With its dry wit and warmth, Sal Thomas has another gem of a book with 'Community Service'. PR exec Simone Stephens finds herself having to undertake community service at a homeless shelter after mistakenly assault a cop she thought was cosplaying.

Simone is a lot of fun and I really appreciated the growth she undertakes to regain her less cynical self. This is a woman who has become jaded, having an affair with a married man, working in a toxic and misogynistic company. But underneath you can see why she is the way she is - working to give herself financial security that she lacked growing up in a working class family with parental issues.

As always, Sal Thomas delivers funny quips and banter between Simone and Jasper, the social worker who also comes to see Simone for the soft-hearted person she is underneath her carapace. Another winner from Sal Thomas, more please!

Thanks to One More Chapter/Harper Collins UK and NetGalley for the ARC.

Brilliant. Simone is sentenced to community service in a Homeless centre .Totally different from her life in the city, will she settle into caring for the homeless? Laugh out loud moments, ideal holiday reading .Loved it .

In Community Service by Saul Thomas we watch Simone as she gets community service in through it not only find love but becomes a better person at the same time. I’m going to be honest and say I did not like Simone at the beginning of the book and had it not been so lol funny I would’ve stopped reading it very early on but everything from the homeless guy to the rivalry with her coworker and on anon was so funny I kept reading it just for that reason it wandered up being very heartwarming and by the end I really liked the person Simone was becoming I would love to say I love her as a character but that would not be true. But if you love funny stories with great character development and a pretty good romance and you will probably like this book. I want to thank the publisher for my free art copy via NetGalley please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

I suppose this is aimed at the current young crowd with wanting to drink their cares away and get into some raunchy situations. While I can see the humor that was meant to uproariously land in the reader's face, it just did not hit home for me. Simone is in a business where it is dog eat dog, and she finds herself in situations no young woman should be in. There are some redeeming factors as she undergoes growth and finds herself helping others, as well as finding love in the most unusual of places.

Overall, Community Service is a sarcastic view of life and love. I've enjoyed other entries by Sal Thomas, but this one was not for me.

Thank you to Harper Collins UK, One More Chapter and NetGalley for the ARC. The opinions expressed are my own.

The story of Simone and Jasper. After meeting in passing, she ends up doing her community service at the homeless shelter where he works. I didn't really like her, but I guess that was the point, but even at the end I felt she hadn't really changed and redeemed herself.

Community Service by Sal Thomas is a wild ride! I wasn't quite sold on the plot line at first..... but I hadn't read anything like it before, so I decided to give it a go. I'm so glad I did! The wickedly hilarious one-liners and witty banter totally sold me on this book! I actually called my husband several times to read him quips of the book! I would definitely read this author again.
I also appreciate that this book brought light to the homelessness epidemic and some of the struggles that are faced. It's funny with a noteworthy cause!

Thank you, NetGalley and HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter for early access to read Community Service in exchange for an honest review. It is an entertaining read, don't let the negative reviews detour you!

I think this book had a few good moments and quippy one liners and I enjoyed the overall message! Unfortunately, I don’t think this one was for me.
The opening scene was a bit too vulgar for me, and took me out of the book and some scenes after didn’t make it better. I did begin to like the main character a bit as time went on, but I didn’t for a while and that also took me out of it.
I don’t think it’s a bad book, I just think it wasn’t for me!

Thank you NetGalley for the chance to review.

Could finding herself in trouble mean finding herself in love?

PR exec Simone Stephens mistakes a real cop for a cosplay reveler and ends up sentenced to volunteer at a local homeless shelter. Far from her slick, cynical world, she repeatedly embarrasses herself in front of the handsome resident psychologist, Jasper. Despite a rocky start, Simone finds her feet and begins to make a difference. Sent there to atone, she might also find herself—and maybe even love—in the process.

At first, I found it hard to connect with Simone. She seemed shallow and overly focused on her looks and career. But, like Scrooge, her time at the shelter slowly makes her rethink her life choices, especially as her interest in Jasper grows and their banter becomes more fun. The book also does a great job showing how big businesses hide negative publicity. As the story unfolds, we learn more about Simone’s past, which made me unexpectedly sympathetic towards her.

Be warned, there are some spicy moments, including an affair with a married man. Despite my initial reservations, I ended up enjoying this book more than I thought I would. It reminded me to always give a book a chance, even if I’m unsure at first.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter.

Community Service by Sal Thomas was an enjoyable journey.
I really enjoyed reading this story. The author writes very well with truly engaging characters.
This was a funny and realistic story that I truly enjoyed.

Thank You NetGalley and One More Chapter for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

An extremely cynical thirty something PR exec finds herself sentenced to complete community service at a local homeless shelter and there she finds meaning to her prior somewhat pointless existence. It’s a world away from her polished, cynical world, but she’s going to put her head down and get through it. That is until she has a meet cute with Jasper, who is a psychologist at the shelter and we get to see her growth throughout the story. Simone soon finds herself immersed in the lives of the residents and wanting to make a difference and finding it giving her own life a purpose and even unexpected love.
There’s loads of clever and witty banter, sarcasm (my fav!) and steam 🌶️
Thanks to One More Chapter and NetGalley for this eArc in exchange for my review.

PR exec Simone finds herself in trouble when she mistakes a real cop for a cos play one, ending up helping out at a homeless shelter as her community service.
Initially I really couldn't take to Simone, she comes across as shallow, obsessed with her looks and career driven at the expense of anyone else. In a Scrooge-like way her experience at the shelter gradually makes her question her lifestyle choice, especially as her interest in Jasper, the resident psychologist, grows with the banter between them. It is probably more true to life than I would like to think in the way it describes how big business manages to hide any negative publicity. As the story develops you find out the reasons for how she is and start to feel sympathy for her, something I couldn't imagine at the start. Be warned there are several very spicy moments, including an affair with a married man.
In the end this is a book that I ended up enjoying more than I thought at the start, reminding me to always give a book a chance even if initially I really want sure about it.
I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher through Netgalley, however this did not influence my review of the book.

This was an ok read, it’s got a few red flags. I think the topic is relevant and enjoyed reading about it.

Simone has just assaulted a police officer and needs to do community service in the homeless shelter. Hunky Jasper works there and she’s excited. It’s not what she planned to do in her holidays from work, but that is life.

I liked the plot, but it’s a bit crude and full of swears which was off putting. Simone is not the friendly character I hoped she would be, she’s bitter and thinks men all want one thing. She lacks self confidence. I liked the homeless shelter and I think it’s good to write about this subject.

This is the second book I’ve read by this author and really thought it would be like the last one, I’m hoping the next book will have less swearing, sex and crude talk. A 3.5 read.


Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for a copy.

Unfortunately this just wasn’t the book for me, I thought it was a whole lot of words and a whole lot of nothing. I didn’t connect with the main character and just found the whole book a bit boring.

★
———————
Thank you NetGalley and Harper Collins UK, One More Chapter for the opportunity to review this book.

I’m sorry but this is not the book for me…
I normally don’t mind bad language or anything else in that matter but something about how this one started off just turned me away from it asap. I tried to read more but I just can’t.

Thank you to NetGalley for sending me the arc & the publisher.

ℝ𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | 𝔽𝕠𝕣𝕞𝕒𝕥: 𝐸-𝐵𝑜𝑜𝓀

ℝ𝕖𝕧𝕚𝕖𝕨: 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐲 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫. 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐣𝐚𝐦-𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐦, 𝐬𝐞𝐱, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐝𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐬 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐨𝐫. 𝐈𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐲𝐥𝐞, 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐝! 𝑪𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝑺𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐨 𝐮𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥; 𝐈 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐈 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐤𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠.

𝐀 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝑪𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝑺𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐲𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐲-𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠-𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫-𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐏𝐑 𝐞𝐱𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞, 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐫.

𝒯𝒽𝒶𝓃𝓀 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓉𝑜 𝒮𝒶𝓁 𝒯𝒽𝑜𝓂𝒶𝓈, 𝐻𝒶𝓇𝓅𝑒𝓇𝒞𝑜𝓁𝓁𝒾𝓃𝓈 𝒰𝒦, & 𝒩𝑒𝓉𝒢𝒶𝓁𝓁𝑒𝓎 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒜𝑅𝒞! 𝒜𝓁𝓁 𝑜𝓅𝒾𝓃𝒾𝑜𝓃𝓈 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓂𝓎 𝑜𝓌𝓃.

Review to Come

I love the cover design ❤️
The description peaked my interest…
This is a new author to me.

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC

I'm going to start by saying this wasn't the light and easy read I expected when I requested it. The subject matter of homelessness and Simone's adjacency to it via her court mandated community service makes it difficult for it to be a light and fluffy romance book.
Yes, there is a romance subplot but I honestly thing that the emphasis is on Simone's character growth throughout the book.
Overall I did enjoy the book even though it was a heavier read than I had anticipated.

Mein Leseerlebnis

Der Klappentext dieser britischen contemporary romance hörte sich außergewöhnlich und sehr frisch an, da habe ich mit Begeisterung zugegriffen. Doch beim Lesen wurde mir leider recht schnell klar, dass die Ausrichtung des Liebesromans nicht ideal für mich ist.

Schon den Einstieg in das Buch fand ich eher befremdlich als unterhaltsam. Ein paar Szenen im Buch erinnerten mich an TV - Serien wie "Sex & the City”, was in meinem Fall leider nicht positiv zu verstehen ist, da ich kein großer Fan der Serie bin. Im Leben der Heldin ist auf allen Ebenen so einiges los und manches wirkte auf mich etwas übertrieben, verwirrend und wenig anziehend. Auch funktionierte der Humor für mich zu selten.

Es fiel außerdem mir schwer, die Hauptcharaktere ernst zu nehmen und sie mir als echte Personen vorzustellen. Auch war mir die Heldin nicht in jeder Szenen sympathisch.

Zudem konnte mich die Liebesgeschichte leider überhaupt nicht packen und mein Interesse an den Geschehnissen nahm nach ein paar Kapiteln erheblich ab.

Schade, aber das Buch war definitiv nicht mein Fall.

Keine Bewertung, da abgebrochen.

Für wen?

Wer britische Liebesromane mag, die einen leicht eigenen Humor haben und in denen so einiges los ist, für den könnte “Community service” einen Versuch wert sein. Mögt ihr zusätzlich noch Serien wie "Sex & the City”, könnte das Buch für euch vielleicht sogar super sein.

I enjoyed reading this book but I couldn't connect with the characters and I found Simone mean and irritating. Honestly I don't think this story was for me but I can understand that some people would like this book!
Thank you Netgalley and HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter for this arc

I loved Thomas' first book and was so excited to read Community Service. This one was every bit as enjoyable! Simone doesn't start out likeable, but as she begins her character journey it's lovely to watch her grow and change. I was grinning by the end of this one. Loved it!