Paige, our main character, has had her life turned upside down. I think this romcom is just what we need in a time like this. It’s realistic, modern, shows we all go through low points, and most importantly shows we can rebuild ourselves as long as we just believe.

If you’re looking for a story that you can truly relate to but still comes out with that happy ending look no further. I’m a new reader to this author and I’ll definitely be looking for them in the future. I’m glad I got the opportunity to read this advance copy and it was nice to not have a completely disney HEA but something a bit more down to earth.

Thank you Stewart Lewis, Lake Union Publishing, and NetGalley for the e-reader ARC, in exchange for my honest review.

This story follows Page, a thirty-something woman, who recently moved to D.C. after a break up. She is awaiting her life to start, lacks confidence, and is seemingly lost in life. Page begins to spend her time in the dog park, sans-dog, and the connections she make will shape her life forever.

Happily Whatever After is more realistic and modern rom-com, than the average romance novel. Page's confusion with her life direction is often relatable, and charming to watch. We can all relate to the feeling of meeting someone new, deep dive searching them online, and trying to improve our meet-cute chances of bumping into them. Not to mention giving them cute names in our head, depending on where or how we met, anyone else have people in their phone labelled "Tinder Kyle" or "Coffee Shop Blake"?

At times I definitely wanted to shake Page, through the... pages. I wanted to will her take more control of her life, rather than relying on happenstance. The second half of the book really picks up, and things really start to change for Page. Stick around, and see if Page can lead the life she desires.

Available July 28, 2020.

Star Rating: 4/5 Stars
Reading Span: 2 Days, a fun & easy read! I couldn't stop!
Recommended Beverage Pairing: A dry red wine, preferably a Pinot Noir or Cabernet Sauvignon

As always, a copy of this book was provided by the author or publisher in exchange for my honest review. This does not effect my opinion in any way.

So, here's the thing. I liked and disliked a lot of things about Happily Whatever After. This made the reviewing process of it all the more difficult. Because, I was pretty much right on the line of adding it to my DNF pile multiple times. And every so often, Stewart Lewis' prose made me go, 'Okay. Just keep reading. The writing is good. Maybe you'll connect with the story soon.'

Call me an optimist.

But, I didn't. I think that, for me, the biggest turning point in my opinion of the novel lay within the fact that I didn't quite like the main character. I didn't connect with her in the least. In-fact, I found myself actively scoffing at her from the very start to the very end. It really worked against Happily Whatever After, while simultaneously acknowledging the fact that Lewis knows how to portray characters in stories in a way that makes them unlikable.

Although there were some bright spots, and tropes that I enjoy were explored, the novel fell short for my personal preference.

Know this: I never found myself actively hating Happily Whatever After. In-fact, I firmly stick with the fact that Stewart Lewis' writing is fantastic, compelling and, honestly, a lot of people will really enjoy the story. The bad news is that I was not one of them and Happily Whatever After was simply not my cup of tea.

Happily Whatever After by Stewart Lewis
Source: NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing
Rating: 4½/5 stars

Sometimes in life, the worst things that happen to you are just the gateway to the good things that are waiting on you. Page was pretty sure her life in New York was just what she wanted, a long-term boyfriend, a job in a gallery she loved, and contentment. And then, it all fell apart in a single week. Her boss called her boring and her boyfriend dumped her. With no job, no boyfriend, and no home, Page has no choice but to seek refuge with her brother.

Washington DC is Page’s new home and while she loves spending time with her wildly successful brother, she has no idea how she is going to become equally successful in her own life. With no prospects for a job, let alone a career, Page begins to spend a portion of her days at the local dog park. It doesn’t take long for the regulars to figure out, Page is the only one in attendance with no dog, which, of course causes get speculation. Within a matter of just a few visits, Page has nicknames for all the owners a new friend in the form of a young, attractive man who is attached to a wealthy, older dog owner. Page immediately becomes friends with both men and suddenly her world in DC has opened significantly.

Over the next weeks, Page opens herself up to all sorts of new people, possibilities, and events. She is wowed by some of the people she meets, impressed by others, and baffled by more than a few. Throughout these experiences and events, Page begins to formulate an idea in the back of her mind, what would it be like to open and own her own gallery? Among her new friends, Page has met people who can help pave the way for her dreams, but it will take a load of hard work and effort.

As Page goes about aimlessly living her new life, she begins to notice changes in her brother and his life. His patterns seem to be disrupted, she’s certain he’s having an affair, and he just doesn’t seem his usual cheerful, happy go lucky self. Though he swears all is well, Page isn’t certain, but until he comes clean there’s nothing she can do but live her life and worry. Living her life is exactly what she does and along the way, Page discovers exactly what her path is all while helping her new friends and family alike. The path isn’t smooth, but it does lead Page to exactly where she was always meant to be.

The Bottom Line: This is yet another read whose Goodreads star rating baffles me. I found this book to be a full range of goodness from cover to cover. Though Page initially comes across as flighty and somewhat ditzy, she eventually comes around to the person she truly is, a kind, generous, caring person with a dream that takes all she is to come true. Ultimately, Page’s story is about how hard it is to be an adult. Life doesn’t always go as we plan and when we find ourselves adrift, we have to find a new plan and a new path. Page does that, but not without learning a great many valuable lessons about herself, life, and love. In all, I found this to be a quite good read and well worth the time and effort.

Happily Whatever After was my first Stewart Lewis experience, and what a refreshing one it was! Full of charm, humor, and - like life - a decent dose of unfortunate fear and pain. The characters in this novel are light and charming without feeling false. Makes for a great weekend read!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC, which I received in exchange for an honest review.

After being dumped by her boyfriend and fired from her job in the same week in New York, Page moves in with her brother Brady in Washington DC. There she meets a bunch of dog owners at the dog park who quickly become her friends. She starts having new dreams and learns just how unpredictable second chances can be.

So many things happened in such a short amount of time in this book. That said, I found that the pacing was a little off. A lot of time was spent getting to certain parts of the story, but when they happened they felt quite rushed. The majority of the story focused on Page talking to different people at the dog park.

I really loved Page’s relationship with her brother Brady. It really reminded me of my relationship with my brother. However, I didn’t feel that same connection with the other characters, and I wanted there to be more interaction with the main love interest, Mark.

Overall, I think there were too many characters and too much going on for me to feel connected with the story.

After being in a reading slump, this book was just what I needed. It has a mixture of funny, witty banter, puppy love, and hard life lessons. I finished this book fairly quickly and loved every bit of it!

Page, a thirty- something year old female lives in NYC with her long term boyfriend and wonderful job at an Art Gallery. Until in the same week her boyfriend calls it quits and she gets fired. After her older brother offers her a room in his DC apartment, Page uproots her life and sets out to start a new journey. This book is about finding yourself, not judging a "book by its cover" and second chances.

I really enjoyed Page's witty banter with herself and the character she meets. I caught myself laughing out loud several times. Also, the relationship between Page and her brother was so endearing and made me think of my relationships with my own brothers.
I do feel that some of the circumstances were a bit unrealistic and the ending was almost too perfect. But, I still thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was a great read.
Thank you NetGalley and Stewart Lewis for my advance readers copy.

Really enjoyed this book. Steady paced, great characters, I was absorbed throughout. Will be reading more Lewis books in the future!

Page is a thirty something who moves in with her brother when she needs to start over after losing her job and her boyfriend. Replace brother with sister and I could have been in Page's shoes. The main character was witty and I really enjoyed the clever chapter titles.

Happily Whatever After is supposed to be a dark comedy, but I wish it would have had little more of that dark humor. The MC was sarcastic, but I wanted more. This is my first book by Stewart Lewis and I do think the writing is easy to follow, but I'm just not a fan of the plot.

Page just moved to DC from NYC after losing not only her job, but also her boyfriend. She moves in with her brother and tries her hardest to go through these new hurdles. Page is most definitely a dog person and spends most days at the dog park watching other people with their four-legged companions. We follow Page through her everyday life of meeting new friends, love interest and the job market.

"Some of us blossom after the rain."

Page's story is about starting over, meeting new people and having confidence in one's own abilities. I loved the message the book sent and being a dog person myself, I enjoyed the attention all the fur babies got.

Page's relationship with her older brother Brady was beautiful, but her relationships with other people needed a little. I kept on hoping something exciting would happen, but at 56% it was pretty clear that this wasn't the kind of book for me. A lot of the chapters are just about Page going to the dog park and talking to random people she meets. I wanted more interactions with her and Marc because I really didn't feel the love connection at all.

Overall I guess I was just hoping for less fillers and more interactions with everyone.

I received a free advanced copy from the author/ publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

I'm going to start with the things I've struggled with when reading this book (even though I throughly enjoyed it, hence the 4 stars): I generally find it a bit strange when men write from a woman's point of view and I do believe that very few do it correctly. I think that at points in this book I could see a male perspective in Page's views, but overall it didn't impact my reading experience negatively. (What kind of grown woman who shares an apartment with her brother wears his dress shirts? And why does the main character kind of condone another character stalking his ex for a while?).

The other thing I struggled with is the lack of time references, at points it felt like the story was going really fast and I think that's because the absence of time references made me think that everything was happening over the span of days instead of probably weeks or months. For this reason some elements of the story (i.e. Nadine's "new" breasts and her possible pregnancy) felt a bit strange and elements the story could do without.

The only other thing I struggled with was referring to certain books as "trashy", I know that it's the character saying it and it doesn't necessarily represent the author's beliefs, but I'm not really a fan of shaming books or readers.

Now onto the things I enjoyed about this book: everything else! I loved how funny and witty the main character is, I loved the array of unique secondary characters we get to meet, I loved the story arc and the moral of the story of never giving up and that even when our life seem full of only negative things we can always start over, no matter out age. Even though there's a whole 10 years difference between me and the main character, I did feel a connection to her struggles of finding her place in the world and dealing with societal expectations of where we should be at certain points in our life.

This book started off with a whole lot of promise, and lost momentum somewhere in the middle. While some characters and their interactions with Page are unbelievable, I really appreciated the relationship she had with her brother. Some of the plot doesn't make sense, and leaves me asking questions. But for a quick, beach read. I would say it was pretty good.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Stewart Lewis, and Lake Union publishing for making this ARC available.

This story is about Page, who after having her life thrown upside down by a blindside breakup and a sudden firing, moves to DC to live with her brother. She starts visiting a local dog park and meets a cast of characters who help her turn her life around.

This book was a super easy read and loads of fun! I laughed out loud quite a few times. This book isn’t life altering or earth shattering but it was a nice story with a happy ending and some unique plot points.

When I say there is a cast of characters, I mean like a broadway cast for Cats - there are just so many people running around and they all have ridiculous names. I’m glad this was an e-book so I could use the search function to remind myself who people were. This book is under 300 pages and I think it definitely could’ve been longer to flush out some of the extra characters and storylines.

The main themes in this book are to try to see the bright side of situations and to try to see the best in people. I love this message and I enjoyed seeing how Page’s character progressed over the course of the book.

If you are looking for a light read that features a lot of dogs, this is the book for you! I am giving it 3.5 stars.

I really enjoyed reading, Happily Whatever After by Stewart Lewis. This was such a sweet story of following your dreams and putting yourself out there for those dreams to come true. Page was such a likeable character and I loved reading her journey coming into her own.

The romance with BR was sweet, the build up was killing me! I kept wondering if they actually would end up together. I really enjoyed all of the relationships Page formed with the friends she met at the dog park too. Each character was special and helped Page in a certain way.

Page and her brother, Brady has such a great bond. I really felt how much they treasured one another.

Overall, 4 stars!

Page is an interesting character but her comeback is unrealistically obstacle free.

Many thanks to the author, the publishers, and NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

Happily Whatever After is a charming, emotional story about Page, a woman in her thirties who has to start life over again in DC with no job prospects and living in her brother’s guest room. When she finds herself at the dog park as a daily routine in her life, she begins to open up her heart to an eclectic group of friends who support and love her unconditionally as she learns that sometimes second chances are the opportunities you create for yourself. 3.5 stars rounded up!

Advanced readers copy provided courtesy of @netgalley and #lakeunionpublishing in exchange for an honest review.

This was an okay read for me. I couldn't really connect to Page but I found her journey to be an interesting one. The story is alright and the pacing is fine I just found myself zoning out more than usual. The friendships were interesting and the dog park adventures were fun. Overall an okay romantic read.

Thank you NetGalley, Lake Union Publishing and Stewart Lewis for lending me an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
Page has nothing to complain about. She’s in her thirties and thriving, working at a New York city art gallery and a long term boyfriend. Page finds herself running away to her brother’s on D.C when she loses her job and her relationship on the same day. She’s hoping to find a soft place to land while she gets her life together. Instead she finds herself friends with the local dog park regulars. Page begins to dream of a new life for herself, one that involves starting her own business, buying a house and maybe spending some alone time with the owner of the vineyard.
I personally wasn’t a big fan of Page’s. She felt pretty shallow and judgemental and I just didn’t find myself relating to her very much. I DNF at 50%. On to the next!

This is not exactly my favorite genre, I almost gave up after the first few chapters but I continued it and I've liked it.

Page's life is going down, she broke up with her boyfriend, lost her jop and she moved in with her brother Brady to DC and started a new life. New acquaintances will take place in a dog park.

Stewart Lewis tells about how starting over in your mid thirties: start a new life, trying to pass every obstacle. Although I didn’t fully empathize with Page, I really liked the secondary characters.

I like the writing style, it is very smooth, the pages fly away in a second.

***Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review***

This started strong, then fell flat a little - DNF, sorry.