A Home For Broken Hearts by Rowan Coleman

It's been almost a year since Ellen Woods' husband was killed in a car accident, leaving her with their son, Charlie and debts that need to be paid off. When it becomes clear that there is a real possibility of Ellen and Charlie losing their home, Ellen is forced to rent out the spare rooms and welcome new lodgers into their lives.

Each lodger has their own lives and problems but can they pull together and help each other through these difficult periods? And can Ellen learn to live without her beloved Nick and the security her brought her?

I loved the idea of A Home For Broken Hearts, with a set of complete strangers being brought together and possibly forging friendships that would help them through their problems and I wasn't disappointed. The writing immediately drew me towards Ellen and I found myself fully immersed in her life. Ellen is completely smothered by her grief and I felt for her as she struggled to live without her husband, Nick.When Ellen opens her house up to Sabine, Allegra and Matt, she doesn't expect to make friends at all. Her only goal is to meet the mortgage payments so she can keep the family home - and some sort of stability - for her son. But slowly, Ellen begins to let these new people into her life and I liked seeing Ellen come back to life. I didn't expect to like all of the lodgers as they don't all give a great first impression but I'd warmed to them all by the end, especially Matt.

Ellen is a freelance copy-editor, working on romance novels and I loved this aspect of the book as we get to see one of the books she is working on evolving. I found myself almost as equally enthralled by Eliza, the heroine of the romance, as I was by Ellen and her lodgers. It was a nice touch to add to the main story without causing a distraction and I found the snippets entertaining.

The characters in A Home For Broken Hearts are all strong and entertaining in their own ways and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know all the lodgers in Ellen's home. While Ellen's story is quite a difficult one, Rowan  has created a light and fun read that I found both entertaining and uplifting. There were quite a few times when I had a giggle to myself and I didn't want to put the book down as I was eager to find out what would happen to Ellen and her newly extended household.