A beautiful story that sees Liv Green becoming the heroine of her own life story. Liv has taken a cleaning job for one of her favourite authors, the elusive Essie, and soon finds herself taking on a much more coveted role. Liv is underestimated and underappreciated even in her own home, and it is lovely to see her grow in confidence and into her own self-worth as she meets her potential and fulfils Essie's last wishes. She doesn't need a masculine hero to rescue her; instead, she turns to her own inner abilities to succeed. #thebookshare #phaedrapatrick #netgalley

Olivia Green is a middle age wife and mum to two children who are soon to leave the nest, and she loves to read. She dreams of being a writer but sad events in her childhood meant she left school early and started working as a cleaner to make money.

To make matters worse, her husband's business is struggling and her clients seem to walk all over her, but with money tight she can't afford to upset them. And one of her clients is her favourite author who she has adored from an early age.

The author is a virtual recluse now and doesn't seem to have much time for anyone, but despite her brusque manner she has a soft spot for Olivia. She recognises something in her and when she suddenly dies, Olivia learns she has been asked to perform a very unexpected final wish.

During this process, Olivia is able to recognise her own talents and re-examine what she wants from life.

A lovely, heartwarming read.

Love a good book like this. romantic, realistic and heart wrenching. Fulfilled every wish. Fabulous characters and storyline. Highly recommended. Thanks to netgalley and the publishers and the author for the opportunity to read this book for my honest opinion

Books about books? Yes please! This was a fun and quick read that beautifully depicted why we all love books.

Essie and Liz had a complicated history, which was beautiful unravelled and added an extra layer of emotion to the story.

A pacy and cosy read, would definitely recommend.

As a writer myself I had to question whether I would want to complete a story started by another, particularly my favourite author. The story follows Liv's trials as she discovers things about herself while attempting the daunting task. An interesting story well told.

Olivia Green is a middle-aged wife and mum, working as a cleaner but with a dream to be a writer. An avid reader, she is a huge fan of Essie Starling, the author of a series of books featuring Georgia Rory, a strong and independent role model for Liv. Liv works as a cleaner for Essie

Liv has a good relationship with Essie, discussing literature and life, and is surprised when she is given the opportunity to finish Elsie’s latest book. What Liv didn’t expect was how this opportunity would change her.

I could empathise with Liv’s struggles, being taken advantage of by some of her clients and by her family, feeling downtrodden and as if life was passing her by. I didn’t like her husband much - whilst strangers looking down at Liv was just unpleasant, her own husband snubbing her in relation to business matters was rude and patronising and unforgivable. To be fair, Essie also had her own collection of misogynistic ex-husbands, the men were not that great!

This is a lovely, easy read.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this book and found the plot and story one that keeps you engaged. I struggled to connect with Liv, the main character, and found her quite annoying in some places which made the book hard to keep reading. I thought the extra storylines in between the main plot was good, but struggled with the amount of sub characters as some of them had little background. Overall a good book that I would recommend to people. Thanks Netgalley for letting me have the early copy.

A light and easy read. The slow pace of the novel made it hard going at times. Other readers will enjoy it more than I did.

Oh my god this book should be touted as THE book every writer and reader needs to read! Liv, who works as a cleaner for various people who don’t quite appreciate her enough (my take on it!) works for an elusive writer, Essie Starling, who is intent on keeping herself away from the public eye. Liv dreams of being a writer herself and has read every single one of Essie’s books. I was pulled in straight away to the quiet world of Essie, shut behind a closed door and keeping everyone at arm’s length. Liv was the perfect mix of calm yet strong (she pulled some amazing stunts that I nodded along to!). I’ll admit the book held some uncomfortable moments for me, reminders that sometimes writing takes you away from reality way too much and gave me a bit of a poke in that regard!!

All in all a beautiful book, as Liv took over from where Essie left off and tried to do her justice, at the same time showing us how Eddie ended up entrusting everything she held dearest to a stranger. Stunning, gripping and so lovely!

⭐⭐⭐⭐

#TheBookShare by @phaedrapatrick is a fun and generous read that will delight many readers. In some ways, this story is very similar to #thesevenhusbandsofevelynhugo by #TaylorJenkinsReid but Patrick takes it to a level Jenkins Reid doesn't achieve. There is far more heart in this book and the characters are far more believable.

This is the second book I've read from Patrick and it won't be my last. Storytelling like this is too good to pass up.

Although it took me quite sometime to get into this story, I can only describe it as a fell-good read. Funny and interesting and out of the box. A splendid choice for those who like their books quirky and heartwarming.

Unfortunately this book was not for me, it was a bit slower than I would like and it just didn't hold my attention. I am sure other people will love it!

Many Thanks to the author and Netgalley for allowing me to read this book before being published in exchange for an honest review.

Liv loves reading. She cleans houses for a living. So when she gets the job of cleaning the house of her favourite writer, Essie, she can´t believe her luck. And then Essie dies in the middle of writing the last book of Liv´s favourite series. What she does not expect is the offer she´s about to get from Essie´s lawyer, to keep on writing the book without telling anybody.
Her life, her marriage and her professional dreams all start to flail and she has to quickly learn who Essie and what her secrets were in order to complete the novel.
I didn´t connect as much with the characters of this book.
It was an ok book overall, with romance, mystery, and everything I love in a good book.

It took me a little while to get in to this story, but once I did, i couldn't put it down. I enjoyed every twist and turn, every intertwined moment and especially, every moment of hope. I loved that we got to find out more about Essie and Georgia's stories as Liv did. I really enjoyed that on these journeys we also found out more about all of the lives that surrounded these women, and the moments that shaped them. I would truly recommend this book. It has left me feeling inspired. It's never too late, and you are never too old to make a start on making your dreams come true.

Despite her initial proclivity to let others walk all over her, Liv Green is a likeable protagonist! This was especially annoying in scenes where she was cleaning and was subjected to a barrage of disrespectful behaviour from annoying, arrogant, and insipid characters. Liv, a beauty homeschooling blogger who lets her children run wild, always seems to have to feed these cherubs, even delivering a bagel for lunch to the snobbish husband. These were hilariously cringe-inducing scenes. Liv's wit shone through throughout, and she persevered in difficult situations.

What a fantastic book! Such a different story, with plenty of twists and turns along the way. I was never quite sure where things were going to end up - I did have some suspicions but they turned out to be completely wrong! I was rooting for Liv so much - she was such a lovely character, trying to do right by everyone, hold everything together against all the odds and never thinking about herself.

As I say, the ending was not what I was expecting but in a way, I think it was better. I will definitely be looking out for other books by this author as I really loved her style of writing, found it easy to read and thought the pace of the book was just right. I finished this book really quickly for me, as I couldn't wait to find out what was going to happen next, reading last into the night (much to the annoyance of my husband in bed beside me....!!)

Thank you to Net Galley and the publishers for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review, which is what I have given.

The Book Share by Phaedra Patrick was such a good book!  It gave me all the feels, and kept me turning the pages!

I was gripped by the story of Liv, who cleans for a couple of clients, including her favourite author, Essie.

One day, unexpectedly, Essie dies, and one of her last wishes is for Liv to finish book 20 in her famous Georgie Rory series.  Liv is pushed out of her comfort zone, and by learning more about Essie, she learn more about herself.

The story of a 42 year old, married for 20 years with 2 children, learning she wants more out of life.  This has made me laugh out loud and cry in public!

The Book Share was published on 31st March 2022, and is available from Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.org.

You can follow Phaedra Patrick on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and her website.

I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to HQ.

This book was not for me unfortunately - not a bad book just not what I thought it was gonna be! I'm sure it has its readership as all books do, but I am just not one of them

I loved the concept of this book, as someone who's threatened to put pen to paper one day. The lack of motivation to actually write it is something I'm definitely familiar with.

If you loved The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo you may enjoy this book too as the concepts are somewhat similar.

The Book Share is quite simply wonderful.
It's a lovely story that will warm the hearts of anyone reading it and cause book lovers to fall deeply in love with every aspect of the book.