A mixture of all the best bits of a fun summer novel I enjoyed every second of this book.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for a review.

Read: April 2023

Welp, that wasn’t the mother & daughter road trip I was expecting! Whiplash aside; was that an adventure, or what?!

I waxed lyrical for days after reading The Secret Of You And Me back in 2020 so I couldn’t wait to get my grabby hands on Run Baby Run. The author sure knows how to pack an emotional punch and RBR was no exception.

Darcy and her mother Marja’s relationship is the epitome of Disfunction Junction at the start of the story. Oh freaking my… I hadn’t even scratched the surface! *taps fingers* Put it this way, peeps. Strap yourself in, it’s gonna be a bumpy ride!

What starts out as a mother trying to reconnect with her daughter turns into an epic car chase of sorts, yet who is in hot pursuit? Friend or foe?! Coz Marja has secrets, but then again, so does Darcy, and sometimes all a girl wants is her mum. Especially when it comes to affairs of the heart.

With screams of “WHAT?!” (or a NSFW version *smirks*) at every revelation, I was shook-eth with the mere turn of a page.

The story is much more than a queer romcom. You have crime caper, thriller-esque, bi-awakening, friends-to-lovers, it’s-always-been-you, second chances, to name but a few, thrown in there as well. I admit this meant I lost my way a wee bit in the middle, but I quickly found my flow again.

Yes *nods*, RBR is a romance. However, for me, the heart of the story is Marja and Darcy’s mother/daughter story. Theirs has never been a conventional relationship but love is there at the core however hidden it first may appear.

Here’s to mums and daughters everywhere and love wherever you find it.

3/5 stars! This. book was so much darker than I thought it was going to be based on the premise. I will say that the author did a great job of creating well-developed characters. I think for me, I'm just not a huge family drama story and that's the direction this book took. It just wasn't for me, which led to an average reading-experience.

I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review

I loved this book. When I started it I thought I knew where it was going and resigned myself to a cosy read but suddenly everything changed and it really sucked me in to the extent that I was reading far into the night. It is not a read for anyone who doesn't like swearing or has a problem with same sex relationships but the story is great and well written.

This was a really fun and enjoyable read that I read in one sitting. Would highly recommend, loved every second of it.

This is a simple and enjoyable crime book. I enjoyed this easy read which will make you laugh and wanting to know what happens next. Would recommend.

OKAY THIS BOOK!!! @netgalley thanks for the ARC. I am HERE FOR IT. A wee crimes/sapphic/family issues situation, there’s guns, a weird motel, hot agents and a ‘ oh I’m getting married ‘ involved. So much to unpack. First of all, I think I’d swear less if my dogs barked like Helen …. But also very glad they don’t. And now I want a dog called Helen. Secondly , I don’t want to give any spoilers but 😍😍😍 agent Gonzàlez 😍😍. And honestly the vibes Marja was giving off- pure badass. I actually would love to see spin off hooks, one solely on Darcy and one on Marja because I adore these characters. Darcy is getting married and hasn’t spoken to her mum ( Marja ) in years. Will a forced 11 hour road trip clear the air ? And why is Marja acting like this is the last time they will see each other? There’s also the small issue of Darcys best friend ( who happens to be the sister of her Fiancé) telling her she’s in love with her …. The week before the wedding …lovely chilled week for her I’d say 😆 a MUST read.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
🚘🐕🧳📷👩‍💻

Ok, so be gay do crime is my kinda my jam, so when I read the synopsis of this book, I knew I had to read this. Not only did this book meet my expectations, but it went over and beyond. Three bisexual main characters. Two late coming-outs, two gay awakenings. One set of friends to lovers, One forbidden love couple. One group of amazing found family and best of all, nearly everyone is queer. And there is Helen the dog!

This book was funny and intriguing. It made me want to read it from start to finish without putting it down because I had to know why Marja didn't talk to her daughter Darcy for three years. It made me want to know what was going on between Maja and the FBI agent. It made me want to know how Darcy was going to deal with the confession of her best friend that she loved her, and what she was going to do with the information and the fact she was meant to be marrying her best friend's brother. It had me gasping out loud in several places, and laughing out loud and several others. It made me cry when love lessons were learnt and everyone realized they deserved to be loved, no matter what happen in their pasts. This book was great.

The plot was amazing. The writing style was unique. I loved how the author brought the reader into the story. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a good old criminal on the run book, but also to those who like reading about mother/daughter relationships. And those who like it when the dog is really the main character. Just kidding. Honestly, I recommend this book to everyone.

Thank you, to Melissa Lenhardt, Netgalley, and Mills and Boons for a copy of this eArc. This review is left voluntarily.

Darcy is about to get married, but while she hasn't spoken to her mother in three years, she is about to meet up with her to take a road trip back to the wedding.

But it's within this small space of time that the secrets of the last 3 years will be uncovered, true love with shine through, relationships broken and rebuilt and danger won't be far behind them.

This was not the narrative I expected and it completely kept me on my toes; in a good way.

This narrative is told in first person with multiple points of view of the different characters which carry the narrative along. All the points of view were female highlighting an incredibly strong group of female leads.

I didn't have a favourite in this as I liked all of the characters and felt how strong they were throughout the novel.

A really lovely read with expected twists and characters you can't help but smile and be happy for.

This was a simple, fun, easy and quick read. The perfect type of book for your holiday, beach, pool kind of read. This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and I would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

3.5/5.

From the synopsis I thought this would be a book I would really enjoy, however, there was a lot more to it including guns, the FBI and lesbian relationships. I think this may have been updated to reflect this.

I did enjoy the book and reading Darcy and Marja's backstory and why Marja had gone silent for a few years. There was a lot of emotion during their journey. The book was quite fast paced with plenty of plot twists.

I did feel, however, that some of the dialogue merged together a lot which confused me and I had to keep stopping to try and work out who was speaking.

Thank you Mills & Boon and Netgalley for my ARC copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Marja turns up for a road trip with her estranged daughter Darcy, looking more like Charlie Theron than the person she was when she last saw her. I was hooked from the start and couldn't wait to see how it all unfolded.

This is the perfect beach read with a mix of everything thrown in. It was a nice, easy read, and I enjoyed it very much

golly, i really struggled to get off the ground with this one - couldn't connect to any of the characters or the themes, writing felt amateurish and clunky, disappointing

I love Marja.
I'd forgotten what the synopsis was before i started this and was surprised and it was great. Read this in less than two days! I could think of a couple very minor questions that i'm curious about, maybe fleshing out a couple side characters a little more, but i loved it regardless.

When this book popped up on NetGalley it immediately caught my eye as the cover is really good fun and the premise sounds like a cute, easy read. The book ended up being drastically different to what I expected, but I really enjoyed it nonetheless.

We enter the story with a hungover Darcy travelling to meet her mother, Marja, for a road trip to her wedding destination that she very reluctantly agreed to. Marja shows up accompanied by Helen, a mini golden retriever, who needs to pee every 2 hours and barks anytime anyone swears.
Darcy and her mother haven't spoken in years, since the latter seemingly randomly cut contact out of the blue. This is by no means the only source of drama in the book though, as it turns out that the night before the road trip, Darcy's best friend Chloe professed her love for her and they shared a kiss. Quite a problem when Darcy is due to marry Chloe's brother Michael in a weeks time!

So far this was all exactly the sort of book I expected to read, but it took a distinct turn when the <spoiler>FBI got involved and it turned out Marja was on the run for money laundering!</spoiler> I don't want to give too many spoilers but the rest of the book includes <spoiler>hiding in shady motels, shoot outs, pregnancy tests, secret lives, and more than one dead body.</spoiler>

There are some incredibly profound moments, as well as a few where you have to suspend your disbelief as I'm not 100% sure they'd be plausible. The writing was fast paced and easy to follow, and the majority of the characters were well fleshed out and believable. I think the author could do with enhancing the descriptions of friends Jess and Ella though, as they largely became one person to me.

I enjoyed the development of Marja's love story alongside Darcy's, and the look into how your upbringing can influence your future mindset. Whilst some of the decisions both Marja and Darcy made were questionable, it was easy to see the love still held between them, and it was nice to see how the barriers between them eventually fell.

Overall it was definitely not the book I was expecting, but it's definitely worth a read! I think it would benefit from an updated blurb to include a better idea of what to expect, as well as some trigger warnings for readers.

Thanks to Mills & Boon for the ARC.

DNF @ 23%

I really wanted to like this one. The premise was interesting but it just fell so short on execution.

I just couldn't get into the story and the characters weren't gripping me either. There were too many run-on sentences, some of them going on for half a page, which made reading slow and difficult.