fionaaaaaa's review against another edition
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
4.25
What a perfect summer read. A fiesty and determined lead character. You don't need to have a lot of money to follow your dreams. But you still need support and a safe space. Life can be a roller coaster and some people just need a break. At times I was filled with joy and sometimes sadness. But I enjoyed this story, as I said, a perfect summer read š
sarajuni's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
annarella's review against another edition
5.0
A brilliant story: heartwarming, full of emotions, engrossing and entertaining.
it's well written, the cast of characters is fleshed out and the plot flows.
Strongly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.
it's well written, the cast of characters is fleshed out and the plot flows.
Strongly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.
melaniesreads's review against another edition
5.0
After reading part one back in April and loving it I was overjoyed to be asked on the tour for the complete book, especially as it had ended on such a cliffhanger.
Regan is an absolute nightmare, habitually late, a prankster, messy, lazy, work shy. But underneath she has a heart of gold and every morning when she gets her coffee she buys one for Kevin the homeless guy with his dog Elvis.
After a continuous round of pranks with a work colleague backfires spectacularly, she finds herself with no job, no home and no boyfriend. Luckily her best friend rents an art studio and is away in Japan so squatting it is.
This has such an eclectic cast of characters that steal into your heart and become so real they feel like family. So when the warm and fluffy becomes dark you really care what happens to them. This tackles some heavy subjects, homelessness, terminal diagnosis, ptsd, but the author has done it with such warmth and ease that it never feels too heavy. Her use of humour is light to the touch and never feels forced, being perfectly placed to lighten the dark.
This may be Reganās story but the animals are the scene stealers. From Elvis the werewolf of a dog to the hoglets. Which I had no idea was the name for baby hedgehogs.
Oh and I havenāt even got to the romance, Charlie is everything you want for Regan, but you know what they say about the course to true love never running smoothly. This is the classic case of wanting to get two people who are perfect for each other and banging their heads together as they canāt see the forest for the trees. Will they get their happy ending? No spoilers hereā¦..
Regan is an absolute nightmare, habitually late, a prankster, messy, lazy, work shy. But underneath she has a heart of gold and every morning when she gets her coffee she buys one for Kevin the homeless guy with his dog Elvis.
After a continuous round of pranks with a work colleague backfires spectacularly, she finds herself with no job, no home and no boyfriend. Luckily her best friend rents an art studio and is away in Japan so squatting it is.
This has such an eclectic cast of characters that steal into your heart and become so real they feel like family. So when the warm and fluffy becomes dark you really care what happens to them. This tackles some heavy subjects, homelessness, terminal diagnosis, ptsd, but the author has done it with such warmth and ease that it never feels too heavy. Her use of humour is light to the touch and never feels forced, being perfectly placed to lighten the dark.
This may be Reganās story but the animals are the scene stealers. From Elvis the werewolf of a dog to the hoglets. Which I had no idea was the name for baby hedgehogs.
Oh and I havenāt even got to the romance, Charlie is everything you want for Regan, but you know what they say about the course to true love never running smoothly. This is the classic case of wanting to get two people who are perfect for each other and banging their heads together as they canāt see the forest for the trees. Will they get their happy ending? No spoilers hereā¦..
thewoollygeek's review against another edition
4.0
Such a wonderful book, a lovely positive read, not as lighthearted as you think,, lots of substance here. A thought provoking read with lots of heart, a bit slow to start but I found I still didnāt want to put it down. I loved Reagan and Charlie, such a wonderful cast of supporting characters too. A lovely read with real heart.
Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion
Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion
megs2kool's review against another edition
5.0
A cozy read that tugs at the heartstrings. There were a few tears, definitely laughter (especially because of Elvis!) and a sense of hope. Wonderful read! Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.
thesheward_reads's review against another edition
3.0
This book centres around Regan, a pretty normal woman who's lost her way slightly. When an office prank goes wrong and she ends up jobless, single and with no where to sleep, she turns to her community for the love and support she needs to turn her life around. There are plenty of obstacles, and moments where she seems to take one step forward and three back, but with the help of a hunky fireman, her best friend, a coffee shop manager and a homeless man and his dog, she perseveres.
I enjoyed this a lot. There are plenty of predicable moments, a lot of feel good moments, a nice bit of humour and some points that make you want to jump inside the book and give Regan a hug. I'll definitely be reading more from this author.
I enjoyed this a lot. There are plenty of predicable moments, a lot of feel good moments, a nice bit of humour and some points that make you want to jump inside the book and give Regan a hug. I'll definitely be reading more from this author.
annarella's review against another edition
5.0
A brilliant story: heartwarming, full of emotions, engrossing and entertaining.
it's well written, the cast of characters is fleshed out and the plot flows.
Strongly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.
it's well written, the cast of characters is fleshed out and the plot flows.
Strongly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.
anjana's review against another edition
3.0
Regan is a woman not living up to her potential, she is messy and a little self-centred. She has a great best friend, a snooty boyfriend, and odd workmates to begin with. Then the situation changes, and she is thrown into chaos. She has to change her life for the better and reexamine all the things she thought she ought to do and what she might like to do. There are future relationships, a hit-and-run and cute animals thrown in to increase the 'aww' quotient. Overall she grows, makes tons of mistakes, makes some more and then with the help of a sound support system, she finally sees some light at the end of the tunnel.
The writing of this book is light, and the story flows fast, but the lead protagonist was not a likeable person. Even her growth arc was iffy at best, and her most redeeming character is a golden heart for a homeless man who is about the only person nice to her in the beginning. Basically what I am saying it was not really a book for me but I think there will be a lot of people who will enjoy reading about this woman who plunges headfirst into any plan with minimal forethought. Looking at other reviews as well, I get the idea that I might be in the minority with this one.
I received an ARC thanks to Netgalley and the publishers, but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.
The writing of this book is light, and the story flows fast, but the lead protagonist was not a likeable person. Even her growth arc was iffy at best, and her most redeeming character is a golden heart for a homeless man who is about the only person nice to her in the beginning. Basically what I am saying it was not really a book for me but I think there will be a lot of people who will enjoy reading about this woman who plunges headfirst into any plan with minimal forethought. Looking at other reviews as well, I get the idea that I might be in the minority with this one.
I received an ARC thanks to Netgalley and the publishers, but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.
paulina_aspiringliterati's review against another edition
3.0
Feel-good story about second chances and how winning the lottery may change your life not the way you thought it would!
āMeet Me at Pebble Beachā follows Regan whose life is, letās call it for what it is, boring and uneventful. She works a dull job she has no enthusiasm for and lives with a boyfriend that scolds her like a child for morning mess at their shared apartment. The only relief are the pranks she and her collegue Alex play on one another. Until they arenāt. Until Regan, thinking she won the lottery, ends up jobless, boyfriendless, apartmentless.
I went into this book expecting a sweet, soft story heavy on the romance. Instead I got one about major life changes and reinventing oneself. The romance component was there, and pretty early on, but there was a twist to it, a bitter-sweet one and Iād be lying if I said it didnāt give me whiplash.
There wasnāt anything particularly wrong with this book but it wasnāt entirely for me. At least not now as I just wasnāt in a mood for this kind of story. I had a bit of a problem connecting to any of the characters. It wasnāt the pacingās fault because the structure was well thought-through and every twist and turn made sense at the time it happened in the book.
Unfortunately I felt like Regan as the main character was the epitome of naive. Which, really, should have been fine because it was her journey and her time to rediscover herself. Mistakes are made and then we improve upon them ā thatās basically how story crafting goes! At the same time I just couldnāt quite understand her. Especially when it came to her love interest. Her decisions and reasoning behind them seemed shallow to me and I couldnāt fully get behind them. Again, thatās a very subjective view and other readers looking for different things could completely disagree with me.
The book is set in Brighton, UK and as soon as I realized that I felt transported back there. As a high school student I had the amazing opportunity of going there on a language course, several times as a matter of fact, and my memories of those stays are one of the fondest I have from teenage years. I recognized some of the places Regan talks about or visits. It was a joy to revisit them on book pages. Because of that I can also attest to the writing quality. Bella Osborne wrote a lovely story about belated self-discovery that had me feeling warm, cozy and craving some of that special unicorn jam, to be honest!
āMeet Me at Pebble Beachā didnāt bring me to my knees or anything but I spent a nice time reading it. Some of the novelās plot components seemed a bit forced to me, like some boxes had to be ticked off and that is how they were found in the story in the first place. I just would have liked a somewhat more natural transition between the not having a clue and finding out. Then again, it could have been a case of me not reading in between the lines enough.
All in all, I would recommend it to anyone who feels like reading about major life changes, a character who clearly has no idea how to fix her life but starts doing it nonetheless andā¦ Brighton, I guess? For sentimental value, haha. Enjoy!
**massive thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing an arc in exchange for a fair and honest review**
āMeet Me at Pebble Beachā follows Regan whose life is, letās call it for what it is, boring and uneventful. She works a dull job she has no enthusiasm for and lives with a boyfriend that scolds her like a child for morning mess at their shared apartment. The only relief are the pranks she and her collegue Alex play on one another. Until they arenāt. Until Regan, thinking she won the lottery, ends up jobless, boyfriendless, apartmentless.
I went into this book expecting a sweet, soft story heavy on the romance. Instead I got one about major life changes and reinventing oneself. The romance component was there, and pretty early on, but there was a twist to it, a bitter-sweet one and Iād be lying if I said it didnāt give me whiplash.
There wasnāt anything particularly wrong with this book but it wasnāt entirely for me. At least not now as I just wasnāt in a mood for this kind of story. I had a bit of a problem connecting to any of the characters. It wasnāt the pacingās fault because the structure was well thought-through and every twist and turn made sense at the time it happened in the book.
Unfortunately I felt like Regan as the main character was the epitome of naive. Which, really, should have been fine because it was her journey and her time to rediscover herself. Mistakes are made and then we improve upon them ā thatās basically how story crafting goes! At the same time I just couldnāt quite understand her. Especially when it came to her love interest. Her decisions and reasoning behind them seemed shallow to me and I couldnāt fully get behind them. Again, thatās a very subjective view and other readers looking for different things could completely disagree with me.
The book is set in Brighton, UK and as soon as I realized that I felt transported back there. As a high school student I had the amazing opportunity of going there on a language course, several times as a matter of fact, and my memories of those stays are one of the fondest I have from teenage years. I recognized some of the places Regan talks about or visits. It was a joy to revisit them on book pages. Because of that I can also attest to the writing quality. Bella Osborne wrote a lovely story about belated self-discovery that had me feeling warm, cozy and craving some of that special unicorn jam, to be honest!
āMeet Me at Pebble Beachā didnāt bring me to my knees or anything but I spent a nice time reading it. Some of the novelās plot components seemed a bit forced to me, like some boxes had to be ticked off and that is how they were found in the story in the first place. I just would have liked a somewhat more natural transition between the not having a clue and finding out. Then again, it could have been a case of me not reading in between the lines enough.
All in all, I would recommend it to anyone who feels like reading about major life changes, a character who clearly has no idea how to fix her life but starts doing it nonetheless andā¦ Brighton, I guess? For sentimental value, haha. Enjoy!
**massive thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing an arc in exchange for a fair and honest review**