I loved this book and would recommend it to anyone. Three friends met at university, sharing a house, one of them Jordan leaves to go to London and becomes a successful rock star. The others , Maggie and Ibby now live in the house they shared at university along with their daughter Amelia. This was really well written and the characters draw the reader in to their story. An unconventional family-yes! but I loved how they made it work! When Jordan appears back in their lives , what will happen to the family?
A book you have to keep reading but don’t want to end !
There is laughter, heartache,and confusion and a fantastic twist at the end. A book to savour and enjoy.
Thank you to Netgalley, Hera books and Lisa Swift for giving me the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a fantastic book and evoked so many different emotions in myself. It was real and gritty and sensitive around gay families, alternate lifestyles and homophobia. Yet st its core it is a great love story.

This wonderful story revolves around the lives and loves of former Uni friends, Maggie, Ibs, Max and the wittily named, ‘Other Max’. Since graduating, Maggie, Ibs and Other Max have remained close; Maggie is now a couples counsellor, Ibs a Journalist with an innovative bookshop and Other Max who works as a paramedic.

Jordan Nash is the lead singer/songwriter in the hugely successful rock band, Route 69. Plagued with drug addiction, Jordan dreams of a normal life and of a meaningful relationship.

I read this book, as an advance reader, courtesy of NetGalley and thoroughly enjoyed it. The characters are well-drawn and the storylines were realistic as the friends find their way through living as a grown up. Ideal for a holiday read or for curling up on the sofa with a warm throw.

Wow! I don't know if I am overly emotional but I have sobbed my way through the end of this book! A beautiful thòroughly modern tale of selfless love and diverse families. Lisa tackled challenging themes such as homophobia, grief and addiction brilliantly. This is my first Swift book but it certainly won't be my last. The characters were amazing, I would love an Other Max and Nikki spin-off to see what happens next for not only them but all of the much-loved characters. Thank you to netgalley for the advance copy.

Not your typical family situation right?   Well, as of lately it's the norm, and I'm glad someone is writing books about it because a family is a family, no matter who makes it.   Ok, that being said.....

This is an absolute wonderful read about love, ambition, and second chances.  It's highly relatable regardless of the non-typical family and had tons of family issues and drama.  The strong topics are intertwined so well throughout the plot with such well written dialog and conversation that it comes across as a a light hearted and fun read.

The characters are lovable and realistic and the storyline has just enough seriousness with a mixture of laugh out loud humor that kept everything moving along so smoothly that you felt like you were watching a TV show or a movie.  Told in alternating character POV you really get to know each of the characters so well that  when you finish the book you end up missing their friendship.

I was able to read this book rather quickly, and frankly I didn't want to put it down.  I enjoyed it tremendously, and the entire premise was so "out of the box" that it made the book so much more enjoyable than your typical rom-com.   This was my first book from Lisa Swift, but if this is how she normally writes, I will continue to read her rom/coms and put her on my auto-purchase author list.

Thank you to Lisa Swift, Rachels Random Resourses, and to HERA Books for the copy of this book for an honest and unbiased review.

This is my first book from this author and I absolutely loved it.

This book is brimming with fantastic characters that I loved getting to know. Ibby. Maggie and Other Max have been friends since their student days and as the story progresses you get an insight into events that happened during that time that they no longer talk about.

I love the family dynamic between Maggie, Ibby & Amelia, Amelia is a typical teenager mood changes and all from one breath to the next and is thrown a total curve ball when the famous Jordan Nash comes to stay.

I really enjoyed this book and loved reading about how Maggie, Ibby & Jordan's lives were once intertwined and over the course of this story how they developed both new relationships and re-established old ones.

I read this book over a couple of days and found that once I had hit 50% I flew through the pages as the characters seemed to be jumping out of the book at me and I just had to keep reading to see what would happen next. 

If you looking for a lovely light hearted read, I would highly recommend this book.

What an absolute gem! This was such a delightful story full of family, love, friendship, second chances, and forgiveness. The story starts off jumping between two seemingly separate stories. Maggie and Ibby are best friends and coparents to their teenage daughter Amelia. The two have been roommates since university, but never romanticly involved. Ibby is gay and Amelia is the product of a drunken one night stand. Jordan is a super famous drug using lead singer for one of the UK’s most famous bands. At first it is not clear how these two stories are related, but as the book progresses things begin to fall into place. A non-traditional love story about love in all its many forms. This book also took on many social issues including homophobia and drug use, I think this was done well and not heavy handed.

This book had so many wonderful characters in it. Maggie, Ibby, and Jordan were all well-developed likable characters who I was definitely rooting for. The secondary characters Other Max, Nikki, and Nat were great. Can I just say I loved how they called there other BFF Other max! But for me the shining star of the book was Amelia, the girl had some major spirit and fierce determination, and yet she still was sweet and vulnerable. This was an engaging and sweet story with a few unexpected twists. I really enjoyed spending time with these characters and was sad when it ended. This is my first book from Lisa Swift (with any name) but it certainly will be my last.

*** thanks to Hera Books for my copy of this book ***

This is a lovely story of families, relationships, friendship and romance.

Fourteen years ago a group of students shared a house and became close friends. One of them left to seek fame and fortune as a rock star but the others remained friends and stayed in the area. Two of them, Maggie and Ibby, now own that house and are bringing up their much loved daughter, thirteen year old Amelia, there. Their relationship isn't a conventional one, though, as Ibby is actually gay . . .  and Maggie is a relationship counsellor who isn't actually in any other relationship herself. All is well until the now successful but distraught rock star unexpectedly returns . . . . bringing with him shocks, paparazzi, problems, love and surprises - nothing will ever be the same again!

With functional and dysfunctional families, past problems, rethinking ambitions and a fabulous teenager, this is a second chance romance with an star trying to hide and re-evaluating his life choices and dreams. It is a great read with so many surprises along the way. There are many laugh out loud moments and some that'll tug on your heartstrings. It is an engaging page turner that I didn't want to put down until I'd finished it, a great read whatever the weather or season, a superb beach read or, if you're like me, fantastic to escape into on a rainy day.

I requested a copy of this book via NetGalley and this is my honest review after choosing to read it.

Review

We all know i love a sweet cosy romance, and on face value this ticks all the boxes, allbeit with a non conventional family, love is love and thats all that matters.

Told from two different perspectives essentially we meet Maggie, Ibby & their daughter Amelia. After a drunken fumble and a lifetime of friendship the pair had agreed to stick together for their daughter. Maggie is a relationship counsellor and excels at tackling other peoples relationships and sex lifes whilst hers is practically non exsistent. Ibby is a journalist and owns an ice cream van (obviously) and is looking for his true love.

The pair work well as a team and always have but when a face from the past shows up (not that he ever really went away!) can this pair stay strong?

We also then start to see things from the point of view of Jordan Nash and how his life has gone.

When you were mine was a lovely sweet read, i guessed what was coming fairly on but does that make it less enjoyable? Heck no, it meant i could spend time observing how it was all going to pan out.

The characters were so enjoyable to get to know, they had such strong personalities and quirks and i really was a fan of getting to know them, especially Amelia. She was a strong willed kid with a brilliant moral compass but i guess that comes from being raised by two awesome parents.

Overall this was a great summer read, light hearted, loving and just nice. Brilliant

This is a really sweet novel with a strong theme of family relationships throughout. I think I have to go with my favorite character being Amelia mostly because not only is she the sweetest and only a little bit moody teenager but it was also sort of fun seeing the way the author portrayed her thoughts as well as the way she speaks.

As I mentioned family is at the forefront of this book, it's what drives the relationships and most of everyone's actions throughout the book as well. It did start off fairly slow-paced with a few surprises in at the start, but once it picked up I found myself wanting more time at each different part to really explore what was going on. It's definitely a really enjoyable read with a few twists and turns that just really upped it to that extra half a star!

Ok, I know what you are thinking. This is totally weird. A family of three where the father is gay, mother is . . . let's say. . . straight, and they have a daughter (created not by artificial means). And before you ask, no, they are not a couple. In my opinion this is weirder than 'I've Got Mail'. What puzzled me most was how it is possible (even in a fictional sense) for a gay man to have child. If you are bothered by this, please don't let this spoil your reading as all will be explained by the end.
This is Mary Jayne Baker's first novel as Lisa Swift. Though I don't really get the reason for different names, I enjoyed it just like her other novels. Of the three novels I am familiar with, this is my favourite. Her signature style shines through even with the change of name. There is the ever present humor, gay characters and most of all the theme of friendship that knits together all her novels.
Even with its light hearted tone, the novel discusses some weighty issues like homophobia, coming of age and drug addiction. This is the story of a family wading through the storm and also that of a friendship beating the odds. The characters are likable, good hearted (a rare breed indeed) even with the human frailities and . . . ya, they are going to stay with me for a very long time.
Amelia is by far my favourite. She shows a maturity that is unheard of but is not unreal. Whatever sacrifices Iggy and Maggy made to provide her a stable, healthy childhood is totally paid off. Message of the story is simple and probably as old as the universe itself . . . love conquers all. It doesn't matter how odd your family is, if you stand together and welcome the changes with an open heart, anything can be overcome.
A remarkable story which is hard to put down. It will embrace you like an old friend and will fill a hole in your heart that you never knew existed.

I’m not going to lie, the beginning started off confusing, but before succumbing to DNFing, I continued on, and actually grew to liking the characters. Every character—main and supporting— has a special, well-developed role. I also couldn’t help but echo a mental British accent as I read it.

Maggie, a 34-year old relationship counselor who isn’t in a relationship herself, and Ibby, her college gay best friend are a happy family with pre-teen daughter Amelia... until well, changes happen. And then, there’s Jordan, Maggie’s ex-boyfriend turned famous music star who has been warped into a life full of fame and vices. A story full of British humor, snarky dialogue, a dash of teen angst, LGBT social stigma, and a warm, second chance romance, When You Were Mine is a lovely read I’d recommend to Hallmark movie fans!

Thank you NetGalley and Hera Books for providing me an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

A good read but it was slow at the start and also confusing
A book about friendship and love
The twist at the end was very unexpected.
A light and warm read for a rainy day

Unfortunately this one just wasn’t for me. I found the beginning really confusing, and it took me a while to understand who was who.

Sadly, from then on it just didn’t grip me, which really surprised me as this is normally the sort of book I’d love. I ended up skim reading most of it if I’m honest.

However, I can see that it is a nice enough book. There’s nothing offensive about it, it’s well written, the plot was good enough and the ending is neat, with everything wrapped up well. It just didn’t interest me, and I read it purely because I hate not finishing. I do seem to be in the minority in this though, so please don’t let me talk you our of it!

When You Were Mine is a beautiful story of life, love and second chances.
This is a story about family, an unconventional but solid little family and their friends who are every bit as beloved. It's a story about losing yourself and finding yourself. A story about what makes a home and finding your home. It's a story about standing up for others and standing up for yourself. It's a story about acceptance and it is wonderfully written.

It was so easy to sink into this book and just forget that the characters weren't real.
Mags, Ibby, Melie, and Max, stole the show but Other Max, Nikki, Nat and Melie's friends each had their parts to play, and all felt like living breathing beings that left their mark.

The beginning of the novel effectively has two strands; one follows Mags, Ibby and their family and the other follows Jordan Nash.

Mags and Ibby are best friends who met at university.
They live together and they raise their daughter but they are not a couple.
Mags is single and not looking for love after her first love broke her heart and her subsequent relationships have been disastrous.
Ibby is gay and doesn't seem to be any more successful in the romance department than Mags.
Melie, their 13 year old daughter, is a typical teenage girl and is beautifully written. She's fierce and so grown up but also insecure and just a kid.
The three of them together are an awesome family that doesn't need anybody else (aka love interests for the parents) to function and be complete. They are complete and they're happy but there is always room for more.

Jordan Nash is a rockstar, front man of one of the UK's most famous bands and he's a cocaine loving broken mess of a human being at the beginning of the novel.
Lonely, friendless and completely burned out, he takes himself off to rehab and then begins to rebuild his life.

Eventually, you find out how Jordan Nash fits into the lives of Mags and Ibby and that is where the book really takes off.
Most of the twists and turns I guessed fairly easily but it didn't detract from my enjoyment of the story but I'll admit there was one big twist I didn't see coming and didn't like very much (thus 4.5 stars instead of 5!)
I was invested in the relationships throughout the book and was routing for Mags and Ibby to find their happy ever afters but, to be honest, no matter how happy Mags and Ibby are with their respective partners, or how nicely everything was tied up in the end, for me, Mags and Ibby are freaking soul mates and that's what I loved most about this book. You don't need to be romantically attached to someone to love them fiercely. You don't have to be married or related by blood to be family.
Love is love: sexual, romantic, platonic, familial. And the world needs more love.

Basically, this book made me happy, warm, and joyful.
I think people should read it. Read it lots.

Maggie and Ibs live together as a non-couple bringing up daughter Amelia. Ibs and Maggie were at uni together and Amelia is a result of one time sex...,Ibs is, and always has been gay. Meanwhile, heartthrob rockstar Jordan is having a breakdown. Their worlds collide, causing havoc for all. A love.y beach read with a couple of great twists I never saw coming.

Oh my goodness. It’s been a while since I read a book in a day. I kept carrying my kindle with me into the kitchen to put the kettle on and prepare food. I had so many thoughts and theories while I was reading. I kept thinking “Is he?” “She’s...” “No”. I couldn’t stop reading I needed to know all the things.

I just completely loved this book and how these seemly completely different peoples lives were all connected and woven together.

I think I must be mellowing as I get older. I’ve just turned 31 because a year ago, even a few months ago the revelation that was revealed early on and remained a feature throughout would have sent me running but it only strengthened my love for this book.

Lisa is such a talented writer. She kept feeding us information and facts throughout the whole book. I had questions and she kept answering them.

I loved the main characters but I also really loved the supporting characters especially one because I have a thing for paramedics!

This was a really wonderful book about best friends, family, lovers and everything in between. There was love, there was drama and there was heartache. I loved every single word and every single emotion this book evoked. I laughed, I cried and I whooped for joy. I can’t wait to read more from Lisa!

This book reminded me of tv show Nashville, film A Star is Born and book One Day in December all of which are some of my very favourites.

This was a cute read, though a slow and confusing one to start with. A book on family and relationships where friendship and love mattered.

A different family of sorts where Ibby and Maggie brought up their daughter together even when they were not a couple. Ibby was gay. Entered Jordan, a blast from the past, who changed the equation. A rockstar who wrote a song and brought the paparazzi to their doorstep. Secrets were revealed and past came crashing down. Would they survive it all?

My first book by author Lisa Swift was delightful both in its unconventional family setup and their acceptance of each other. At all times, their daughter took priority in all their life decisions.

The author's conceptualization of characters were mature and developed. Their strength grew over the period of time. Each were quirky and lovable too. Lisa's portrayal of first love and second chances had me smiling through the pages.

There was a genuineness with the prose where social themes were dealt with, but with a lighter hand. The twist in the end was a good, unexpected surprise. Relationships and family made this book a light and warm breakfast read.

Maggie and Ibby live with their 13 year old daughter, Amelia. They’re not a couple though in the traditional sense, with Amelia being the result of a drunken one night stand. The unconventional thing is that Ibby is gay, always has been always will be! But doing the right thing by Amelia, Ibby and Maggie decide to bring her up as a family. Life has been good for the last 13 years that is until a face from their past reappears. Rock star Jordan Nash succumbed to the rock and roll lifestyle many years ago, choosing hard-partying and drugs over his student friendships with Maggie and Ibby. When he reaches out for their help, they all find their lives turned upside down….

This was a wonderful romantic comedy about an unconventional family! I have to admit it did take me a few chapters to get into the story. The chapters were told from different characters points of view and it took a little while to settle into this. By the time I had done though I was well and truly hooked and the slower start was a dim and distant memory! Maggie and Ibby were great characters and I loved their set up as a family! They, and their daughter Amelia, didn’t shove their unusual family relationships in people’s faces, but they also didn’t shy away from being proud of who they are and putting their daughter first despite their own sexual preferences!! They were also very funny and I just knew that Maggie, as a relationship counsellor (AKA a sex coach), would provide plenty of witty one-liners and humorous moments!

Rock star Jordan Nash was a completely different story. Right from the beginning it was obvious that he was pressing the self-destruct button repeatedly, and whilst he sounded very aesthetically pleasing, I didn’t really like him as a character. That did all change though as the story moved on and I went from thinking “what was this guy doing” to actually understanding what was going on with him. He was the classic example of a character completely and utterly redeeming himself. By the end of the book Jordan Nash was nothing like the man he was at the beginning!

The storyline was so well written and it had everything that I could ask for in a book! The main characters were so likeable, and there were great supporting characters such as Other Max and Nikki. Ask me who my favourite character was and I’d have to say Ibby who I felt had the most endearing storyline! He did though have his flaws, as did all the characters, which made them all so genuine and realistic! This wasn’t just the light-hearted read that it comes across as though. It tackled some serious issues such as addiction and homophobia, but these were written well into the storyline so that these issues were dealt with but didn’t overpower the story. The lighter moments made me laugh out loud and the more serious parts left me with a warm feeling in my heart – a completely perfect balance! There was a little twist of the story at the end, and the epilogue rounded the story off nicely.

This was my first book by this author, although she does write under another name. It certainly won’t be my last though and I will be definitely looking out for more by her. Packed full of family, love, laughs and second chances, I would highly recommend this book! I hope my review gives across how much I loved this book because it’s one of the loveliest books I’ve read in a long time! Fab, fab, fab……!!!

I really adored this story, it was so well written. The characters were a warm bunch who took me to their hearts. This is my first book by this author and I feel it won't be my last. I liked the cover too, a proper summer read.