#BlogTour! #Review – The Year of Starting Over by Karen King (@karen_king) @Bookouture #publicationday

Massive congratulations to Karen King on the publication of ‘The Year of Starting Over’! I am absolutely delighted to be kicking off the blog tour today with a review – many thanks to Bookouture for the blog tour invite and ARC. Here is my review:

Last year was meant to be when Holly got her happy-ever-after. But stuck in a job that’s going nowhere, and a relationship that feels more like it’s going backwards… thisyear Holly hasdecided it’s time to change her life. She just has to:

– End the relationship with the commitment-phobic boyfriend
– Go on a proper adventure
– Learn to be herself again
– Definitely, categorically not fall in love.

Cramming her belongings into her little yellow Mini, Holly drives on to a ferry bound to Spain, to stay at a remote farmhouse near a beautiful village in the Andalusian hills.

But the day she arrives she nearly crashes her car into a gorgeous guy on a motorbike. He’s called Matias and their paths keep crossing, much to Holly’s irritation. Because as she learns to speak Spanish from the locals, finally starts laying out plans for her own design business, and sips sangria in the sunlit village square, Holly is beginning to remember who she is and what she wants.

So she won’t allow herself be distracted by Matias. Because this year – for Holly – there are more important things in life than love. And she won’t let yet another bad relationship ruin everything… will she?

What does TWG think?

Sometimes when things happen in our lives, we have to decide between fighting….or flighting. Not everyone has the luxury over going to a different country to think things over, so a lot of us only have the option to flee to the toilet to contemplate our lives whilst inhaling the new, seasonal toilet duck smell, as though cinnamon and spice will make us see things much clearer than good ol’ pine. Thankfully Holly had the option to think things through in Spain….

Poor Holly has lost sight of herself and what she wants from life. Instead of doing things or wearing things that SHE wants, she has been making choices based on what other people want, in fear that they won’t like her for who she really is. It’s a sad state of affairs when people feel the need to do that, isn’t it?

‘The Year of Starting Over’ really is a book which makes you think about the bare bones of your own life and everything you wish to achieve in the not too distant future. It wouldn’t be a Karen King novel if there wasn’t a man involved, so of course the storyline contains multiple eligible bachelors for Holly to think about….even though she has sworn off men due to the actions of snakey Scott.

I loved how tender and uplifting the novel was, and I absolutely fell in love with little Luna. What a character!! It was wonderful how we got to see Holly start the story as a little bud who got weathered along the way, finally flourishing in a way that she should have all along. It was a beautiful sight to see and Karen King has done an exceptional job of bringing Holly’s story to life in such a natural and humorous manner, whilst also ensuring that her readers took a step back to think about their own lives.

A cosy, fun filled and poignant novel that will highlight just how ‘okay’ it is to not be okay in life. Such a wonderful little book.

Buy now!