Review: 'One Less Problem Without You' by Beth Harbison (2016)

Meet Prinny, Chelsea and Diana. Prinny is the owner of Cosmos, a shop that sells crystals, potions, candles, and hope. It’s also a place where no one turns down a little extra-special cocktail that can work as a romance potion or heal a broken heart. But Prinny is in love with her married lawyer and she’ll need nothing short of magic to forget about him.
Chelsea works as a living statue at tourist sites around Washington, DC. It's a thankless job, but it helps pay the rent. That, and her part-time job at Cosmos. As her dream of becoming a successful actress starts to seem more remote and the possibility of being a permanently struggling one seems more realistic, Chelsea begins to wonder: at one point do you give up on your dreams? And will love ever be in the cards for her?
Diana Tiesman is married to Leif, a charismatic man who isn’t faithful. But no matter how many times he lets her down, Diana just can't let him go. She knows the only way she can truly breakaway is if she leaves and goes where he will never think to follow. So she ends up at Cosmos with Leif’s stepsister, where she makes her homemade teas and tinctures as she figures out whether she'd rather be lonely alone than lonely in love.
Last year I finally got the chance to sit down with a novel by an author I had been meaning to be introduced to for quite some time already: Beth Harbison. I continued to find reviews of her books from friends or other bloggers on Goodreads, I saw her novels pop up as recommendations on Amazon, but somehow I still hadn’t picked up one of her books myself. I enjoyed ‘If I Could Turn Back Time’, but I also couldn’t help the feeling that I had somehow expected more (click here to read my review). I was determined to give the author another chance, so when I saw ‘One Less Problem Without You’ on NetGalley, I straight away requested a review copy and here we are. Not too long ago I finally sat down with that second Beth Harbison novel, and I was curious to see how I was going to feel after this one…
‘One Less Problem Without You’ focuses on three women that are all linked together in the form of one man. Chelsea has always dreamt of becoming a famous actress, but the reality is that she’s working part-time as a living statue and part-time at Cosmos, a shop that sells potions and crystals. Even though she can try and predict the future for their customers, what does her own future have in store? Prinny, the owner of Cosmos, is also dealing with some questions of her own, mainly revolving around her lovely lawyer whom she can’t seem to get out of her head. Diana is stuck in a marriage to her husband Leif who has cheated on her more than once, but somehow she can’t get herself to leave him. When things get too much, Diana finds herself fleeing to the only safe place she can think of: her step-sister’s shop Cosmos. What’s in the cards for Chelsea, Prinny and Diana; and will they be able to help each other with finding what they are looking for?
When picking up this novel I couldn’t help but secretly hope I’d end up enjoying it more than the previous Beth Harbison novel I read, and I’m really glad to say I definitely did. I personally almost always enjoy stories that focus on several interesting female characters and are told from the different perspectives of these women, and in this novel we have three of those: Chelsea, Prinny and Diana. Each of these women had her own story to tell and I can honestly say I didn’t have one particular favourite, even though I did really like the romance element in Prinny’s storyline. The book deals with a number of issues, some of them quite serious, and I applaud Beth Harbison for bringing all of it together in this enjoyable women’s fiction read.
While I certainly liked this book and was curious to finish it, it still feels as if something is missing in Beth Harbison’s writing. I don’t know what it is exactly; I wish I could point it down, but I can’t help but feel a certain distance between her writing and my reading. I can’t 100% relate to the characters and can’t 100% see what every scene should look like… I am sure this is something personal, and not something that should stop readers from wanting to pick up this read. However, I wouldn’t be honest if I didn’t at least mention this feeling in my review. Overall, though, I enjoyed ‘One Less Problem Without You’; it has made me curious for more of Beth Harbison’s writing, and it’s a novel with some interesting female characters and storylines at its core, a book that definitely deserves the chance to be picked up and read!

Rating:8/10

  For more information about this book: Amazon.co.uk / Amazon.com / Goodreads
Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Review: 'If I Could Turn Back in Time' by Beth Harbison (2015)

Thirty-seven year old Ramie Phillips has led a very successful life. She made her fortune and now she hob nobs with the very rich and occasionally the semi-famous, and she enjoys luxuries she only dreamed of as a middle-class kid growing up in Potomac, Maryland. But despite it all, she can't ignore the fact that she isn't necessarily happy. In fact, lately Ramie has begun to feel more than a little empty.
On a boat with friends off the Florida coast, she tries to fight her feelings of discontent with steel will and hard liquor. No one even notices as she gets up and goes to the diving board and dives off...
Suddenly Ramie is waking up, straining to understand a voice calling in the distance...It's her mother: "Wake up! You're going to be late for school again. I'm not writing a note this time..."
Ramie finds herself back on the eve of her eighteenth birthday, with a second chance to see the people she's lost and change the choices she regrets. How did she get back here? Has she gone off the deep end? Is she really back in time? Above all, she'll have to answer the question that no one else can: What it is that she really wants from the past, and for her future?
Wouldn't it be great to be able to go back in time and perhaps change some decisions you made or experience certain days again? I know I would definitely take the chance if it was given to me, and I love books in which characters get to travel through time, for whatever reason. So, when I was approved to receive a review copy of Beth Harbison's 'If I Could Turn Back Time', which was originally released in July 2015, I was really excited. Not only because of the topic of the novel, but also because I had already heard numerous positive things about author Beth Harbison and her books, and I looked forward to finally reading one of her novels myself!
Ramie Phillips is thirty-seven and quite proud of what she has accomplished in her life so far. However, when she's at a luxurious party on a yacht and one of her friends announces her pregnancy, Ramie can't help but feel sad about the absence of love in her life; where's her chance to start her own family? As her questions and the alcohol take over, she suddenly decides to jump off the yacht, hitting her head on the way down. To her complete surprise, Ramie doesn't wake up in the hospital but in her teenage bedroom and within the body of her 18-year-old self. Suddenly Ramie is given the chance to rethink some of the decisions she made when she was a teenager and to do things over. The question is: what is it she really wants for herself?
I was immediately intrigued by the promising storyline of Beth Harbison's 2015 release 'If I Could Turn Back Time.' Yes, it's a storyline that has been done many times before (heroine is unhappy with her life and suddenly finds herself travelling back in time to rethink some of her past decisions and actions), but I always love seeing how authors interpret it in their own way. In the book, main character Ramie is transported back to when she was 18 and given the chance of a do-over. I quite liked Ramie and the secondary characters in the novel and was curious to find out what would happen to all of them and how Ramie's decisions would influence everything.
Unfortunately, I couldn't help but feel as if the story just didn't live up to its potential. I didn't warm to Ramie as much as I wanted to and especially the middle part of the book seemed to drag a bit, with not too much going on. I wanted to finish the novel and see how everything would eventually work out, but I wasn't as engrossed by the story as I hoped I would be. I did enjoy Beth Harbison's writing style and definitely look forward to giving one of her other books a try in the future. Overall, 'If I Could Turn Back Time' is a light-hearted and enjoyable novel which I'm sure certain readers will really enjoy, but it was unfortunately not the great read I was personally hoping it would be. 

Rating:7,5/10

  For more information about this book: Amazon.co.uk / Amazon.com / Goodreads

Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Blog Tour: 'The Piano Man Project' by Kat French

Today I am really excited to be part of the blog tour for Kat French's new novel 'The Piano Man Project', a read which I have been looking forward to picking up for quite some time now! Below I have an exclusive extract from the book to share with all of you, so be sure to check it out!

‘Is the fucking house on fire?’

Whoa. Where did he come from?

‘No, sorry. I burnt my bacon. Just give me a minute . . .’

Honey tried to hide her surprise at finding a dishevelled Johnny Depp type yelling at her in her own hallway. Well, strictly speaking it was a shared hallway, but as the flat opposite had been vacant for months she’d become kind of territorial.She squinted at him. Dark glasses at lunchtime hinted at a fellow hangover sufferer. Maybe he was some famous rock star hiding out. She could dream. Whoever he was, the faded black t-shirt clung to his body in a way that suggested fit, and the tattoos inked down his arms suggested sexy. It was a shame then that his personality rendered him thoroughly repellent.

‘Just shut that fucking racket up, will you? I’m trying to sleep.’

‘Umm . . .’ Honey stared at the alarm in panic. Her head was thumping, and out here the noise was even louder than in her kitchen. ‘I would, but I can’t reach it. Could you possibly . . .?’

He was well over six foot; with a stretch he’d make it, no problem.

‘No I fucking cannot. What sort of grown woman can’t cook bacon? Sort your own mess out.’ He curled his lip and slammed his door.

Honey reeled. Her life was full of people who, on the whole, were decent human beings. To come up against someone so outright obnoxious came as a shock.

‘Fine!’ she shouted. ‘Fine. I’ll do it myself.’ She made a half-hearted attempt at jumping to smack the alarm box. Futile. At five foot five and not very athletic, it had always been a long shot.

Plan B was required. Honey took her slipper off and hurled it upwards, but still she missed the alarm by a good foot. Then she spotted her tall, red polka dot umbrella propped in the corner of the hallway. Bingo! Could she reach the reset button with the metal end spike? She tried, but the damn thing wobbled too much for accuracy and the close proximity to the noise threatened to burst her eardrums.

Gah. The next time she wanted bacon she’d go to the café on the corner.

Honey sighed and opted for the only source of action left. She swung the umbrella above her head and whacked the alarm clean off the wall. It bounced hard against her new neighbour’s door, then landed with a squawk, before dying. She closed her eyes in relief.

Johnny Depp wrenched his door open again.

‘What?’ he growled.

‘What what?’

‘You knocked my door.’

‘Oh.’ Honey bent to pick up the mangled alarm. He recoiled as she straightened, as if her nearness offended him.

‘I didn’t knock. The alarm hit your door on the way down.’

‘You smashed it.’

No shit, Sherlock.

‘I suggest you don’t attempt to cook again. You might burn the fucking house down.’

The stony look on his face told her that he wasn’t amused. As did the door slammed in her face. Again.

Prick.

‘I can cook perfectly well, thank you,’ she yelled, annoyed by his assumption. This was her home. He was on her turf. If he thought he could roll up and chuck his weight around, he could think again.