A great pick me up story in my opinion as you follow Rhona on this ride of life that was so easy for me to relate to. I think I felt more emotions reading this than any other book of this type before. I cried. I laughed. I just had a really great time reading it!

I was completely gripped by this story and was impressed with the writing quality. I was entertained throughout the story and would not hesitate to recommend this book.

Rhona Beech is a very relatable character. A single woman in her mid-thirties, trying to move on and deal with heartbreak and a serious health scare, Rhona is learning to be happy with herself and appreciate life. Some of the issues discussed in this book hit close to home for me, so this was quite an emotional read, but there was also humour and even tenderness. Well-written, poignant, and, above all, real.
I would definitely like to read more from this talented author.

Thanks to Kelly from love book tours and the author for my copy of this book in return for my own honest review.

Rhona has a habit of wanting a new job every time she gets bored and eventually after nine years, her husband goes away and this takes a tole on their relationship and soon her marriage has failed, as she gets used to life as a single woman and also a new job things are sent to test Rhona but she becomes stronger in the end. This book covers mental health and cancer, this book is very light hearted and fun natured.

Rhona is a likable character. We join her after an unexpected break up and follow her life for about a year while she adjusts to singledom and the search for a new significant other. Along the way she deals with job changes, the ups and downs of female friendships and also a potentially life changing medical issue. It has both funny and sad moments is very well written and is an enjoyable read. I did enjoy this book and found similarities with the book Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine but I wasn’t wowed by it and it is not one that I think will stick in my memory.

Title: Keep Walking, Rhona Beech
Author: Kate Tough
Pages: 320
Rating: 4/5

A huge thank you to Kate Tough and Love Books Tours for letting me read and review Keep Walking, Rhona Beech.

Synopsis:

Life hasn’t worked out in the way Rhona Beech thought it would. She is swapping jobs on an annually basis and she is struggling to come to the abrupt end of her 9-year relationship. Just when she thinks things can’t get any worse, she receives some unwelcome news which has Rhona re-evaluating her life and what she really wants. Her attempts to find answers to these questions are helped by her closest friends, strangers and professionals. Both funny and tender Rhona’s journey is a roller-coaster of a read.

Review:
The description on this read caught my attention because it hinted that this could be quite and emotional, eye opening read. I was ready for a read that would ignite some emotion in me and along with the promising reviews I couldn’t wait to get stuck in.

I found the first few pages to be very powerful, I could tell this was going to be a read that makes you feel every word but I was intrigued to really get to know who Rhona was. It did take the first chapter to really connect with the book and the writing style but once I did, I really enjoyed the tone.
One thing I really do appreciate about this book is how humour is used to lighten the mood when things did get a little serious. It picks the story back up but it also picked me back up. As for Rhona, I really adored her sense of humour despite the ongoing battle she was having with herself. I generally loved how bonkers and random some parts of this read was, it was exactly my cup of tea!

Keep Walking, Rhona Beech really highlights how crazy life can be at times and I found I was able to relate very well. It was realistic and does show how life literally can be one big rollercoaster of a ride. I also felt there was some lessons to be learnt from this read and it was quite meaningful at times, for example, “Perhaps life isn’t remarkable because of the stuff we spend our time doing, perhaps life itself is remarkable.”

I found the chapters in this book quite chunky but they were broken down so that they didn’t overwhelm you. The flashbacks in time were clear and easy to follow, the only thing I was quite unsure of is when the author wrote in the exact way the characters were speaking. It made it quite hard to follow for me at times and stopped my flow but then at other times I found it quite humorous, so I feel I am on the fence with this one.
Now for the characters! Despite wanting to give her a good shake at times, I did find Rhona very likeable because her character was real and relatable, she was human. I really enjoyed how she changed and how she began to blossom. One of my favourite characters though has to be Gus! He was refreshing and I loved how his relationship with Rhona developed. In all honesty, the last 20% of the book where Gus was more involved, was my favourite part of the read. He was the perfect gentlemen for me!

The ending was not what I was expecting and I honestly felt slightly gutted at the end! I had embarked on an emotional journey reading this book, a journey of love, loss and finding happiness in life, it was such a moving read. I could feel every word on this road to discovery and this definitely one of the realest books I have read.

I loved this book the author covers topics such as woman health are concerned in this book about smear test and you learn allot from the story and the importance there is two have them I enjoyed the book . Rhona character was lovely she had a serious side two here she loved two party and online dating was covered well in this story.
This story makes you smile it’s full of fun and humour the characters are lovely it’s a quick read and enjoyable read. Rhona character you get two know her health scare and how she feels and all the emotions two go with it and her friendship side she had as well it’s a emotional read as well I enjoyed it x
Thank you

Rhona gets bored easily and after 9 years her husband goes away and soon there marriage collapses. She has to get used to a life as a single woman again with lots of problems sent to try her.
She gets a lot of help from friends to try to make sense of life and what is happening to her.

I enjoyed this and loved the character of Rhona, and found her very relatable. We go on a journey with Rhona, from leaving her husband and getting a new job, to the world of internet dating and health scares, along with her complex relationships with her friends. This book is about dealing with changes in your life and trying to make the best of things, and therefore has a very important message. The book is funny in places, heartfelt and also deals with the serious issue of health scares and reminds us to take care of ourselves.

Keep On Walking Rhona Beech was not quite the book I was expecting. Rhona is mid 30s and coming out of a ten year relationship. The book follows her life in the year following her break up. We witness her decent into online dating, a new job, the ups and downs of her friendships and her struggles with some health issues. It made me laugh and made me sad equally. I feel it was a very honest account of 4q which wasn't sugar coated. Did I enjoy it? In parts yes I found it very enjoyable. When reading it I could almost imagine it being a TV show the story was quite choppy in places which took me a while to get into. I think had I been in a better frame of mind I would have got alot more out of it. Overall I'd recommend giving it a read. It does highlight some very important issues such as regular smear tests and it did give me major laughs in places.

Full of humor, this book will grab your attention as you’re taken along for Rhona’s road to discovering who she is. For me personally, the book was incredibly relatable as a woman also in her thirties just trying to figure out this thing we call life.

Having a glimpse into her innermost thoughts as a running commentary was a huge highlight of the book for me, the author really had a witty, fun way of writing this character that I found fun to read.

A great read for during the pandemic, as I think each of us has the desire to make the needed changes in our lives. Beyond what could be a mundane day in the life of Rhona, this book covers topics that each of us as a reader could be dealing within our own lives- love via online dating, friendships, personal growth.

Thank you to Little Brown UK, Abacus Books & Rockstar Book Tours for providing me a copy in exchange for my personal review, and having me on the book tour!

Not sure if it was me, but I found this book difficult to get into and it got me out of my reading rhythm for a while . I can’t put my finger on why, it just didn’t grab me enough to keep my attention.

A funny look at life. This is a poignant and in places sad look at single life and friendship. This is about the events that happen in life and not wanting to be alone.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

I am always slightly uneasy when I look at a book and I ask myself “What ‘type’ of a novel is this?” The answer here is “A gratifying, moving and very comical one,” in more or less equal measures.

Although I would say that “Keep Walking Rhona Beech” is extremely amusing and, at times, positively hilarious, this is qualified by a feeling of great sadness, too. It’s a journey of loss, companionship, love and needing to be happy with your life, with or without a Significant Other. I am sure that most of us could identify with the protagonist, Rhona on some level, at least. I certainly know that I could, so much so that I found myself wanting to help her to break out of her life of monotony and dreariness. “Keep Walking, Rhona Beech” gives out the message that there is a need to be happy with yourself otherwise there may never be a happy ending.

In the novel, the reader is taken on a journey to experience, along with Rhona, her everyday struggles with her current life, as in her purpose, friendships, love and even her very identity. Rhona and her pals are just like the rest of us - likeable, flawed and sometimes perplexing. The journey ranged from the mundane to the downright outrageous that had the effect, at times, that I WAS Rhona. There were instances where this was a very difficult read for me, however, it was always convincing, credible and extremely worthwhile. 

I enjoyed “Keep Walking, Rhona Beech” so much and I'm hoping to read more by Kate Tough soon…

[Thanks to #NetGalley, Little, Brown Book Group UK and the author, Kate Tough, for my free ARC of #KeepWalkingRhonaBeech in exchange for an honest review.]

Life has just hidden behind a corner and stuck a foot out as Rhona Beech came past. She and Mark had been together for nine years and it was beginning to feel settled. Then Mark announced that he'd got a job in Canada and he was going whether Rhona wanted to come with him or not. The not bit of the sentence was the way it worked out and Rhona was left on her own. Well, she wasn't completely on her own: she had friends and family, but it's not the same as having that special someone in your life, that someone who makes you part of a couple. So Rhona had to start again, rejoining a world that bore little resemblance to the one she'd left nine years ago - and there's a lot of difference between being in the middle of your twenties and the middle of your thirties.

Have you ever got to the bottom of the first page in a book and known that you were going to love it? That's what happened to me with Keep Walking, Rhona Beech. What a wonderful character Rhona is. Far too many people have been in the situation of having a long-standing relationship collapse for one reason or another and we understand how Rhona feels. We recognise the temptation to give in to the sadness:

I get up. I go to work. I spend the whole day waiting for the words on my screen to make sense. In the commuter broth of the carriage home, tears run in hot lines to my jaw and for a minute or so, I let them.

It's when there's a serious medical problem that she feels at her loneliest. Her friends do their best to help, but her oldest friend, Hilary, has just met up with Gary and however you lay it out, the bits of the jigsaw don't really fit together that well anymore. Tania's not particularly well-balanced, but Erin and Lizzie do their best to be there for Rhona. She'd love to talk to Mark, but his old mobile number doesn't work any more and she doesn't have his new one. There is, of course, the option of ringing Mark's mother and asking for his new number, but she knows that it would be refused - and that Mark would be told about the request.

Does this all sound rather worthy? If so it's because I'm really not doing justice to just how good this book is. Rhona's got a lot to deal with, but she's got a sardonic wit. I laughed with her, but never at her. And I loved that she stayed positive no matter what life threw at her. Best of all I really wanted to stand up and cheer when she stopped wishing that she was part of a couple and gloried in being Rhona Beech.

It's a book to keep: I'll certainly be reading it again before too long as I'm sure that there are sections which will read better the second - or third - time around. Kate Tough writes superbly: she's a poet as well as a novelist and this comes through in her writing. There isn't a wasted word. I'm looking forward to seeing what she writes next and I'd like to thank the publishers for making a copy available to Bookbag.

Love this book from the opening pages Rhonda Beech stole my heart.Mourning the end of a long relationship navigating her days.Rhona is lonely lost she has wonderful supportive friends who are trying to help..Unhappy at work she applies for a new job every six months with no real heart to move on.This is a wonderfully written novel full of warmth real emotions we can all relate to.Highkybrecommend, #netgalley #littlebrownuk

I really really loved this book. The main character is so lovable and I could relate to many of the things she was going through or felt. I laughed out loud at many parts of the book. This book has some really funny
Moments and some really poignant ones too. The author has done this perfectly. Splendidly written and brilliantly paced. Amazing x