A book full of mixed feelings, loss, denial, love, and running away.
Sophie has a very unusual job helping families and individuals with loss, clearing homes and helping with all the formalities after we lose a loved one. She lives in her motor home with her dog Muffin that she had inherited with one of her jobs. The next job is highly unusual with the well known artist Hettie in her family home of Riverbend. As the family history and uncovered belongings come to light, there is more to this job and experience for Sophie.
Reading this story also gave me mixed feelings and now left not sure whether I loved it or found it slow going in places and a bit like wading through mud and lost in others. Interesting frustrating and very warm hearted. This is definitely a feel good read at the end of the day! There are some beautiful touching moments and great characters. Interesting themes, but ultimately felt this didn’t flow well for me.
Thank you NetGalley and Boldwood books for the early read.

Having experienced a considerable measure of her own grief and loss, Sophie has built a business helping others, travelling the country in her camper van and tidying up all the loose ends – the paperwork, the house clearances, the family disputes – after the deaths of their loved ones. But her latest assignment is rather different – her client, Hattie, is very much alive, needing her help in sorting through the clutter and memories behind a locked door in the attic of her beautiful home at Riverbend in Sherwood Forest.

Hattie is an artist, and helps others too through her art therapy – but she also has her secrets, and a compelling story to tell. As their relationship develops, Sophie – with the intervention of Hattie’s closest friends who are on their own separate journeys with Hattie’s support – begins to embrace the possibility of her own fresh start, moving on from the difficult experiences in her past and perhaps opening up her heart again.

I totally adored this book – an emotional story beautifully told, the perfect balance of laughter and tears, a tentative romance that was everything I wanted it to be, and the most wonderful cast of characters. As Hattie and Sophie spend time sorting through the remnants of the past, a compelling story unfolds through glimpses of a difficult family history, laced with slowly emerging secrets – and Sophie’s own story slowly becomes clearer, as she begins to unpack her own past, face up to her fears, and look to the future.

Sophie’s journey was an experience I felt so deeply – the depth of her grief and the acute damage hidden behind her professional facade, the slow healing through the connections she forms with others, the joy of her new relationship tempered by the secrets she needs to keep. And then there’s the romance – complicated by the shadows of the past and the impossibility of total honesty, but with an intensity that touched me to the heart. Emotionally, everything about this book is absolutely perfect – some of the story’s twists are unexpected and particularly moving, but the author deals with them with exceptional compassion and sensitivity.

The female friendships that run through the book are just fantastic – the women in the unusual friendship group are just so wonderfully drawn, very real and with their own issues and problems, finding strength in each other. The warmth of their mutual support and love often moved me to tears, while the humour they found in every situation also frequently had me laughing with them. And while some of the themes of the book might seem a little heavy, there most certainly is plenty of laughter – a lightness you might not expect, but always so perfectly judged.

Beautifully written, a compelling story, and a cast of characters I felt entirely drawn to and invested in throughout – just wonderful, and without question one of my books of the year.

What a wonderful book. Such strong, charming main characters. A different and unique story that blends history, loss, family, frienship and love. Amazing story telling that starts out slow and cautious and builds to a beautiful happy ending. Could not put it down, So worth the read!

Lovely heartwarming book perfect to curl up and read in the dodgy weather. Good characters touching on loss and heartbreak but a few laugh out loud moments too. Thank you netgalley for the advanced copy

Beautiful book, it stars Sophie who’s job it is to help people sort out their families estate once they have passed away but Sophie has a secret as well that she is dealing with grief as well and as such has a trusty motor home that means she can travel from job to job and has no home in one place, until she takes a job with Hattie to sort out her estate but Hattie is very much alive but also has a secret as well.

This story also has an array of different characters who make this book as well as Sophie and Hattie and shows that where there is friendship and love you can get through anything with their help.

I would like to thank NetGalley for the chance to review this book as it is a beautiful read and I would highly recommend this book.

A lovely heart warming story touching on themes of love, friendship, loss and grief.

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

This author has the knack of really pulling at your heart strings and ripping your heart out then slowly pieces it back together again with her books. This was another emotional read from this author and was a story of love and loss and grief and of how events of the past have shaped the future and is a story of the main character Sophie’s crossroads in life and the journey they are taking and how this unites them to a place called river bend and it’s inhabitants and how meeting Hattie might be the chance for a fresh start and turning point in her life and how being surrounded by new people and new experiences might just be part of the healing process they need.

I enjoyed the relationship between Sophie and Hattie and also how the book told the story of Hattie’s past intertwined with the present day.

This book will stay with me for a long time and can’t wait to read what this author writes
Next

I normally really love Beth Moran’s books, but found this one to be slow and depressing - not my cup of tea this time around.

I’m sure there will be plenty of readers out there who will really enjoy the end of life / illness and putting together the background details of Hattie Hood, artist, by Sophie - who normally helps families with organizing affairs after a death - but with the twisting storyline and flashbacks with learning Hattie’s history, it was far too women’s fiction and not enough romance between Sophie and Hattie’s “nephew” Gideon, with so many secrets between all of the characters and not enough actual storyline or plot to keep me invested or interested.

I received an advance copy from NetGalley and Boldwood Books, and this is my honest feedback.

Sophie is a fixer. She helps people at some of the worst times of their lives sort through the stories that brought them to this point and smooth out the pages of their lives. When Hattie offers Sophie an unusual job, it sets the two of them up to heal the wounds they have carried for many years and find a better life. Beth Moran has done an excellent job of showing us Sophie and Hattie at their best and their worst and making us care about them.

Nomad Sophie lives minimally with her motorhome and loyal dog, avoiding attachments. Vibrant fifty-something Hattie has also kept her past guarded, but she's ready to unveil generations of heartbreak at her family's Riverbend estate. With the help of Hattie and handsome Gideon, can Sophie learn to love again?

This is a story of generational tragedy and lost love. It's an immersive and heartbreaking women's fiction with a romance subplot.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

BethMoran - Take Me Home.

I’ve read most, if not all of Beth Moran’s books and I have enjoyed each and every one of them.
Take Me Home, goes to a whole new level of excellence. It’s an outstanding story.

Beth takes us back to Sherwood Forest for this book. And it really is a gorgeous setting. She describes it so vividly that it will tickle all your senses.

When Sophie goes to help Hattie to document the past, the pair form a sweet friendship and go on an emotional journey of discovery together.

#TakeMeHome gathers some very raw emotions and tough life issues, then weaves them into this wonderful story.
It will tug at your heartstrings, but also lift you up and fill you with joy and hope.

An utterly gorgeous story. It sweeps across the generations and leaves us all with some important life lessons.

Simply fabulous.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

With thanks to Rachel’s Random Resources, netgalley and Boldwood Books for a digital arc of this title.

Take Me Home is my favourite book by Beth Moran and that is saying something because all her other books are lovely too. In fact this one is right up there with the best of 2023. Sophie helps people facing the worse time of their lives because she knows what it is like. With her adorable dog Muffin she sets off to a rather different job and meets Hattie who also has a difficult past. Well I will instantly love any book that has dogs just because I am a absolute dog lover. The two dogs in this book were delightful as were the human characters. I personally felt different emotions while reading from happiness to heartbreak. The story is one of loss, love and friendship and layers of hardships faced and hidden. I thoroughly enjoyed reading every single word.

Thanks to the Publisher and Netgalley for an early review copy.

I absolutely loved reading this book.

Sophie has a different type of job, that is, she helps those of loved ones passed take care of the paperwork and sorting out their possessions. After her last assignment ends, she’s presented with another, by Hattie Langford, but is it what she’s been advised?

Hattie, resides in a house, which has lots of history in Riverbend, Sherwood Forest. Hattie would like to have a written account of what’s happened in the past in the place she lives, before she finds it too late to do so.

Now, Sophie has to face up to her own past, if she and Hattie want to move on.

The story had every emotion in it. It was interesting to see how the story alternated between what’s happened in the past and the now, reading about the decisions that were made that impacted how Hattie's life turned out.

I highly recommend this book.

A warm hug, a luxury got chocolate or a slice of delicious cake, would all be excellent ways to describe this new book by the exceptional. author Beth Moran.
Lots of intrigue, well written into flashbacks taking you between last and present. An easy read.

I really liked this book. Fun, Gal friends, romance and almost all "happily ever after". Added bonus was women working through childhood abuse, marital unhappiness, trauma and health issues, and in need of therapy, aka Hattie Hood style. She helped the Gals "come home" in unique ways that may make you cry and may make you laugh. Sadness, sorrow, joy and gladness characterize this women's fiction. In my opinion, truly enjoyable!

~Eunice C., Reviewer/Blogger~

October 2023

Disclaimer: This is my honest opinion based on the complimentary reveiw copy sent by NetGalley and the publisher.

This book was so good. I loved it! It moves a bit slow at times but that just allows you to savor the story more.
It was full of wonderful and quirky characters.
It’s a nice romantic story and I had a hard time putting it down. Thanks to Rachel’s Random Resources and the publisher for the early copy

This was just ok for me. Kind of tragedy laden with very little feel good or romance. Not really what I was expecting. The story was messy at times and there was quite a bit of rambling. Editing may have helped here. I found the ending unsatisfying.

A lobely, heartwarming story about Sophie, a woman who specialises in supporting families work their way through grief. Her latest assignment is unique, she is hired by eccentric artist and art therapist Hattie. Can Sophie work her way through her own grief with the help of her new found friends.

Absolutely incredible. I’m a little sad it ended I could have voyeuristically read about Soph, Hattie, Gideon and the gals’ for a lot longer than we got. Beth Moran sets up an incredibly heartbreakingly fabulous storyline which will leave you hoping, crying, laughing and hoping a little bit more. This book is filled with love and loss, heartbreak and joy with some hard hitting issues captured at its very core. I began this thinking it would be a Christmas book but what I got was a completely different but magnificent kettle of fish. 100% recommended.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved Take Me Home from the moment I started reading it. The book features Sophie, who has the most unusual job of helping people cope with all the life admin and inevitable decluttering when a loved one passes away. She's offered a new assignment with Hattie Langford, but all is not as it seems.

Hattie lives in Riverbend in Sherwood Forest, and the house has as much history as Hattie does. She wants to face the past and document her memories, perhaps before it is too late? What follows means that Sophie must address her own traumatic story in order to help herself and Hattie to move on.

Take Me Home has it all; it's a whole load of emotions wrapped up in a great big hug, that will make you cherish those around you all the more. I loved the way the story moved between the past and the present, with glimpses of the decisions that shaped Hattie's life.

Take Me Home is a must read, and a definite read again!