"Alex Fox knows there are lots of things she should be.

She should be the perfect wife to her chronically ill husband Sam, and the perfect mother to their two daughters. She should be excelling in her high-stress job. And she should be completing the demanding to-do lists she makes to keep herself on track."

Even if, just sometimes, she doesn't have time to breathe.

I enjoyed this book by Katie Marsh, and really felt for the family going through so much, however, I did not connect with it in the same way I did with her earlier book This Beautiful Life. Notwithstanding that, it is a lovely read and one to warm your heart and make you stop and take notice of what you have around you and appreciate it.

I loved this book! It is emotionally honest with true to life characters and relatable the family dynamics relatable.
A beautiful novel that makes you think and feel, Marsh' best yet!

Thanks to Hodder & Stoughton and Netgalley for sending me this in exchange for an open and honest review.

Please note that this book is not for me - I have read the book, However I had to DNF and because i do not like to give negative reviews I will not review this book fully - there is no specific reason for not liking this book. I found it a struggle to read and did not enjoy trying to force myself to read this book.

Apologies for any inconvenience caused and thank you for the opportunity to read this book

I have tried to read this book twice and I am sorry to say I am not going to finish it. I do not want to put others off reading it but for me there are too many 'dramas' - I usually like a story that evokes an emotion but this one rather than being gripping me into wanting to read more, with each chapter I have thought "now what?" and not wanted to engage in more. I am sure this will be enjoyed by many people, but not me.

Alex is a woman no one should ever aspire to. She wants to be the perfect wife, be the perfect mother and feels it bitterly if there are any shortcomings. Permanently playing catch up, with a demanding job, an ailing husband (whom she has just donated a kidney to) and not recovering well herself, she pushes herself more and more trying to keep up with the very growing list of chores and things to be done.

What Alex does not do is listen to her children, both young - one a precocious teenager and one a very young girl. Both desperate for a mother to just listen to them and give them the opening they need to confide in her. Subjects which they cannot bring up as it is not cool enough or they are not comfortable with. Sam on the other hand, the husband who is now well recovered after surgery is blithe, having left it to Alex's capable hands for the last two decades he is quite willing to continue in the same vein.

The fact that Izzy is being bullied mercilessly and does not know how to cope and that Jenna is trying to cope with her budding sexuality are the two topics that are so well handled that it should be compulsory reading for all mothers and fathers. Whilst their children try to cope as best as they could, Alex and Sam both involved and focussed on their careers as they feel that this is what they do best, damage their family so much that it is a wonder that they did not all disappear into a black hole.

Honest to goodness day to day life for a typical first world family very well depicted.

This is a new author for me and one that I will definitely read more of her books
She is a very good writer and excels at writing about emotions. This book brought back awful memories for me and was difficult at some points to read.

Alex Fox knows there are lots of things she should be.

She should be the perfect wife to her chronically ill husband Sam, and the perfect mother to their two daughters. She should be excelling in her high-stress job. And she should be completing the demanding to-do lists she makes to keep herself on track.

Even if, just sometimes, she doesn't have time to breathe.

When Sam's condition worsens and Alex donates a kidney to save his life, her carefully scheduled existence starts to unravel - eventually forcing her to face up to a past that she has buried for years.

As the family she has fought so hard for threatens to fall apart, can Alex finally confront the mistakes that have shaped her - and rediscover what is most important in life?

A riveting read that highlighted the issue of bullying both in childhood and adulthood, I liked Alex most of the time although she did annoy me on occasion and the characters complimented the plot well, it was too slow paced for me, hence my rating but the emotion, the plot and the situations were descriptive and heartfelt, interesting and true to life.
This book is well worth a read.

Heart wrenching, emotional, fascinating and uplifting. Bravo well done Katie for a fantastic book. This was so well written I fell into the characters emotions. This book is a wonderful life lesson and I am recommending it to everyone.

We are introduced to Alex Fox who has donated a kidney to her husband and whilst he swiftly recovers Alex is left struggling to recover. She has a fantastic job which she loves and two children – one of which is Izzy a six year old girl who is a keen supporter of Arsenal and football is her life. Whilst Sam goes from strength to strength, Alex struggles. She goes back to work too soon, and collapses. She is used to coping; managing school runs, organising her household; dealing with the children, but everything starts to disintegrate; not least her job and her new boss who is just awful.

It was very interesting to witness Alex’s life crash, how she went from being superwoman to a vulnerable, bullied in the workplace woman. This brought back Alex’s pain of being bullied as a girl. In juxtaposition, Sam just powered through and Alex felt all her strength dwindle away at home and work.

A thought-provoking book that illustrates how quickly one’s identity and confidence can be severely injured, by health and bullies. How I wished Alex and told her boss what to do with his incessant carping and badgering emails – it certainly irritated and angered me on her behalf.

Do I recommend this book – indeed I do! Fascinating and incitefull.

Thank you to the author, publishers and NetGalley for providing an ARC via my Kindle in return for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley for this book.

I've never read any books by Katie Marsh before but I will certainly try and find more of her. I agree she is a great author and she is especially very good in writing about emotions. There are lots of emotions in this book, and I could relate to almost all characters (not to Tarik, of course...). I really felt for Alex.
And there lies the point that I gave this book 4 stars instead of 5. It came too close... I know all about being bullied, being a victim for about 10 years. I had to stop reading sometimes. And to be honest, I was suprised to feel so awful at times, reading what happened to her and of course, to Izzy. It is 45 years ago, but it sometimes felt like yesterday, reading this book.
I am very, very happy Katie Marsh found a way to have Alex start over, as it were, and leave a big part of her problems behind. It also helped me! I think this book is not just a very good read, I think it is very important people with the same problem read it and learn from it.

Thank you Katie Marsh!

I really struggled with this book. It's quite well written, but, it felt really drawn out to me and I just couldn't connect with any of the characters.

I appreciate the opportunity to preview and thanks to netgalley and the publishers for the opportunity to do so.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. I think I have just found a new author, this book touched me deeply from all angles, a very powerful read.

I’ve said it before, but I really think it’s worth saying again – Katie Marsh has a gift for dealing with emotion in her writing that I’ve rarely experienced elsewhere. As I immersed myself in the lives of Alex, Sam and their two perfectly drawn daughters – the wonderful Izzy with her big heart and passion for football, fourteen year old Jenna causing all the problems hormonal teenagers frequently do – I acquired a strange lump in my throat that never really went away. There’s something both acutely uncomfortable and absolutely compelling about watching a family slowly falling apart, their problems piling on top of each other, as you hope beyond hope that everything will turn around and bring happiness for a cast of characters that very quickly grab you by the heart.

This isn’t a book filled with fireworks and unexpected twists – it’s a slow unspooling of a set of circumstances and a coming to terms with important events of the past and their impact on the present, and those many curveballs that life has a tendency to throw. I don’t want to say too much about the story, but its central theme absolutely broke my heart – children can be so desperately cruel, their very real problems so difficult to talk about, adults often too busy and caught up in issues of their own. Alex’s workplace experience too, with its resonances from her past, was quite perfectly handled – a strong woman who finds herself wrong-footed, unable to cope, events overtaking her and struggling to cope against a backdrop of a disintegrating marriage and relationship with her family.

I loved the relationships in this book – the glimpses into the past and the secrets carefully kept hidden, the whole slowly revealed background to Alex’s relationship with sister Lucy, the support of best friend Tasia. And I particularly loved the relationship between Alex and husband Sam – and I thought the very real issues brought about by a long-term illness and its effect on the nature of a relationship were exceptionally well done, authentic and recognisable.

The writing itself is simply wonderful. Alex’s own voice predominates, as we share her thoughts and feelings, sitting with her as she recognises her mistakes and omissions, sympathising with her and understanding – if not always agreeing – with her actions and decisions. But the voice that perhaps has the greater impact is that of young Izzy – the simple account of life through the eyes of a child, her joy and passion, her desperate sadness, totally appropriate in tone and content, very funny and heartbreakingly sad by turn, and quite beautifully imagined and written. And as well as the two distinct voices, there are the lists – Alex’s way of managing life, from life’s practicalities to its biggest challenges, with inclusions that make you smile and others that touch you to the heart.

I’ve mentioned elsewhere the way that the author has the ability to surprise with a scene or passage that just stuns you with its impact – this book is full of them, as you find yourself unexpectedly and disconcertingly tearing up shortly after smiling at something that went before. And please don’t get the impression that this book is unremittingly sad and earnest – it really isn’t, with plenty to lift your heart, flood you with warmth, and fill your heart with joy. The whole is perfectly balanced, beautifully handled, and inspiring and uplifting in its outcome. I absolutely loved it.

Enjoyed this book but for me it was not the heartbreaking novel that it was made out to be and I was left a little disappointed. I would like to read more from this author though.

What a truly wonderful book and the first I have read by Katie Marsh. When Sam's wife gives him the gift of life things can only get better, can't they?
A special story of a family and their lives managing illness, bullying and life. Not everything is perfect and we all have to work hard in our lives but often it's those around us who suffer.
I will definitely be looking up this author her writing style is just so good

I’m sorry but I’m found this book dragged. I really wanted to enjoy it - the blurb and outline really is what I usually love, but I just found we never really got anywhere and I gave up halfway through. Alex gave her kidney to save her husband and the story tells of her long and painful recovery, whilst flashing back to her upsetting childhood, and then forwarding to her trying to impress her new boss back at work as well as detailing on her daughters issues which she is missing because she’s focussing on so much else - getting better, supporting her husband and trying to hold down her job. I just felt there was so much back story that it was all too much for me to take in. I know this is at odds to the other reviews, so maybe I just wasn’t getting it.

Thank you, NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book. Tbjs is my first book by Katie Marsh and I honestly don't think it'll be my last. It makes a nice change from the books I've been reading to one that is Modern and up to date.

I absolutely love that it starts and ends from the Childs perspective. Sometimes as an adult, it's hard to do this.

Alex is a driven woman who lives her life by lists which we get to see throughout the book.

This book actually hit home for me and made me realise that I have bottled things up for far too many years. Bullying has always been a touchy subject for me but Katie portrayed the seeds of doubt and worries brilliantly.

The characters were great and Alex no matter what she might think is a superhero.

I’d definitely recommend this to my friends.

I’ve always been a fan of women’s fiction/chic lit by British authors for some reason and this book was no exception. It was the first book I’ve read by this author, but it won’t be my last. She did a great job in creating a very realistic family with real life problems. From health issues, work stress, bullying, family struggles, this book had it all. I enjoyed each of the characters but have to say Izzy was my favorite. The sections that were from her POV were some of my favorites even though they contained some pretty heartbreaking stuff. I kept wanting to give her a big hug! Overall I really enjoyed this story and getting to know Alex, Sam, Jenna, and Izzy. I just wished they were better at communicating with one other along the way!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the advanced copy!

Another excellent book from Katie Marsh. A thought provoking and emotional read. Thoroughly recommended

This is my second book by Katie Marsh and I have to say this is way better than A Life Without You. Reading The Rest of Me had opened my eyes up to certain events in the past which I've always made light of. Even though deep down I know that it was some form of bullying but I've always thought to myself that it probably was something inadvertent, that they didn't really know what they were doing or It was just me that couldn't take the joke.

In this book, Alex is haunted by the ghost of her bully; Katya and without her realising it, the pain she is carrying of the constant bullying is playing silent role in her life up to the present day. Until the day she bravely donated one of her kidneys to her husband, Tom, the ghost caught up with her and she felt fragile and insecure, partly due to her demeaning, hard to impress new Boss, who seems to be doing everything he could just to get under her skin. It was such a good feeling when Alex finally stuck up for herself and told the Boss to piss off when he tried to denounce her of her role at her workplace. She was too into her own dilemma that she failed to notice the evident signs that her daughter is also having trouble at school. Izzy is bullied by a group of girls, who think they are perfect, just because Izzy is different than them. I have such a soft spot towards Izzy. She's brave and high-spirited. She wouldn't let anything and anyone cross her way. I find the teacher absolutely irritating, even more so when I've had one just like her; incompetent and wholly one-sided.

This book made me realised that no matter how minor you think the bullying is, it is just as grave as the major act of bullying even if it means to call people names or to make them feel bad about themselves. I've had the worst maltreatment when I was a kid and I don't even know why I still denies this. Perhaps now is the time that I recognised this and tell myself that what happened wasn't at all alright. I have to move on from the past and proves them all wrong. I'm not as useless as they made myself feel.