well but then one day she simply wasn't there when he woke up. Now, seven years later, he thinks he's found her, or at least that he's identified her as the woman writing reviews of various places in the UK on TripAdvisor. And then Jeff, the one consistent customer of his pub dies and he takes off to find her. This moves back and forth in time to tell the story of Brian and Lily and then of his quest as he tracks her. He meets Tess, a Kiwi, in Edinburgh and the two of them form a bond as she joins him. There are no easy answers here and this very much rides on how much you like Brian. Fans of Roper know that there's always a bit of a twist in his novels and while I wasn't a fan of the ending (not the epilogue but the ending), I was surprised. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. A good read that had me turning the pages and rooting for Brian.

Richard Roper's "This Disaster Loves You" offers a nuanced exploration of a romance, ranging throgh a spectrum of emotions from joy to grief. The narrative's alternating timeline, shifting between past and contemporary moments, enhances the plot's intricacy and character arcs.

The unexpected ending, (by me, anyway), and the portrayal of the protagonists, underscore Roper's skillful narrative craft. The compelling and poignant narrative has me looking forward to my next read by Mr. Roper.

Thank you, Net Galley.

I really enjoyed this book -- it was both sad and heartwarming, funny and poignant.

Brian owns a pub and has been wondering for nearly 7 years where his wife Lily is. He woke up one morning and she was gone -- he received a postcard from her soon after which gave him hope that she would soon be back. On a whim one day, he sees an online review that he thinks is written by her, and decides to track her down based on the reviews she is writing.

Some of my favorite parts of this book were when Brian was traveling and trying to find Lily. I loved the adventures he gets in to and of course the people he meets.

Told in alternating timelines, we see Brian looking for Lily while also learning about the beginning and middle parts of their relationship. I loved both Brian and Lily, both such good characters -- despite wanting to shake some sense in to Brian a few times.

I loved the writing and especially the descriptions of locations -- I could picture all the settings and especially the pub. I would love to go and chat with Brian and Jeff!

The ending was one of my favorite parts -- I think this is a book that the less you know about it going in to it, the better. I loved everything about it! This was my second book by Richard Roper and I will definitely read his other backlist one, and anything he writes in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book!

First thank you to Putnam and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Synopsis: Brian is an awkward guy who meets Lily one day at a party. They get married and buy a pub. One day lily disappears and Brian struggles to keep up. Seven years later a reviewer on trip advisor seems to be Lily so Brian takes off to find her. While on this quest, Brian discovers a himself among other things.

What I liked: this was my first book by this author and I very much enjoyed it. His characters are very likable and relatable. The story is told in a way that you feel you are living it alongside them. I felt so much during this book from loneliness to love, pain, fear, grief, joy basically the whole set of feelings. Brian and Lily stories both were everyday occurrences but written in such a way that you really felt it. There is a cast of side characters that provide support to the story. Jeff was a regular at the pub but ever through they talk everyday, there was a lot more to his story. This will not be my last book by this author and started looking for his backlist books.