One of those books that is very difficult to classify in terms of its genre.

Romance?the title would make you think so, but there's so much more going on in the book. Rom-com? If you've read the blurb and the list of Trigger Warnings, you know Tess is doing her Palliative Care placement in a hospice, and this is probably the last place where you would expect a romcom to be set.

Women's fiction? the protagonist of the book Dr Tess Carter is still finishing her medical training before she can start working as a GP, so she has less life experience than what we usually expect from the main characters in women's fiction.

Chick-lit? Tess is suffering from self-esteem issues following her boyfriend's betrayal. She also needs to silence her inner saboteur, an imaginary daytime TV presenter, who takes a great pleasure in attacking every step Tess makes. On the bright side, Tess is constantly defended by another imaginary figure-Miss Jane Austen herself!
Tess has a wonderful best friend/flatmate Kath, a chubby ginger cat Morris, a very supportive mum and brother, and a job she loves. She just needs to figure out what to do with her love interest Edward who vanished from her life five years ago and now suddenly re-appeared - this time as an angry, mistrustful son of one of her patients.

I decided to leave aside all of my expectations and genre stereotypes and just went with the flow of the story. It turned out to be very engaging book which touches on a variety of real-life topics ranging from absent fathers, eating disorders, double standards in raising boys and girls to general avoidance of talking about death, the only certainty in our lives. I was surprised how many of them hit close to home!
What I liked the most about this book were the more serious parts- Tess's work with her patients, Dr Fielding's talk with Tess's patient and her family, the general atmosphere of calm, support and mutual respect. Favourite supporting character? Mary Russell, Tess's patient and Edward's mother.

I also liked seeing Tess grow into herself. If you find the TV host's voice unbearably irritating, you will appreciate how he gradually fades out as the book progresses. I didn't like some of the things Tess did- I can understand her feelings, though, and her desire to re-affirm life. I think it was important to raise the thought-provoking issues of trust, vulnerability, professional distance, boundaries and the emotional toll this job takes and make the readers react in the most visceral way.
I would have prefered a different kind of ending (although Kath's reaction to seeing Edward was priceless), a less uplifting, but more realistic one? I'm probably going to be in minority :-)

Overall, I'm glad I picked up this book. It wasn't exactly light-hearted, but it was engaging, and I would love to read the next book Nancy Peach writes.

Dr. Tess Carter, a hospice physician, was shocked when she returned home one day to find her boyfriend in bed…with another man. Chocolate, ice cream, and biscuits are immediately brought in to help with the betrayal.

One day, a man brings his mother, Mrs. Russell, into the hospice which has been recommended by her doctors. The woman appears to be accepting of her fate, but her son, Edward Russell, a lawyer, is not ready to accept the looming loss of his mother and is prepared to fight tooth and nail to seek further life-saving treatment for her. When Tess sees Edward, she remembers him from a party they both attended some time ago and the nice discussions they shared. However, it appears he doesn’t remember her at all. Ouch! What a punch to her ego.

As the days pass and Mrs. Russell continues to go downhill, Edward’s frustration and grief mount. Tess and Mrs. Russell become closer and Tess is honest with her about what to expect as her life comes to an end. The tension between Edward and Tess builds because he does not want his mother to be in the hospice. He wants her to continue with treatment that is not working.

Tess is also dealing with her father having left her and her mother when Tess was small making life a struggle for them. But finding some hidden letters from him shows Tess that he didn’t want to lose contact with her after all.

The tension, both of sadness and sexual tension between Tess and Edward is very heavy in this story. However, there is also a kind of beautiful sadness mixed with happiness that the end of life brings to families.

This story is so much more than I have described above. At first I was cringing at the thought of a depressing book set in a hospice, but the book opens up so many parts of life and I really found it profoundly touching. This is a very moving story, sad and happy both at the same time. The extra touches of the nasty talk show host in Tess’s one ear and Jane Austen in the other ear made for a delightful way to break the tension. Very well done. I enjoyed this book immensely.

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

The description of this book suggested that it was a feel good and uplifting read. Sadly I don't agree. The subjects were quite heavy and dark and quite difficult to read. I think that I would have enjoyed the book more if it had been light and humorous as described. Likewise, if it had described the book as I found it to be, more serious then I would have been expecting it and I might have enjoyed it more.
I didn't like the inner dialogue narration, especially the TV host. I found it irritating and it was distracting from the main book. It made for very hard reading.
There were parts of it that I didn't mind, it just wasn't the book that I was expecting it to be.
Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishers for my ARC.

I loved this book. I was expecting a fluff book but it was actually really deep and beautiful. I cried and smiled the whole way through it. Eddie and Tess are wonderful!

Looking at lithe reviews this is definitely a Marmite story, enjoyed by some and not others.
The story is set around Tess, working as part of her training to be a GP at a hospice, and Edward, whose mother is a patient there. Tess is from a shingle parent, working class background whilst Edward is from money. Not a straightforward romance, with a style of writing that includes internal conversations, but this worked for me. The hospice setting is not sad, I've been fortunate / unfortunate enough to visit someone in one and it was a peaceful place. It is one of those stories that does have you rooting for the characters, whilst the humour prevents the tone becoming too sombre. A book for reading in a cosy living room, rather than by a pool and a change from more "normal" romances.
I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher through Netgalley, however this did not influence my review of the book and I also have pre-ordered it.

This is a women’s fiction book with a charming romance included. The book though to me seemed more about Alice’s journey to self love than her romance with Edward which didn’t really start until midway in the book. Alice really had to look at herself and her choices in a critical way in order for her life to move in a positive way. Alice and Edward has a slow burn romance in that they were both in other relationships initially and slowly went from butting heads to being friendly to having feelings. There were wonderful characters and touching plot points throughout the book.

I enjoyed the general story but found the constant narrative from the tv host very irritating and unreadable. I skipped over most of this in the end. I didn’t like the way he constantly put down our heroine and encouraged her bulimia.

The effects of cancer and leading up to death we’re handled sensitively and there was a good storyline.
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Thank you to NetGalley and One More Chapter for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I almost DNF'D this book, but I'm not a quitter. But man the amount of big words used made this story very difficult to read and follow. I felt like she was trying to sound smart by using large words. But really it was just an epic fail. The inner monologue between Jane Austen and Jeremy Kyle didn't add to the story at all.
Although I didn't read every word, I skimmed a lot, the writing made it hard and had made this one book I am sorry to have wasted my time on. I work 2 jobs and reading in my free time is a luxury and this took away from it.

Part of me really enjoyed reading this book, the other part of me? Not so much. I found the constant commentary monotonous, and the tv host voice drove me insane.

I think there are a few moments that could be triggering for some readers and especially some morally grey areas. I liked the realness of the relationships, both romantic and family. They were gritty and didn’t sugarcoat that we aren’t always happy and that awful things do happen to people.

I would recommend this, however I feel that there was unnecessary lengthy monologues that didn’t exactly add the plot of the book that had me wanting to skip ahead.

Well, it’s a good job I started reading this on a Saturday because I literally couldn’t put it down. Finished it later that evening and I bloody loved it. You wouldn’t think that a novel set in a hospice featuring Tess (a doctor so down on her self and so lacking in confidence that it’s sometimes painful to read what her subconscious thinks of herself) could end up being so uplifting, but it really was! It was both encouraging and inspiring to see her fight her own demons to realise her self-worth and to do that before she fell in love. An awesome book and I will be looking out for more by Nancy Peach!

this book is so fantastic! please pick it up as soon as possible! this is so good and so cute and so wonderful and all the great and beautiful things. for realz.

This was quite different from what I expected when I initially read the synopsis of the book; it was definitely darker and more emotionally challenging than I thought it was going to be. As mentioned in my previous review, I am going through a big move in my personal life right now, so I find myself reaching for romances, hoping that the familiarity of their patterns will soothe and relax me. Love Life, while certainly an interesting read, did not exactly do that. Our protagonist has some serious struggles, mostly regarding her own mental health, so the book ended up being a bit heavier than its synopsis suggested. Of course, I was aware that Edward's (our love interest) mum was one of Tess' patients, and there are trigger warnings about that content, but I think Tess' bulimia and mental health struggles should have also been mentioned there, as I personally found them much more challenging to read about.

Aside from those issues I had with regard to the book's trigger warnings - or lack thereof - I thought it was a fairly decent read. Nothing groundbreaking, but ultimately enjoyable. I really liked the fact that Tess came from a working class family and was open to discuss issues of wealth and poverty and her own struggles, in a way that felt authentic and not at all preachy. Her attitude towards her mum, her evident discomfort with Edward's wealth, as well as some of the decisions she makes regarding her own finances, all felt real and authentic. And I loved, loved, loved the fact that this was another book set in England - can you tell I miss Ireland? And her flatmate was Irish!! Truly a book after my own heart.

I will say, however, that I didn't really care for the romance. I liked Tess on her own more than I liked Tess-and-Edward, as I didn't really care for Edward as an individual. I found the women in his life, namely his mum and sister, to be much more compelling characters, and I would have been fine seeing him and their romance take a back seat to Tess' own character development.

Hmmm I’m a bit stuck in this moment. I have a few conflicting thoughts towards Love Life. First the good: Edward and Tess seemed to be a perfect example of a British Rom-com (I easily imagined Hugh Grant as Edward) with very British banter. I love a good enemies-to-lovers trope and this began a little bit as such with a hint of amnesia thrown in. With all good love stories, if the characters are likable then I will root for them to be together and enjoy following their story whatever may come.
Love Life read as two separate stories for me. The first was about Tess and her myriad of insecurities stemming from her relationships with men (gay ex-boyfriend, absent father, etc.). A good portion of the time Tess navigates these insecurities through two narrators at war in her head; the “TV host” and Jane Austen. What I expected to be a cute example of personal growth through subconscious thought and rationalization became very draining to the storyline. I found myself skimming the narrated parts and did not feel that they added any personal growth to Tess. They felt like a crutch that could have been explored better.

In the first part of the story we become acquainted with Tess’s daily life as a rounding as a doctor in a hospice ward where the reality of death is a constant. Not what I would first expect from a romance, but I was intrigued. One of her patients, Mary Russell, becomes a fixture in Tess’s work life and with that comes the grumpy Edward. Great! I love a good grump/sunshine. I was pleased to see the introduction of Edward, however, the majority of the book stayed in this realm of Tess’s life (work, home, dating, insecurities) without moving forward the story of Tess and Edward.
The second half of Love Life is still mostly Tess’s story, but now we have her thoughts more fully focused around Edward and what having him in her life may bring. Without giving any spoilers, it takes one evening to engage this part of the story. I struggled with the way the love scenes were written, feeling that I just wanted more from Tess and Edward. The writing of their romance felt very assumed to me instead of playful, learning, or experimenting with what their relationship could be.
I felt there were a few story lines that either could have been cut or woven in better: Tess’s dad, her relationship with her brother. I think Love Life read as a manuscript to me more than a good story I wanted to get lost in. Romance readers want this! Is there a HEA? Of course, it’s a romance! I will continue to read romances, but did I want more for Tess and Edward? Yes, but unfortunately their story won’t be a romance to last forever in my head.
Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for this ARC. The opinions expressed here are fully my own and are not influenced by this adjacent copy.

A good easy read. Tess is a junior doctor working through her placements. Edward is a city lawyer. Edward's mum Mary is transferred to the hospice where Tess currently resides.
Tess knows that she has met Edward before but only this time there is nothing but animosity between them. Can they be civil to each other for the sake of Mary?
Throughout the story there are two narrators; Jane Austin and a TV presenter.

This was not entertaining.
The writing comes off as obnoxious.
The inner dialogue was cringey to read.
There were long paragraphs of us readers being told instead of providing dialogue to show what is happening.
Also, brushing over the character's eating disorder like a passing comment about the weather did not sit right with me at all.
Unfortunately, this one could not hold my attention.

This isn't the light rom com you might think and it's not kind either. Alice is a physician who works with hospice patients. Edward, with whom she had a fling years before, is distressed about his mother's condition. Is is a second chance romance? Nope, not really. What I found hard about this was first and foremost the rather homophobic approach to Alice's ex and then the voices in her head. I get the internal narration but this didn't wok for me. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC.

Love Life is an incredibly moving and thought-provoking novel--I was expecting a breezy read and really enjoyed what a smart and emotional read this was. Definitely recommended!

I really loved this book! The way it combined the warring inner voices, made characters through 'Jane Austen' and the 'Reality Show Host' was incredibly clever, funny and fresh.

Whilst the story was on occasion slightly predictable, it also surprised me and I was fully engaged the entire way through. Love Life is definitely worth a read (maybe with a glass of wine!).

Talk about a cover not fitting its content.

I was so ready for light and fluffy and I got heavy, grief and sad.

I thought the book was well written, but I sincerely hope the publisher reconsiders the cover as it is very misleading.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an early review copy.

Tess, a doctor works at a hospice care facility. A new patient arrives with her son, Tess, is upset that he doesn’t recognise her, as they spent a night together five years ago at a party of their mutual friend.

She thought there was a connection between them, but as she was already in a relationship, it wasn’t the right time for them. Afterwards they list touch, but now, Edwards back, but not even a hint of him remembering that time.

His mother wants to stop any treatment and he’s not happy about that and he takes out his frustration on Tess. Seeing how she cares for his mother, he starts to thinks she knows what she’s doing. But will he remember her?

Recommend It