Olivia (Ollie) Tennyson is 29 years old, single and works for ReadUp (an adult literacy charity) in Nottingham. She lives with her 63-year-old mother, who is very manipulative and often spoils things that Olivia would like to do.
Olivia has a Dream List, which she began writing in Sixth Form. It’s a list of twelve things she plans to do, once she had fallen in love like her best friend Steph and her husband Drew. All these years later, it’s still unfulfilled as she has no boyfriend and continues to live with her mother.
With encouragement from Steph, Ollie decides things have to change. She needs to move out, begin her life afresh and start ticking off things from her Dream List – without the need for a man.
The book is very well-written and engaging right from the start. I could definitely empathise with Ollie’s plight as I also live with my mother. The characters are all wonderful and very believable and I loved eleven-year-old Joan, with her fondness for books. Readers and writers always love characters who are bookworms, as well as library settings and both feature beautifully in this novel. Look out for Library Lady too!
Just The Way You Are is about many things – friendships, relationships, romance, families, neighbours, animals, love, trust. It has a real heart which shines through the pages and a great message of finding yourself and being happy with who you are. I really enjoyed it.
BLURB
Just The Way You Are
A novel about friendship, romance and learning to love yourself – just the way you are.
When Olivia Tennyson – or Ollie to her friends – was sixteen, she wrote a Dream List of all the things she wanted for her life, including a happy marriage and a family. But at twenty-nine, Ollie is single, living at home with her over-protective and manipulative mother, and is feeling like her dreams are getting further out of reach.
It’s time for a change.
It’s time to take matters into her own hands.
Without telling her mum, or more importantly, asking her permission, Ollie finds the perfect place to start her new life. End Cottage has a duck-egg blue front door, a garden that leads to acres of forest, and definitely counts as her dream home.
Now all Ollie has to do is complete the rest of her list and find out who she really is, before she can imagine any romance coming into her life. After all, how is she going to find her dream man in the middle of a forest…
Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3DunLYt
Author Bio –
Beth Moran is the author of four novels, including the bestselling Christmas Every Day. She regularly features on BBC Radio Nottingham and is a trustee of the national women’s network Free Range Chicks. She lives on the outskirts of Sherwood Forest.
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