Love Is...

Love Is.. was fascinating, as Ellie Rigby is on a search to try and work out how exactly you prevent divorce, stay in love and generally what happiness and love really are, in order to try and offer new services with her dating agency.

However life has not been going completely to plan since we left Ellie at the end of It's Got To Be Perfect, and she is struggling to conceive, and generally seems a bit distant from husband Nick. Not to mention her best friend is also having marriage struggles and seems to keep popping up everywhere.

Although this is a second book about a character, it can definitely be read as a standalone, as although I know I have read the first book last year, I couldn't remember any specifics, and didn't feel at a disadvantage for a faulty memory.

I loved the pacing of this book, and the various witty comments, and some of the imagery when Ellie is meeting her professional gurus are fantastic. I loved the retreat in Texas, and the trip to Iceland, and the technology in Tokyo is something I can see being real within a few years, if it isn't already. I also really enjoyed the various explanations on just what love really is, and various theories about divorce.

At times I felt Ellie could be a bit idealistic about the world, and love, then again I may just be a big cynic, but I enjoyed reading her big dilemma in this story, while still rooting for her. Although I am not going to reveal the ending, as that would spoil the book for everyone, I will say I can't help but think there should be another book for Ellie, as she is a great character and I think has a lot more to offer.

Thank you Netgalley and MIRA for this review copy. This was my honest opinion.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it is not quite like anything I have read before. I loved the way Ellie was saying one thing but thinking something very different, and usually very funny. I thoroughly enjoyed the humour in the different adventures in her various research venues, a terrible retreat in wigwams in Texas, discussing the reasons for love while naked in a hot spring in Iceland, and discussions with a technological genius in Tokyo, who had apparently lost the need for contact with anybody because of his inventions, which were supposed to be giving an insight into how to prevent divorce. I understood the reasons that Ellie was carrying out the research, a bit surprised that she did not realise that all the absences were causing her and her beloved husband Nick to draw further and further apart, although the reader can see it quite plainly.
I am assuming that Haley had done her research, so I can believe, but feel very shocked by the divorce statistics, just one law firm handling almost six hundred thousand cases in a year, in their offices in New York, London, Belgium and Germany, especially with the lawyer acknowledging that most of these did not need to happen. It is a sobering thought.
There is plenty of humour, some sadness, and a fairly fast pace, the book pulls you on. You wonder what scrape Ellie is going to get into next! It also shows how you can answer a question quite honestly, yet the answer isn't really the truth that you are trying to reach, an honest answer, but only part of the story.
I will certainly look out for Haley Hill's books, she is an author whose books are definitely to be enjoyed.

I was really intrigued by this book and Haley Hill did not disappoint. It was a really fascinating look at the relationships we have peppered with a little comedy and a very intelligent realistic protagonist.



In this book, we meet Ellie who has founded a match-making service but is distressed at the rising number of divorces being reported her company’s clients. She embarks on a journey around the world to try and understand what love is. I really enjoyed taking this adventure with Ellie. It really makes you consider what happiness and love really is. I liked the fact it flags up that sometimes we believe that love is what society has dictated it should be. It is getting married and having children.



I think what gave this book more depth than I thought was the fact that our protagonist was married and struggling to resolve what she thinks her marriage should be, with what is actually is. As much as Ellie is looking for an answer for her clients you can tell the answer is personal to her. She is trying to make sense of this crazy world we live in and the complex emotions and concepts we have to try and wrap our heads around. This book was a perfect blend of thought-provoking insights and comedic adventure.



I really enjoyed the variety of characters that appear in this book. Each one has a different story to tell about love and marriage and contribute to the debate that carries through the book as to what love is. I don’t think there is an actual answer at the end of the book and I think that is an answer in itself. Maybe there is, this book kind of lets you make your own opinion. I felt after reading this that love is different to everyone and all the people in the book demonstrate that. Although I wouldn’t mind an injection of Oxytocin if that’s an actual thing.
Overall, this is a quick, light read that has more depth to it than your regular ‘chic lit’ if we are still calling it that. I really enjoyed it and I’m looking forward to more from Haley Hill, she is one to watch.

In Love Is, we meet Ellie Rigby. Ellie runs a dating agency and wants to find out how couples can stay together and avoid divorce. She sets herself a mission to travel to certain countries including Texas, Iceland and Tokyo to visit experts to gain some more knowledge and understanding on the subject.
Married to husband Nick, the couple are struggling to conceive and this is putting a wedge between the couple, Nick thinks she just needs to chill out and not keep putting everything on the line to have a baby. With a reluctant move to New York, a hot co worker called Dominic on the scene and leaving best friend Matthew behind, can Ellie finally be happy or is she still holding out on things in life that may just not be in her reach?..
I really enjoyed Ellie's visits to the experts, the retreat in Texas, the trip to Iceland, and the bright lights of Tokyo. It was interesting to hear the explanations and thoughts about divorce from the experts.
I found myself engrossed in this story, it was an enjoyable read and Haley Hill clearly did her research for this book. She seemed to piece everything together perfectly. I hope there will be a follow on book, as Ellie has so much more in her story she could tell and it would be great to revist her and the gang. One of my favorite parts was when Matthew was decribing to Ellie, how he told his children he was having a break away from their mum as things in the marriage werent good. He said
'I told them mummy had been mean to me so i was going to see Mickey Mouse to cheer me up'
This made me Laugh out loud and it is a line that will stay with me. A perfect little read.