Gracie has suffered a tragic loss, and as she lives through her grief, her life implodes. Lewis, her partner, feels shut out, and when he commits the ultimate betrayal, Gracie runs to the only person she can trust, her sister. The story explores grief, loss, infertility's emotional impact and motherhood through Gracie, a courageous and likeable protagonist. Multiple characters interconnect in many ways as Gracie navigates her new life and what she has to do to survive her loss. Throughout this emotional story, the reader invests in the characters, particularly Gracie and becomes immersed in the emotional rollercoaster. I like the relatability of the characters, the emotions the story induces and the storytelling that makes you part of Gracie and the other characters 'lives. It's a story you have to see through to the end, which is believable and satisfying.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

Thank you netgalley,publishers and to the author Nicola May for an early copy of this book for my opinion. If you are looking for a book that's going to test your emotions, then this is certainly a contender. A couple of warnings without trying to give too much away, the book does feature some heavy topics around pregnancy and assault and it is rather spicy in parts, but the topics are managed sympathetically and with knowledge. This book really packs a punch, it's heartbreaking and emotional but it's also heartwarming and funny. There is so much about this book to love, you just got to read it for yourself.

I became aware of the book because of the blurb.
The book is profound and funny. Every character plays their part.
The relaxed writing style also ensures that the story is easy to follow and that you can empathize with the feelings of the protagonists and understand their actions well.
The setting is also well described.
Nevertheless, the story didn't quite manage to pick me up. At one point or another, it was a little too superficial for me.
I recommend reading it!!!!

This was a lovely story with some great characters and an amusing storyline.
I absolutely loved this book and devoured it in a matter of hours! The perfect weekend read which I found impossible to put down.

Now I need to read her previous title How Do I Tell You?

This book has just about everything you could want in a fiction book. A story of tragic loss, betrayal, new beginnings, and life-saving relationships, How To Fix A Broken Heart had me laughing and crying within pages of each other. I was legitimately rooting for Gracie the entire book in a way I never have while reading fiction. Nicola May does a fantastic job creating a world of realistic characters with real-world problems and emotions that many authors struggle to emulate. I would recommend this book to any fan of fiction and/or romance. Genuinely loved this book! I received a free ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley for this digital advanced reader’s copy.

This wasn’t it for me. I had some huge issues with this novel, most importantly the lack of trigger warnings, the lack of sensitivity the author showed towards sensitive and highly triggering subjects, as well as the overall misogyny. If these were not big enough issues, there were huge problems with pacing, continuity, and there was absolutely no emotional connection to any of the characters. It is impossible to get emotionally connected to anything in this novel because you are being pulled in every direction between the drama and all of the subplots.

I was just not impressed at all and kind of annoyed with how some of these themes were handled. I probably won’t be picking anything else up from this author.

How to Fix a Broken Heart by Nicola May

I received an advance review copy for free thanks to Rachel's Random Resources and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Blurb

Gracie Davies is at an all-time low. After a devastating loss, the last thing she needs is a colleague hinting over coffee that it’s time to lose her baby weight. Then her boyfriend betrays her, and her world totally falls apart.

Rebuilding her life from scratch – with the support of her free-spirited sister, an unorthodox therapist, and a feisty new friend – Gracie finally begins to get her mojo back. Add in a passionate fling with handsome landscaper Ed, a fairytale encounter with a Hollywood film star and the persistence of her adulterous ex, and life is anything but predictable…

Soon she finds that community, purpose, and perhaps even new love might be the perfect prescription for a broken heart.

But can a heart that’s been so utterly shattered ever trust again?

My Opinion

Nicola May has done it again. How to Fix a Broken Heart is a powerful and emotional novel. Nicola handles some very difficult topics in such a delicate way. Whilst this was not an easy read, I sat and read this in one sitting. Nicola May is a must read author for me, and with books like this it is easy to see why.

Rating 4/5

Sorry to say I really didn't enjoy this book. Not for me. I hardly know where to start. In terms of the subject matter it completely belittled a horrific experience. I found the interactions between the characters weird with everyone calling the women 'sweet' and other patronising terms all the time. The whole thing was mysoginistic and made Gracie out to be shallow.

There was far too much going on which didn't hang together at all.

The false rape accusation sub plot was bizzare and another anti women angle in the book.
To be honest I don't know how this has got through the editing and publishing process. Almost dnf which is almost unheard of for me.

This book had a lot of potential. The topic is not one I come across very often and I do feel it is important to discuss and present in different formats. Infertility struggles are more common or at least more actively discussed today than it was a decade ago, and it is still not spoken about enough.

The problem I had with this novel was the more character based. I didn't like any of the characters, did not feel any connection to them and honestly, they felt a bit stereotypical at times. I have never been to a therapy session as an adult, but I was in therapy as a child. Not once did my therapist ask over and over "and how does that make you feel?". This just sounds like a character in a movie who is thrown into the role to cover for their actual therapist friend while not knowing anything about being a therapist.

Then there are the stereotypical and heavily misogynistic men. The cheating boyfriend who made a drunken mistake and happens to be rip roaring drunk at a bar where the MC's co-worker (who she hates by the way) also happens to be there and they have sex. But it will never happen again because I truly love you (after the horrible things he said to her about the loss of the pregnancy and body shaming her). My eyes could not have rolled more towards the back of my head if I tried.

There is the male boss who is oh so sympathetic and basically let's our MC run with her own schedule even though she is the only employee there, and takes some comment she makes out of context and kisses her because his wife has been turned off of him. What?!?

And finally, I saved the worst for last. The extremely cringe, can't stop winking at you because I think it's sexy and it makes me look sexy, no one knows what his real job is, younger Ed who is also being charged of rape. This subplot was not necessary. It did not add anything to the story. He could have been all of the above things without the rape charge. His interconnection to some side character in the story could have easily been interwoven some other way.

The book reeked of stereotypes, failed or missed subplots, and everyone all of a sudden was pregnant and either facing a loss or had faced a loss. EVERY WOMAN SIDE CHARACTER ended up in some way shape or form pregnant at some point. That was also not necessary.

There was too much going on and nothing of substance or anything adding true value to the story. The writing did not flow. The characters were all over the place. There is no timeline between events so you can't really tell how long has passed from one event to the other. The transitions from events were not clear either. The book was all tell and no show and didn't provide any emotional depth to these characters at all which is a shame because I think if this had been flushed out a bit more, it could have been great.

loved this romance and finding love and remembering love before the one. love the friends and the chemistry between the couple was on fire and loved the banter.

This book will take you on an emotional journey. From breaking your heart, to laughing, to finally healing your broken heart. A beautiful tear jerking experience

How to a fix a Broken Heart by @author_nicola a review for NetGalley and @rachelsrandomresources @stormbooks_co Gracie Davies is grieving after a devastating loss and her life gets worse from her, so much so that she has to rebuild her life from scratch. Gracie has the support of her sister, great friends and her therapist. But the journey through her grief isn’t an easy one. To begin with this could a triggering read for some, as it talks a lot about baby loss. Having said that and from someone that has experienced miscarriages, it’s refreshing to read a work of fiction that writes with honesty, with an openness and a rawness about a subject that feel a bit taboo, when you are going through something like this. Yet it feels like the author is writing from the heart and with complete respect for what she is writing about. I felt all this very early on in the book when Gracie is having a conversation with another character who has just had a miscarriage, Gracie despite her own loss listens with a open heart and I can’t explain how it made me feel, even though my miscarriages were 11 years ago, we now have our beautiful daughter but sadly that was never a given. Now having finished the book I stand by my original opinion and the book is about so much more that baby loss. It’s about passion, mistakes, grief, finding yourself , strength, being honest, relationships and it’s about baby loss effecting men just as much as women and it’s about talking and communicating. I loved this book, I loved Gracie, even though she didn’t always make the right decisions, I admired her strength. Yet I also loved this book because it was funny, it was like watching a soap with that perfect blend of dealing with the heavy stuff and then turning the page to the next chapter and it was full of sex and passion, something this author does so well. I love the authors Ferry Lane series but they are completely different to her stand alone books. For me this book will be memorable in so many ways, it’s a great read, with a great cast of characters all of whom bring something to this story. This book is out tomorrow and I can’t recommend this enough, it’s ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️from me 📚

Rollercoaster of a read. The depth and emotions are contrary to the book cover. Get your tissues ready. Loads of it.

I had a hard time getting truly invested in this story. This poor woman went through a host of setbacks, and this story is her trying to move past all that and find happiness again. I just found it to be hard to care too much about the ways she went about looking for it. Jumping from one man to another, one of whom is accused of rape, and thinking if she only had a child then her life would be fulfilled. I just didn’t love it. I didn’t hate it, either. But I wouldn’t feel like I missed out on anything if I hadn’t read this book.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for this ARC.

This is a book about love and loss and how both of those things are multi faceted.

I started out expecting this to be a book with two main characters. Instead I was blown away with a multiple point of view story about characters interwoven with each other’s life. The multi POV Gabe the book much more depth than if it was just one or two points of view.

I thought some of the characters were going to remain as side characters, but I’m glad that we got to explore their story more and to learn more about them. Truly allows for readers to understand what is going on in this book at a deeper level, and allows readers to sympathize with the characters.

I love how the story wrapped up! Ends being tied together, and characters whose journey you were not sure where they were going, beautifully tied in a bow.

Personally, I would not say this book is very spicy. It definitely mentions sex, and has some descriptions of it, but for me, this is tame.

TW/CW:
- Infertility
- Cheating (off-page)
- Miscarriage
- Mentions of rape

Thanks to the Publisher and Netgalley for an early review copy.

I enjoyed reading this book.

After Gracie has a miscarriage, she and Lewis’s relationship isn’t going well and when he betrays her, she feels that things have to end as it’s the last thing she expected from him.

She begins her life again, still trying to come to terms with her grief. Gracie begins to help other women going through the same situations and makes everyone realise that whenever you go through a miscarriage, it’s upsetting and hard to deal with, and it takes time to come to terms with it.

She meets different people throughout the story and one of them Ed, who is also going through something helps her to regain her confidence and self belief.

The other character Maya, who is in a relationship with a psychiatrist lover, the story links to Gracie.

There are some difficult subjects covered with sensitivity which will resonate with readers.

A beautifully told story which I highly recommend

How to Fix a Broken Heart is a warm, witty, and emotional story about starting over after deep personal loss. The main character, Gracie Davies, is at rock bottom—grieving, betrayed, and unsure how to move forward. But with the help of a quirky therapist, her lively sister, and some unexpected new friendships, Gracie begins to rediscover herself.

The story blends heartbreak, humor, and hope in a relatable way. Nicola May does a great job balancing serious topics with light-hearted moments, making it an engaging and uplifting read. Gracie's journey—complete with romantic twists, self-discovery, and second chances—reminds readers that healing takes time, but it’s possible with the right people around you.

This is a perfect pick for fans of heartfelt contemporary fiction who enjoy stories about resilience, friendship, and finding love after loss.

TW: Miscarriage/Loss/Grief/Rape
Oh, what an emotional read!
I'm used to slightly more lighthearted small village stories by Nicola May, but this one still had a community feel and a deeper thread.
Gracie, the FMC, is reeling from a tremendous loss and feels that she doesn't have the support of her partner, Lewis. A betrayal from him is the last straw, and she starts from scratch in her 30s.
I don't want to sit here and regurgitate the story, but it is a beautifully sad story with an uplifting ending.
Gracie is going through such a tough time, and it resonated with me, as I expect it will with many other women out there who have suffered a miscarriage. The grief from that can take a long time to overcome. She became a character who supported other women in a similar situation and hammered home the message that miscarriage, whether an early loss or a later one, hits hard for all.
Throughout the story, she meets several people, and one is Ed, whom she begins to date. His situation is precarious. (Again, I'm not saying anything because - SPOILERS!) But he is a person who helps build her back up again.
We also have a parallel story of Maya and her psychiatrist lover, which weaves in and out of Gracie's with ease as hidden connections are revealed.
All in all it was a great read, and I championed Gracie from the off!
Many Thanks to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for an ARC

I was interested in the premise of this book, and intrigued by the spice level promised. Unfortunately, it was not very spicy. The plot was like watching a train wreck that you couldn't look away from.

What a touching read for anyone who has been through miscarriage, IVF, loss of a child. This was so well wtlritten. It was made even more touching when I read the author's notes at the end and realised she had been through so much, yet captured the emotions perfectly.

Thank you for this.