Review: Heart Conditions by Phoebe Fox

Heart Conditions by Phoebe Fox
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Summary: Breakup Doctor Brook Ogden has spent the last year sifting through the fallout from the disastrous decision that led to her unconscious uncoupling with boyfriend Ben Garrett. Despite advising her clients you can’t be friends with an ex, she and Ben have somehow begun to stitch together a friendship—one Brook hopes is slowly turning into more. That is, until Ben introduces his new girlfriend, Perfect Pamela, a paragon of womanly virtues who is everything Brook is not.

While Brook navigates her newly volatile emotional life, an unwelcome surprise shows up on her doorstep: the ex-fiancé who broke her heart two years ago—one month before their wedding. Between her ex’s desire to rekindle their attachment, her best friend Sasha’s unexpected crisis, and her own unsquelchable feelings for Ben, Brook finds herself questioning the personal progress she’s made in the last two years—and threatened with the highest-stakes Breakup Doctor failures she’s ever faced.  

Review: What a fun addition to this series!

When I read the first book (aptly called The Breakup Doctor) two years ago, I enjoyed it but found that my squeamishness due to self-inserting with the main character got in my way. Ultimately that lead me to dock the rating a bit, simply because I wanted to be honest about my enjoyment of the book.

Thankfully that was *much* less of an issue with this addition to the series, and I quite enjoyed it!

I actually haven't read the second book in this series, but in spite of that I thoroughly enjoyed this one - which means there's something to be said about the way the author has written the characters, I think. Having read the first book, however, I can tell you that there's a lot of genuine growth and development that has taken place on the part of our main characters, and I like that. I find sometimes in books it's hard to find that sort of change - so often it feels as though the author has had to force it, or that it's not quite right, doesn't fit the characters. That's not the case, here.

I think one of the biggest things I enjoyed here was the heart involved. I can empathise with these characters and what they go through. Job issues, romance, family worries, life decisions, break-ups, emotional crises... This book touches on it all, and in a way that's very real and understandable, and drew me in. We've all had bad break-ups, and we all have our worries about our friends, families, romantic entanglements and our future lives, and this series weaves those things together with the threads of true friendship, family connections and a hint of comedy, too.

The cast of supporting characters is awesome, and although you might expect a lot of sexual tension and build-up, this series relies more on conversation and the exploration of emotions - something that I find a bit unique in the flooded romance marketplace, to be honest, and something I really enjoyed.

I'm not sure whether or not this book is the last in the series, but I definitely enjoyed it and I will be keeping my eye out for future books from this author!

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

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