Three and a half stars.

Polly Potter is unhappy. Her boyfriend Chris treats her like a doormat, a cross between his mother and a housekeeper, leaving his stuff strewn everywhere and taking her for granted, he even had an affair. She used to love her job as business consultant, helping companies to turn themselves around. But after the business was bought out and a new boss installed she has been demoted, marginalised, and put down. Many of her ideas have been repackaged as those of her new boss and she dreads going in to work. Her only respite is her creative writing class, but she keeps that a secret because she knows Chris, his spiteful daughter, and snobby sister would just ridicule her if they knew. Polly is writing a novel about a character called Sabrina, whose life resembles Polly's, except Sabrina is much braver, and Sabrina's partner Jasper could react violently when he finds out that she is leaving him.

Polly decides to go to the seaside, where her beloved aunt and uncle once took her. However, she is robbed and hits her head - causing her to lose her memory. When she wakes up in hospital she thinks her name is Sabrina and doesn't want the hospital to contact the police because she doesn't want Jasper to find her.

A kindle hospital visitor, Marielle offers to let Sabrina stay in her annex flat. Marielle has a history of helping lame ducks, some of whom repaid her trust by stealing from her, so Marielle's friends and family are suspicious of Sabrina and her amnesia. Marielle's son Teddy owns a local Italian restaurant and is persuaded to give Sabrina a job, cleaning the toilets and chopping vegetables (not at the same time you understand).

Soon Sabrina is thriving in the warm and happy restaurant, finally in the bosom of a close and loving family. But all is not well. A chain of Italian restaurants is planning to open a new restaurant right next to Teddy's and they seem to started a dirty tricks campaign to discourage Teddy's patrons by leaving one star reviews and trying to get a compulsory purchase order for Teddy's car park. Can Sabrina bring her expertise to help Teddy save his restaurant?

I did enjoy this, but I felt there were too many things that were clearly only there as plot devices. For example, some of the chapters are prefaced by a 'humorous' newspaper clipping from the Daily Trumpet where the newspaper has used the wrong words and created an offensive/funny alternative meaning eg referring to someone as Chief Defective instead of Chief Detective, the sole purpose of which seems to be so that when Polly's relatives place a missing person advert in the newspaper and Sabrina's friends do the same neither recognises that they are the same person.

Overall, a pleasant read but not one of my favourites by Milly Johnson.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Loved, loved, loved this book. Milly Johnson at her finest. I was so lucky to receive an arc of this book and pretty much started it as soon as I could. It follows the story of Polly Potter, who I warmed to instantly. She’s not having the best time in life but you can sense good things are on the horizon for her. Fabulous characters and a plot that sucked me in from the start, I could not put this book down. It’s warm and witty and you felt as if the main characters were old friends. Add in the Daily Trumpet articles and you’ve got an absolute cracker of a book. Thank you to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster and the author for the chance to review.

Love love loved this book! Polly is an extremely likeable character that you find yourself inwardly cheering on! The whole story just made me feel happy. Even when i was crying at bits the Daily Trumpet had me laughing out loud! (Very loud according to my daughter😂)

If your looking to be in your feels then this is the book for you! I I would love a follow up to see how things are going!

Thank you Netgalley for giving me this to read as I absolutely loved it

I couldn’t believe my luck when I was able to read this book via an arc as I absolutely love Milly Johnson and it definitely did not disappoint, I could not put the book down.

The story is based around Polly Potter who is having a really hard time in life. I absolutely loved her character and was so invested in her. Ironically life gets better for her after a very surprising turn of events (no spoilers as I don’t want to ruin this fantastic story for anyone) and she starts to find true happiness.

The setting was just perfect and I kept flitting between fancying a bowl of tiramisu or fish and chips on the beach.

The characters were fantastic and described so well, the nice characters all felt like friends, while the not so nice characters I just loved to hate.

The regular Daily Trumpet articles throughout the story made me laugh out loud and really added to the story.

A full five stars for a fantastic feel good story with a perfect ‘happiest ever after’ ending.

Thanks to Netgalley, Simon and Schuster UK and Milly Johnson for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

Live Milly Johnson books. Polly is leaving her long term partner. She then discovers he's arranged a secret wedding but she says at altar. She leaves only to be mugged and loses her memory

Loved this story of Polly who is fed up with her boyfriend Chris taking advantage of her and at work being overlooked for her hard work because she is a woman and her boss giving credit to another man. As a result she joins a writing club and soon she is writing a story and finds herself immersed in the character.
I felt really sorry for Polly and wished she would fight more for herself and stand up to her lazy boyfriend and her boss and when she starts to fight back I was willing her on.
This is a great story of how to overcome being a wallflower and stand up for yourself and what you want.
Thanks to NetGalley & Simon and Schuster UK, for a ARC for a honest review.
Would highly recommend.

What an interesting and unique concept. I love Milly Johnson and I know this novel will not disappoint. I find we often see the same storylines over and over, but this is a fresh and unique concept. I can’t wait to see how she turns into Sabrina and hoe and if she returns to her old life or even wants too?

The Happiest Ever After has Milly Johnson’s wit and warmth spilling through the pages of her latest book. In this novel we meet Polly Potter who is far from happy with every aspect of her life from her relationship with partner Chris where she is taken for granted and feels no love loss, to her job that she used to love and thrive from only now to be underappreciated and treated appallingly. Not wanting to simply function anymore she is determined to take matters into her own hands and make a new start for herself but what unfolds was not part of her plan at all.

The opening chapters feature the terrible news reports from The Daily Trumpet that make me chuckle each time they feature in Milly’s books, they never get old and provide a touch of humour to each of her books. There are such a vast number of characters in this book that really help to make this book an enjoyable read, from the likes of Jeremy, Chris and Cilla who made my blood boil to the big hearts of Teddy, Flick and Marielle who provide love and support showing what true community spirit is and how a friendship can blossom when you help people in their time of need. As ever there are always more quirky characters in Milly’s novels too and that was found in the likes of Orrible the most idiotic goon.

I thoroughly enjoyed watching Polly’s journey and although parts of the book were predictable it didn’t have a negative effect on my reading, I still enjoyed watching the pieces fall into place.

Milly Johnson is an author who you can always rely on to deliver a corker of a read and this book is no exception. This was an uplifting read that held my attention the whole way through there was a bubbling romance, blossoming friendships and a bucket of karma too.