A simultaneously heart-warming, and heart-breaking read that invoked every emotion possible, with a fantastic writing style, brilliant narration and a beautiful overall story.

Heartbreaking and life-affirming all at once.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for letting me access an advance copy of this audiobook in exchange for my honest feedback.

All, through this story my kind kept switching from amazing to a little bit slow. The emotional parts were so heartfelt that it brought tears to my eyes and I would get so dragged into the story and there were other parts that just seemed like fillers that almost had me giving up. It's hard to say you enjoy something that like this simply because of the subject but I did think it was handled really well and the loss and grief came through as very genuine.

Chloe and Jack are young and in love with lots of plans for the future.  Suddenly, Jack is gone.  Even though they had only been together for five months, Chloe feels his loss immensely.  As she wonders through Jack's empty apartment, she realizes that their entire life is depicted by the items on the refrigerator.  She decides to complete their plans on her own as a way to cope with her loss.  This book had very solid writing and the narration was great - it just didn't draw me in at all.

I really wanted to love this book, but I just didn’t. Don’t get me wrong, some areas were lovely but I feel like the supporting characters let it down.

If there is a sequel, I will give that a try as I liked the majority of the book.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this free copy

"I reckon I love you, Chloe Roscoe."

The title of this book is utterly heartbreaking. The little "reckon" in Jack's oft-spoken greeting to Chloe is one her acquaintances hone in on through the book, where her relationship with Jack and her grief for his passing is dismissed because they only knew each other for a short time. It was an aspect of the book I truly despised, espeically when it came from her family.

This story of lost love, lost opportunities, and trying to find your new life is heartbreaking and emotional. I loved reading of Chloe's return to Thailand, it felt like a new start for her and a new section of her life.

Quite a few of the characters (Chloe, Simon) really endeared to me, whereas others (Chloe's mother, Justin) weren't such pleasant reading.

This book follows Chloe, a woman in her late 30s dealing with the loss of her boyfriend of 5 months, Jack.

I think this book gave a really interesting perspective on loss and grieving. It really shows how every individual deals with death completely differently. When Chloe first finds out that Jack has died she laughs which shows an interesting reaction to shock.

I really loved the whole story of this book. It showed how she dealt with her loss and how others saw her through the loss of Jack. She got a huge response of how lucky she was that she hadn’t known him very long which was such a heartbreaking perspective to hear about the situation.

I really liked the narration of this audiobook, I felt like the pacing of it was absolutely perfect. I always speed up audiobooks as I feel like they’re too slow but I didn’t do that with this audiobook. It was an absolutely fantastic audiobook.

I really liked the characters in this book and I feel like they showed a huge range of responses to grief and loss.

I absolutely loved experiencing this book and would absolutely reccomend it to so many people.

2.5/5⭐

Thank you so much NetGalley for a 'gifted audiobook copy of this book in exchange of my honest opinion.

As soon as I read that this book was recommended for fans of Jojo Moyes and Cecelia Ahern, I knew I had to read it. The synopsis was also quite attractive for me: "A beautiful read about love, loss and life".

And it is. It is a great story about Chloe and Jack. When Jack dies, Chloe starts a very difficult journey of accepting his death, learning to live with the fact that she is not going to see him again and keep carrying on alone.

I liked the premises and I did like Chloe, the main character and narrator. I liked how she faced her new life and how she just kept going.

However, due to how short their relationship had been (Barely six months), his family, her own family, her friends and his friends treat Chloe in a way that I didn't feel very comfortable reading.

I didn't enjoy how they underestimated her and her pain by stating that they hadn't known each other for too long.

Sometimes, someone comes to your life and gives you in a few months more than some other people hasn't given you in years.

It's only for Chloe to decide how painful the situation is for her and how much she misses him.

This became a little bit annoying for me as the book went on because it just kept going. I wish Chloe had stood up for herself and tell her friends off for judging her and for not allowing her to grieve for Jack.

And last, but not least, although I liked Chloe, I didn't really get to connect with her as much as I would have liked. I wanted to feel her pain, to grieve with her, but the little we knew about Jack and their relationship didn't help me at all to feel close to her and her situation.

I am sure lots of people will enjoy this book, but it wasn't for me.

I wasn’t sure if this book was going to be my sort of book, I don’t read many chick-lits but I was so pleasantly surprised. This books was good on so many levels. It told this tragic story of a lost lover, but also unraveled a story of a girl, with a normal life just trying to make her way in the world. This character was so easy to relate to, you end up feeling like she’s one of your mates. A lovely little escape from the pandemic world around us in to more normal times. The author narrated her own story, which I think makes the audio version even better than the book. I heard the story just as the author intended it to be told. Wonderful!

Got this book on Netgalley and it was archived before I could finish it - extremely disappointed that I was not able to finish it.

I am a sucker for a story that pulls on the heartstrings and when I read that this book was perfect for fans of Me Before You, I was instantly interested. Thank you to @HarperCollinsUK and @HayleyDWrites for this audio copy of Love, Almost in return for an honest review. Love, Almost is available to read now and you can get a copy here.

Description 🔖

Thirty six year old Chloe has found real love for the first time in her life with Jack. They’re soulmates and despite only having been together for five months, they are deeply in love and excited for their future together.

However it is taken away too quickly when Jack dies in a tragic accident. Chloe is devastated, but embarks on the life they had planned together; only she’s doing it on her own.

General Thoughts 🤔

I was expecting tears to be shed over this book and they were. I felt so much sadness for Chloe for many different reasons but so much hope all at the same time. Whilst so much of the story is focused on Chloe’s grief, it is also about her seeking happiness and a life after Jack.

What really broke my heart was that Chloe had so much more to learn about Jack that she would never get the chance to do. She knew little of the Jack before Chloe and the people in Jack’s life knew absolutely nothing about her. She suffered through her grief whilst everyone else seemed to be minimising her pain.

Characters 👫👬👭

Chloe was such a warm and loveable character. You couldn’t read this book and not fall in love with her. She’s vulnerable yet strong, soft and funny. I spent a lot of time thinking about what I would do if in Chloe’s position and I still don’t know the answer. The scene that has really stuck with me is Jack’s funeral. Chloe staying in the church during the service truly showed her strength and how very much in love with Jack she was.

This may be an unpopular opinion, but I could not warm to Chloe’s mother. I found her to be over bearing and patronising. At times it felt like she didn’t want Chloe to have her own life and make her own decisions yet was angry with Chloe for trying to manage her sadness and grief in her own way. I’m sure that she meant well, but the way she treated Chloe made me dislike her character.

Writing Style ✍️

I adore that this audio book was narrated by the author; and in a lovely Scouse accent too. I always think there’s something special about listening to an author read their own words, it feels very personal.

I thought that Hayley Doyle had a fantastic balance of heart breaking emotion, humour and inspiration throughout the book. Yes, it’s an incredibly sad story, but she was able to sprinkle some really funny moments in there that I thought made the story very relatable.

Conclusion & Scoring 🏅

Everyone loves to read a book they can have a good cry to right? There’s something cathartic about it. I cried to this book and laughed through my tears too. I really enjoyed listening to this story and fell in love with Chloe whilst doing so. WHEN you read this book, have plenty of tissues, chocolate and wine on hand; you’re going to need it.

Love, Almost is a beautiful story about love and relationships. Told from a woman’s perspective, it is very intimate and relatable. This is the first book I have read from this author, but I hope to read more from her in the years to come.

Chloe is a 36 year old woman who is head over heels in love with Jack. The romance has been intense since the two met five months ago. Indeed, the couple travelled together to Thailand and now live together. Tragically, Jack is killed in an accident and Chloe’s world is torn apart.

As Chloe soon learns, Jack has not disclosed his relationship with Chloe to the many of the important people in his life. As a result, she is caught in an altered state where she is grieving for her loss, but this loss is not recognized. Even her friends note that she only knew Jack for but a minute. But her grief is intense and she struggles to stay connected to his memory. Remembering the plans the two had for the future, Chloe decides to complete this list and hopes to learn more about Jack and their relationship along the way.

I was a little nervous going into this book given that Jack is killed and I tend to get emotional over such tragedies. For those of you who are also sensitive to books with such events, be rest assured that he passes away very early in the book and before you can attach yourself to his character. The story is about Chloe working through her grief and to reflect further upon their relationship and its meaning.

I really enjoyed this book and felt engaged throughout the book. The character development is very good, and I felt connected to Chloe. I appreciated her journey as she works through her grief. I loved the relationships that Chloe develops with Jack’s family which eventually provides context to Jack and Chloe’s relationship. I found the conclusion of the book satisfying.
I listened to the audiobook version of the story which was narrated by the author who provides a very good performance. Her voice is age appropriate, articulate and pleasant to listen to. I listened to the book at my usual 1.25x speed which provided me with a comfortable listening experience.

Thanks to Netgalley and Harper Audio for the ARC of this audiobook in exchange for the honest review provided here.

I feel very torn about this book! I thought the concept was really intriguing and the book opened up some very interesting conversations about how you grieve for someone you haven't known for very long, and especially how you grieve for a relationship you never got the chance to see through. I found these elements super interesting, but I got a little confused by what the plot was doing for the first half - it felt like a lot of jumping around from one situation to the next without necessarily building on each other (looking back, this may well have been on purpose but it felt very weird at the time). The second half of the book definitely settled down a little and I really enjoyed the discussions and reflections it opened up - although, to highlight some of these issues it often used the main characters mother & best friend, both of whom I found incredibly annoying and at times just awful. Maybe I'm naive, but I really hope that people wouldn't actually treat their grieving loved ones that badly... The audiobook for this book is brilliant - the Hayley Doyle's Liverpool accent really brings the characters to life and you feel like these characters are in the room with you. There is a fair amount of swearing, if that's something you want to avoid.

Sorry just gave up on this one, the audible side of it was fine and an easy voice to listen to - I just found the story didn't really go anywhere

With thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK Audio for an advanced copy of this audiobook, all opinions expressed here are my own.

Love, Almost by Hayley Doyle was also narrated by the author. I didn’t realise that til I finished listening, but she actually did a really good job (authors don’t always.)

Chloe and Jack have been dating for 5 months, have been overseas together and are living together when Jack dies in an accident. Chloe is left unsure how to feel. She’s unsure if Jack really loved her, as he always said “I reckon I love you” and his family and friends don’t seem to know she existed. This story is about their relationship and about Chloe moving on. She decides to complete their upcoming activities to work out whether they really did live each other.

I enjoyed, but didn’t love the story. The characters were well developed, the book was well written. A solid 3 stars. This audiobook publishes on the 7th January 2021. I will post my review to Amazon and Instagram then.

The narrator was really good, however I struggled to get into the story. The way that Chloe responded to the news of her boyfriends death and the way his family treated her (they were living together but no one knew of her) I found a little unrealistic which really stopped me from falling into this story and being absorbed.

Love, Almost by Hayley Doyle is a great book about love, loss and moving on.

Chloe is happily dating her boyfriend of a few months Jack and hoping for a future together when Jack unexpectedly dies. After dating a few months, they moved in together but hadn’t said I love you yet. Jack’s family doesn’t know about her. This causes Chloe to question their relationship and whether she actually knew him.

Love, Almost is emotional and heartbreaking. The reader quickly is brought into Chloe and Jack’s happy romance to have it shattered by tragedy. Chloe is grieving and contemplating their relationship throughout the book. Chloe has to move on from the future she wanted while wondering if that future was ever going to happen even if Jack was still alive. Chloe turns to her family and friends. Some are trying to be supportive without knowing what to do while others think the relationship wasn’t serious so she should get over it. I liked how both sides were shown. Chloe is thirty six, so her family wants her to get married and have kids. Chloe is left wondering what she wants.

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Hayley Doyle, and she did a great job. The narration fit the story well, and Doyle was the perfect voice for Chloe. I love when authors narrate their own books.

I recommend Love, Almost to fans of JoJo Moyes and Josie Silver.

Thank you Avon Books UK, Harper Collins UK Audio and NetGalley for Love, Almost.

I read an advance copy of this book and absolutely adored it. When I saw it as an audiobook I just had to listen to it.
If possible I loved it more.

This book is terribly sad and incredibly heartwarming at the same time. It’s very well written and a truly lovely story. Beautiful book