Disclosure: I received a review copy of How to Find Love in the Little Things from Pansing Books, a regional distributor, in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
How to Find Love in the Little Things by Virginie Grimaldi • contains 442 pages • published August 23, 2018 by Headline Review, Headline Publishing Group • classified as Contemporary, Women's Fiction, General Fiction • obtained through Pansing Books • read as paperback • shelve on Goodreads Synopsis:
‘Welcome to Ocean View. You don’t know it yet, but you’ll be happy here…’
Julia’s not running away. Not exactly. She just needs a break from Paris and Marc and all the sad stuff that’s been going on lately. A little time to pull herself together.
The job offer felt like a lifeline. But now she’s back in Biarritz, suitcase in hand, she hasn’t the faintest idea what she was thinking.
What Julia doesn’t yet know is there’s more to the odds and ends of Ocean View than meet the eye. Behind the double doors lie broken hearts, lifelong secrets, a touch of romance and an unwavering passion for life. And sometimes it’s the most unlikely of places and people who help you find your way.
So Relatable
Depending on how you look at it, quarter- and midlife crises books can add to the disillusion or be rather cathartic. Personally, I thought How to Find Love in the Little Things tended towards the cathartic.
This book was quite relatable yet full of hope. I felt understood. I could commiserate with Julia over being far from where we thought we’d be at around the age of thirty. (Julia’s in her early thirties, I’m in my late twenties.) In fact, Julia had just thought a few months before that she’d had her life sorted. That is, until grief threw her into turmoil.
Dealing with Uncertainty
Julia had no idea what she was in for when she took on the job as a psychologist at a retirement home. All she knew was that she needed to get away from her old life, lest she waste away in her grief. What she found was a group of elderly people who came to treat her like family.
Of Hope & Lovely Characters
Despite the despair How to Find Love in the Little Things kicked off with, it was filled with hope and Julia tried to fit the pieces of her life together again. And the characters were the absolute the sweetest! I can’t think of another book I’ve read in recent times that’s anywhere near as heart-warming as this one.
An Amusing Read
I loved reading about Julia’s journey and the residents’ shenanigans, which made me snicker ever now and then. Some of theses situation were so absurd, I thought, “You can’t make this stuff up!” You know like when stuff happens in real life that’s just so out of this world, it’s more colourful than fiction? That’s ironically how I felt about this book.
Julia was kinda snarky too. For the most part, I found it amusing and endearing. However, there were times where this led to over the top narration. I found those moments quite jarring. On the other hand, Julia did seem a bit obsessive, so maybe that was the point.
Give This a Try
In any case, who would’ve guessed that a book set at a retirement home would make me smile so hard? Certainly not me. Yet here I am, declaring that these characters were so precious, I implore you to meet them too!
I like the idea of a book set in retirement home just because the same old settings keep being used in these books and it would be nice to see something fresh in the genre.
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That’s quite true. A lot of these quarter life crises women’s fiction books are set in new towns, but this usually entails a tiny apartment of some sort. I liked that for this book, the main character “ran away” to people, rather than a destination.