Member Reviews
Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and Emily Bell for an arc of This Year's For Me and You. Emily has written another winner! Celeste is grieving and struggling after the death of her best friend Hannah. She decides to complete Hannah's New Year Resolutions List and so our journey begins. It's a poignant but uplifting story that has it all really.... it's happy, sad, funny, romantic and at times very emotional. Although some of the story centres around the festive season I would happily recommend this book for reading at any time of the year. Enjoy!
A romantic novel set between London and Ireland. Following the death of Celeste her best friend Hannah finds Celeste’s New Years resolutions. Wanting to honour her friend Hannah goes about carrying out her wishes. The book starts off well but does become a bit boring as each resolution is written about. A lovely story but a bit slow. Thanks to Emily and her publisher. Thanks also to NetGalley.
Celeste is mourning the loss of her best friend, Hannah. She is stuck in a rut and life seems to be moving on and leaving her behind. But then she finds a mission, to do all the resolutions from Hannah's last New Years Eve list. Along the way she opens herself up to friends, family and possibilities. An old flame enters her life again, but also the hunky guy from when she first knew Hannah. Nicely written with an enjoyable list of tasks for Celeste to do, with some wonderful friends, all wrapped up in a New Years hug.
This was a very enjoyable story, again set in London and Dublin like Emily's last (also very enjoyable) book.
This time it's really about working through the stages of loss and coming out the other side. Celeste and Hannah were best friends and spent every New Year's Eve together, but then Hannah dies and everyone struggles with her sudden loss - Celeste, Hannah's boyfriend Vik, and their close friends. Then Celeste finds a list of Hannah's New Year resolutions, one for every month of the year, and decides to carry them out in honour of her friend.
The resolutions include various tasks and sometimes Hannah does them on her own, sometimes a friend will go with her, quite a few out of her comfort zone. But as the year goes on and peoples relationships ebb and flow, including Celeste's, everyone slowly comes to terms with Hannah's loss.
A really lovely book, there are some Christmas-themed parts, but this could be read any time of the year. I do enjoy Emily Bell's writing and look forward to reading her next book.
This is a emotional story of Celeste and Hannah best friends and when her friend Hannah dies as a result of a accident her boyfriend finds a bucket list she made. Celeste decides to to the bucket list in memory of her friend,
A lovely story full of emotion's .that has you laughing and crying.
Thanks to NetGalley & Penguin Random House for a advanced copy.
I remember being blown away by Emily Bell’s debut Baby It’s Cold Outside last Christmas so I was already looking forward to her next festive read. This Year’s for Me and You is a heartwarming story following main character Celeste.
Celeste and Hannah have been best friends since high school. When Hannah is tragically killed in a skiing accident Celeste is determined to keep Hannah’s spirit alive and sets out to tick off all of Hannah’s New Year’s resolutions.
This was a really emotional and uplifting read. Celeste is pushing herself out of her comfort zone in order to complete Hannah’s resolutions and it takes her on a journey she didn’t see coming for the new year. In parallel to her story we also get to see flashbacks of her and Hannah’s younger years. The story captures your heart and I really enjoyed the development of Celeste’s character throughout.
If you’ve not read either of these books then I’d definitely recommend them!
This was a really heart warming story of coping with grief, taking on new challenges and falling in love. I really enjoyed the characters Celeste and Patrick in this story and Hannah, although we didn’t really get to know her it was clear how much she was loved by all the characters and that even after her death she was able to bring her friends together and help Celeste open herself up to new possibilities.
This is another lovely story by Emily Bell.
Similar to her last story this book is also set between London and Dublin. It tells the story of Celeste, who grieving the death of her best friend Hannah decided to honour her list of resolutions from her last New Year’s Eve. Taking her out of her comfort zone, Celeste discovers more about herself then she could’ve ever realised. A poignant and heartwarming story, this will give you all the comfort of a hug in a book. I loved it and give it four stars ⭐️ Many thanks to #Netgalley and #PenguinRandomHouse For my ARC of this book.
I really enjoyed Emily Bell’s previous novel, Baby, it’s cold outside, so was pleased to get a preview copy.
This is the well-written, enjoyable, story of Celeste and her commitment to carrying out her best-friend Hannah’s list of new year’s resolutions after Hannah’s sudden death.
For me, the main problem I had with the premise was how shoe-horned into the story Hannah’s death felt. Hannah sounded great, but she barely made it to the end of the first chapter before she was dead, so we didn’t feel a sense of loss, or really understand Celeste’s determination to carry out the resolutions on Hannah’s behalf. Celeste is meeting these resolutions because of her love for Hannah but other than seeing how Celeste has cut herself off from her friends following Celeste’s death, there doesn’t seem to be much relevance. She may as well have found the list in the street.
That said, I enjoyed the story of Celeste’s reintegration into the world as she carried out a range of tasks for Celeste. It’s an enjoyable story with lots of nice plot elements - the country house, the new things Celeste experiences etc I just think the synopsis is a little misleading.
On the whole, I felt there could have been a little more character development up front but I really enjoyed it and look forward to seeing what Emily writes next.
These type of books are my absolute favourites at this time of year. As the nights draw dark, there’s nothing I love better than snuggling up under a blanket with a hot drink and a Christmas novel.
This book has all the feels
Celeste and Hannah are best friends and have a pact to spend New Year’s Eve together, since they were young girls
The book begins with a sad event and the reader learns that Hannah has passed away.
Celeste instead spends New Year’s Eve with Hannah’s boyfriend and their circle of friends
Cassie uncovers a list of resolutions that Hannah did not get to fulfil. In her friends memory, Cassie vows to achieve the New Years resolutions over the following 12 months
The book is warm, uplifting, cosy and emotional all at the same time
I loved the dynamic friendship group
All though, I did guess where the book would end, I loved following Cassie on her journey
I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more by this author
Such a lovely written book full of emotion. It will have you crying and then laughing. The characters are well drawn and believable. I do love Christmas themed books and this one is a real treasure.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in return for an honest review.
A book that tugs on the emotions from losing her best friend Celeste has to deal with grief and come out the other side to find happiness and love. An emotional read. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me review this book.
A poignant, emotionally charged, and life affirming story that moved me to tears, made me smile and root for the characters.
It's a well written story featuring fleshed and relatable character. There's a lot of emotions and loved how the author dealt with them.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine
This emotional story set in Dublin and London with have you laughing and crying. Relatable characters and a very good read.5 stars
Thanks to Netgalley and publisher for this ARC
A wonderfully written book that made me both laugh and cry.
Easy to read. a nice story
I really enjoyed it
4½ An emotional and compelling read.
Celeste is heartbroken after the tragic death of her best friend of twenty years. When she finds Hannah's New Year's resolution list she decides to complete the list herself as a gesture of remembrance.
Over the following year, with the help of her friends, Celeste completes one resolution each month. In the process she reassesses her life and slowly opens her mind to new possibilities.
The plot is predictable - in a good way. Not many surprises along the way, a happy ending because this is a romance.
Thank you Penguin Random House and NetGalley for the ARC, this review is my personal, unbiased opinion.
A promising beginning, albeit rather sad. However as the story progressed , with Celeste working her way through Hannah’s New Years resolutions list, it became quite boring. The ideas were good but the descriptions of Celeste carrying them out were long winded and far too long. So I found myself losing interest in the story and skimmed through quite a few. I enjoyed reading about Vik doing up the old house and garden and the story did pick up when Celeste and Patrick started spending more time together. The last few chapters were the best part of the book for me. I liked the characters of Vik, Patrick, Celeste (at times), but some of the others felt rather superfluous to the story and I lost track of who they were. Overall it was an enjoyable read but I feel it would have benefited from the New Year resolutions scenarios being much shorter, so as not to lose the reader’s interest. Not as good as Emily’s previous novel in my opinion. Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me to read this book.
Wow!! What a book, it had been crying, laughing then crying again. A fantastic feel good read that I couldn’t put down. Loveable relatable characters and settings that make me want to visit
What a lovely read, the charecters were easy to get to know and the story was just enchanting, a great read
Loved this tale of Celeste and how she learned to cope when she suddenly lost her best friend Hannah. Finding Hannah's wish list sets Hannah off on a journey of in trepidation and excitement as she takes on each task and not only completes the list but learns how to mourn her friend in so many ways.