If You Ask Me
by Libby Hubscher
Pub Date- 3/8/22
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Viola has a great husband and a career that is about to take off. She’s an advice columnist and she just got great news and is excited to tell him then discovers her husband with another woman. Ugh a very younger fitter woman.
This starts her on a string on unfortunate events that led to a whole different better trajectory though at the time she couldn’t see it.
The fire she started in her front yard of all the things of her cheating husbands that were more important than her. Well that got a very kind, handsome firefighter on her radar. Well got her on his radar cause he started to come around to check on her.
Her writing may have gone a little vindictive and sideways for a bit but hindsight is 20/20 and as long as you can see where you have gone wrong and grow from it and move on you are healthier. Holding everything inside can lead to much bigger issues.
I appreciated the mental health rep cause we need to destigmatize the heck out of necessary care. People are afraid to seek treatment based off of others opinions to the detriment of their own health. It’s like if I had a serious illness and based off my colleagues opinion I just let myself get worse without care. Everything is about seeking care, management and adjusting.
I loved the slow romance between Viola and Dez. She really didn’t think she deserved love cause her ex really did a number on her. But we all deserve love. I can’t say it enough.


Tw:

There was a point when Viola’s struggles were so sad that I just felt so much pain for her. Infertility struggles were my biggest fear my whole life and I hadn’t tried until I was 30 which honestly I never had a scare and I was careful but you’d think so I assumed maybe it would be hard for me. But for her to be so brow beaten and berated for not having children when she has had so much loss. I’m a huge advocate for sharing your miscarriages, infertility and fertility journeys. Everyone’s experienceslooks different and this also removes the “when are you starting a family?” Because they know you have tried or you have lost. They can be sensitive or share their loss.
Whoever said that you had to suffer a miscarriage loss in silence is the devil. Whether or not the pregnancy was viable there is grief there. And hope of a family, of this indescribable love to have it pulled from you over and over again and told to not speak of it by society should not be happening.
‼️I’m always here if anyone needs to talk
Also, your worth in a relationship has nothing to do with if your reproductive system works. You are worthy of love! Period! The fact you find someone then release cause you assume they would want a family you can’t give them- TALK
it’s hard but I’ve found just saying everything out loud feels better and usually the other person helps to solve the riddle. You are a team afterall.
Ok this fertility, babies and the way we treat women is a huge trigger for me. So take care when reading. I enjoyed this book but I still wanted to hurt all the people that were mean to her cause I’m a mama bear. Even though I would probably just sit there and glare at them.
Also, families come in all shapes and sizes. Not all are biological and there is no normal despite what the media says. Love is love when it comes to families as well. We all need that connection and tie to the earth.


Thank you @berkleyromance and @netgalley for the e-ARC for my honest and voluntary review.

‼️ Ok I’m on Day 2 of my Instagram lockout/banishment cause I forgot I had an authenticator which somehow deleted from my phone so now I’m waiting for ig support.. omg I hope soon. I have a hard time with one day of comm missing 3-10 days is going to be 💀

Synopsis:
When an advice columnist’s picture-perfect life implodes, she opts to go rogue in this hilarious, heartwarming romance from the author of Meet Me in Paradise.

Violet Covington pens Dear Sweetie, the most popular advice column in the state of North Carolina. She has an answer for how to politely handle any difficult situation…until she discovers her husband, Sam, has been cheating on her. Furious and out of sensible solutions, Violet leaves her filter at the door and turns to her column to air her own frustrations. The new, brutally honest Dear Sweetie goes viral, sending more shock waves through Violet’s life. When she burns Sam’s belongings in a front-yard, late-night bonfire, a smoking-hot firefighter named Dez shows up to douse the flames, and an unexpected fling quickly shows potential to become something longer lasting.

A lot of people want to see the old polished Violet return—including her boss, who finds her unpredictability hard to manage, and Sam, who’s begging for another chance. But Dez appreciates Violet just the way she is—in fact, he can’t get enough of her. The right answers don’t come easily when Violet finds herself at her own personal crossroads. But maybe, by getting real, Violet can write her own happy ending.