Yet another superb read by Jo Jo Moyes. A tale of family values and the ups and downs of relationships and trying to move forward. A great immersive read that had me hooked from start to finish.
A huge thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC in return for an honest review. It was a great pleasure.

A beautiful tale revolving round a so-called dysfunctional family. Highly entertaining with some bittersweet moments. Another hit from the queen of literature!

Firstly I would like to thank netgalley and Michael Joseph =Penguin random house and the author jojo Moyes for a early copy of her book to read.

Ive read a few books from this author. Lia is married to Dan who leaves her for a younger woman leaving her with two children..her mother dies and her father turns up after 35 years..this book is about the family relationship.a good story found it slow reading.an emotional read.

This book will be reviewed on goodreads and Amazon.

Lila Kennedy's life is falling apart, her house is crumbling, her teenage daughter is rebelling, her ex-husband’s new partner is always in sight, and she’s completely stuck on her next book. Just when things couldn't get worse, her estranged father shows up, stirring old tensions.
Jojo Moyes crafts a beautifully written story about imperfect families, second chances, and learning to embrace life's chaos. The characters are perfectly imperfect, this makes their struggles and growth deeply compelling. Emotional, raw, and refreshingly fun 😊

Forty-two-year-old Lia Kennedy is an author, and her life is in turmoil. Her Husband Dan has just left her and moved in with a younger woman, leaving her to look after their two girls Celie and Violet. Her mother has recently died their house is deteriorating around her and father decides to turn up at her doorstep after 35 years.
This is an emotional story about one woman trying to keep it together and getting her life back on track. This is quite different style to the authors other books. Although I did quite enjoy this tale of a family’s life of ups and downs. At times I did find it a bit predictable regarding Lia’s dating life. 4 stars from me

A lovely, funny, chaotic tale of modern family life and how to get on with living when newly separated and over 40. A delightful time was had with Lila and her two dads and although some of it was obvious it was a fun and fresh journey.

Lila Kennedy's life is in turmoil. Her house is falling down around her, her teenage daughter has reached the rebellious phase, her agent is pestering her for the book she hasn't even started writing, and each day she has to face the woman her husband abandoned his family for at the school gates. The last thing she needs is her estranged father turning up on her doorstep.

I've read the odd book by Jojo Moyes in the past but I wouldn't call myself a "fan". I sickened myself with chic lit thirty years ago and Jojo Moyes always seemed to sit firmly in that category as far as I was concerned. The synopsis for We All Live Here grabbed my attention and has completely changed my opinion of the author's writing.

I loved every word of this tale of the messy lives of a blended family. Lila is struggling to cope. She's still not come to terms with the death of her mother or the fact that her husband, Dan, has left her for another woman. Shortly before Dan left the couple bought a large house with the intention of doing it up, unfortunately, it's turned into a money pit. To make matters worse finances have become a problem. The money from her best-selling self-help book, ironically about reinvigorating a stale marriage, has just about gone and Lila's struggling to even start her next book. Added to this misery is the fact that Lila has to see the other woman every day at the primary school gates.

The couple have joint custody of their daughters. Violet is a precocious child with an obsession for x-rated rap lyrics and poo. As you would expect Violet has no filter. Celia is sixteen and has reached that moody and rebellious phase where all adults are the enemy and parents are the absolute worst.

And then there's Bill, her stepfather. Bill has been there for most of her life after her real father, Gene, abandoned Lila and her mother for a life of fame. Bill has been lost since his wife died and has moved in to "support" Lila.

The sudden appearance of Gene is a catalyst for everyone. There is immediate friction between Bill and Gene, to the extent that Lila compares it to having two toddlers to deal with. Gene is self-centred and flaky, you immediately dislike him, but as the story progresses you begin to realise that he's unselfish, bighearted and altruistic.

Each character is so well written that as the story focuses on them and the issues they are dealing with you feel every emotion, particularly for Lila who is trying to hold everything together, striving for perfection instead of accepting "good enough". I cared deeply about what happened to everyone, especially when Jojo Moyes avoided a series of saccharin-coated plot points and threw in a couple of anguishing moments. The story reminds us that life isn't perfect, it's chaotic, challenging and unexpected. We need to learn to enjoy what we have and embrace the imperfections.

This story was definitely character driven, centred around 42 year our Lila whose husband left her and her two kids for a younger school mum.

Lila is a writer and battles with whether to write about her personal life again or not. She goes through many ups and downs throughout this novel, including dating again after a separation and dealing with two children, a grieving stepfather and an absent father returning.

Overall I enjoyed getting to know each character and going on the journey with Lila. I felt satisfied by the way it all wraps up. However I did find the first half of the book a bit slow to get into, I enjoyed the second half much better. This book is not as deep or emotional as other Jojo Moyes books, it’s more of a lighthearted domestic drama.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

An absolute gem of a book from the Queen that is JoJo. You'll instantly fall in love with the characters & get lost in the story. I cannot recommend this book enough. It's superb

A great read! What really stood out for me in this book is the characters; the character development is so well done that I really felt like I knew them and was part of their lives.

Lila at 42 years old, is a recently divorced mum of two girls, and her ex-husband's new and younger partner, who he met in the playground on the school run, is pregnant. Her mum died recently and her grieving step-dad, Bill, who is more like a real dad to Lila, has moved in with them for a while. And then her biological father turns up, penniless and full of apparent remorse, which Lila can see straight through, and starts winding Bill up and leaving mess all over the place. Lila is at her wits end with them all, plus she has financial pressures and is behind on her deadlines for her new book. There is so much depth to the story, loads of emotion, but also a whole lot of brilliant comedy. The relationship between the two dads, the tension in the playground, two hormonal daughters, a possible new love interest and the gardener who somehow ends up having Lila's frustrations all aimed at him - all brilliant and totally relatable.

A heartwarming story about love, loss, family and acceptance.

5 ⭐️ Thanks to Netgalley, Jojo Moyes and Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House for an ARC in return for an honest review.

Author Lila is a woman trying to do it all and failing miserably. Now a single parent with two girls since her divorce from Dan, she has a book she is struggling to get going, a step dad who has sort of moved in and taken over, a very barky dog that tries her patience and that of the neighbours, and last, but not least, an old house that has plumbing seemingly from another century. With her bestie Eleanor seemingly enjoying an active ‘social’ life, and ex Dan living in bliss and totally besotted with new partner Marja, Lila thinks is she is missing out. Can things get any worse? Maybe they can once she discovers that Marja is pregnant and then a blast from the past appears on her doorstep.

To give this book 5* is underplaying its brilliance. It has it all and then some. Certainly from my POV one of Moyes’ best and I will be surprised if the screen play isn’t snapped up. No one writes domestic life quite like she does.

The style of writing, the pace and the characters are all so very good, it’s a book that leaves the reader wanting more, and feeling sad that it has to end.

There are no great surprises and the reader does need to suspend belief now and then, but the outcome is a joy. And who doesn’t get a wobble when Celie supports Hugo?

100% 5*.

Thank you NetGalley and Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House.

Jojo Moyes (author of the hugely popular Me Before You). The plot follows Lila - an author - and her family. She finds herself in her 40s, with her marriage ended and her mum passed away, living with her stepdad, long lost father and two daughters. It follows her journey finding herself after so much upheaval and learning to forgive, love again and move on with her life.
Moyes has created some truly complex and relatable characters within this raw and beautiful story.

Another fabulous story by Jojo Moyes about Lila and her dysfunctional, but adorable, family. After Lila’s divorce, she finds herself struggling financially and emotionally as a single parent who has to face her husband’s new partner every day on the school run. She is also coping with elderly parent/step parents as well as a difficult teenager and younger child too. Throw into the mix a potential new relationship, a struggling writing career and we have a recipe for disaster. However, Lila is likeable, relatable and extremely engaging and I really enjoyed the funny exchanges between her and her best friend. A great book and thoroughly enjoyable,

I have enjoyed all of JoJo Moyes' books, but perhaps her last two most of all. Maybe because I hard identify with so many of the themes (family, midlife, motherhood, work) and maybe just because they are so good.

AWe All Live Here is fantastic read that encapsulates what it is to be a woman who is trying to keep everyone else happy but often forgets about herself. Teenagers, elderly parents, divorce, bereavement, dating and an errant dog are all in the mix as Lila tries to get her life back on track. Absolutely loved it - an easy five stars from me

I loved We All Love Here, another great book from Jojo Moyes. It's got family drama, romance, I didn't want it to end!

We All Live Here by Jojo Moyes

Lila’s life is built on shifting sands at the moment. Lila is a single mum to Celie and Violet since her husband died revealed his affair with Mayja, a yummy mummy from the school gates. His betrayal was made worse by the fact Lila was promoting her book, on how to have a successful marriage. Her mum died recently and stepdad Bill and has slowly moved himself from their bungalow a few doors away, into Lila’s house along with his piano and healthy eating regime. To add a further unexpected surprise her biological father Gene turns up looking for a bed. Gene is a hellraiser, a drinking and partying actor whose claim to fame is playing the captain of a starship in a 1960’s sci- fi series. He’s still living off that fame and Lila is unsure whether she can trust him. Bill and Gene can’t stand each other. However, she gives him the sofa bed in her office, where she’s trying to produce three chapters of a new book that her agent is chasing. Lila wanted to write something honest, but the publisher is looking for the humorous and sexy exploits of a newly divorced woman. How can she write in one dad’s bedroom, while her other dad is practising his piano and planning garden renovations. Not to mention dreading school pick-up and having to see her husband’s girlfriend wafting around like a butterfly, waiting for her son Hugo. The final nail in the coffin comes when Mayja announces she’s pregnant. The last thing Lila feels like doing is pursuing romance, but to keep her agent and publisher happy and the roof over their heads she is going to have to come up with some sexy exploits. Enter Jensen the gardener and Gabriel the architect, but can Lila carve out any time for them or herself?

Lila’s house is something quite rare in fiction, which sometimes feels full of American fridge freezers and Quooker taps. It has quirks like ancient coloured bathroom suites and a toilet that blocks regularly. Celie is 16 and clearly dealing with something at school that she won’t talk about. Violet has had to cope with a boy in her class now being her step-brother, not to mention no longer being the baby. Pressure builds for them all as Mayja becomes unwell and has to be at hospital until the birth of their baby. They are living of the last of Lila’s money from her first book, but it won’t last forever and submitting one of the most raw and honest pieces of writing she’s ever done only to see it rejected, is very hard to take. I had my hear set on Jensen from the minute he came to do the garden because there’s no barrier or mask with him, what you see is what you get. As he and Lila start to talk about Bill’s plans for the garden, often sharing a brew outdoors and chatting, there’s a clear friendship growing. He’s so easy to talk to and remarkably open. Gabriel is his polar opposite in a lot of ways, there’s an instant attraction for Lila and a lot of messaging back and forth but I could sense that he wanted to be in control of their interactions. I am very wary of men who pick you up and then put you away when they’re done, like a worn and boring plaything. There’s a lot of humour in Lila’s attempts to gather sexploits for her book, but there’s clearly potential for people to get hurt too. I also learned a few terms, most notably ‘bread crumbing’ which I’ve been subjected to a couple of times. Similarly, a previous partner described me as ‘too much’ so I had a t-shirt made with ‘too much’ on it and wore it proudly, sad for myself that I spent time on someone who wasn’t enough. This is something Lila comes to realise, maybe Dan’s affair was a symptom of their relationship going wrong:

‘She thinks sometimes that she always felt she was a little too much for him, too needy, too angry, too sad, too hysterical.’

I really fell in love with this family, as unwieldy as it is somehow it does work. I admired Lila, who tries her best to be on board with the changes in her life especially around her marriage. She knows that the girls will have a sibling but can she accept Dan and Mayja as part of that family? Their relationship does hurt her, but her feelings aren’t going to stop them becoming parents and she wants her girls to have a good relationship with the baby. I thought she was incredibly brave to try and put herself back in the dating pool, something I’ve always avoided. I used to say that if someone comes into my life that’s fine, but I’m not wasting my free time on people I potentially don’t like, especially when there are good books waiting on my TBR! Luckily my husband did just that. He walked (fell) into my front door and I feel like we’ve never stopped talking since. You can see the work Lila has done on herself as she dispenses little bits of wisdom on the way:

‘The key, I’ve found, to moving forward, is asking myself, during these moments: do I want to be right? Or do I want to be happy?’

The dynamic between Gene and Bill is funny too, it’s immediately antagonistic but their bickering made me smile. Bill is angry thanks to all the things Lila’s mother, Francesca, has told him and for his desertion of his wife and daughter. Bill sees Lila as his daughter and has never had any competition for her affections. There’s obviously a fear that Gene will pick Lila up and then drop her again, even worse there’s now Celie and Violet to consider. Bill has always shown love in the way he cooks healthy meals for the girls, picks them up from school and spends time with them. Gene wants to have fun with them, Violet is especially fond of snuggling up on the couch after school and watching her new Grandad’s old sci-fi series. Celie is more difficult to befriend, but Gene is surprisingly perceptive and works out what’s wrong, giving her good solid advice that works. Far from this being a bed for a couple of nights, Lila can actually see him fitting in with their family and that scares her. Especially when she finds out there are secrets about his relationship with her mother that surprise her and potentially hurt Bill.

I read this books so quickly because I felt I was observing a real family, with all the chaos and the rollercoaster of emotions that comes with it. I loved that in a family with so many people, there was always someone who could be there for somebody else, like Gene is there for Celie. There’s so much acceptance in this novel and it’s a great message for a New Year where we are pushed into thinking we need to detox, eat less, go the gym, run 5k and all that other rubbish. Lila learns to accept the change in her life, but will she move on when she’s ready, rather than for a book deal? She also has to accept that a person can have huge flaws, but still have a place and the ability to be a support for others. Bill has to accept Francesca is not coming back and the Gene who hurt Francesca all those years ago isn’t the Gene in front of him now. Both the girls have to accept that they now share their father, but could build a new relationship with Mayja and their new sibling that enhances their life. There are so many breakthroughs here that I can’t list them all, but I did identify hugely with a scene where Lila finally takes some time for herself and has a massage, encouraged by her friend. In the final throes of my last relationship I visited a Bowen Therapist and had a similar experience.

‘it’s blissful, having capable hands on her, feeling her body ease after months and months of tension, feeling long-tightened muscles start to let go. But somewhere in this relaxed state, something wells in her, an emotion unlocked by the reality of another human being touching her, listening to Lila’s body, feeling its pain and its tensions and carefully remedying them. Suddenly, she feels a great swell of something overwhelming her. Grief ? Gratitude? She isn’t sure. She becomes aware that she is weeping, the tears running unchecked through the hole where her face is nestled, dropping onto the floor, her shoulders vibrating with an emotion she can no longer hold back.’

This was a beautifully written moment where someone is just there for Lila and the weight of holding everybody up can fall from her shoulders. It’s the first time she has taken for herself and all the emotions she’s kept in check can come out. I love how Jojo Moyes writes women and the mental load we carry for everyone around us. A load more exhausting than childcare, housework, career all rolled into one. Here she lets go and it’s the point at which she starts to rebuild her life. Does she pick the gardener or the sexy architect? I’ll leave that for you to find out.

Jo jo moyes has done it again, this was a fantastic and addictive story from the first page all the way to the end. Had you feeling all the feels. It was a realistic plot that felt like you were watching a tv series, (but using your imagination). The characters were all well written that you felt connected to them and wanted them to get on track with there lives etc. Jojo just knows how to write a great book. I couldn't stop reading it. Thanks for the arc

As with all of Jojo Moyes books, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It gave a really real insight into complicated family dynamics, the real and mixed emotions we feel. I thought the range of characters was brilliant and liked that it was multi-generational. I think it was very clever to have some chapters from a teenagers perspective as it gives us an insight that we wouldn’t have got otherwise with her being so closed off from her parents.

The best book from jojo moyes in my opinion ,has a bit of everything thrown into it ,family drama ,long lost dad ,a love story or two .Brilliant on so many levels !!

Absolutely adored this book as I knew I would!
Jojo Moyes never disappoints and I was super excited to read this.
A must-read for 2025.