From the moment I started this book I was completely immersed in the characters and story line. Such a cleverly put together plotwith two different points of view and the different time frames, with the gradual unveiling of secrets and lies and an examination of what friendship really looks like.


Really powerful writing about grief, betrayal and true love, I couldn't put this book down. The characters of Sara and Lottie were so well drawn that even with their flaws, you still rooted for them. I was swept along by the story and highly recommend.

Sur le chemin de la guérison.

La narration à plusieurs voix est toujours efficace et ici, le changement de temporalité ajoute encore plus de rythme à la lecture. Un véritable page turner. Les personnages sont bien construits, ce qui les rend attachants. On suit leur évolution au fil des pages et à travers des sujets forts tels que la gestion du deuil, la recherche et l'acceptation de soi, la complexité des relations amicales et amoureuses et la valeur des souvenirs. Ce qui m'a dérangée, c'est le trop grand nombre d'incompréhensions entre les personnages et l'excuse de l'alcool qui, à mon avis, est utilisée de façon abusive et avec trop de légèreté.

Malgré ces quelques reproches, je ne pouvais pas mettre une note en dessous de 4, car j'ai été profondément touchée par la justesse de certains passages. Je ne connaissais pas cette autrice et c'est une belle découverte.

Rating is a 3 because at times it felt higher or lower. For whatever reason, cover and description lead me to believe that it would be more romance than it actually was. The cover seems so bright, but a lot of it was deep and some of it dark.

The main characters are group of “friends” Lottie, Sara, Jay, and Dec. Dec seems to play a minor role in the group, and unfortunately he has very little depth other than being a plot device at times. The other three are definitely all youth that experienced trauma with parents who have some serious issues.

I can relate to this personally because I experienced neglect and abuse for much of my life under 18, and as such Lottie’s need to be loved and her neediness resonates with me. I can remember being clingy in relationships and even at the beginning of my marriage. However, I don’t love the fact that she did such heinous things to Sara and Jay (and even poor Dec) because of it. And I really don’t love that this is turned into some positive at the end. That if she hadn’t done these things Jay and Sara wouldn’t have grown and “healed” before finally getting together.

This brings me to Jay and Sara. I do agree that they caused enough damage on their own. But I think Sara knew from the very beginning that Lottie was trouble. I think she knew this because of the trauma she faced. Hyper-vigilance being common in those who face trauma, I think she noticed the small things but Lottie gaslit her so well because in essence as it goes with trauma survivors she found someone like her Mom. That part is at least well written.

I know this is mainly Sara and Lottie’s story, but I so wish there had been more development of Jay’s character because what I saw makes me still feel he is problematic even if he felt like the hurt one, especially when he had a “relationship” with Lottie. Hurt people hurt people. But there isn’t really evidence he’s actually done the work to become better.

And that leads to maybe the biggest problem of them all and this is big spoilers here. Sara and Jay learn the truth of all, talk a bit, and the go on a share the relationship tour around town. Then Sara is moving to New Castle, everyone is fine and happy, and all is right with the world. But none of the trauma is actually healed! It’s all still there, everyone is just choosing to ignore it. All of the parents have just decided they’ve made mistakes but life is too short and are at peace now for the most part.

Overall the book wasn’t what I expected and while some things were done well (the trauma bonding and personality disorders), the happily ever after just didn’t feel true. It had a lot of potential, but missed the mark at the end.

I enjoyed this book. It did have a romantic twist, even though the main story line was loss. I loved the suspense of what the next note said.

I struggled with this book, I had really enjoyed the authors previous book but something was off with this one

I felt it was a lot longer than it needed to be. Lots of the issues happened due to miscommunication which is a huge bug bear of mine. If the characters had just spoken to each other this book would have been a lot shorter.

Not for me unfortunately

I absolutely loved this book! I read it within a couple of hours and couldn’t put it down. The relationship between Lottie and Sara was so interesting and I loved the way everything came together at the end. I love how this wasn’t your typical romance book, there was always something to get you thinking. I would definitely recommend this book.

Sara is grieving the loss of her childhood best friend, Lottie, while struggling with a life that hasn’t gone as planned. In her will, Lottie leaves behind a "jar of joy" filled with instructions to revisit places tied to their happiest memories. However, these trips also bring back painful reminders of their shared past—especially the secrets Lottie kept and their complicated history with Jay, the man they both loved. As she embarks on this emotional journey, she begins to heal, but some wounds may be too deep.

I went into this book expecting an emotional read, but I found it difficult to connect with the characters. While I sympathised with Sara as she navigated the loss of her friend, there was something about their relationship that didn’t sit right with me. Their friendship felt odd—at times even unkind—which made it hard to fully invest in their story.

Overall, it was an okay read, but it didn’t quite resonate with me as much as I had hoped.

Thank you to NetGalley for the download.

First of all, this book was ok. I had a hard time connecting to the characters to be honest.

Sara is grieving the loss of her best friend Lottie. The book goes back in time to give you a backstory of how their friendship started, then comes back to the present time with how she’s dealing with the loss.

I’ve read another ARC by this author that i really enjoyed but, i had a hard time finishing this one. Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book before it’s published.

An excellent read for any and all readers! Author comes at you with both barrels and knocks you out of your shoes! Great job fleshing out all the characters. I give this book FIVE stars! Definitely recommend!

Sara is grieving the death of her best friend, Lottie. In the past timeline, we get the back story of when the friends met and the drama that occurred with the friend group up until Lottie’s death. In the present timeline, we see Sara grieving and following Lottie’s last wishes.

I found it hard to connect to any of the characters. There was a lot of telling but not showing, especially in the past timeline. I couldn’t get past the awful and selfish things some of the characters did and how easily they were forgiven. Some of the relationships were toxic. The present timeline/resolutions didn’t feel like a realistic portrayal of grief nor how people would feel in the circumstances. The ending felt rushed. It’s an okay read but not one that will be memorable for me.

Thanks to the publisher (Canelo) & NetGalley for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!
Pub date: 2/27/25

5–Thank you to Canelo Romance and NetGalley for providing an early read of "Pieces of Us."

In Ainsworth’s latest book, the protagonist, Sara, struggles with the death of her childhood best friend Lottie. Feeling lost and trying to seek a sense of normalcy, she is given a "jar of joy" from Lottie’s mom filled with instructions to revisit their happiest memories. Each memory brings back painful secrets that tore them apart, especially with Jay—the man they both loved—reappearing in her life. As she embarks on this journey, she wonders if Lottie’s jar can give her the strength to change her life.

This book brought out so many emotions!!! Despite being a bit drawn out and featuring a somewhat toxic friendship, I loved it.

And here are some quotes I loved:

‘Sometimes it’s better to forgive than to spend years holding onto bitterness.“

“Life is full of “what-ifs” - the secret is to embrace them, don’t run away from them.”

“But that’s life, isn’t it. We are all dealt a hand. We never quite know how the game will play out.”

“I wish I’d spent more time being grateful for the small things I had rather than wishing that everything was different.”

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this arc.

If you are looking for a story of friendship, this is a good read for you. I found some bits slow and predictable but overall thought it was a cute read.

3.5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Canelo for this ARC.

Sara has a cat called Goose, works in a care home and misses her best friend Lottie who has recently died from cancer. Lottie's Mum Erica, bitter after her divorce and not very friendly towards Sara, gives her a present from Lottie - a Jar of Joy that she made for her designed to remember all the nice times they had together.

In highschool, Lottie, Sara, Jay and Dec all used to hang out together. The relationship between Sara and Jay was complicated - they seemed destined to end up together but their parents hated each other. The true toxicity however in this Romeo and Juliet scenario came from none other than Lottie who did everything to keep those two apart, even forging a letter.

Can you be violently angry towards a tragic young woman who died from cancer when all she wanted was to be loved by people? Yes, when she is selfish and jealous, directly conspiring against the happiness of her apparent best friend. So she had a father who neglected her and a bitter mother, and all her privilege didn't mean anything to her - you know what, I don't care. She did a horrible thing and she didn't make it right before she died.

Ok, some of that can be attributed to Sara's utter inability to communicate with those around her but especially Lottie and Jay. But she is a kind person with a complicated family life and I liked her relationship with old Derek who lives at the care home, and her colleague Jess. She was always a good friend to Lottie and forgave her anything, while the other way round this can't be said. I was so sad for her, thinking bad things about Jay for so long.

This is an emotional story about childhood traumas, toxic friendship, romance, secrets, grief, forgiveness and second chances which I really tried to like, but I got very impatient at the end. It just drags on and on while the reader knows the issue but it takes Sara ages to catch up, do the things from the Joy Jar and read Lottie's diary. There are two POVs, two timelines and a lot of repetition. This book could have been at least 50 pages shorter and half as infuriating. As it stands, this wasn't for me.

What was the point of that book? It mostly made me angry. Lottie was an awful friend but I was supposed to feel bad for her because she died? Her actions were not okay throughout her whole friendship and sara and jay suffered because of it. Ya sara and jay were bad communicators but they would have ended up together so much sooner if Lottie hadn’t done all those things.

Really enjoyed this book. Loved the characters and really felt all the emotion. Was a bit long in places but apart from that nice easy read!

This story seems familiar to me but I still enjoyed reading it. I think it is full of hope and we could all use that right now. Cherishing friendships and learning to grieve are important steps in life, and I enjoyed how the author explored those. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

I loved this book and was delighted to discover this author last year. The story and characters flowed so well and well written. I loved finding out each message every day for sara left my Lottie. A bit predictable but still overall I loved it and read it in two days. I rated this 4.5 on story graph but rounding up to 5 stars for this review. Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for this arc , looking forward to the authors next book already.

I enjoyed this book. It is thought provoking and made me think about my friendships. Dual POV for the two best friends. Nicely written.

3.5⭐️


Cuando Lottie muere, le deja una serie de indicaciones a Sara, su mejor amiga, que la llevará a un viaje en el pasado y tendrá que enfrentar viejos fantasmas y descubrirá traiciones de gente que jamás imaginó que la herirían de esa forma.

Tengo sentimientos encontrados porque se me hizo interesante la historia, por el otro lado no me gustó que cierta persona no recibiera su castigo por todo el mal que causó (aunque podría verse en cierta forma que si tuvo su castigo).


Gracias NetGalley y a la editorial por el ARC.

I have mixed feelings about this book, I really liked the last book by this author and whilst this one was a good read it didn’t quite hit me in the same way unfortunately.

What I did like was the way this is written - Eve Ainsworth has a way of making you feel immersed in the characters, I really bonded with Sara and felt her pain and emotions along the way. My favourite part of the book was her relationship with Derek in the care home - this gave me all the feels. I also liked the healing journey she goes on with her family.

What I didn’t like was how drawn out it felt. There were one too many times when things might have worked out but didn’t for an avoidable reason. The friendship between Sara and Lottie was very toxic and I felt uncomfortable at times about how certain situations played out. It was one of those books where you just wanted to shake the characters and tell them to just talk to each other and stop relying on information they are getting from others. There is one part that involves a letter which I just couldn’t cope with - it was all too horrible but I can understand the motive and insecurities that led to it.

I think for me this book bought up some insecurities about my own friendships I had at school so maybe that’s why I didn’t gel with it the same as I did with her last book. I wouldn’t let this stop others from picking this one up though as it is beautifully written.

Overall, I enjoyed the ending and how everything plays out. The concept of the jar of joy was great and redeemed Sara and Lotties friendship in a way.

Thank you to NetGalley and Canelo for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.