3.5 Stars

This book was so sweet I thought I'd get a toothache, usually I hate that type of thing BUT this book was cute AND funny so it got me. right in my tiny heart.

It also had a message but NOT the hit you over the head kind. It's simply get your face outta the phone and see what's around you kind. Screens 24/7 is a big no-no, especially when you're crossing the street!

AND.....When Milly went into the book store and this happened..."I glanced around, enveloped in that peaceful sense of calm you only ever get from a bookshop." ...I knew she was a girl after my own heart.

Add in a sexy ex she has to stay with...well let's just say he's...ready to get back together.

So lesson learned and life happily goes on. I liked this one, it was an uplifting, easy read that made me smile....And we can all use as many as we can get right now...also the link for the epilogue was a brilliant treat.

I am reading some similar-ish stories like this and the struggles and plot are all the same. I was not blown away ny this because it is a story that has already been told just with different names and circumstance. Ending predictable too. Cannot recommend.

Thanks to Netgalley, Maxine Morrey and Boldwood Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Available: 5/25/21

"Things Are Looking Up", by Maxine Morrey, is an adorable, feel-good romance. Milly, a workaholic fashion editor, learns the hard way (literally, she gets hit by a bus!) that life should not revolve around her work and her phone. While recovering in the hospital, her ex-boyfriend, Jed, stops by to check on her and sparks fly once again. When she's released from the hospital, she finds that her roommate has already rented out her room and she has nowhere to live, so Jed offers to let her stay in his spare bedroom. As the book continues, we'll find out that Jed isn't just doing this out of the goodness of his heart (although he is a very nice guy), but because he's still in love with Milly.

I enjoyed watching Milly as she grew as a person, and I really enjoyed the interactions between Jed and Milly. This book was fun read and it was hard to put down once I started reading it. I do wish the ending had a better pay off, so I'm glad the author added an epilogue.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

I enjoyed the story, found it pacy and captivating. Milly is a fabulous, multi layered character and just fabulous to spend time with in fiction land. Would happily recommend

Milly is a freelance fashion writer on her way to the interview of her life with British Vogue when her pre-occupation with her mobile phone leads to her being mown down by a London bus. Fast-forward a week and Milly comes out of a coma with cracked ribs, a broken arm, cuts and bruises. Worse, a week in hospital has meant that Milly has missed numerous deadlines and she has lost all her regular columns and writing work. Then to put a cherry on a really poobah week, her landlady serves her notice on the awful flat they share, because Milly clearly won't be able to pay the rent with no work coming in.

Only through her time in hospital does Milly realise that she has prioritised her career over friends, over family, and over love. But when the chips are down the only people there to support her are her family and her ex-boyfriend Jed.

I can only describe this as a mash-up/retelling of A Little Princess, with a smoosh of the film Overboard (which actually is probably a modern, grown-up version of A Little Princess anyway), a whisper of A Christmas Carol and just about every Hallmark movie ever made. Milly was clearly a 'bad person' pre her encounter with the bus, she even missed her nephew's sole speaking line at the school play. She is glued to her phone 24/7 and pays no attention to friends and family. Unfortunately, for me, Milly's road to enlightenment is less of a road and more of a doorstep. Within a day or two of waking up (it seems) bad Milly is no more and now we have caring sharing Milly who wanders around London with her eyes wide open seeing all the parts of London she never had time for before. She talks to random strangers on the bus and in a church (TBH at this point I suspected that there might be some woo-woo higher power at work, but luckily that fear was unfounded), she enters into conversations with the local bookshop owner and the Italian who owns the deli round the corner.

And now Jed, Jed is a self-made millionaire who devotes a lot of time to charity and other good works, he dates a super-model heiress and seems to work from home an awful lot. A self-made millionaire under the age of 30 who only seems to work part-time - He must be a unicorn.

I'm writing this with raging insomnia and so I am being particularly snarky but this novel relies on a series of coincidences to make things work. Is it really likely that one week in a coma would mean that Milly would have missed every single deadline, surely some of her columns would have been monthly? Is it also likely that the entire industry would completely blank her, even after she explained about the coma, and especially when she was always quick to help others out in the past (surely in the Hallmark film this is where all her former clients and mentees would turn up with offers of work, or at least a box of chocolates)? Then because of the aforementioned landlady and having no money and her brother having building work done the only place Milly can stay is in Jed's penthouse apartment? And there's more but I won't spoil things that happen later in the book.

Overall, this was a pleasant enough read, but totally predictable from start to finish, it needed more subtlety, more light and dark. The characters felt too one-dimensional. For example, Milly's brother confiscates her phone, rightly blaming her accident on Milly's obsession with emails and social media. But then later when she doesn't answer four calls from him he isn't the least bit concerned - if I called someone who was glued to their phone and they didn't answer/call me back within a few hours I'd be contacting the police!

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

I enjoyed Things Are Looking Up. I liked the concept and the storyline. It was engaging enough that I wanted to keep reading and not put it down. It had some very sweet and touching parts. It was also a good reminder that life isn’t meant to be lived on our phones. Stop and look at the world happening around you.

While I enjoy the book there were a few things that I felt could have been better. One thing I didn’t like about the book was that Jed and Milly had the exact same conversation over and over. It made her a little pathetic and him a little weak. Eventually they seemed to move past that for the most part and that’s when the story picked up. Milly’s character seemed to improve while Jed’s character really didn’t until the very end. The storyline with Christine just didn’t fit. He seemed to have contradicting personalities. Parts were just hard to buy into.

My official rating is 3.75 ⭐️. I liked this book a lot more than I didn’t like it but the character development kept me from loving it.

I could read this book numerous times whenever I feel that life is not going the way I had hoped and how to change my thought process. For so long, Milly was just existing and not living. Existing for fashion and for people who didn't recognize her for the determined and kind person she is. Once she had her accident and how she truly was given a second chance, she started to look up and truly live. To be happy and surround herself with the people she loves and who love her in return. As a result and how she recognized herself and the great person she is, blessings started coming her way. The relationship between her and Jed was heartfelt.

Loved it. This book really takes the twists in life and shows you how some people handle them. You will laugh out loud at some parts of this book and fall a little bit in love in other.

I received an advance copy of, Things are Looking Up, by Maxine Morrey. What an interesting story. Its true your only a number at work, you can be replaced instantly. Just like Milly found out, when she got hit by a bus..

Milly gets run over by a bus on her way to an interview. She wasn't paying attention and was too busy looking at her phone. When she wakes up everything has changed - the people she did favours for have dropped her for not respondng to them even though she was in hospital. She has to rely on her brother and her ex Jed to help her out.
As she resolves to change her life, will she get a second chance with Jed?

Our Heroine gets hit by a bus and misses an important Vogue interview as she recuperates she realizes some of her choices in work and love were not good.. Fun fast read.