I must firstly apologise for the amount of time it has taken me to provide a review of this book, my health was rather bad for quite some time, something that had me in hospital on numerous occasions and simply didnt leave me with the time I once had to do what I love most.

Unfortunately that does mean I have missed the archive date for many of these books, so It would feel unjust throwing any review together without being able to pay attention to each novel properly.

However, I am now back to reading as before and look forward to sharing my honest reviews as always going forward. I thank you f0r the patience and understanding throughout x

This book fits wonderfully amongst ones like Totally Fine, Actually and Clueless. It is a great exploration of that time in your life you thought you would smash but actually have no idea what’s going on! As hilarious as it is wholesome

A sad yet uplifting tale, one about learning to still live after loss, ann enjoyable and easy to read book, this really was an impressive great debut book. Will be looking out for more from the author

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This book features the loss of a parent, something which is difficult for me to read. However, it was written and portrayed respectfully and beautifully.

Despite the subject matter, this is still a rather light read and full of heartwarming moments.

That book for sure made me think - I think you won't be able not to think, to be honest - so that'S good.
On the other, I'm not so sure about it. It touches upon grief, showing different faces of it, showing how different people deal with their own grief and that it's absolutely okay to not be fine. That it's normal to take time. Even though it is about one of the worse feelings in the world, the author has manages to add light tones and moments to it, so in the end the book doesn't feel to depressive.
But for me it was too much. I guess the author really wanted to show us different faces of grief and she has chosen some important moments in life, but altogether I just couldn't stomach so much grief. No matter the lightness and humour. I can't put my finger on it, we just didn't click with the book.

Then there is Hannah. At the beginning I fell for her, immediately, the start of the book was altogether strong and hooking, but the more Hannah I got, the more I was starting to feel lukewarm towards her. I was struggling with her character. While sometimes I could absolutely relate with her, the more into the book the more erratic and insane her behaviour was - yes, I know, the grief, everybidy exoeriences it differently. But! The author has simply overdone here.

I didn’t know how I would feel about this book. I’m lucky enough to still have both my parents and thought it might make for a bit of a depressing read. It wasn’t at all. It was heartfelt and at times funny. I loved that there were no unbelievable, way out there, plot developments and instead it just follows a family trying to find their way after a loss.

I have mixed feelings about this book. Of course it’s about grief however I’m not sure if I was in the right frame of mind whilst reading.

I will probably try it again another time because I know it will be better than I think right now.

Unfortunately I found that this wasn’t the book for me. It dealt a lot with grief which I know was to be expected from the synopsis. However grief is always a tricky one for me to read about and unfortunately I couldn’t get along with this one and couldn’t finish it.

That being said, I could see that the author has got a way of writing that can be funny for the reader, which when dealing with tough topics like this can be great for some people. For that reason I still give it a star rating as I read other reviews for it and there were many good ones, and although it wasn’t for me, it could be for someone else.

Thanks NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. It was a really good read. Sad in places, happy in others but very real. Well written with good character development. I really enjoyed and recommend it.

Hannah’s mum dies suddenly and she has no idea how she, her dad and her sister will ever get through this. Their mum was the glue that held everything together and the one she could always turn to. Now Hannah is desperate to step up and support everyone but must realise that she also needs to look after herself too!

Here we see Hannah navigate through her grief and the effect loss has on her relationships with her boyfriend, dad, sister and friends.

A sad but also uplifting story about learning to keep living, dreaming and hoping after a catastrophic loss. This was an enjoyable and easy read and a great debut novel!

Definitely fine - Amy Lavelle
When Hannahs mum dies suddenly she wonders how she is going to get through life without her. Hannah is 28 and in a serious relationship. This story follows the first yes after her mother’s death. Along with her dad and younger sister we see them all try to deal with the first Christmas, first Mother’s Day, first birthdays etc without their beloved mum. Although at times this book is incredibly sad there was a lot of parts that made me laugh.
I think the main thing I took from the book is that there is no right or wrong way to grieve. What works for one person won’t necessarily work for some else. This is Amy’s debut novel and I will definitely be looking for more in the future.

Hannah is in her mid 20's when she experiences the sudden loss of her mother. As the older sibling to her sister and with a dad who isn't openly emotional, she takes it upon herself to try and hold the family together. This is a surprisingly light book considering the subject matter and a pleasant enough read though not overly gripping.

Genre: General Fiction | Adult Fiction

Release Date: Expected 5th August 2021


If there was ever a time Hannah wanted to call her Mum, it was now. But she can't, and she never will again.

All it took was an unexpected fall and she's gone. She'll never get to watch that new show with her, never eat her roast potatoes again, never be able to call her and ask how she's supposed to get through this without her. Hannah has never lived in a world without her Mother and now everything is different.

Along with her new counsellor, also named Hannah, she tries to start her new life. Is she greiving right? Is she grieving at all? Why isn't everyone else sad enough? How do you live your life when your compass is suddenly gone?

'Definitely Fine' is an honest and heartbreakingly real story about how we're expected to deal with death and loss and the reality that it's never that simple. We seen Hannah going through the many faces of despair - of course there's sadness and numbness, but then there's the irrationality, the impulsiveness and the anger that we're just not supposed to talk about.

Along with her Dad and Sister, the family all try in their own ways to deal with this - from getting drunk and dancing on tables, sneakily baking lots of lasagnes, sleeping all day or trying to get pregnant to replace the hole left in their lives.

This book was truly, viscerally beautiful and one of the most true-to-life stories of recovery that I've ever read - it reminded me of all the times I'd lost someone I love and wasn't sure I was allowed to be happy, or laugh, even though let's be honest - life, even in it's worst moments, is totally ridiculous and needs to be laughed at.

When we'd finally arrived at the last page - the ending was just that. A single page, a single moment that doesn't really feel like an ending at all. It's that single moment that you finally, blissfully, manage to find peace in something else even for a second.


RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thank you to Amy Lavelle and Orion Publishing for an ARC in return for an honest review.