A beach read! A story of friendships and family – this is not one to miss! LOVED IT! Let’s get into it:

• This ARC was received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
• Feels Like Falling by Kristy Woodson Harvey
• Genre: Women’s Fiction
• Pub Date: April 28, 2020
• Rating: 5 out of 5 book stacks!

Goodreads Summary: It’s summertime on the North Carolina coast and the livin’ is easy. Unless, that is, you’ve just lost your mother to cancer, your sister to her extremist husband, and your husband to his executive assistant. Meet Gray Howard. Right when Gray could use a serious infusion of good karma in her life, she inadvertently gets a stranger, Diana Harrington, fired from her job at the local pharmacy. Diana Harrington’s summer isn’t off to the greatest start either: Hours before losing her job, she broke up with her boyfriend and moved out of their shared house with only a worn-out Impala for a bed. Lucky for her, Gray has an empty guest house and a very guilty conscience. With Gray’s kindness, Diana’s tide begins to turn. But when her first love returns, every secret from her past seems to resurface all at once. And, as Gray begins to blaze a new trail, she discovers, with Diana’s help, that what she envisioned as her perfect life may not be what she wants at all. In her warmest, wisest novel yet, Kristy Woodson Harvey delivers a discerning portrait of modern womanhood through two vastly different lenses. Feels Like Falling is a beach bag essential for Harvey fans—and for a new generation of readers.

Happy publication day to Kristy Woodson Harvey! Her 6th book, Feels Like Falling, is out now in the US, and it is not one to miss!

I would agree with the summary, that this is a “beach read” that made me want to run and buy a house on the coast. Any coast. As long as there was sand, water, and a house I could walk home from the beach to, then I’m in!

This story is told from the point of view from both Gray and Diana, where each chapter alternates between the two. Gray is going through a divorce and is dealing with the fallout and trying to move on while running her company and being there for her son. Diana is down-on-her-luck, having just broken up with her boyfriend, losing her job and not having a place to live. It just so happens that Gray played a small part in Diana’s firing. And thus begins the story of how Gray and Diana find each other, and help each other bring out the best in themselves.

My thoughts: What makes this story truly remarkable is Harvey’s writing style. She weaves not only the main characters, but also the side characters into a story that had me hooked. Where the friendships feel so real, you feel like you are friends with them. At the end of my long days of working and “home schooling” (I use that term very loosely as Blippi made too many appearances today), I looked forward to climbing into bed to see what my favorite people were up to. And it just felt so comfortable. During these very uncertain times, this was the perfect antidote to relax and forget that I was not on the beach myself.

If I had one wish, it would be to have this book become a series. I would love to see some of the smaller side characters become leads, where we can learn about their lives and how they got there, and where they are going. I’ll keep my fingers crossed!

Who should read this: Fans of Southern fiction, fans of light, quick reads, beach reads, women’s fiction, people who need to relax and escape in a way that only books provide!