Take Me Home by Beth Moran is a delightful contemporary novel that warmed my heart and made me smile.
The novel is about friendship and love. The fragrance of love wafts over the whole novel. It is a love between friends that brings out the best in each other. It is a love that looks for goodness. It is a love that builds up and doesn’t tear down. It is a love that gives strength and encouragement to others, helping them to live abundantly free.
A character is suffering from a trauma that has held her captive for years. She has hidden from the world, never getting close to anyone for fear that they would leave. A locked-up heart is free from new hurts but cocooned in old pain. The locks need to be severed and a character needs to learn to take a chance on love and begin to live again.
We see the hurt that so-called family members inflicted on a life – literally and figuratively locking a character up and damaging her for decades.
We see a love that does not die. The years pass but the love remains.
All the characters were delightfully drawn, likable and realistic. They ranged from mid twenties to late fifties. They were an eclectic mix but all had huge hearts. I loved the inclusion of a couple of dogs. Dogs give unconditional love and loyalty.
Home is a major theme in the book. Home is not always found in bricks and mortar but in the arms of flesh and blood.
The novel was written in alternating time periods – in present day and in the past as we learnt the history of a family home.
Take Me Home was very charming and I absolutely loved it.
I received a free copy via Rachel’s Random Resources for a blog tour. A favourable review was not required. All opinions are my own.

I love the cover of this book, but the story is not the best! But overall i liked it..

Sophie’s next job takes her to Riverbend in Sherwood Forest, however this job is slightly different. No one is deceased, and Sophie is helping sort stuff ahead of time.

Sophie doesn’t realise just how many skeletons are in this ‘attic’ and will this help Sophie deal with her own past.

This story is full of heart-break and love, and written in such a unique way that only Beth Moran can do

Settling down to a new Beth Moran book is always an exciting experience – I fully trust her to just take over my heart for a week or so (if I can make it last that long!) and to have me completely immersed into Sherwood Forest and her world of gorgeous characters before I even notice it’s happened.

She never disappoints! In Take Me Home, we meet Sophie Potter, a young woman whose job it is to help people cope with loss in a very practical sense – moving around the country in her motorhome to wherever her clients are based, and helping them deal with wills, bills, property, and family disputes following the death of a family member. Having suffered a horrific loss herself at a young age, she has no desire to ever find roots and give away her heart again only to risk another loss.

But her latest job turns out to be like no other. First of all, the home she moves into, Riverbend, is absolutely stunning. And crucially – no one has died! Her client, Hattie, wants to tell the story of Riverbend and its secrets. And as Hattie brings her into her loop of close friends and takes them all through an ambush of art therapy, Sophie begins to let her guard down and open her heart little by little.

Especially when she meets Hattie’s cousin, Gideon…

Take Me Home is absolutely classic Beth Moran – there is so much depth and realness to the worlds she creates. I can picture the dreaminess of Riverbend and feel the love between the Gals in my heart. I can feel Sophie’s pain from her loss and how hard it is for her to open up to the possibility of committing to making a home and embedding her heart somewhere. The unfolding of the story of Riverbend’s, and Hattie’s family’s, past is so rich and powerful. As always, I couldn’t help but become invested in the characters and hope for a happy ending!

Another absolute smasher, leaving me eagerly awaiting her next book!

I adore Beth Moran’s heartwarming stories and Take Me Home is teaming with an assortment of memorable characters and a gorgeous setting in Sherwood Forest.

Sophie Potter has made a career out of helping people deal with difficult situations, while Hattie Langford has kept her past locked away. In Riverbend, their paths intersect in a story of love, loss, and family secrets.

Sophie Potter is a remarkable woman filled with grief who has been on autopilot for years, going through the motions of her noble, but literally depressing job, without much thought or consideration for her own happiness. Her tragic past has followed her for so many years that she doesn’t stay long in one place. Until she is tasked with helping her new employer and artist Hattie Langford face her own demons from the past. And what an extremely sad life Hattie has had. The weight of Hattie’s secrets has caused Sophie stress and guilt considering she has signed an NDA and can’t tell anyone including the man she has come to love, nor the first real friends she has ever had. If she only knew keeping those secrets would cause such heartache.

This is a beautifully written novel that kept me enthralled weaving Sophie and Hattie’s lives together and finding parallels in their own lives. The story is thought-provoking, deeply moving, and has a surprising twist at the end as the characters discover life after loss and start to celebrate joy and happiness again.

I highly recommend this wonderful story of resilience and hope and a tribute to the strength of women who have faced adversity and come out the other side. Ms. Moran is an exceptional storyteller.

A heart-warming story of friendship, healing, love and self discovery.
The main character is dealing with her own loss and grief and she has made a job of helping others with the aftermath of loss — then she gets a bit of a different job — helping someone through the things of their life and past before they past away . The two women form a friendship and bond over the similarities in their pasts. Unfortunately , I had a hard time investing in Sophie for the first half of the book and found the romance a bit unrealistic . The character I liked the most was Hattie and learning about her, and her past — this is what spurred me to continue reading the story—! I really enjoyed the development of Sophie and Hattie’s friendship as the book went along and - the writing overall was quite good and I enjoyed the story as a whole and felt the conclusion for all the characters was well executed.

Thank you to Netgalley and Boldwood for the ARC. This is my honest review .

Take Me Home is a lovely cosy read that takes the reader through all sorts of emotions, at times I was laughing out loud and at others I was crying. A really great read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for my ARC.

A really good story of loss and friends. I was intrigued by the idea of the art therapy. Lovely characters and hard subjects dealt with well.

New friends & promise of romance: why is Sophie still running?🤔

I liked the characters and the plot, especially the historical story for Hattie and her ancestors who endured such sorrow at their Riverbend home over the decades. And despite all the grief and lost love, the book's end succeeded in alleviating some of the hardship with second chance happiness. I just was not so taken with Hattie's deceptions. Or that she forced Sophie into such a tough position of knowing the truth but not being allowed to share it with the people who cared about Hattie.

I've read several of author Beth Moran's novels. This one was not my favorite. The slow reveal of Hattie's past was a bit too drawn out and the book was a slower read than I would have liked. But the sweet, romantic interludes were really good and the value of friendship and family came through loud and clear. A lot of psychological healing occurs and Sophie, so wounded by her family tragedy, benefits from the art therapy that Hattie uses on the Gals friend group. Kalani was my favorite of the women in Hattie's tight friendship clique: so outspoken and I liked her friend Deidre's description of her as a pumpkin, hard with a soft center.

Thanks to Boldwood Books and NetGalley for sharing a complimentary advance copy of the book; this is my voluntary and honest opinion.

A lovely easy read and perfect escapism. When Sophie, who’s business is helping people sort houses and possessions after a loved ones death, takes an unusual assignment as the person she is helping is still alive and not suffered a bereavement, she has no idea how much her life will change. Helping to declutter and sort out famous artist Hattie’s past brings Sophie into contact with a group of women who will become her greatest friends, a community who will accept her and very possibly the love of her life.

A wonderful story, full of romance and hope

Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood for the ARC for this one. An absolutely wonderful and heartwarming story of loss, love and found family. Sophie arrives at Riverbend to help Harriet, a new client, not really knowing what she's there for, and she ends up fighting her own demons and dealing with her past, and their stories combine in the most beautiful way. I enjoyed this book from start to finish and look forward to reading more from Beth.

What a wonderful story, make yourself a cuppa (or something stronger) and be prepared to be taken off into another world where happy endings, with a little bit of sadness along the way, are possible. Don’t plan anything that’s going to make you move until you’ve finished the book as it’s totally gripping and you won’t want to put it down.
Beth Moran books are always fabulous however this was just that bit more fabulous than normal!

Thank you to Netgalley the author and publishers for an arc in exchange for an honest review

Hands down, one of my best reads of 2023.
Beth Moran is an auto read for me now!!
A truly wonderful story filled with dogs, friendship, love and hope with warm, well developed characters. The perfect book to snuggle up with 📚

This book was so good. It looks me through all the emotions. I do not cry easy at books but this one had me weeping. A story with amazing characters. I found hope along with them.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my review.

Wow this book really does take you on an emotional journey. I really enjoyed the friendships Sophie had and how these developed between the characters with the sharing of their stories, tragedies and fun times.

Take me home gets you invested right from the start and as you warm to the characters and story you will find it hard to put down, a fantastic book which might make you cry as well as laugh.

Wow wow WOW! I absolutely loved every inch of this book. A beautiful story of love, loss, life and friendships. I cried so much, and loved every single one of the characters.

I’m struggling to find the words to describe how lovely this story was, and any review that I give will pale in comparison to the wonderful experience of this read. I can’t recommend it enough!

Another enjoyable read from Beth Moran. I found this book to be insightful. The art therapy was very interesting. I loved the setting, loved the dogs, and I liked Sophie, Gideon and Hattie. I didn't like some of Sophie's actions, but they were explained. The ending was satisfying. With thanks to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoy this authors writing, this book is no exception, I really enjoyed the story, likeable characters and nothing twee. Great book.

Grab the tissues you might want them near as you read this book. You will laugh and you will cry and you will be left with a great big smile on your face. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I also loved all the doggos.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for my copy of Take Me Home by Beth Moran in exchange for an honest review. It Publishes October 13, 2023.
First off, this book does take place in winter, but February, so you don't necessarily have to read it at Christmastime. It also takes place other parts of the year, but I wanted to put it out there. I loved this book, as I love all of Beth's books. I love that the characters are very real, with very real problems. It's not cutesy, but it's not camping on ugliness either. There's the perfect balance. You get substance, character development, heartbreak, heartwarm, and romance. This book was an absolute winner, and I highly recommend!

Sophie manages life after death; not in a supernatural way, but with those left behind. She's got a unique set of skills and her own unique circumstances but when a job comes in that is not what she's used to, Sophie's life changes entirely.


I really enjoyed this read from Beth Moran. It's easy to read and quick to drag you in. The interwoven past story with the current is gripping and the characters are likeable. I found myself wanting to keep picking this up to read it and keep finding out more of the story.