This book is a touching women's fiction book that covers many heavy topics and may not be for everyone but I did enjoy it. The beginning was rocky and I was not sure that I would be able to get through the book but it got much better. As I got used to Nancy Peach's style of writing I couldn't put the book down. The characters were very complex and I came to care about each one.
Dr. Tess Carter has to deal with betrayal, rejection, infidelity and an eating disorder all while being a palliative care doctor in the hospice wing of the hospital. She struggles with insecurity daily and this is demonstrated by the voices of a talk show host and Jane Austen that have taken up residence in her head.
This is not a lighthearted book but it is very heart warming to see the changes in Tess throughout her story. I am grateful to Netgalley and One More Chapter for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a honest review.

I gave this book a solid try but I couldnt' get past some of the major issues with the way the bulimia was discussed as well as the way the relationships were portraryed. I did enjoy a few of the characters and would pursue another book by this author, but this one was just not for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This was the perfect light hearted feel good book that I needed to read

Perfect for those fall nights to cozy up and read by the fire.

This one really tackles many big topics. It dealt sensitively with some difficult issues, depicted a mostly believable relationship, and walked the fine line between humor and empathy well. . I think it was a good read overall and a well done debut.

Tess is a hot mess express. After discovering her boyfriend in bed with another man, she started a downward emotional spiral. Her job as a doctor for hospice did nothing to help this emotional state. Enter Mary, a patient with terminal cancer whose son Tess just happened to have one great night with back in the day. This begins a spiral of events that ends up with Tess finding strength through her pain and growing as a human.

This story was almost too painful at the beginning, but I’m glad I kept with it because the last 2/3 were fantastic! I’m so thankful to @netgalley for allowing me the chance to read/review this book. This was released last month and definitely a worthwhile read for fans of romance tinged with some serious drama.

TW: eating disorder, cancer

You will enjoy this romantic comedy. Happy Reading!

I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and the publisher. This is my honest and personal review.

A beautifully written book that touches on topics close to my heart. Peach’s debut is heartwarming, clever, and dotted with little moments of humour that lift the otherwise very moving story.

I really enjoyed this book. It was easy to read and the characters were so loveable. Their interactions were fantastic and I couldn't wait to see what happened next.

This book was a lot heavier than I expected, despite the content warnings. I don't think I was in the right frame of mind to handle the kind of topics this book covered, so I might have to come back to it some other time.

A lighthearted easy read set in a hospice, not something you expect.
I enjoyed this book it was happy and sad in parts but about life and fun

Unfortunately, this was a DNF for me.

I couldn’t get into this book. I found myself turning to something else and trying to come back to this later.

There’s so much disconnect from the cover to the description to the writing and content. The content is much heavier than it leads on, which is fine—if everything was adequately addressed and explored in a way that allowed for some lightness.

The two major issue I had with this book were the inadequate exploration of an eating disorder and the homophobic idea that our main character turned her boyfriend gay. I don’t know why this concept was a) mentioned SEVERAL times and b) passed the editing stage. It’s blatantly in bad taste and turned me right off the rest of the story.

That leads me to Alice, Edward, the TV host, and Jane Austen. The former two are so unlikable that quite frankly I didn’t care about them or their tension. And where the self-sabotaging voices in Alice’s head could be a fun opportunity for comedic relief, they instead were annoying and felt like they belonged in a different story.

I wasn’t enjoying this read and though I rarely DNF, I had to.

Thank you to NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Loved this book, it was so easy to read and I read this one quickly. I love to read books like this from time to time as they make you feel happier and stress free. More please. My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

I went in blind to this story. Judging by the cover I was expecting a romance, instead I was happily surprised by a story of loss and grief beautifully written.

Love Life by Nancy Peach was a touching read. Dr. Alice Carter struggles with how she sees herself and what she deserves. When life puts someone she once knew back in her life, is this her chance to be happy? But the circumstances that brought them together is not a good one. The characters are both dealing with deep issues that affect them deeply. Their journey was not an easy one, but will keep you engaged from start to finish.

Happy reading!

Not the most typical setting for a book. However, a lovely lighthearted read. Perfect for holidays or afternoons on the sofa.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to see an arc

Really enjoyed this book. Easy to read and loved the characters. I loved the way that they interacted with each other. The ending was great

If there was ever a reason for the ‘do not judge a book by its cover’ then Love Life is it! From the cover and title I expected a typical boy meets girl romcom - this was not that book. What a lovely surprise! This book tackles some subjects that may be a trigger for some readers: abandonment, bulimia, cancer, death, grief, mental health. I found these to be handled with care and necessary to the storyline.

Lead character Tess was likeable, flawed and authentic, although terribly self critical. Tess is encumbered with low self confidence, not helped by the extremely loud voices in her head. This approach opened up a dialogue within Tess that allowed a portrayal of the impact of eating disorders and mental health. Personally I felt this was a great way of explaining inner turmoil, although I think it will be like marmite to a reader.

There is a love story within this book but it isn’t the main plot. I did like Edward and felt his dealing of parental illness was very realistic. Likewise giving a voice to terminally ill Mary was brave and an approach I haven’t often read about. Also a special shout out to Kath - everyone needs an honest friend in their lives!

Love Life
By Nancy Peach

A quick read with some issues about cheating, eating disorder and low self-esteem. The story is centered on Dr. Carter, a palliative hospice doctor who deals with end-of-life care. Her self-esteem is shot after finding out that her boyfriend has a lover and feels she doesn't deserve a happy ever after. Eddie is the son of Dr. Carter's patient - she remembers meeting him before but he doesn't remember the magical night they shared many years ago. Both characters have a sad past that they need to get over, and the setting in a hospice with Eddie's mother doesn't make for a quick happy ending for this romance read. However, I feel that there are a lot to unpack in this story and may be a little much at times with the self-deprecating monologue (inner voices) and hard topics the characters do go through.

There's plenty of potential in this story but I couldn't connect to the characters and the story fell flat.
Not my cup of tea.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Take a look at the cover of this book. The bright colours, quirky art style of the chairs and even the tagline would make you assume that this is a light-hearted rom-com, right?

Tess is a junior doctor working in a hospice with people at the very end of their life. When cancer patient Mary Russell arrives with her son Edward, Tess is sure she has met Edward before. They had a lovely night together five years before at a party and never saw each other again. Only Edward doesn’t appear to recognise her at all. He’s only interested in making sure his mother continues getting the best treatment possible but Tess is determined to not let his dismissive behaviour get to her.

Tess is haunted by two voices in her head. One of them is a cruel, Jeremy Kyle-esque host of a chat show who constantly reminds her of her shortcomings and exaggerates them. We all have a voice like that in our heads, letting us know where we’ve messed up and how useless we are. Tess often finds it hard to silence him. The other voice in her head is Jane Austen. She tries her best to make herself heard over the obnoxious TV host and let Tess know that she is beautiful, smart and worthy of good things. Jane also acts as a guardian in matters of the heart, as I think she does for so many of us.

Tess has bulimia. She has a habit of binging and purging when things go wrong for her and although I am comfortable reading about the struggles of a bulimic, I wasn’t prepared for it at all. However I have no doubt that it’s an accurate portrayal of life as an overworked, ambitious junior doctor. Whether it’s through addiction, self-harming or an eating disorder, I’m well aware of the need for some kind of release when your career is so pressurised and essential.

Tess has an older brother called Jake and she sees him when she goes home to Sheffield to visit her mum. I really didn’t believe in the dialogue between the siblings. Something about it didn’t really feel true and I couldn’t really believe in their relationship. I also couldn’t really get on board with Tess being naive enough to not realise that their mother had separate rules for them. Jake was always allowed to date and stay out late but Tess never was and has heeded her mother’s harsh warnings about men ever since. I didn’t really believe that Tess wouldn’t be angry about this because it has undoubtedly set her back years when it comes back to being successful in that aspect of adult life.

'looking as much like a coiled spring as it is possible for an overweight receptionist holding a pair of secateurs to look.'

There is absolutely no reason to mention that the receptionist at the hospice is overweight. She doesn’t become any kind of significant part of the story so therefore her weight isn’t relevant at all. It really felt like this part hadn’t been edited at all because I’m sure a good proofreader would have picked up on this and suggested a better adjective or simply no adjective at all.

The book opens with Tess finding her long-term boyfriend Scott in bed with another man. While she is understandably shocked and hurt by his infidelity, there is another dimension that comes with this kind of cheating and Tess doesn’t really seem to acknowledge that in the best way. Scott most likely always knew he was attracted to men but he obviously never felt comfortable enough to come out to Tess and perhaps her completely self-absorbed reaction to it explains why. She immediately starts to think that his cheating with a man means that there’s something wrong with her. Everything about the end of this relationship is apparently about Tess and she is inexplicably ‘surprised’ that his friends congratulate him for taking the brave step in coming out? Erm no, love, take a seat and let the people who love Scott be happy that he can finally be his true self.

Edward is clearly very heavily inspired by Mr Darcy but unlike Mr Darcy, I wasn’t really that attracted to his brooding, aloof phase. He’s incredibly rude to Tess (see the Elizabeth/Darcy dynamic) and is brimming with self-absorption but with actually very little charisma. In his softer moments, I started to see his appeal but then he and Tess committed a crime that was incredibly off-colour and icky and I went back to having a bad taste in my mouth for both of them.

There are some quite funny, slightly inappropriate jokes. I did smile at these but I can see how they definitely wouldn’t sit well with some readers. I’m not sure they were funny enough to risk leaving in the book, to be honest. So again, I think an editor possibly should have gone over these a little more carefully.

There are parts of the book which are very poignant and almost beautiful. The fact that Tess spends her days surrounded by people who are right on the border of life and death makes for some moving, thoughtful moments. Towards the end, I started thinking about the value and brevity of human life and how it is too short to spend it doing something we hate or being miserable. This wasn’t what I was expecting from what I thought would be a fluffy rom-com but I think I could have taken it alongside a genuinely likeable protagonist and a romance that I believed in.

Love Life is a very loose retelling of Pride and Prejudice. You can see the links in the characters more than the plot but Tess definitely shares none of Elizabeth Bennet’s charm and wit. The inclusion of her head voices was unique and definitely my favourite aspect of the book. In fact, I think I’d have enjoyed the book a lot more if it had simply been a sparring match between these two ghostly entities. I can see what Love Life was trying to do but the execution simply wasn’t there and there were a lot of things that really didn’t sit right with me.