I received an eARC of this book via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of this review.

Picking up this book, I expected a romantic comedy, and to some extent I got that. But I also got SO MUCH MORE. If You Ask Me by Libby Hubscher has a little something for everyone. I laughed, I cried, I got angry, and just in general felt all the emotions a book can make you feel. Following an advice columnist as her picture perfect life implodes, the book tackles big emotions like grief, infidelity, infertility, and ultimately moving on. Believe me when I say, this isn’t for the faint of heart. However, Hubscher handles the topics delicately, realistically, and gives voice to mental illness in all shapes and forms.

Violet Covington, from the outside, has the perfect life. She has the man of her dreams, the job of her dreams, the house of her dreams. However when she arrives home early to announce the news that her column is up for syndication, Violet finds the man of her dreams in bed with perfect Shelby down the street. Her visceral reaction to this is to do what every Southern woman is taught to do with their emotions: push it down, hide it and never let them see you cry. My heart broke for Violet here. I understood and empathized with the fact that her life was never going to be the same going forward. All those dreams, all her plans that she thought her husband shared with her, were gone.

How does one recover from that? That is the point of this plot. I absolutely love that while this does have some romance with a sexy firefighter, the book focuses more on Violet, her grief, and her self discovery as she moves through grieving not just her marriage, but all those dreams you share with your significant other. While some of what Violet does is cringeworthy, a lot of it is relatable. She’s picking up the pieces of her life, examining what to keep or what to toss, and putting herself back together again. I love her resilience….and Dez. I love Dez