This is a lovely book, though I was close to tears in places. If you have recently been through a bereavement I'd steer clear as it is pretty hard hitting about grief and guilt after losing a loved one. The characters are brilliant and authentically brought to life, particularly Nancy's lovely mother and awful grandmother. The story covers an intense period of growth and change for all the characters and you really want them to succeed and find happiness. Beautifully written.

Beautiful, poignant and filled with heart, this is a story that lingers long after the final page.

Nancy has spent two years sending unanswered texts to her sister Molly, who vanished without explanation. While she distracts herself with sixty-hour work weeks and too much alcohol, a health scare forces her to stop, and sends her back to her mother’s house in the village she left behind.

Molly’s absence is felt in every room, yet Nancy slowly begins to reconnect with her family and with Clarence, a childhood friend who offers both comfort and challenge.

As the days pass, the secrets Nancy has been avoiding grow harder to ignore, and she starts to realise that opening her heart again may be the only way to heal.

Anouska Knight balances sadness with hope, weaving in humour and warmth so the story never feels weighed down. This is a moving portrait of family, loss and finding the courage to start over.

Read more at The Secret Book Review.

Grateful for the opportunity to read this as an arc.

The writing and characters were expertly written and crafted, this is a really enjoyable book and I highly recommend reading it. Beware It is emotional

Holy moly this book packs the most emotional of punches. I actually messaged Anouska saying that I was in tears on my way to work. It is beautiful. I couldn't put it down. And sad...so sad... poignant bit also hopeful and funny. Basically everything I look for in a book. There are some exceptional observations of what it means to be a mother...the roles we play and how they define us. The characters are beautiful. Except Ginny🤪 We also need to take a moment for Fig the dog who I LOVED. I love that we never meet Molly but her presence is felt throughout she is a force to be reckoned with and having a spirited daughter called Molly myself, I ADORED HER! This book really is special and I can't recommend it enough...I really hope it gets the recognition it deserves.

Really good book which I will recommend to others.

Thanks for the opportunity to read & review it.

filled with so many and all the need emotions for this book. everything about it felt important and well thought out but also seamless and naturally fit together. at moments i was smiling, at moments i was feeling unshed tears. it really got to the core of family moments,difference and well, LOVE.
i was really immersed into Nancy and her story and then to her family fold. they really got me in the emotional stomach,lol. its like we were not just walking down a road and seeing into the light of a families living room, maybe guessing on what events could be taking place but then were invited in an taking a seat. and there were times i just wanted to envelope them all in a big hug, or do something to make healing easier.
you felt like you could really see the different personalities and then how they were living and dealing with things going on in their lives. you could see how the interactions worked and i loved that. it felt like we were welcomed in to this book. Anouska did such a good job of making me care, feel connected to the people and stories. it felt like Anouska cared about these characters and it was a privileged she showed them to us in her book.
this book did and will sit with me for a while to come. i love stories like this, that really connect to you and help you feel connected to it too.

I've read books from this author before and really enjoyed them, so had high hope for this one.

Unfortunately it fell a bit flat for me, I guessed the first big twist almost instantly so spent the first part of the book, reading with what I was convinced was going to be revealed in mind and that just took me out of the right headspace for the book. I was in the end relieved I was right, as otherwise I may have had to re-evaluate what I had just read.

I kept being torn between continuing to read and just stopping. I did finish the book, and there are elements I enjoyed. But I just on the whole didn't connect to this story properly at all, and that was hard to come back from. I really wanted to love it, and it was probably a me issue rather than the book,

Sorry.

It’s taken me a day or two to write my thoughts about Love in Pieces by Anouska Knight. I needed to stop and take a moment or two but I’m ready now.

Sometimes a book comes along and hits you right where it hurts. And this book did that to me. Reading it was such an emotional rollercoaster ride for me. One minute I was sat with tears streaming down my cheeks and the next I was smiling through my tears.

I felt like I was part of Nancy's family! Feeling everything that they felt! The characters were all so relatable that I wanted to get in my car, drive to where they were, wrap them up in a blanket, and take care of them. I loved the inter-generational friendships that formed and how it showed that time can begin to heal people's hurts and help them to move forward when they were at a standstill.

This was an incredibly heartfelt book and while it broke my heart, it then put it back together again. It was raw and it was real. It felt like every word had been so carefully considered to be true to the characters and the plot.

A truly beautifully written, life-affirming read that felt like the author totally and utterly poured her heart and soul into it. I've not been able to stop thinking about it since and it's still brought a tear to my eye.

Powerful and emotional. Highly recommended

A great read highlighting just how different siblings can be in their approach to life as we follow Nancy through her return to her childhood home following a health scare and her sister Molly as she seemingly travels the world.
Great characters and a very well thought out plot!

I loved this book! The message really resonated with me to slow down and stop and smell the roses a bit more because life is too darn short to not enjoy it the way it is meant to be enjoyed. Filled with lessons of family, hope, and self discovery “Love In Pieces” is a beautiful boook that will stay with you a long time. Perfect book for book clubs as well.