I adored this book, absolutely adored it. I adored Abbie and her courage to move on with her life, new start, new country, new continent, new job, new love.
Absolutely nothing but praises on this one.
4.5 stars.

Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC

It was hard to connect to the characters in this one, and everyone felt a bit too one-dimensional. The story could have been enjoyable if the writing was better, but I found it really hard to get through.

I must firstly apologise for the amount of time it has taken me to provide a review of this book, my health was rather bad for quite some time, something that had me in hospital on numerous occasions and simply didnt leave me with the time I once had to do what I love most.

Unfortunately that does mean I have missed the archive date for many of these books, so It would feel unjust throwing any review together without being able to pay attention to each novel properly.

However, I am now back to reading as before and look forward to sharing my honest reviews as always going forward. I thank you f0r the patience and understanding throughout x

To be honest, this book felt like reading the transcript of a documentary. It lacked any kind of emotion, the characters and dialogues were too stiff and kind of stale.
The author spent a quarter of the book's size describing scenery, I had to skim a lot of these parts.
I don't know whether it was intentional that everyone the FMC met were nice and welcoming, or the author did it absentmindedly. Either way, for everyone to be so great and supportive, apart from literally one character, it was sort of lame and unrealistic.
I'm not even going to talk about the romance, both characters were boring in my opinion, so I really didn't feel a connection with their story.
In a nutshell, the book was a miss to me.
*I received an ARC of this book through netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

I really wanted to love this book. The description was written for me. However, after trying multiple times to read, it just didn’t keep me for more than a few chapters.

A sad DNF from me.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

Really wanted to love this book. But the writing felt very telling and passive - I wanted to see more feelings, more emotion driving the tale rather than just everything happening in a then-then-then manner

Thank you Netgalley and the Publisher for my ARC in exchange for my honest review. I really like the setting of this book. Sweet book.

Character growth? Check.
Workplace romance? Check.

Falling completely flat on the steam? Check (unfortunately).

I love how the FMC was able to pick up her life and start anew—new city, new country, new life. What I wasn’t so great with was the absolute cliche of it all. I felt like the book was fluffed up and there was something left to be desired. That something? Steam. Chemistry.

I think I expected a bit more from this book than what I got. It was fine but a little bit pedestrian.

The writing was also a little clunky, similar to what I would have written in my school essays. It needed a further edit. I was also very put off by an American character using a lot of British terms (dungarees instead of overalls, sofa instead of couch) and it took away from much of Kyle's credibility.

It was endearing and had a way with it. You get London and then Utah. I liked it. I would read more from this author.

I enjoyed this after the first few chapters but the start was a little slow. It took a while for me to really get engaged with the story and the characters but once I did it was a great read!

I was a little disappointed in this one. I just expected it to me MORE. It was still a good and sweet story, with some romance. But I would’ve liked more from the story and the relationship.

Hmmm. This book was…fine.

It wasn’t the kind of romance that sweeps you up in it and I was happy to see our heroine happy but I can’t say I felt that I was really rooting for her. I think it’s a quick and cute romance. I think there it was quite fast paced and probably some of the conflicts could have either been explored in more depth or just excluded because it made it all feel quite surface level. I think the 3rd act break up was really just quite predictable which can be fine but it was also really unnecessary.

I think this has the foundation of a really interesting and relatable plot but the execution wasn’t perfect. This is a debut novel though so I will definitely be looking out for how Rebecca Banks develops as a writer.

2.5 rounded up

Not the romance we thought we wanted but the romance we needed. This is a romance that honestly looked like a fluff read and in some ways, it was. But it has a depth that can't be echoed easily. It evolved past what I expected into something phenomenal. This still was a-okay romance but it was much better than I ever dreamed!

As Rebeccas Bank's debut novel I found this rom-com absolutely charming. Abbie Potter is way over cleaning up the messes of overgrown professional footballers, in London. Her passion was music, finding the new and unknown, how did she end up fixing emergencies that entitled grown men got themselves into? As for her personal life, she is still repairing the damage of a loss of marriage and heartbreak. So what better way to start over? Quit her job at the Leave England for Utah. Yes. Salt Lake City Utah. She found a new adventure working with the Utah Saints, an American League Soccer team.
Abbie finds herself in Salt Lake City full of nervous energy or jetlag she hasn't really worked that out. While out enjoying the beautiful scenery on her morning run she is literally run over by a freight train, he goes by the name of Kyle Miller. Abbie was more than mortified and prayed she wouldn't see him again. Upon her arrival to her new job she meets Kitty, she is the personal assistant to the president of the Utah Saints.
Kitty is a smiling face that has set up Abbie in her studio apartment downtown and provided her with a company car. Abbie already feels at ease in her new job.
Everything isn't perfect at Abbie's new job. She has been handed one of the toughest jobs, to get fans into the stands. Not only that it seems like someone or something is always a step ahead of her and plans have fallen through too many times to be a coincidence. As the soccer season goes along Abbie finds herself at "The Live Joint" a local bar and starts up a friendship of music. Rose becomes a lifeline to Abbie's first passion, music. With worries about work, Abbie finds out that Kyle isn't so bad. Kyle shows Abbie all of that Salt Lake City has to offer. The description of Salt City and the nook and crannies that make Salt Lake City so beautiful and unique are richly detailed.
As with all rom-com's, there is always friendship, love, fight, makeup or not. Half The World Away does have some of it, but there were rich characters and backdrops to blend the story of Abbie Potter. This is exactly what I wanted when I read a sweet airy romantic book, what better way to escape? If you enjoy a good second chance love story look here.
Thank you Netgalley and Rebecca Banks for giving me an E- ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved the idea of this book but sadly it really didn't deliver.

The writing style was very "she did this, she said that, they went here, he didn't like that" and it felt like I was reading something written in a rush during a GCSE exam. I really couldn't warm to it all and it made the story move along sooooo slowly.

Speaking of the story, I don't actually remember a lot that happened because it was just...blah. Any romance/drama/tension that should've been there was told rather than shown and then moved swiftly on from. You couldn't really soak it in and enjoy it. I also couldn't properly attach to any of the characters or the relationship between Abbie and Kyle - Kyle was too perfect and had no real personality or charm to him whereas Abbie was such a weak main character.

The biggest complaint I have about this book was the mix up of language used - Kyle was American yet regularly used British words and phrases like dungarees, 'I was just winding her up,' sofa, ballistic, etc. It took away any authenticity to his character and seriously irked me.

But, it was an easy, breezy read with a sweet ending that helped pass a few hours - it just fell flat overall and I was left a little disappointed.

Everyone knows I’m obsessed with sport-related romances, so I was really excited to dive into this one. Abbie is a communications manager (something I can relate to in my professional life!) for a pro soccer team in Utah, when she meets and falls in love with one of her colleagues, Kyle. ⁣⁣
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I wanted to adore this book but unfortunately it just fell a bit flat for me. Though the premise was so cute, I never really emotionally connected with either of the leads and therefore found it hard to root for them as a couple. ⁣⁣
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The story definitely has potential. I just would have liked it to be a bit longer with a more fleshed out introduction to the characters to get a better taste of their chemistry. ⁣⁣
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Overall, I’d give this book a solid 3.5 ⭐️ and would definitely recommend it if you’re in the market for a cute and light read!

I loved reading this, it’s all about finding yourself and leaving the past behind. Something I think most of us need to learn and so will probably connect with a lot of readers. It’s all about friendships, and community. If you are looking for a fun this one is fab!

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

I really want4ed to enjoy this book, sadly it bored me and almost made me dnf it.
The pacing was slow and the chemistry between the characters was not really there in my humble opinion. The story is predictable and the trope of miscommunication only made me want to be mad at the story and the mcs!!!

There are a lot of good ideas, the writing wasnt bad and the potential is there. Sadly like I said this one wasnt for me.

Thank you Netgalley for providign and ARC in exchange of my honest review!

You get to leave London to move to America for a job of a lifetime, the company gives you everything you need to start out, and on top of that you find love, AGAIN, and this time hes perfect???? SAY WHAT?????????????

Abbie is newly divorced, going through the motions of her breakup, shes still not fully over why her marriage ended, and then on top of that shes working at a job she hates. This woman needed a damn BREAK!!!! I loved her best friend Violet, she reminds me of my best friend, that she smacks sense into you, and then helps you in the best ways.

I am all for the drama, and there was some here but the drama was soft, it wasn't intense, but it was pretty obvious where the drama was coming from, which is fine. I loved reading about Kyle and Abbie in this book, their love and support was soooo SWEET!

Thanks Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book.