Loved this book… but with a grandmother/granddaughter road trip what’s not to love!

Jenna’s marriage and life is unraveling so she volunteers to take her feisty grandmother Evelyn to her hometown for a visit. Along the way, her grandmother tells Jenna the story of her first love Tony, who still lives in the same hometown.

Grandma Evelyn also plays matchmaker with Jenna and Tony’s nephew which, much to Jenna’s annoyance, is working.

Every other chapter switches from present day to the past in the 50-60s. We followed Evelyn’s love story and got to know her big family. I really related to the characters and couldn’t wait to see how things turned out. I am going to miss not reading about Jenna and Evelyn. Two thumbs up!!!

Thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for allowing me to read this wonderful book!

This was my idea of a perfect weekend read- entertaining, heart warming, and laugh out loud funny. She's Up To No Good follows two timelines, current day as a grandmother/granddaughter set out on a road trip together, and the grandmother's path from childhood to adulthood.

The grandmother was absolutely hysterical- zero filter and full of wisdom. She was definitely my favorite part of the book. I also really enjoyed the main character and that even though she was going through a tough divorce, she had plenty of perspective in her mid 30s. The storyline was heartwarming, enjoyable and I loved that was also a multigenerational storyline that spanned many decades.

I look forward to seeing what this author does next and this one is high on my summer 2022 recommendation list!

Thank you to Lake Union Publishing for my gifted copy.

I wish I was good at writing reviews, but it's new to me.
I don't know what made my fingers select this book out of all the books on Netgallery, but after after scrolling through titles, I went back looking for this one...

This story, past and present, was absolutely beautiful!

A sweet, heartwarming read that will stay with me. Thank you to Netgalley and publishers for this eARC!

After being blindsided when her husband of four years announces he’s found someone else and wants a divorce, Jenna moves back home to her parents’ home to hide out from the world while she licks her wounds. And while her parents are both very supportive, everyone has their limits. So when Jenna’s mom insists that Jenna get out of the house and start living life again at the same time Jenna’s grandmother announces she’s taking a road trip by herself to go back to her home town for a visit, Jenna makes an on-the-spot decision to go with, even if it means she’s going to end up getting a lot more than she could’ve ever imagined. This book is sweet, funny, heartwarming, and truly enjoyable to read. The ending is a bit predictable, but the book is still definitely worth a read.

4.5 Stars rounded up to 5

Special Note: Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for allowing me to read this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Absolutely looooved this one. I do wish I would have waited to read it in the summer time because it is so happy!

First, thank you so much to Sara Goodman Confino, Netgalley, and Lake Union Publishing for allowing me to read an ARC of She's Up to NO Good!

5 Stars for this lovely story

Jenna is thrown for a loop when her husband of 6 years tells her he wants a divorce and has already fallen for another woman. Moving home to her childhood bedroom leads Jenna to 6 months of monotony. She shows up to school to teach, goes home, watches tv with her father, and repeats the next day. That is, until Grandma Evelyn (for fans of For the Love of Friends, Lily and Jenna are cousins and Grandma Evelyn shows up in both...read For the Love of Friends now if you haven't!) shows up out of the blue one summer day to Jenna's family home, and announces she's about to make the 9 hour drive to the north shore of Massachusetts from Maryland by herself to take care of some old family business. Jenna finds herself volunteering to drive up with her to break out of the monotonous day by day that she has found herself in. As they make the ride, Jenna starts hearing all about the olden days when her grandmother grew up on the shores of Massachusetts and how life could have been very different if Evelyn had gotten her way. Jenna learns that she too can change her way of life, if she just lets herself move on.

This is a multifaceted love story. There is the love for the fictionalized town of Hereford, Massachusetts that is based on the true town of Gloucester, Massachusetts and the surrounding towns. It is a first love, love story. It is a second chance love story. It is a moving on from what you thought your love story was, to what it truly can be. It is a love story of the love of a granddaughter and grandmother. This multigenerational story just spans about 70 years and you never feel like it is stiff or boring. Evelyn was spunky and sassy as a young girl and is even more spunky and sassy as a grandmother. Jenna has so much of Evelyn in her blood, that you can see how she will be when she gets older. These two, and their love interests, make the story come to life. I can totally see this one being an amazing movie one day!

I completely adored this book and the characters. The way the author wrote the dual timelines with Evelyn’s story slowly emerging and eventually interlocking with Jenna’s story in the present had me captivated. Grandma’s (Evelyn) shenanigans are hilarious, but her story is beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time. Needing to get out of a rut after her recent separation from her husband, Jenna just thinks she’s along for the ride to babysit her aging grandmother, but she has no idea what’s in store when grandma is involved. There ended up being so much depth to this story, but it’s also equally funny and light-hearted. This should definitely be on your radar!

Thank you for my gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was a quick, nice read about relationships ending and beginning, and beautiful look at the relationship between a Granddaughter and grandmother. While I did not love the dual timeline, Evelyn was a hoot in her old age.

A dual perspective love story on the different loves a person can have in life.

I really liked the concept of this book, but towards the middle/end, I found it tedious. I loved reading the grandmothers story more than I enjoyed the present story, and I think that's because the characters were fleshed out a tiny bit more. I was invested in her love story/triangle the most. Jenna and the male MC felt empty and like such surface characters. I felt no depth to them, no connection, no chemistry. Unfortunately, towards the end, I just felt like it was empty dialogue tossed back and forth with a very predictable plot, and I found that Jenna became more annoying than anything. The writing itself felt rushed and incomplete, like something to just check off without any attention to the quality and the readers. I was not surprised to find the author wrote this book in 14 weeks at the height of the pandemic with small children at home because it read that way.

Overall, the story and the book has such potential. I just wish it had been nurtured a bit more.
3 stars because I loved the grandmother, but I don' t know that I'd recommend it to anyone.

I loved She's Up to No Good! Jenna, 35 and going through a divorce, and her grandmother, Evelyn, take a week long trip to Evelyn's childhood home of Hereford, Massachusetts. I really enjoyed how it went back and forth between the present and Evelyn's past. The author goes in depth on Evelyn's past and Jenna's reality. I wanted to know the grandmother's secrets that are alluded to the whole time and I couldn't put the book down. It was a little cliche in that Jenna is finding a new friendship with Joe after getting divorced and her grandmother's forbidden love story with Tony, but they fit perfectly in the story.

I wish I could read this while on the beach in Massachusetts! I definitely recommend picking this up in July. Thank you #NetGalley for the early read.

I'm sure everyone reading this has read the book first, but just in case that's not true, I just want to give a warning I'm going to spoil so much of this book. My review on Goodreads will probably be the same (I'll tag it as containing spoilers), but my bookstagram edit will be spoiler free. Okay let's jump in!

First, I am in love with this book. I can already tell this is going to be one of the books that sticks with me and one I think about all the time. I finished it about 5 hours ago and I haven't stopped thinking about it. I will 100% recommend it to anyone looking for book recommendations. This is the first time I've read anything by Sara Goodman Confino and now I plan to read everything else she has written. Her writing is beautiful, clear, and attention grabbing. I could easily visualize this book from start to finish and it truly played like a movie in my head. Sara did a great job of making me feel every emotion while reading this book.

The true highlight of this book, besides Evelyn, is the dual storylines that took place. Sometimes going back and forth can be challenging if it is not done well. This is not the case with this story. The storylines flowed well and intertwined beautifully. They kept me hooked and wanting to know more of the story. I was never once bored with either storyline and I enjoyed how far apart time wise they were from one another.

Evelyn is easily the best character in this story. I loved everyone else (minus Evelyn's mom), but Evelyn stole the show. She was funny, charming, full of love, and I couldn't not help but love her. I thought she was great in both storylines. Evelyn is a better person than I because I would've never talked to my parents again if they didn't let me marry the love of my life. She's an even better person than me because she didn't let her life suffer or hold herself back. She understood her parents weren't going to let it happen and that Tony would not let her ruin her life, so she made herself pivot her life plans. I think she knew she'd make her way back to Tony one day. She knew she needed to live her life and I'm glad she did.

As much as I loved this book I'm also mad at it, but in a way that shows how great it is. I was upset at how beautiful and heartbreaking the storyline was from the 1950s. I knew from the beginning that Evelyn did not end up marrying Tony, yet I couldn't help root for them and fall absolutely in love with them. This was really my own fault and I kind of set myself up for failure. I took notes in my phone while reading and wrote "the storyline with Tony is making me sad because I love him and Evelyn". I can tell you that I still felt this way even at the end when they were together in their late 80s. I will say my favorite part of their storyline was when they said 'I love you' for the first time in the car.

A majority of the notes I have for their storyline are sad and made me cry. I know there is beauty in how their story unfolded and that Jenna wouldn't get to have her storyline, but it still makes me sad. Sara really came for my emotions with Tony being such a stand up guy. When he told her "I love you enough to let you go. And if you love me, you'll go," I lost it and was a sobbing mess. It was hard to watch Tony break his own heart and especially hard to watch the fierce and wonderful Evelyn break down. Even writing this has me crying all over again. I did enjoy that they got to be together again, but also found that to be heartbreaking in a way. They had to wait all that time, over seventy years, to be together in the way they always wanted to be. Sure they each had full lives, but the fact that they didn't get to have them with each other hurts my heart. Evelyn may have forgiven her mom, but I haven't. I understand her mom's perspective given her history, but she's on my list of people I'm mad at.

Let's talk about Jenna and Joe. First, I liked Jenna and found her to be similar to Evelyn in some ways. Sure she was stuck on what her ex did, but not necessarily on him, which could come across as annoying. But honestly, I found it relatable and understood where she was coming from. She learned about herself and realized she was holding back her own happiness to stick to a "timeline" and present the idea of happiness. I enjoyed her growth and her connection with Evelyn.

Joe, Joe, Joe. I cannot express how much I love him. Joe was so effortlessly himself and you can feel how genuine he is as a person. Everything Joe did made me love him. You could tell that he cared about Evelyn and would probably do anything she asked of him. I enjoyed how he took flirted with Jenna in a way that she was comfortable with and he followed her cues. He never pushed her and just wanted her to be happy. They fit together well and it was like seeing Evelyn and Tony seventy years later.

Sara, if you are reading this, I need you to know I screamed at the scene in the woods when Joe took Jenna's photo. To me, it felt intimate with how he posed her and how he told her he just takes photos of what he sees, And what he saw was a beautiful woman and the photo he took showed just that. They hadn't kissed or even held hands, yet this felt more intimate than if they had. SWOON. When he took her photo again at the Inn, I was melting. Especially when he got her to smile at him the way she had before when they were talking.

In my reviews, I typically rate the spice level in books. While I do love heavy spice, I don't believe it is necessary for a book to be great. I love tension and build up just as much as I love heavy spice. Sara did a great job of giving the readers the tension and build up to implied/off page spice. The flirting, holding hands, leg touching, kissing, etc., between Joe and Jenna was perfect. It elevated their relationship and had me so giddy. I enjoyed how Sara used intimacy through hand holding or secret smiles to show the dynamic between the two,

I truly love this book and am so glad I got to read it. I cannot wait to read more from Sara and want everyone to read this book. My bookstagram edits and Goodreads review will be posted soon!

Thanks NetGalley and Sara for the ARC!

I loved this book a lot. I read it over the course of a couple weeks but only because I wanted to savor every moment!

I loved the dual timelines. Evelyn is such a fun character. She made me laugh at her antics and her brazenness. I love her spirit for life and for not following "rules" placed on her. She falls in love as a teen to a very not Jewish young man and has to keep it secret.

Her granddaughter, Jenna, is married to a guy who has stepped out on her and living with his new girlfriend. She takes up the chance to drive her grandma up to where her family spent summers.

I really liked the way Jenna found herself. I love that her grandma gave little bits of her history which includes a secret that no one knows. I like the Jewish rep and learning a little more about their faith and how it plays into family life.

If you loved For The Love of Friends, you will NOT want to miss this one!

What a lovely family story encompassing the past life of a grandmother as told to her granddaughter when they travel to the grandmother’s hometown and of a new love for the granddaughter that could bring healing. It is a story of love forbidden by parents in the 1950s and of a young woman who is willing to risk it all. It is a very captivating and wonderful novel.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I absolutely adored For the Love of Friends. I read 181 books last year and I'm super stingy with my 5-star ratings so only 12 books qualified. For the Love of Friends was one of them if that tells you just how much I loved it. The moment I was able to read She's Up to No Good I just had to. It was impossible to wait even though the book isn't scheduled to be published until June.

Evelyn was a much loved character from For the Love of Friends so to have an entire story devoted to her was wonderful. I loved the duel storylines and how it alternated between Evelyn's past and the present. I have always said that grandmas are extra special and Evelyn fits the bill. I just love this wild and crazy 80+ year old and I love her even more after learning about her past.

Let's not forget about Jenna as this is just as much her story too. I don't want to give anything away, but I loved Jenna's transformation and my favorite parts generally involved Evelyn embarrassing her because it's so easy to imagine it happening! Plus, there's nothing better than when a book makes me laugh out loud.

This book has it all...love, laughs, family, and the journey to finding more!

Rating: 4.5 stars

wow. this book was something else. i really loved it, the double timeline, reading about both evelyn's life and jenna trying to figure out hers. this book kept me reading and i finished it in one sitting because i just wanted to read more after every chapter, i felt like i was there in hereford, at the cottage with the bergman family. i don't have much to say about it other than this book really caught me by surprise and hooked me to the story since from the very beginning.

I loved this book! The duel storylines worked well interspersed with each other and the characters were all likeable. I found it interesting how traditions of the past were juxtaposed with what is acceptable in the present.

Evelyn was a fantastic character! I loved her in For The Love Of Friends so it was amazing to get her backstory in this novel, which was so touching yet bittersweet at the same time.

I look forward to reading more from Sarah Goodman Confino in the future!

For The Love Of Friends was phenomenal!
So I had to try and read another Sara Goodman Confino book.

She's Up to No Good is a funny, beautiful, witty and relatable story.
I opened this up as soon as I received it.

The way Sara writes her characters is pretty awesome.
They are relatable, real and flawed people.
Honestly I loved every single moment of it.
Evelyn and Jenna were such interesting and enchanting characters, and I wanted to know more. Even our side people I enjoyed!
This was a super quick and funny rom-com. I believe most will enjoy as well.
I was absolutely sucked in from the first to the last page of this heartwarming read.

Lake Union Publishing,
Thank You for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!
I will post my review closer to pub date.

🎇 My 1st MUST READ of 2022!! 🎆

Ok so many things!

First, this novel won't be out until June but I was lucky enjoy to get my hands on the @netgalley widget and although I don't read ebook, this one just couldn't wait! (I maaay have printed it out 😬 and I don't regret it for 1 second!)

I already loved this author's first novel #ForTheLoveOfFriends so I had a feeling I would like this one too, I just didn't know how much more I would LOVE it.

#ShesUpToNoGood is about Jenna, whose life just imploded- her husband of 6 yrs sprung a divorce on her and at 34 yrs old she moves into her old bedroom at her parents house. After months of wallowing she jumps at the chance to accompany her grandma Evelyn on an impromtu roadtrip- her grandma announced she was driving herself to her hometown (at 89 yrs old) to attend to some secretive business of hers, there was no way Jenna could let her do that alone.

On the road, Jenna learns of her grandmother's tumultuous past, of a #starcrossedlove she had no idea existed before her grandfather. Alternating chapters, the author takes us back in time where we fall in love with Evelyn and her big family, where we experience her heartbreak and crushing losses, the obstacles she faces within her Jewish culture, her perseverance through it all.

I wish I could capture Grandma Evie's sass/chutzpah/ mischievous confidence in a quick description but u really have to read it to get it. And it makes her backstory all the more exciting to read. She is always up to something... even now, having her first love Tony's great nephew Joe show Jenna around town. Jenna sees right thru her grandmother's matchmaking but that doesn't mean it'll be easy to resist Joe's charm...

I loved both timelines unfolding equally, just when I thought I was pulled more towards one I was pulled right back to the other and wanted to know all the things. The author's humor and wit shines through again but more than that there's just something really special here in the rich story itself. I wasn't ready to leave and I know u won't be either.

Huge thank u to @saraconfino not only for the early copy but for one of the best friendships I've made here on #bookstagram ❤