This is my first time of reading this author’s work and it was a good introduction to her work.
Amy Byler is the single mum (technically) of two kids whose husband walked out on them three years earlier and suddenly reappears with his tail behind his legs, hoping to reconnect with his kids. Amy is good hearted and mature enough to allow the kids spend a week at first and then the entire summer with their dad while she decides to attend a conference in New York City and stay with her sophisticated friend Tracey whom she went to college with. Amy’s trip to New York changes everything when she meets the “hot Librarian” Daniel at the conference and is convinced to do a feature for Tracey’s magazine about mums who need time off from their kids and how to go about it. Amy has loads of fun in the city but it dawns on her soon that she will have to go back to her small town in Pennsylvania and she is not sure if she will be happy with the life she had before after her experience in the city.
I totally enjoyed reading this book. It was light, funny, relatable with an interesting story line. The fact that almost every chapter started with Amy’s teenage daughter journaling didn’t make me feel as if I was reading a YA novel which was a good sign and surprisingly I loved her character and found her quite witty. I think she was my best character.
Being a mother of three children, I totally related with the mum-springer idea and I strongly believe that mothers need some time off from being mums once in a while. I loved the romance between Amy and Daniel and having visited New York city a few times, the references to certain familiar places such as the Brooklyn bridge added more spice to my reading experience. Another thing I was able to relate to was the constant guilt that Amy felt when she was away from her kids and the fear she always felt because she wasn’t home that something terrible was going to happen to them. These are feelings I have had in the past myself but thanks to my ever supportive spouse who always assured me that they would be fine and after all these years I am now in a better place. I think we mums should just take a chill pill and endeavor to take out time to care for ourselves so that we can be strong enough for everyone else. It is not a luxury, it is a necesity for our sanity.
This is my third 5 star read this year and I have a lovely time reading it. I highly recommend it to all fiction lovers.
Rating: 5 stars
Published: May 1, 2019 by Lake Union Publishing
Pages: 328
Genre: Fiction (Contemporary/Romance)
Purchase @ www.amazon.com/TOLOAB
The Author: Kelly Harms is the author of The Good Luck Girls of Shipwreck Lane and The Matchmakers of Minnow Bay. She has also worked with New York Times and USA Today bestselling authors, Edgar, RITA, and Agatha award winners, and Indie Next List Picks in her time as an editor at a division of HarperCollins and later as an agent at the Jane Rotrosen Agency. She lives in Madison, Wisconsin with her son Griffin and puppy Scout.
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