***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.

Stewart Lewis’s Happily Whatever After drew me in by that first line when our narrator walks into a dog park without a dog of her own.

Dry humour, with a judgmental narrator who is being dealt a harsh hand and trying to find a footing in the world.—Getting inspired by her brother and having chanced and lucked out relationships and also dealing with her sibling’s sickness helps her find her place and also a suitor for herself.

Chances are this will be a hit or miss with readers. The beginning had me all interested in the book and I was enjoying the narrator’s humour but then I kinda got bored by the end of it. But I liked how it dealt with emotional ups and downs. And also her being judgmental. She gets called out on it many a times and then comes to terms with that bad habit of hers. Also, I felt this book was too long even though it was just two hundred and eighty eight pages. Ha! It could have ended earlier and I didn’t really feel her connection with the romantic interest even though it kinda makes sense as they were meeting for a very long time. Made me chuckle quite a bit with those one liners but still didn’t fully win me over.

Read this with a nonjudgmental eye so that you do get what the narrator is going through.

Coming out in July of this year. Special thanks to Netgalley and the Publishers for this review copy.

This story started off with so much promise and then it was just bland, sorry.

Page has lost everything in New York so goes and stays with her brother in DC
Who goes and hangs out ar a dog park with no dog, page!!

It was all a very bit weird for me, I wasn't connected to the plot at all. I finished it but took me four weeks.

This is an enjoyable read with very positive undertones. The main character is Page, who is down on her luck, loves dogs and has to reinvent herself, starting out at a dog park in DC. As Page navigates her way through her new life, she connects with cast of characters who are believable and interesting. There is enough real life to make the story plausible. The writing style is very clever, with an excellent flashback technique. At first I thought this might be too saccharin for my taste, but there were some endearing moments among the characters. As with life in general, this book reminded me that the journey can be more interesting than the destination.

I adored this book! I loved the development as Page shifts through her experience of everything falling apart, to slowly finding motivation to reach her dream! She meets a myriad of people at the dog park, all playing some part in her finding unexpected friends and helping her along the way!

Be sure to see this book through! To be honest, I almost gave up after the first few chapters. I am so glad I continued on though! With each turn of the page I found myself rooting more and more for the book’s heroine, Page. After being dumped and fired all in the same week, she heads to D.C. to live with her brother and attempt to start anew.
Page was a very relatable character and it was great to see her development and growth throughout the book. Also, dog lovers will be charmed by the dog park featured prominently throughout the book!
Thank you @netgalley for this ARC.

To start, I really wanted to like this book based on the title and description, so badly, however it just fell flat. It's really all about the main character's story in relation to how she sees and interacts with others, especially those she meets in the dog park. It's almost as if she's observing everyone else's life rather than really living her own. It does read very quickly. But then, hey good for her on going after her dreams but it takes forever to spur her to action and do something. It felt like forever waiting for something to happen. She doesn't have much character growth and development which is disappointing because I had such high hopes for this one. She becomes so obsessed with this BR guy, whom she doesn't even know his name, and is clearly falling for him but won't do anything. It was frustrating, like I want my protagonists to be more than just passive. Every other character is far more developed and interesting than her and that's who should have led the book. It starts off promising but then she gets very annoying and doesn't follow through on anything, and honestly, I checked it. Then, everything was wrapped up in a tidy little bow and she got everything she wanted, blah blah blah, bored.

Happily Whatever After is a romantic fiction about Page who moves in with her brother after getting dumped by her boyfriend and fired from her job in a NYC art gallery. She finds herself going to a local dog park to people watch, make friends, and restart her love life.

This book fell a little flat for me. It took several attempts of reading for me to really get in to the book. I just wasn't connecting with the main character. About halfway through the book instead of reading, I was just skimming. I know that there are others who lived this book, it just wasn't for me.

Happily Whatever After is such a cute read! I could see this book being made into an adorable rom-com movie. Great escape read!

I received a copy of this ARC ebook from Netgalley for an honest review.
Overall, I liked this one. Page’s life falls apart, she moves to DC with her brother and thinks start to fall into place for her. I think as thirty-something’s, we all have an idea of what life SHOULD be like and it’s not necessarily how it is. Page made some new and supportive friends by going to the dog park dog-less, my personal favorite is Preston!
So yeah, this is a romance but it’s also just a book about how sometimes life goes to crap but then gets so so much better!

📚 BOOK REVIEW TIME 📚⠀
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💃 I WANT ONE MOMENT IN TIME⠀
WHEN I'M MORE THAN I THOUGHT I COULD BE⠀
WHEN ALL OF MY DREAMS ARE A HEARTBEAT AWAY⠀
AND THE ANSWERS ARE ALL UP TO ME 💃⠀
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Whitney is the ultimate diva who went way too early 💔 I love all her songs. And this song really makes me think of Page, the main character from this book.⠀
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You know that time in your life when it all goes to shit - your partner breaks up with you, you lose your job, have to move away and live with your brother? ⠀
We've all been through something like that haven't we 🙋‍♀️ where you just feel down on your luck!!⠀
Well this is what happens to our main girl Page.
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I loved Page, her quirky not say out loud (most of the time) thoughts, the way she loved to help people while not realising it she was also helping her heal herself. ⠀
She is a lover of dogs, just like me, I would love to be a dog walker on the side 🐕.⠀
The characters that come through this book with their personalities had me going on an emotional rollercoaster 🙈 ⠀
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If you love dogs, female-centred fiction, a second chance at doing love right and rooting for someone's best life, then this is the book for you 👌⠀
Oh and if you pretend that when you watch animal documentaries that you are doing their voices, thinking that's what they would be saying (I do this all the time, so did my mum 💜) then this is doubley for you!! ⠀
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This is a 🌟🌟🌟🌟/5 for me as I think I wanted a bit more romance (I'm a sucker for all that lovey dovey stuff 😂) but then there was a love of friendships so maybe that's what this was all about. Overall I enjoyed it and would recommend for an easy read.⠀
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*Thanks to @netgalley and #lakeunionpublishing for this advanced readers copy in return for an honest review 😍

Oh wow. Well, let me start with this: I absolutely hate giving a book one star. There's an author and a whole team who all put a lot of work in this but OH. WOW.

I really hated this book. I wanted to like it because the set up sounded amazing and I thought this was going to be such a fun ride what with all the dogs and the being a loser at 30-something.

Here is the thing. If I ever met a Page in real life, she would immediately be on my "do not talk to under any circumstances" list. She is shallow, judgemental and thinks so very highly of herself. Which is quite remarkable really, seeing as she just recently got dumped, lost her job and is now living in her successful brother's appartment. BUT, you will be happy to hear that none of those are her fault because she is fabulous. Or so she says. There wasn't a single moment in this book where I felt sympathetic towards her and the way she interacts with other characters made me cringe throughout. First there are the gays she meets. They are a couple and immediately open up to her and telling her all their secrets. Who I will be calling that because I got the feeling that being gay and telling her how fabulous she is and being fabulous themselves and giving her money and making her dresses (because of COURSE they are rich and crafty that way) after what feels like a month after meeting them. As far as I can tell nothing has happened more than Page admitting she goes to the dog park without a dog and the gays fawning over her brilliance. There is quite the age gap between the gays and I couldn't help but wonder if that's simply because Page needed a twenty-something casual friend to gossip and drink with and an older, more sophisticated friend who takes her to fancy dinners and to see real estate. It worked out well for her. I am not going to talk about the Austrian guy because again, much to unpack.

She starts crushing on a man from the dog park whom she and the twenty something gay dub "Banana Republic" because she doesn't know his name until only the end of the book, yet she is super ready to sit in the dog park and wait for him to appear. Or his daughter to appear so she can get more information about him. I am not going to talk about the Ipod story because... well. Privacy and that and I could ramble for hours.

Then there is the guy who hires her to walk his dog. Oh sorry, I forgot to mention he's big. Like, large. Like really really fat. And Page only calls him big guy, large guy, in her head and to everyone else. Since he is fat and thus not at all attractive, it only makes sense to snoop in his flat while he is out and she is bringing the dog back from the walk right? It is only logical for her to steal a VHS tape so she can make sure he's not a creep or a weirdo or a stalker (pot/kettle much?), right? So IMAGINE her surprise when the guy is actually stalking someone but not her. So that's a relief. It's even more of a relief when she finds out that his fatness isn't due to eating but due to a medical condition!!! Now there is nothing that stands in their way of becoming fast friends. She even attempts some half-arsed lectures to make him see that stalking is wrong. Before she goes back to the dog park to stalk - er, wait - for Banana Republic.

Oh and there's a dog that's overweight, too. Because the world needs some dog shaming from a girl that spends her time in a dog park with trash romance novels, innit?

Right, that brings me to her mother and brother. The mother who drinks and is seeing a married man (classy), which is fine with everyone it seems.
The brother. Man. So I don't know about you all but I do not talk to my brother about my dating life all that much because it's hella awkward. I also don't do candle lit dinners with my brother in his own restaurant with fine staff such as Straight Jake, which I am sure anyone would love to be their nickname. I did get a pang of sympathy when her brother gets sick but... that dissipated very quickly. Mainly because I have some experience on this particular topic. And from the get go, I was just sitting here going: "Really? They're starting with that? Why would they do that? Well that certainly doesn't sound like early stages at all." and finally: "Oh. So now that she's successful it's all gone?"

Because of course it ends with Page opening her own Gallery. Which is paid by her wealthy sophisticated gay who doesn't think twice about co-signing with her. Hell, I've known a lot of people for 10 years, call them my best friends and I still would think harder about co-signing on a renting contract with them. Chances are I still won't do it! And on top of that he gives her money because on her own she can pay about one month's rent. But she's positive. She obviously gets with BR and it's a happy ever after kind of thing. Her brother is well and getting married. She finally has her own dog and I am very, VERY happy to support that fat stalker guy has lost lots of weight due to a medical program Page suggested to him and is now becoming fast friends with her. Everything's coming up Page!

I just. I couldn't with this book. From the everything-shaming, really, to her annoying voice who gets constantly told how amazing she is, I really had a hard time finishing this. I am very sorry, again, I know a book is a lot of work. But man. I hope I never meet a Page in real life.

Thanks to @netgalley for this arc! I loved the story of Page and all those she collects as she finds herself.
Page’s life gets turned upside down when she loses her job and her boyfriend in the same week. She moves to DC to live with her brother. This book made me laugh, cry, made my heart swell and swoon.
#happilywhateverafter #arc #netgalley #bookstagram #mayreads #quarantinereads #lakeunionpublishing @lakeunionauthors

What a delightful read! I was instantly drawn into Page's story and couldn't put it down. I loved how she was down on her luck, in her mid-thirties, and creates a new type of life for herself. The characters that she crosses paths with are unique, interesting, and make the story all the more captivating. The book wasn't what I expected, it was more. I highly recommend Happily Whatever After if you're looking for a light-hearted read to get yourself lost it.

Thanks to NetGalley for a chance to read this book!
Ohh, it was adorable! The characters were so real and the whole story felt unwrapping so smoothly. Page - the main character - and other characters went through highly relatable life events, reminding again that there is hope and everything will be fine at the end.

This was a fun and quick read! It was well written, and the main character was delightful to read about. I would love to see more from this author.

I adored this book and read it two sittings. The voice had the perfect amount of sweetness and wit with a dash occasional snark– Page's POV truly relatable. I laughed outloud and, at times, the threads in the plot pulled at my heartstrings. With this story, Lewis offers a fun escape in this crazy world of ours.

Page thought she had her life together. A good job, love, her dream living space.. until she didn't. Her perfect life was tossed upside down and she was left wondering, what now?

She finds herself starting over in a new city and the universe leads her to a dog park. This is where she will meet the people who will help her get the fresh start she so desperately needs.

Overall the book was so-so. I appreciated the message. I very much do not believe in coincidences and so that is something that rings true to me. I appreciate any book with a strong female protagonist so bonus points for this. I appreciate watching her develop with the story as we got to discover her while she does the same. It was a decent book with a good message. Not great, but certainly not bad.

Thank you Netgalley and Lake Union Publishing for the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.

Stewart Lewis writes with a perfect blend of humor and wit and delivers a romance that is as hopeful as it is entertaining


Would love to read more of his writings.

***Thanks to Netgalley and publisher for providing me a free copy of this book in exchange for a honest review***

This is the journey of Page and how she takes control of her life and future. Page spent 4 years investing in Jack only to have the relationship fall apart after losing her job. So she leaves New York and heads to DC to live with her brother Brady, a trendy restaurateur.. Page finds her self drawn to a Elite Dog park., where she meets interesting people who influence her on her journey.

Will Page ever be able to have her dreams come true? Will she ever find someone to share her life with?

While I enjoyed the story, I struggled to get through it. The momentum lags in parts but keep reading it picks up.