The Rebound: An absolutely hilarious romantic comedy set in Ireland

Catherine Walsh

Feb 2022 · Bookouture

About this ebook

‘OMG this book was just what I needed… Kept me turning the pages and reading late into the night… It was like drinking a great big warm mug of hot chocolate, I just loved it.’ Reading Time at the Zoo ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

 

A newly single girl. A tall dark handsome stranger. What could go wrong?

 

It’s 7 a.m. on a Monday and Abby Reynolds isn’t where she wants to be. She wants to be in her beautiful loft apartment in Manhattan, drinking a coffee with her fiancé.

 

Instead, she’s heading back to the childhood home in rural Ireland she swore she’d never return to, with some big old secrets. Namely that she’s suddenly found herself unemployed, homeless, and absolutely 100% single.

 

She’s feeling all out of luck. Until the first person she meets after she touches down is an absurdly hot guy called Luke, who offers her a lift home. Gazing deep into his sparkling emerald-green eyes, Abby knows instantly that he’s exactly what she needs to take her mind off everything. The perfect rebound.

 

It’s a flawless plan. Until the next day, when Abby realizes who he actually is. Not just a stranger. He is, in fact, Luke Bailey, aka the boy next door. Luke Bailey who—so help her God—she’s pretty sure she once shared baths with, back when they were kids. Not that she can allow herself to imagine him in a bath now, not without blushing from head to foot.

 

And judging by the smirk on his face, the same Luke Bailey who’s known exactly who she was the whole time… And who, like everyone in the village, still thinks she’s a high-flying New Yorker… who’s getting married next year.

 

Abby is certain getting under Luke will help her get over her ex. But the truth is stopping her. Can she admit to everyone back home that she’s single and has lost everything? Because, if she wants the boy next door, she may just have to…

 

The perfect feel-good romantic comedy that will make you laugh until you cry and fall completely in love. Fans of Sophie Kinsella, Marian Keyes, and Emily Henry won’t be able to put this down!

 

Readers are completely obsessed with The Rebound:

 

‘OMG I LOVED IT… I couldn’t put it down… I laughed out loud so many times… It felt like watching a very warm, very cute, very endearing movie. Loved every second of it.’ @fabooklover ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘This book is PERFECT… Luke is *chef’s kiss*… The tension and slow burn between Luke and Abby had me on the edge of my seat, waiting for them to GET TOGETHER!!’ @manic_bibliophiles ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

 

‘I really love this book… The HUMOUR!!! The perfect amount of sarcasm, wit, and darkness. Genuinely laughing out loud while reading… Perfect… Honestly, I just love this book. New instant fav — and the perfect read!’ Goodreads reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

 

‘To say I devoured this book is an understatement… I love love love that it’s set in a small town in Ireland… A perfect recipe for swooning… I read this book right after The Hating Game when I was looking for something to fill the void and it did just that.’ @_bookally_ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘I couldn’t put it down. Like literally. I was reading in school, in the car, in my free time, and everywhere else.’ Goodreads reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘I loved this… So cute and romantic. The men in Irish romcoms are always so swoonworthy and this lived up to that!’ Rainy Day Reads and Coffee ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

 

‘Everything I look for in a romance – packed full of humour, flirting, chemistry and a little bit of drama. I couldn’t put it down and feel a little bit lost now I’ve finished… Addictive.’ @theyorkshirebookshelf ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘Had me addicted from page one! I was laughing, crying and swooning from start to finish!’ Ateachersguidetoreading ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Ratings and reviews

I have received an ARC through NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own and left voluntarily. Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this copy. I honestly liked this surprisingly much, because at the beginning I didn't feel very drawn by it, but by the third chapter, I was all in. It was easy and cute, with enough funny moments to make it a humorous romance. The general vibe was very "Gilmore Girls"-ish, so I definitely recommend this to anyone who likes that TV show. A relationship I really enjoyd following throughout this book was the one between Abby and her older sister, Louise. It had something very real and totally understandable and I found it hard to not like the two of them. Especially towards the end, when they were both so supportive and I guess it painted a pretty nice picture of family bonds. It's a very nice romance that will both fascinate and humor its readers. It's sprinkled with cute scenes, it has banter and relatable characters and well, for me it was a total page-turner. And some situations described here are so real and usually not mentioned in books, that you really have to appreciate it as it definitely showed some originality.

The Rebound, by Catherine Walsh, is just what you need to get you in the mood for love and romance this Valentine’s Day! It will have you laughing and crying and shouting at the characters! Abby has had no choice but to return home to Ireland from New York, where she has been living and working for the past few years. Her entire life was there, her home, her job, her fiance and her friends. Now she is left with nothing. Staying with her sister, who she doesn’t really get on with, and having to face familiar faces in the village who all know why she’s had to come back, Abby sets about rebuilding her life. Most of the characters in The Rebound are lovable in their own way. Abby and her sister Louise are very different people and have never really got on with each other, but this changes as the story progresses and in their own way, each of them is there for the other, because who can you rely on, if you can’t rely on family. I loved Beth, Abby’s newfound friend, and they often tried to put the world to rights over a glass (or three) of wine! The Rebound is just a lovely, happy, flirty, sexy read and will leave you with a warm feeling inside when you’ve finished it. Settle back in front of the fire on a cold winter’s evening and disappear into the Irish countryside with Abby and her friends. I was lucky enough to be part of Books on Tour for this, so thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of The Rebound by Catherine Walsh.

Another Catherine Walsh book which I absolutely loved !! I have to admit, I did have high expectations for this after loving Walsh’s previous book, ‘one night only’, and I was delighted to love this one also. This really had everything I wanted in a romcom, Walsh has a fantastic writing style and the book is kept wonderfully romantic and fun throughout. Luke and Abby definitely had a lot of chemistry together, and the banter between them both made the romance part of the book very entertaining to read. As individual characters, I adored Abby. Having lost her job, fiancé and apartment, she is left with no choice but to go back home to Ireland. Everything really is going wrong for her. It’s because of her struggles that I loved her so much, Abby was someone I could connect with and I was really invested in her getting a happy ending, preferably with the very hot next door neighbour Luke ;)) Aside from the romance being a big part of what I enjoyed in this story, I also loved witnessing the development of the family relationships between Abby and her sister, it was very heart warming to witness the development of both of them together. The only thing I wanted more of was Luke !! Being both very hot and sweet, It’s hard not to fall a little in love with him, and I just wish there had been a little more about him. This being said there really is nothing I disliked about this book, I can definitely see it being one of my favourite romcoms of the year and I will be eagerly looking out for whatever Catherine Walsh writes next. Would recommend to fans of the song ‘everything has changed’ by Taylor Swift!