Gwen’s life has stalled. She’s in her mid-thirties, perpetually single, her friends are busy procreating in the country and conversations with her parents seem to revolve entirely around herbaceous borders and the council’s wheelie-bin timetable. Above all she’s lonely. But then, isn’t everyone?

When Gwen’s made redundant from a job she drifted into a decade ago and never left, she realises it’s time to make a change. Over what might be the best – and most solitary – meal she’s ever eaten, Gwen vows to find something meaningful to do with her life, reconnect with her family and friends – and finally book herself a dentist appointment.

Her search for meaning soon leads her to volunteer in a local charity shop where she both literally and metaphorically unloads her emotional baggage. With the help of the weird and wonderful people she meets in the shop and the donated items bursting with untold stories that pass through its doors, Gwen must finally address the events and choices that led her to this point and find a way to move forward with bravery, humanity and more regular dental care.

An absolute corker . . . totally engrossing and superbly written ⭐⭐⭐⭐

This could relate to the characters or the stock of the charity shop. The lives entwined as volunteers at the charity shop and there lives.
Made suddenly redundant Gwen has a small financial cushion before she has to get a new job. Volunteering helps to fill the void left by working life.
Enjoy the characters and their lives.

I know it’s so easy for book bloggers to say it’s so hard to do this book justice. But it’s not the cliche it sounds like because it actually is going to be super hard to do Preloved the justice it needs and deserves. The premise of this novel had me intrigued and then at the Blogger Showcase (which you can read or reread about here). I listened to Lauren read from the book and then in speaking to her I spoke of my time as both a volunteer and Assistant Manager for Cancer Research. So I knew that Preloved would bring back a whole host of charity shop memories.

So I was lucky enough to buddy read this book with Catriona although due to both our mad work schedules it’s taken us longer to read that expected. However, it’s been a truly wonderful experience all the same.

Preloved is a special read not only does it take us on the journey to the charity shop, but it shows how much a charity can be the heart and soul of a place.

I love that the story was split into the story itself and then there were passages for different items like a coat, a scarf, a bag, some shoes. From that we get an explanation of the life behind the item. It’s true a lot of the time charity shops are lucky with donations to the saddest aspect which is deaths but sometimes these items are just at the end of the road with that person. These passages were heartwarming and heartbreaking in equal measure and it really did make me think. I don’t think I always thought how deep this could go whilst I was working in that job, but now having stepped back and read this book it’s given me a fresh outlook once again.

There’s so much I want to say and discuss but I won’t as I don’t want to spoil any of the reveals along the way. What I will say is grief hits us all in different ways and how we choose to get through that isn’t always the right answer either. I loved the aspect of friends and of companionship and now sometimes we push away those we need the most.

Gwen is an extraordinary leading lady and little does she realise how much the charity shop will come to mean to her, plus the relationships she makes and helps along the way.

A truly gorgeous story that will have you thinking and overthinking in equal measure. It’s funny since reading this I’ve popped my head into a few charity shops on the look out for the continuing books from The Thursday Murder Club series. It’s brought back so many memories and brought to life aspects of this book.

This beauty is released on 27th April 2023 and I will be shouting about this one for a while.

I am a huge fan of Lauren Bravo’s writing and have loved her since The Pool (do you remember The Pool?) and I’ve read both her non-fiction books. Her book How to Break up with Fast Fashion is one I go back to every time I need to do a clear out (which is often).

I’m a massive second-hand shopper and buy almost nothing new so the focus on this on a charity shop I loved.

I loved the characters, loved the plot, loved reading about women who are of the same generation as me and have been through all the same things. It felt very relatable.

I loved being in Gwen’s world.

My only criticism is at nearly 500 pages it was a bit too long and meandered towards the end. Nevertheless I loved it.

4.5 stars

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. I liked this book but didn't like it if that makes sense, I skipped quite a bit as the storyline seems to drag on.

Lauren Bravo's debut fiction offering is a warm, witty book about an 'elder millennial' - Gwen - who is made redundant from her corporate job and is forced to confront the fact that she had lost sight of what she wants from life, and even who she is. This all begins to change, however, when she decides on a whim to volunteer in her local charity shop.

Preloved is the latest example of the millennial novel, and it perfectly captures the bewilderment many of Bravo's (and my) generation feel at being supplanted as the precocious upstarts, the hot young things who shape culture and create the zeitgeist. Gwen tortures herself with questions that will be familiar to many readers: is this really what I want to do with my life? Should I have stayed in that relationship? Are my friends all having fun without me? One of the themes which really touched me was the rumination on the changing nature of friendships as we move through adulthood and our paths deviate from their shared trajectory.

Gwen is a funny, relatable narrator and I cringed alongside her missteps and championed her better decisions, just as invested in whether everything would turn out all right for her as if she had been one of my own friends.

It's perhaps unsurprising that Bravo would choose to set her first novel in a charity shop, given that she has previously authored How to Break Up With Fast Fashion, and this is a subject which is alluded to effectively in the story. I loved the vignettes which punctuated the main storyline, telling the stories of the items which have found their way into Gwen's shop. Some of these were stand alone anecdotes, while others intersected with the central narrative without fanfare, creating a subtle and satisfying cohesion. Others gradually wove in Gwen's back story in an effective and poignant way. Bravo has a real gift for creating characters whose stories I was totally invested in within a few paragraphs, which bodes well for future fiction works. These chapters really made me think about what different objects might symbolise to different people, and I will certainly peruse charity shops with a new perspective from now on.

Overall, Preloved is a funny, cleverly observed yet tender novel by an exciting new author. I can't wait to see what Lauren Bravo does next (meanwhile, I'm off to read all of her non-fiction works).

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster UK for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Gwen is such a relatable and loveable character, some of the things that Gwen goes through a think a lot of people can relate too within their personal life, this is such a heart warming story and definitely one you can read and read again and again.
This book is well written and in a manner that is very simple and understanding, Lauren Bravo has truly our done herself with this book and I can’t wait to read future books by the author.

Initially I really enjoyed this book. The humor and wry observations along with remembrances that were acute and engaging made a promising start. However, it soon just felt unfocused and overlong. Reading other reviews I see it struck a chord with others, just not with me.
Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this advance copy.

This book is so good that I feel bereft now I have finished it. I want to continue to hear about Gwen and the other volunteers in the charity shop. Gwen’s story is interspersed with tales of different items and how they come to be donated to the shop. In the second half of the book these items are revisited as they get new owners. It is a very heartwarming, feel good novel; I absolutely loved it.

I was a bit worried this was going to be saccharine community-focused commercial fiction, which thankfully it wasn't at all. Preloved tells the story of Gwen, a charity shop volunteer at an impasse in her life, and it intersperses her story with the stories of some of the objects in the charity shop, the people who have interacted with the objects, and the lives the objects will go on to lead. I really like the theory of this, if not the sheer quantity of the stories, and I think Lauren Bravo was absolutely great at constructing emotionally engaging and plausible stories, some of which I really wanted more of. The main narrative of Gwen was an easy and entertaining enough read too, even if I never felt particularly compelled by it. But Preloved is much better written than lots of other books of its kind: it's not literary but it's got personality, which is sometimes just as important. Anyway, thanks to Simon & Schuster for letting me read it!

This offbeat novel hits the zetgeist notes of "reduce, re-use, recycle" within a charity shop where recently redundant Gwen volunteers after dropping off her own relics. We then follow Gwen as she haphazardly adopts the perhaps/maybe trope and applies the preloved way as to lead her own re-direction.

The novel alternates between the background stories of abandoned items (loved by someone at some point) as they cross paths with Gwen's chaotic, unfulfilled, rocky life. At first this seemed an interesting angle on lifestyle choices at one of those fork in the road moments. However, the endless self deprecation "humour" alongside a cast of neuro-diverse volunteers wore thin fairly quickly for me. The crossover between donors/donations and their stories alongside Gwen and other volunteers' narratives sang for a while and then morphed from quirky to prosaic for me.

The less is more approach might have tightened the book and given it more spark. Instead I found the early promise lost in a way-too-long ramblings.

With thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster UK for the opportunity to read and review. Perhaps I am not the target audience for Preloved.

What a heartwarming delight of a book!
The story of Gwen who unexpected loses her job and is it at a loss. She reflects on her relationships with her ex, parents and friends and forges new ones when she starts volunteering at a local charity shop.
A true gem of a book, a brilliant read, brilliantly written.

Thought this was a very sweet story with enjoyable characters and funny lines. Maybe a little predictable and overlong.

What an outstanding fiction debut book by the author
I read this book in my pjs under a blanket on a sunday without giving too many spoilers away this book tells the story of Gwen who is let go from her job and is having a carer break, one day she donates a ring to a charity shop given to her by her ex boyfriend whilst leaving the charity shop Gwen spots a sign in the window looking for urgent volunteers , Gwen gets an application form and gets the job of volunteer in charity shop.

What follows is an outstanding book about all the treasures that are donated to the charity shop and the story behind them and the story of the volunteers that work in the charity shop and the customers that buy the treasures.and the friendship that follow

I would highly recommend this book and thank the publisher and netgalleyfor the arc of this book and wish the author all the best with this book

Oh, this book, this incredible story, full of compassion, love, loss, friends and lovers, so much emotion it blew me away, we all walk by or go into charity shops for different reasons but I'll never go into one again without thinking of this story, magnificent!

I thought this was brilliant, really well written and nice to read something a bit different.

Thank you NetGalley for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review.

This is a different type of book to my usual choice of thrillers. At first I thought it was a love story but the more I read the more I realised it is a kind of romance but mainly learning how to fall back in love with yourself.

We meet Gwen who is unemployed and single and takes up a volunteering role in her local charity shop.

Every other chapter or so tells the background story regarding different items that are coming in and out of the shop. I loved this part as much as the main story. The book was funny and heartwarming as well as relatable being of a similar age and situation to the main character,

The comings and goings of the little charity shop and volunteers kept me turning my pages and rooting for things to work out for Gwen.

I will be looking out for others from Lauren.

This book was so good. I have being reading alot of thrillers lately so it was so refreshing to pick this up. Highly recommend if you like big warm hearted books

I really loved this one! Heartfelt, funny, and thoughtful. We meet Gwen after being made redundant from her job, after she pointed out that her company was ripping off a smaller business, and well…she’s in a bit of a hole. Now jobless, with friends having drifted away, no relationships on the horizon after calling it quits with her fiancé six years ago, and a strained relationship with her parents, she decides to make a plan to try and get her life back on track. With a decent pay-off from her job she has a few months to play around with, so she decides to start volunteering at a local charity shop.

As someone who is currently volunteering at a charity shop, this was very relatable and gave me a good few laughs. This book also has little chapters in between the ‘main’ chapters telling the history of some items that have ended up on the charity shop shelves, and I really loved that. These tales also ended up weaving in and out of the main storyline. It really makes you pause and reflect on the history of the items that you see, and their possible futures. There was one that detailed the journey of a fast fashion party top, that was particularly significant, and has stayed with me since I read it.

Not wanting to give much away, but I also really loved the story between Gwen and her parents, and how they are handling a personal loss that happened to them. I thought it was so well done.

I can see myself recommending this book to my fellow charity shop co-workers, and recommending it to people in general!

As a bone fide "charity shopper" the idea of Pre-loved really appealed to me. I enjoyed Lauren Bravo's debut novel which tells the story of Gwen, mid-to-late 30s and having an enforced career break while she wonders what went wrong with her most important relationships.

The big 'reveal' which comes about half way through the book caused my heart to squeeze as suddenly everything else was viewed through the lens of loss.

I really liked how Bravo intertwined different items from the charity shop into the main structure of the story - especially the vignette of Derek and the jumper. Lots of Bravo's characters and observations are witty and expertly drawn - I suspect she is a professional people-watcher! There are lots of little nuggets of joy and humour which sped the book along for me.

Overall, it's a 4/5 for me. I actually preferred most of the other characters in the book to the protagonist but I was rooting for her throughout.

Many thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for a pre-release copy of PreLoved in exhange for an honest review.