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3.88 AVERAGE
3.88 AVERAGE
So cute! I loved Evie and her family. The animals, the aunts, the towns people, and her love of sweets. Not what i usually read, but I was either smiling or crying while I read.
I’m ready to pack my bags and move into Evie’s small town and visit her bookstore and eat her delicious deserts and see her amazing animals! Evie is the owner of an independent bookstore on the San Juan Islands of the Pacific Northwest. She has suffered from premonitions her entire life, she tries to change the outcome if it involves anyone getting hurt. Her mother and three aunts are hilarious they make hats and paintings and grow flowers and they are everything to her, she’s extremely close with her sister Jules whose about to get married. When Evie takes a DNA test with her sister to learn more about their ancestors her life changes forever. The other side of the book involves a woman named Betsy who delivers her baby in prison and whose also suffers with premonitions. This book is Evies Journey as she learns to handle her past and her future, and realize she’s not alone her family and friends are their for her, and it’s ok for her to find happiness while she comes to terms with her past and possibly find love. You will not want to put this book down. I fell
In love with Evies character and her family and friends in her small town. I can relate to her love of books and her animals. This was a perfect weekend read while the weather has cooled down curled up
on my couch. I had to remind myself the characters aren’t real because they are so relatable and quirky! I give this five stars!
In love with Evies character and her family and friends in her small town. I can relate to her love of books and her animals. This was a perfect weekend read while the weather has cooled down curled up
on my couch. I had to remind myself the characters aren’t real because they are so relatable and quirky! I give this five stars!
Cathy Lamb has been a favorite of mine for years and this tradition simply continues on with All About Evie. You have your quirky, local girl who keeps to herself for the most part and loves her books. She adores her animals and may be in love with the local vet. She’s learned over the years to not get too close to anyone, though, except for her mom and aunties. It’s hard when you have seen premonitions your entire life. Sometimes you have to choose and that’s hard. So you just keep your distance.
Evie is the only one in her family to see these premonitions and it can take a toll. She’s learned how to deal with it in her own way and has made a place for herself in the Pacific NW. She owns a bookshop and is adorably brusque with customers when she feels it’s justified. She adores cake and pie and loathes a good workout. I feel a kindred spirit here.
She is likable, endearing, and you want what’s best for her. You root for her as she figures this all out, planning her sister’s wedding in the middle of it all. Your heart will be warmed, you’ll be put on edge just a wee bit, and her family can be charmingly irritating and stubborn. They are all the best kind of women.
All About Evie is the perfect fall read. So, grab some tea and a slice of cake. Maybe even the whole cake. You need the sustenance if you’re going to read this all in one sitting. Evie would approve.
I received an advanced copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
Evie is the only one in her family to see these premonitions and it can take a toll. She’s learned how to deal with it in her own way and has made a place for herself in the Pacific NW. She owns a bookshop and is adorably brusque with customers when she feels it’s justified. She adores cake and pie and loathes a good workout. I feel a kindred spirit here.
She is likable, endearing, and you want what’s best for her. You root for her as she figures this all out, planning her sister’s wedding in the middle of it all. Your heart will be warmed, you’ll be put on edge just a wee bit, and her family can be charmingly irritating and stubborn. They are all the best kind of women.
All About Evie is the perfect fall read. So, grab some tea and a slice of cake. Maybe even the whole cake. You need the sustenance if you’re going to read this all in one sitting. Evie would approve.
I received an advanced copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
Fat phobic drivel. Did not read past the first chapter. Will not complete.
I really wanted to love this one, the premonitions made it sound like we were going to embark on a magical journey. And there was a bit of magic, but it took the backburner to the storyline, and that's okay, but...
The repetitiveness of the storyline was too much. We knew that Jules loved her fiance and that she was excited to get married. We knew that she was emotional and loved to talk about their sex life. But every conversation with Evie centered on those elements, every-single-time. The same goes for Evie and her animals. Her love for her animals shined through, they helped her get through the tough times in her life, but it was the repeated day to day of it, the same scene repeated in numerous chapters that became too much.
The blurb focuses on the DNA test which doesn't come into play until the last quarter of the book. I often feel let down when a blurb is so misleading and I feel that's exactly what happened here. There's such potential for a good book underneath all the repetitiveness that didn't move the story forward but rather just stuffed the pages.
I did like the alternating timelines, the backstory that revealed itself slowly over chapters to eventually tie into the main storyline, it was unique and engaging. That story was solid, there wasn't an issue of repeated scenes, and if the rest of the book could be written as smoothly, it could be a 5-star book. The elements of premonition, of the fun Evie's mother and aunts, the relationship Evie has to her sister, they would really make the book stand out with some editing.
The repetitiveness of the storyline was too much. We knew that Jules loved her fiance and that she was excited to get married. We knew that she was emotional and loved to talk about their sex life. But every conversation with Evie centered on those elements, every-single-time. The same goes for Evie and her animals. Her love for her animals shined through, they helped her get through the tough times in her life, but it was the repeated day to day of it, the same scene repeated in numerous chapters that became too much.
The blurb focuses on the DNA test which doesn't come into play until the last quarter of the book. I often feel let down when a blurb is so misleading and I feel that's exactly what happened here. There's such potential for a good book underneath all the repetitiveness that didn't move the story forward but rather just stuffed the pages.
I did like the alternating timelines, the backstory that revealed itself slowly over chapters to eventually tie into the main storyline, it was unique and engaging. That story was solid, there wasn't an issue of repeated scenes, and if the rest of the book could be written as smoothly, it could be a 5-star book. The elements of premonition, of the fun Evie's mother and aunts, the relationship Evie has to her sister, they would really make the book stand out with some editing.
*I received a free ARC of this book from NetGalley and the Publisher for an Honest Review.*
I liked this book. It was interesting and really pulled you in from the beginning because you wanted to know what would happen with Evie and the things that she sees. Cathy Lamb wrote characters that you care about and want to see more of including Betsy in the flashback chapters that focused on her. My one issue with the book is the description makes a huge deal out of the DNA test but it doesn’t happen until over 50% into the novel and it’s so insignificant to everything else that’s going on that I didn’t even care about it. Sure there needed to be a reason for Betsy and Evie to meet but it was clear the entire time to the reader the story was leading up to them meeting and that could have been engineered in anyway without the throw away ancestry.com esc part of the plot. So much focus was put on the cop being a terrible person and Marco that I wanted more t be about them and completely forgot what the book had been described as because I enjoyed it so much.
Part of me wanted the premonition to come to pass because Evie went to visit Jules and that was how she found out who her real mother is during the crash not have it be a throw away in the last 15% of the book and have everything wrapped up so quickly afterwards. It was a bit of a disappointing ending but the rest of the book and how well it was developed was SO GOOD. It talked about depression and things people go through when they feel alone and how something can change their life forever (for Evie it was her dog Sundance) and if the ending hadn’t been so quick it wouldn’t have felt like it was just tying up loose ends as quickly as possible.
I liked this book. It was interesting and really pulled you in from the beginning because you wanted to know what would happen with Evie and the things that she sees. Cathy Lamb wrote characters that you care about and want to see more of including Betsy in the flashback chapters that focused on her. My one issue with the book is the description makes a huge deal out of the DNA test but it doesn’t happen until over 50% into the novel and it’s so insignificant to everything else that’s going on that I didn’t even care about it. Sure there needed to be a reason for Betsy and Evie to meet but it was clear the entire time to the reader the story was leading up to them meeting and that could have been engineered in anyway without the throw away ancestry.com esc part of the plot. So much focus was put on the cop being a terrible person and Marco that I wanted more t be about them and completely forgot what the book had been described as because I enjoyed it so much.
Part of me wanted the premonition to come to pass because Evie went to visit Jules and that was how she found out who her real mother is during the crash not have it be a throw away in the last 15% of the book and have everything wrapped up so quickly afterwards. It was a bit of a disappointing ending but the rest of the book and how well it was developed was SO GOOD. It talked about depression and things people go through when they feel alone and how something can change their life forever (for Evie it was her dog Sundance) and if the ending hadn’t been so quick it wouldn’t have felt like it was just tying up loose ends as quickly as possible.
WTF In All The Best Ways. The marketing for this book is all "premonitions and DNA tests", and honestly, while that certainly applies to the tale - premonitions play a central role in the two primary lives involved and there is indeed a DNA test that allows them to find each other - that aspect to the book is not so major as to warrant being the primary marketing focus, to my mind. Instead, this is a funny in an off beat kind of way (think: escaping goats and aunts who start a pot business to fund an Antarctic expedition) tale of a woman who has a full life yet is searching to find that one missing piece. The Beauty and the Beast allusions of the cover illustration are spot on, but again, a minor if recurring point. Overall a very strong book, but one that is quite a bit more humorous than the marketing and even cover may imply. Very much recommended.
okay so first of all i don't know who made the cover but it makes this book look like a thriller when it's distinctly not
this is one of those books that's great when you've just finished with a horrible book or you're stuck in a bit of a rut-- pacy and fun, funny but also with some real weight behind the themes to invoke an emotional response-- the kind of book that feels like a guaranteed happy ending
i can't exactly pinpoint why i loved this so much other than a few things:
strong side characters! i'm such a sucker for strong side characters
✨family✨
a few really great turns of phrase
there's more than that but i can't think of it rn
also i appreciated the common thread of how men who've never been told "no" see women as something they're owed to own and use as they will-- assault, imbalanced power dynamics in penal institutions that're full of people who don't really need to be there, white men in government wielding what power they have with blunt-force trauma, etc
this book is incredibly satisfying because the issues presented are real and not dumbed-down or declawed, but you somehow have faith that they'll be resolved by the essential goodness of [nearly] all the characters in the book. this book says yes, the world sucks and men are monsters sometimes and our justice system is fatally flawed, but I Really Do Believe that there is more good than bad in the sum of our parts, and the Good will coalesce around those who need help, and together we can make this world a safer and happier place for those who come after.
one minor gripe: the constant justifying of food [e.g. pecan pie is healthy because pecans are a nut and nuts are a protein] took me out of the narrative every time i heard it because it brought back bad memories of disordered eating patterns. it might not bother another reader but it really fuckin screwed with my head and it felt completely unnecessary as a device to prove that evie's quirky or some shit like that
this is one of those books that's great when you've just finished with a horrible book or you're stuck in a bit of a rut-- pacy and fun, funny but also with some real weight behind the themes to invoke an emotional response-- the kind of book that feels like a guaranteed happy ending
i can't exactly pinpoint why i loved this so much other than a few things:
strong side characters! i'm such a sucker for strong side characters
✨family✨
a few really great turns of phrase
there's more than that but i can't think of it rn
also i appreciated the common thread of how men who've never been told "no" see women as something they're owed to own and use as they will-- assault, imbalanced power dynamics in penal institutions that're full of people who don't really need to be there, white men in government wielding what power they have with blunt-force trauma, etc
this book is incredibly satisfying because the issues presented are real and not dumbed-down or declawed, but you somehow have faith that they'll be resolved by the essential goodness of [nearly] all the characters in the book. this book says yes, the world sucks and men are monsters sometimes and our justice system is fatally flawed, but I Really Do Believe that there is more good than bad in the sum of our parts, and the Good will coalesce around those who need help, and together we can make this world a safer and happier place for those who come after.
one minor gripe: the constant justifying of food [e.g. pecan pie is healthy because pecans are a nut and nuts are a protein] took me out of the narrative every time i heard it because it brought back bad memories of disordered eating patterns. it might not bother another reader but it really fuckin screwed with my head and it felt completely unnecessary as a device to prove that evie's quirky or some shit like that
I absolutely have no idea how I feel about this book.
First, let me say that I previously read the author's "The Last Time I Was Me" and LOVED it. I saw "All About Evie" was available via Amazon Prime, so I was very excited to read this. The premise was intriguing.
I guess my issue is that if you read the synopsis of the story, you would expect that would be the focus early on. And while we meet quirky Evie and her very quirky aunts early on, the storyline about the DNA test doesn't happen until about half way through the book, with the results of that near the end.
Ok fine. Then maybe you'd expect the first half of the book to focus on more promotions that Evie has. Not quite -- the story goes back and forth between the present and the past (which you could see where the story was going early on), with the chapters about the past way more intriguing than Evie in the current. I feel like we got a lot of filler and repetitiveness in the first half of the book (her feelings on desserts! Her quirky aunts! the animals! Marco! Her sister always talking about her sex life! The cats knocking down her stacks and stacks of books! Her bookstore ALWAYS insanely busy and her arguing with patrons and always being right in her arguments!) It got old pretty quickly.
And by the time the actual point of the story came about, it still dragged UNTIL the results, which then felt very rushed. Evie also would sound so profound where I was cheering for her (whenever she stuck up for the garbage excuse of the police chief, who sort of came out of nowhere, if only to parallel the story in the past about men being controlling, etc.), but then would sound like a very immature child. Again, she's quirky, so maybe that's on point?
And as I say this, the ending with her dog made me CRY ACTUAL TEARS, so obviously I was somewhat invested in the book. Maybe the dog was my favorite character, I don't know.
Overall, I don't know how to feel about this book -- with the number of high reviews, I apparently missed the point. I am interested in reading other stories by Cathy Lamb because of my love for "The Last Time I Was Me" though (which I'm pretty sure she pulls in as a book club topic early on in this story -- assuming my memory isn't messing with me, since I read TLTIWM a few years ago, but if so, that was pretty clever). Here's hoping the next one I pick up from her is more on that level than Evie.
First, let me say that I previously read the author's "The Last Time I Was Me" and LOVED it. I saw "All About Evie" was available via Amazon Prime, so I was very excited to read this. The premise was intriguing.
I guess my issue is that if you read the synopsis of the story, you would expect that would be the focus early on. And while we meet quirky Evie and her very quirky aunts early on, the storyline about the DNA test doesn't happen until about half way through the book, with the results of that near the end.
Ok fine. Then maybe you'd expect the first half of the book to focus on more promotions that Evie has. Not quite -- the story goes back and forth between the present and the past (which you could see where the story was going early on), with the chapters about the past way more intriguing than Evie in the current. I feel like we got a lot of filler and repetitiveness in the first half of the book (her feelings on desserts! Her quirky aunts! the animals! Marco! Her sister always talking about her sex life! The cats knocking down her stacks and stacks of books! Her bookstore ALWAYS insanely busy and her arguing with patrons and always being right in her arguments!) It got old pretty quickly.
And by the time the actual point of the story came about, it still dragged UNTIL the results, which then felt very rushed. Evie also would sound so profound where I was cheering for her (whenever she stuck up for the garbage excuse of the police chief, who sort of came out of nowhere, if only to parallel the story in the past about men being controlling, etc.), but then would sound like a very immature child. Again, she's quirky, so maybe that's on point?
And as I say this, the ending with her dog made me CRY ACTUAL TEARS, so obviously I was somewhat invested in the book. Maybe the dog was my favorite character, I don't know.
Overall, I don't know how to feel about this book -- with the number of high reviews, I apparently missed the point. I am interested in reading other stories by Cathy Lamb because of my love for "The Last Time I Was Me" though (which I'm pretty sure she pulls in as a book club topic early on in this story -- assuming my memory isn't messing with me, since I read TLTIWM a few years ago, but if so, that was pretty clever). Here's hoping the next one I pick up from her is more on that level than Evie.