First can I just say love the cover it’s so sweet and pretty
I enjoyed this. The character really made it for me they were so unique and quirky
Loved the mysterious story I was constantly trying to guess what was happening
Will be reading more from Jane

It was OK, definitely not one of my favorites by the author. I usually love Jane Lovering's books and always look forward to reading them. Unfortunately, this one fell flat for me and I wasn't really invested in any of the characters. The Master was my favorite. He was fat, smelled like sardines and just happened to be an adorable kitty. Everyone else was just there or probably should have been committed. That would be Lady Tanith. She was simply DELUSIONAL!!! Did any of these people know how to function in the real world. Andi blamed her parents and sister for the life she has. Really she's jealous of Judith. Judith spoke and told her parents she wanted to go to school and not live in a bus. Plus, she knew how to change her name into something less stupid. Andi had the same opportunity as her sister but she never spoke up. She just buried her nose in a book and believed she would find some rich guy who would fall madly in love with her. She even took the job with crazy Lady Tanith in hopes her and Hugo would go riding off in the sunset. Unfortunately, she didn't know how much Hugo loved Chanel and so many more designers. Nothing really happened throughout the book. Andi searched the library, moved books around, inputted books into a spread sheet and repeated over and over. I also came to the same conclusion as Andi did about Jay. The book just ends and doesn't feel like there was any conclusion and seemed a bit anticlimactic.

Definitely recommend giving the book a try, it just wasn't for me. I didn't hate the story, just didn't enjoy it like the previous books. Look forward to reading more books by the author.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Boldwood Books, through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Another great offering from Jane Lovering. A cast of quirky characters rolled up in a storyline of mystery, romance and humour. I devoured every page right to the end.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in return for an honest review.

Jane Lovering’s books are always a pleasure to read and this is no exception. A quirky, mysterious story that has kept me guessing where it was headed all the way to the ( thankfully happy) ending. Her superb writing style and characterisations will keep you entertained and very happy. She’s one of the best novelists around and I definitely recommend it.
Thank you to Boldwood Books, the author and NetGalley for an early copy.

“Happily Ever After”, by Jane Lovering, is an entertaining story with apparently ordinary people as leads, some secondary characters with secrets and surprises and a particularly charming and independent cat as a lovely addition.
The unortodox heroine, with her unconventional upbringing and uncontrolable imagination, and the low profile hero are great characters.
I loved how slowly the hero revealed himself – as the hero and as a character – and the slow burn romance, too.
I also liked his pragmatic attitude towards his condition and the realistic way the author handled it. The lack of melodrama is admirable.
Embarassement, inadequacy, shyness – these are things the characters experience and Lovering writes so well about, and always with sense of humor, too.
Although the romance is a bit mild, the story, the setting and the characters are engaging. I loved the cat and the relationship with Andi; I felt the author wrote wonderfully cat’s maneirisms and personalities, and how independent, affectionate and intelligent these creatures are.
So, the end felt abrupt: I would have liked an epilogue to know about The Master’s futur.

A really enjoyable read for a first time reader of Jane Lovering, and I’m sure it won’t be the last of her novels that I read. A slightly different ,and ,intriguing storyline with a few twists and turns plus an interesting , if somewhat quirky, cast of characters. Recommended.

I normally absolutely love Jane Lovering’s books. I mean - totally adore!
However I found this very disappointing and not up to her usual high standards.
Sorry, it’s just not my cup of tea. I found the characters rather unbelievable and unengaging, the pacing was weird and I wanted a much better ending.

Sorry, I didn’t enjoy it but it won’t stop me reading her books.

An OK read. A quirky and witty story that's set in an historical house where the characters are all quite flawed each with their own background stories that are funny but quite disturbing in parts as they try to sort out their issues with the past.Think it would appeal to a younger audience

Admittedly, it took me over 25% of this book to get the hang of it, to start to feel for Andi who – at that point – finally got past her fear of the haunted mansion, and she did actually made me laugh out loud several times.

We all have demons and inner dragons, books (whether fiction or non-fiction) are narratives, yet life is random events, there is not pattern to it as discussed by Andi and one of her friends in Happily Ever After. And as for people: luckily there are more flavors to the human kind without it being a theme which I appreciate. You never know what goes one behind someone's front door or below someone's surface.

I think the friendship between Hugo and Andi was really cute and heartfelt, her relationship with The Master developing every single day into something quite substantial =^.^=

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the book.

Happily Ever After by Jane Lovering is a delightful blend of mystery, romance, and whimsy. Andi Glover, an avid reader escaping from her eccentric upbringing, takes a job at the mysterious Templewood Hall, where strange occurrences and an enigmatic son, Hugo, bring the pages of a gothic novel to life. With secrets, ghosts, and an ever-so-charming gardener, the story keeps readers guessing whether Andi is heading toward a romance or a thriller. Lovering’s charming prose, quirky characters, and atmospheric setting make this a fun and heartwarming read for fans of romantic mysteries.

Happily Ever After is a Gothic-inspired mystery with a slow-burn romance that picks up pace towards the end.
Andi arrives at Templewood Hall and is accosted by a rude gardener before she is interviewed for a position that she hopes she'll get because she has no qualifications for anything else and nowhere else to go.
She lived a pretty unconventional life with her parents, moving around regularly and living in a converted bus. An opportunity arises for her to have a more normal life, though I'm not sure her position at Templewood Hall is anything close to normal!
Tasked with cataloguing the many books in Lady Tanith Dawe's library, Andi lets her love of books create a whimsical dream of falling in love and marrying the rather gorgeous son and heir, Hugo. However, she is covertly given the real reason for Lady Dawes' wanting the library organised, and it has a bit of a twist.
Is there romance? Yes, there is, but it doesn't pick up speed until the book's latter pages.
But Andi's love of the classics is evident in her dreams of what might be, and the chapter headings are a great nod to those classics. Some may find Andi a difficult character to like. She doesn't always appear to help herself, but things change as the story progresses, and she has the ending she deserves.
I tell you what, that Lady Dawes - she is a piece of work! A bit deluded!
For me, the hero of the book was the feline, called The Master (we never find out his real name!), who smells of fish and takes a real shine to Andi, being her shadow, trying to sleep in her bed, and even getting her out of some scrapes!
Many thanks to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for an ARC.

Happily Ever After is a contemporary romance with gothic elements by Jane Lovering, set in Templewood Hall where book lover Andi has taken a job cataloguing the library for the eccentric Lady Dawe, her mysterious son Hugo and a gardener who seems to be there whenever Andi needs him.

I liked the chapter titles being based on classic novels and the quirky characters but it just felt a bit flat for me. It was quite short and not enough character building for me so the romance didn’t make me feel a lot. I did really like Lady Dawe’s character though, she was the only one who felt fleshed out.

This book is ever so slightly bonkers and is such a good read because of it. Andi believe she is qualified for no job having had all of her education through Reading thousands of books. She takes the job catalogue books in a beautiful home with lady Tanith, the household help and her son Hugo her only companions. The character development is fabulous with the very unusual peccadillos of Lady Tanith being exposed chapter after chapter. Hugo is also on the eccentric side and it is to Andi’s how she copes with everything that goes on around her. The star of the show is pretty much the huge and rather smelly cat who developed his own personality and influences the book. A lighthearted and fun read..

3.3 Stars
One Liner: Okay... nice!

Andi (Andromeda) Glover has spent her life breathing books. With unconventional parents who live on a bus and travel for a living (successful though), she wants nothing more than a stable home. With no proper education, Andi has trouble finding jobs.
However, when she gets a chance to catalog books in Templewood Hall’s library, she is determined to turn her life into a bookish story. A gothic house with an eccentric lady owner and her enigmatic son Hugo is sure to give Andi her HEA, isn’t it?
However, Andi soon realizes that life doesn’t follow bookish tropes. And the odd sounds in the house might turn her life from classic romance to horror. Amidst the confusion, can she trust the gardener who appears and disappears at will?
The story comes in Andi’s first-person POV.

My Thoughts:
Like the author’s previous book, this too is set in Yorkshire. However, most of it takes place in Templewood Hall.
The descriptions are cool and some metaphors (food-related) were amusing. The overall tone had dry humor which made the book rather a funny read. At no point did I feel scared (I don’t think I was supposed to anyway).
Andi is a quirky protag and not always easy to like. However, her characterization is true to her arc. She lives bookish dreams and wants to align her life to follow some romantic novel but doesn’t succeed. She can be whiny and repetitive (especially about her sister) but we can see her frustration. She just wants a stable and loving home.
There is some romance, though the book is mainly about Andi growing up and realizing life cannot be fiction. There’s a bit of ‘searching for a lost object’ which doesn’t go anywhere in the first half.
The side characters are okay. My favorite is the cat addressed as The Master (no one dares call him by his name which is not revealed). The cat had more personality than most of the characters, followed by Lady Tanith (whose development comes a little too late). However, I appreciate that one of them is partially deaf and it is woven into the narrative.
The middle feels repetitive and boring. In the last quarter has decent progress. There are two major twists (reveals). Both are handled well and don’t seem odd or unrealistic. The second one was easy to guess due to a random dialogue by a character.
The ending is HFN with no epilogue. I would have liked a short epilogue set a year later or so. It might have enhanced the storyline.
To summarize, Happily Ever After is a timepass read with some useful themes but is pretty much a surface-level story. I like it okay, though I did like the author’s previous book better.
Thank you, NetGalley, and Boldwood Books, for eARC. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

Thank you for the correction! Here's the updated review for Happily Ever After:

A Charming, Mystical, and Delightfully Quirky Read

Happily Ever After is a whimsical and heartwarming novel that blends mystery, romance, and a dash of gothic charm. Andi Glover is a book-loving protagonist who, after being raised in an unconventional household, prefers the worlds of fiction to reality. Her new job at Templewood Hall, working for the eccentric Lady Dawe and her enigmatic son Hugo, feels like she’s stepped into one of her favorite novels.

However, Templewood Hall is full of unexpected twists, and Andi quickly learns that the mysteries there are stranger than fiction. Between ghostly apparitions, missing heirs, and long-buried family secrets, Andi’s new life becomes more like a thrilling whodunnit than a romance novel. Add in the mysterious gardener who seems to show up exactly when needed, and Andi begins to wonder if she might just be on her way to her own happily ever after—if she can unravel the secrets in time.

This story was full of humor, warmth, and delightful surprises. Andi’s journey to understand the mysteries of Templewood Hall, while discovering her own path and desires, was engaging and satisfying. If you’re a fan of quirky, romantic mysteries with a dash of heart, Happily Ever After is a must-read!

I initially thought this book had potential, especially with its quirky main character and some relatable reflections on expectations versus reality. The humor was there, and I appreciated the moments that made me pause and think. However, the pacing just didn’t work for me. By the time I hit 20%, I felt disengaged and started skimming through the rest, mainly to see if anything would pick up.

The plot felt too slow, and I couldn’t connect with the characters enough to keep me invested. It may be that I wasn’t in the right mood for this kind of story, but I couldn’t push through the way I hoped I would. Maybe I'll revisit it in the future, but for now, it didn’t quite live up to my expectations.

That's why I'm giving it 1 aka 0 ⭐.

The beginning of this book was very slow to me. I think I had to start it 3 or 4 times before I finally was able to get far enough in to keep going. It was a cozy read, which is generally something I love, but this one didn't captivate me as quickly as I prefer. The characters were a little quirky, which is fun. I wasn't sure which direction things were heading in the plot which did keep me reading.

Thank you, Net Galley and Boldwood Books for the advanced copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

When Andi sees herself without a family and with a job cataloguing books for a strange lady, suddenly the mistery begins and there might be more to these books than what was initially thought.

first of all, i don’t believe someone as obsessed with books as andi claims to be took this long to figure out the mistery of it all. that object being referenced so many times made it very obvious from the beginning

but that aside, this book begins with a good plot with a bad execution. it started well but quickly it became description after description of smells, walls or rooms which really disconnects me from the story.

it is also very repetitive at times. i can’t tell how many times i read that she might marry hugo for his money or that she could overcome the fact that he liked different things.

i also feel like we got a really good storyline with hugo but the fact that the main character had so many confusing things to say about him made it lose importance to me. i get it that she’s not attracted to him, but in a way it felt like she wouldn’t accept him. i don’t know, some of her thoughts about this matter were very confusing.

besides that, i enjoyed parts of it. i liked jay and i think the fact that we ended with them going somewhere but without a definite relationship between them was very well done. it wouldn’t make sense for them to be in a relationship when they only got to know each other halfway through the book.

Thank you to Netgalley and Boldwood Publishing for this eARC.

This is such a great and cozy story. A sweet romantic story wrapped in women's fiction following Andi who is looking simply for a few more life experiences so that she can live life outside of the books she so loves so much. Andi gets a live-in job (convenient since she needs a place to stay) with Lady Dawe and her handsome sons....son? heirs? Who's to say. Andi wanted to find love and a cozy life, she finds herself in somewhat of a cozy mystery.

Cute and subtle. Definitely recommend.

**A Delightful, Heartwarming Journey to Love and Self-Discovery**

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Jane Lovering’s *Happily Ever After* is a charming and beautifully written novel that reminds us love often comes when we least expect it, and happiness is found in the most unexpected places. With a perfect balance of humor, heart, and genuine emotion, this book is an absolute joy to read.

The protagonist is wonderfully relatable—witty, flawed, and navigating life’s twists and turns with resilience and humor. Lovering’s characters feel like real people, each with their quirks and vulnerabilities, making their journeys deeply touching. The romantic connection in the story is genuine and heart-melting, filled with moments of tenderness and sparkling banter.

Set against a vividly drawn backdrop, the novel immerses readers in its world, adding depth and charm to the story. Lovering’s writing is warm and witty, with a keen insight into human relationships and emotions.

The themes of self-acceptance, healing, and the courage to embrace new beginnings are beautifully woven into the narrative, making this much more than a simple love story. It’s a tale of growth, hope, and finding joy in the imperfections of life.

*Happily Ever After* is a delightful read that will leave you smiling long after the last page. Jane Lovering has crafted a novel that is both heartwarming and uplifting—perfect for anyone who loves a feel-good romance with depth and soul. Highly recommended!