Book Review: Make Do and Mend a Broken Heart by Katey Lovell

When you know how, you can make anything from scratch, including a new life after love…

When Leanne and Richard bought a dilapidated old seaside cottage to renovate together as their forever home, their future was full of hope and promise.

But heartbreak was just around the corner: fast forward a few months and Richard is gone. With his death, Leanne finds herself stony broke, faced with an uninhabitable home and lacking even the basic skills to do it up herself.

With the help of the friendly woman who runs the library and the reluctant assistance of the man who works in the local hardware shop, the cottage is lovingly restored. But broken hearts aren’t so easy to fix… are they?

I was so excited to be part of the blog blast for Make Do and Mend a Broken Heart by Katey Lovell.

When Leanne and Richard buy Sea Glass Cottage, they can’t wait to begin the new chapter of their lives and start renovating their new house by the seaside. When Richard dies before they have a chance to realise their dream, Leanne decides to go it alone.

She soon finds that the residents of Rockgate Bay pull together for her, especially the handsome, Harry. Can they help mend her broken heart?

First of all, can I move to Rockgate Bay please? Having grown up near the sea, this book really made me miss it so much.

The town sounds so wonderful (the setting is described so well,) as does most of the residents. There are a couple of them I didn’t care for. If you read it, you’ll see what I mean.

I loved Mary and Harry. Oh Harry Also, can I steal Milo?

Leanne was very easy to love. She’s been through a lot. I wanted to reach into the page and give her a hug.

She shows such strength as a character. She is well-developed and to me, she jumped off the page.

Katey Lovell’s style of writing made this novel hard to put down for me.

It deals with the subject of grief with empathy and compassion. There were moments where I laughed and parts where I wanted to cry. I felt so emotionally invested in this place and the characters.

Make Do and Mend a Broken Heart is full of warmth, love and friendship. It’s about how a community can come together through thick and thin. All you have to do is let them.

This book is great for curling up with along with a cup of tea or hot chocolate and with the phone turned off.

I loved every moment of this novel and I hope it’s not the last we see of the residents of Rockgate Bay. Katey, you have a new fan.

About Katey:

Katey Lovell’s feel-good novels are about people overcoming everyday challenges with the support of their friends, family and local community. She has also penned a series of coffee-break romances and a hot romance novella for Tirgearr’s City Nights series.

Originally from South Wales, Katey now lives in Sheffield with her husband, son and friendly moggie Clarence. When she’s not writing she’ll most likely be found watching musicals, enjoying live music or reading anything and everything she can lay her hands on.

Say hi to Katey on Twitter.

Make Do and Mend a Broken Heart was released on eBook by Quercus Books on 9th January 2020. Click to view on Amazon UK.

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Laura

I’m Laura. I started Novel Kicks in 2009. I wanted a place to post my writing as well as give other writers like me the opportunity to do the same. There is also a monthly book club, a writing room which features writing prompts, book reviews, competitions, author interviews and guest posts.

I grew up by the sea (my favourite place in the world) and I currently live in Hampshire. I am married to Chris, have a cat named Buddy and I would love to be a writer. I’m trying to write the novel I’ve talked so much about writing if only I could stop pressing delete. I’ve loved writing since creative writing classes in primary school. I have always wanted to see my teacher Miss Sayers again and thank her for the encouragement. When not trying to write the novel or writing snippets of stories on anything I can get my hands on, I love reading, dancing like a loon and singing to myself very badly. My current obsession is Once Upon a Time and I would be happy to live with magic in the enchanted forest surrounded by all those wonderful stories provided that world also included Harry Potter. I love reading chick lit. contemporary fiction and novels with mystery.