Lauryn Harper Falls Apart

Lauryn Harper Falls Apart is such a cozy, heartwarming story about coming home, facing the past, and finding your place again. Lauryn returns to her hometown, where she has to deal with an old friend, her own conscience, and the challenge of helping save the Community Center.I loved the small-town setting, it gave me all the fall vibes. I also really appreciated that the focus wasn’t on romance, but on friendship, community, belonging, and personal growth. Lauryn and Marina’s friendship, along with their little rituals, reminded me so much of my own BFF from middle school (who’s still my BFF today).The secondary characters from Ryser Cares added a lot of charm to the story too. As for Lauryn, I’ll admit she wasn’t the easiest character to like...sometimes she was hard to understand and even a bit exasperating, but by the end, I did grow to appreciate her.Overall, this felt like the perfect fall read. It’s one of those books that makes you feel like you’re right there in Greenstead, in the apple festival, surrounded by cozy traditions, and the warmth of community.

Thanks to NetGalley for the early read. I enjoyed many characters in this book, but not Lauryn. Maybe I should have anticipated that from the title, but I must say that Lauryn is surrounded by abnormally forgiving people. I love that the misfits from the flophouse were shown to be more than that and that they learned they were more than that. This very much had the feel of a Hallmark movie about a small town overcoming obstacles and facing off with the big corporation while putting on a fantastic festival, although there was no romance or love triangle.Although there were some times where I thought is was longer than it should have been and got a bit repetitive, it was a fun read that was good for the fall.

Thank you Sourcebooks, this was a big win for me for laughs and some light but well written storytelling. I respected and valued the themes on deaf culture and ableism as well, I am all the better for stories that remind me to look outside the usual stories and lean into stories with disability. Shauna Robinson offers a story filled with warmth, engaging characters, and always welcome themes on second chances, which are a theme I love to delve into when I want an escape read. I am excited to read more from this author soon!

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebook Landmark for a digital advance reader copy. All comments and opinions are my own unless otherwise noted.It isn’t often I read about a main character (or any character for that matter) with a hearing loss, so I was intrigued. And once I started reading, I couldn’t stop. This was a feel-good story of second chances – for friendships, for careers, for an apple festival, and even for a small town.There were several laugh-out-loud moments and zany plot developments as the group of underdog characters regained their sense of purpose and tapped back into the versions of themselves they thought were lost.I enjoyed the way the characters developed a sense of camaraderie and self-esteem as the story developed. I recommend this heartwarming novel to anyone who wants to read an engaging story about believing in yourself and making a difference.

This book was so disappointing. The characters were flat, the plot line was boring and predicable. I would not recommend.