This book is incredible. Such an eye opening view on the fragile nature of relationships. It addresses racism within families, where and when to challenge. How lives can be impacted by silence. I LOVED it!

The writing in this book lacked depth. The characters needed fleshing out a bit better
It dealt with some difficult issues and did that well.

This is a really good book which a lot of women will relate too. It tackles a lot of current issues. I enjoyed it.

Lives Like Mine by Eva Verde is an absorbing story of family and identity, as we follow the life of Monica and her dual-heritage family. It's a timely story in today's society, especially as we are still navigating our relationship with our immigrant population. Verde writes a captivating tale of Monica's journey as she learns to put herself first and rediscover who she is in the process. With an amazing cast of characters, vivid and lively descriptions, and compelling dialogue, Lives Like Mine is a heartfelt novel that celebrates the beauty of a family's heritage and resilience. It's a must-read for anyone looking for a refreshing story that is equal parts romantic, honest, and thought-provoking.

An interesting story, from the viewpoint of bored housewife, Monica. Her life is messy as she struggles with her white husbands lack of support from his racist family.
Her life is complicated.
This books looks at so many issues, it tackles relevant and prominent issues in todays society.
Highly recommended read.

This book was on my radar after virtually attending the Books and the City 2023 Showcase back in November, so I was thrilled when it dropped through my letterbox (huge thanks to the lovely SJV)!

I was hooked from the first few pages and already feeling a variety of feelings - familiarity at Monica’s wife/mum life, amusement over her Anthony Joshua enthusiasm and shock at the treatment she received at a family event. It was immediately clear to me this was going to be a rollercoaster read.

The comfortable and, at times, humorous writing style made me feel like I was chatting with an old friend and allowed me to really immerse myself in the storyline. There were moments when I wanted to yell through the pages to put a stop to what was happening because, although it was entertaining, I genuinely worried for Monica. It seems she had quickly and firmly found her way into my heart.

Favourite Moments

* A tension-filled walk home
* A spontaneous break in the sun
* A revealing conversation

This was an eye-opening, authentic read with fascinating character development. A real page-turner.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me this book.

This was a brilliant and captivating read. Was well written and engaging, I was mesmerised from start to finish.

This was a brilliant read and is being featured on my blog for my quick star reviews feature, which I have created on my blog so I can catch up with all the books I have read and therefore review.
See www.chellsandbooks.wordpress.com.

39 year old Monica is in a mixed race marriage and has always felt on the outside of husband Dan’s family … and put up with racist remarks from them with very little support from Dan. She’s marginalised not only within the family but also in the minority in the village where they live.

With all her children now at school she’s at a tipping point.

Monica has buried emotions in relation to her own family but in the empty spaces of her empty nest, she’s pulled to reflect on her mother and father. And how an event in her early teens has shaped her self-worth and confidence in herself.

She’s looking for purpose in her life. Which doesn’t turn out quite how she was expecting.

The underlying theme of not fitting in is easy to relate to and if you’ve ever undertaken any personal growth you’ll connect with Monica and her situation.

I’ve enjoyed being a part of her emotional journey and loved the message of broken does not mean irreparable.

If you’re a fan of dysfunctional relationships and the need to find out where you belong then Lives Like Mine should be on your radar.

A fantastic book which is well written and completely engaging. I have been completely pulled in and kept hostage by this one.
This is unique, intriguing and one that I have devoured.

I love this book!

Lives Like Mine is a human interest story that captures the current climate of increasing racial tensions, and the refusal to be silenced which in part, is signalled by the rise in fiction highlighting the inequality that certainly still exists.

Monica, wife and mother, is feeling increasingly invisible. The thankless tasks she performs daily go unnoticed. Her husband Dan's family are openly hostile and racist to her, and she longs for him to stick up for her. Instead he feels she is over sensitive and paranoid.

When she becomes close to another parent, Joe, she feels seen. And despite her guilt, their relationship enables her to become herself. She confronts everyone around her with her truth and finds courage to be true to herself.

Filled with family tensions, and past hurts, this is an intimate portrait of a marriage, of family and of what it means to be a person of colour post Brexit, where it seems somehow to have become 'acceptable' to spout trite garbage such as the likes of Nigel Farage and Katie Hopkins have demonstrated.

Really beautifully written, this book is current, it's brutally honest and would make a brilliant book group choice as there is plenty to discuss.

A sensitive exploration of how casual racism can blight lives, this story introduces us to Monica, a mixed race woman married to a white man whose family have always made it clear they regard her as the cuckoo in the nest. But she's put up with covert (and open) insults for too long and now it is time for her to explore her own identity. But to do that, she must make peace with her own mother, an immigrant from Trinidad married to a white man, whose own efforts to fit in to the British way of life and stay under the radar exposed Monica to racism right from the start.
Can Monica transcend the prejudice she faces on a day-to-day basis, protect her own children from the mistakes of the past, and forgive husband Dan for too often putting his family's feelings before hers?
She also has to forgive herself her own past mistakes - even though she is in danger of repeating them. Monica may be wronged but she is no saint, thank goodness.
I thought this was a powerful and very moving story that helped me understand more clearly than any newspaper report just what people of colour have to put up with in a country that is not fully colour-blind. Apart from the theme of racism, it's also a gripping narrative of fractured family relationships, a marriage under stress and a woman who has subsumed her own identity in other's needs - a familiar tale whether the woman is black, white or any other colour. Why should any of us have to compromise our happiness? I may never, thank God, have experienced the constant judgment Monica was subjected to, but I was rooting for her all the way!

Firstly a big thank you to the publishers for my copy to review on netgalley. I’ve been eager to read this debut after hearing Eva talk about it at a blogger event ..via zoom of course…

Her description piqued my interest straight away and could sense a similarity with myself. After reading I can see I was right.

How refreshing to delve into the world of a woman with flaws and someone relatable. This is a compelling thought provoking book and such an amazing debut!

It’s fresh, funny,sharp but also dealing with real sensitive issues .

Her exploration and words around racism however small it may seem in the confines of your ‘family ‘ are powerful. Writing about identity and a place in the world is both relevant and relatable to many women.

I can see this touching many peoples hearts and minds as it leaps onto their tbr pile. I wish Eva every success with this and can’t wait to read more from her. A great author who I imagine has many fantastic characters for us to discover.

Published 10th june

Thanks to Simon & Schuster for letting me read Lives Like Mine in advance. This book tells the story of Monica, a mixed-race woman living in Essex, dealing with the complexities of an affair, racist in-laws, a difficult relationship with her parents, and the stultifying feelings of choosing her own life now that her youngest child, Fran, is at school. There was nothing I particularly disliked about the book, except I could not get on board with the writing: it felt jarring, jerky and strangely overwritten, and the scenes kept jumping in ways that felt disorientating and a bit clunky. Not bad writing, by any means, but completely not to my taste. I did read Lives Like Mine very quickly, though, and I'm sure other readers will find lots to love about this book.

This book is brimming with real people living real day-to-day lives, needing and not getting the support they deserve from their family. Monica has married inti a racist family who treat her despicably. It made for an uncomfortable read. Who wants to read that someone is referred to as ‘soot’, as a ‘blemish’ in a white household? And yet people are being treated like this in a daily basis. And worse.
Monica’s husband seems kind and supportive at first, yet he allows his family to disrespect his wife and children, covering for their racist attitudes, actions and slurs. When she confront s him about this.she is told she is being over sensitive and that they ‘don’t mean it’. No wonder Monica feels unhappy in her marriage and looks elsewhere for affirmation.

This book had me gripped from beginning to end, and I devoured it in a few short days. They family’s dynamics, and Monica’s estrangement from her family and the reasons behind this are very well woven through the day to day telling of her story.

I am delighted to have had the opportunity to read this ahead of publication in exchange for an honest review
thank you #NetGalley

Mother. To three small children, their heritage dual like hers.

Daughter. To a mother who immigrated to make a better life but has been rejected by her chosen country.

Wife. To a man who loves her but who will not defend her to his intolerant family.

Woman… Whose roles now define her and trap her in a life she no longer recognises…

Meet Monica, the flawed heroine at the heart of LIVES LIKE MINE.

With her three children in school, Monica finds herself wondering if this is all there is. Despite all the effort and the smiles, in the mirror she sees a woman hollowed out from putting everyone else first, tolerating her in-laws’ intolerance, and wondering if she has a right to complain when she’s living the life that she has created for herself.

Then along comes Joe, a catalyst for change in the guise of a flirtatious parent on the school run. Though the sudden spark of their affair is hedonistic and oh so cathartic, Joe soon offers a friendship that shows Monica how to resurrect and honour the parts of her identity that she has long suppressed. He is able to do for Monica what Dan has never managed to, enabling her both to face up to a past of guilty secrets and family estrangements, and to redefine her future.

With her three children in school, Monica finds herself wondering if this is all there is. Despite all the effort and the smiles, in the mirror she sees a woman hollowed out from putting everyone else first, tolerating her in-laws’ intolerance, and wondering if she has a right to complain when she’s living the life that she has created for herself. Then along comes Joe, a catalyst for change in the guise of a flirtatious parent on the school run. Though the sudden spark of their affair is hedonistic and oh so cathartic, Joe soon offers a friendship that shows Monica how to resurrect and honour the parts of her identity that she has long suppressed.

There's a strong theme of self-acceptance in Lives Like Mine, which runs alongside themes of faithfulness, race, and the complexity of family.

This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

I really liked reading about Monica's struggles in life. The author really takes us into her head. She has a good husband and three delightful children but her in-laws are horrendously racist and right wing, and her husband does not stand up to them. She has a torrid affair and reunites with her parents, trying to come to some understanding about her background and heritage. Her parents badly let her down when she was a young teenager and she left home and cut off contact with them. She finally comes to terms with what she has after a series of traumatic events.

I found this to be a very sad and very frustrating book. Sad because of the failed and failing relationships in the two families and because the racism, so well described by the author was pitiless, heartless and ignorant. Frustrated because Monica, who is the main character was so strong in many ways, and so weak and easily influenced in others.
I didn’t warm to any of the characters, apart from the children, eleven year old twins Joel and Toby, and five year old, daughter Fran. They were the most real characters in the book, and I loved them.
Alcoholism, a small part of of the book, was portrayed realistically,
Eva Verde is a talented writer, and you’ll be drawn into this book.

A really thought provoking read about racism, relationships and the messiness of relationships and families. I thought it was a brilliant read. I’m already looking forward to whatever the author writes next