Jessica | JSxReads's Reviews > An Optimist's Guide to Heartbreak

~ thank you to Jennifer Hartmann and WordSmith Publicity for the advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review ~

☆☆☆☆☆/5

Tropes: grumpy/sunshine, office romance, childhood friends, best friend’s brother, motorcycle riding, tattoed hero, slow-burn romance

All the stars for my grumpy/sunshine duo lucy & cal <3

It’s been a couple of days and I still haven’t recovered. I devoured, DEVOURED this in one sitting late into the wee hours of the morning - truly a rookie error from me starting this at midnight, having read Jennifer’s previous works and knowing just how addictive of a read they could be. I’ve never read a book by Jennifer Hartmann that I didn’t love and couldn’t be happier to say that this streaks continue!

“Deceptive Cadence: When you think something is coming to an end, it’s actually the beginning of something beautiful.”

Lucille Anne Hope, the epitome of sunshine and light in human form. If any character had a reason to feel negatively about life, it would be Lucy and yet she remains so optimistic, so full of love to share and truly embodied her surname, that I was left in awe. You can’t help but want to protect Lucy from all that’s bad in the world. Arguably my favourite JH heroine and one of my favourite FMCs <3

If you looked up ‘grumpy’ in the dictionary, I’m 99.9% sure you’ll find a picture of Callahan Bishop right next to it. But what makes Cal rare and what made me love his character was just how aware of his grumpiness he was. He was so conscious to how his reactions & surliness was affecting Lucy and (rightfully) admitting when he f’s up when it was necessary. Also this man had me flustered, his overprotectiveness and whew, some of the things he said? Let me tell you, I was blushing.

Lucy and Cal really took ‘grumpy/sunshine’ to heart and ran with it. They say opposites attract and LucyCal are evidence as to why! The chemistry been the two was so electric, it felt like a real tangible thing that you could touch as the words jumped off the page.

An emotional, angsty slow-burn romance which will tug at your heartstrings throughout. One thing about Jennifer Hartmann? She is going to pack in the raw emotion and make you feel from beginning to end. Between the glimpses into their childhood, Emma’s journal entries (god those entries were perfect) and Lucy’s view on life, you cannot help but be moved.
A master at work when it comes to artful storytelling, Jennifer’s tales always have the perfect balance of love and melancholy vibes. I giggled, squealed, swooned & teared up through this one.

A word of caution - An Optimist’s Guide to Heartbreak does end on a cliffhanger. By the time I reached “to be continued”, I was oscillating between happy that I was able to read this beautiful story early and having a breakdown with how it ended, repeatedly whispering to myself “it’s a duet, all will be fine” because if Lucy taught me anything, it was to hope. I’ve never been so thankful for a duet to release within two weeks of each other, truly I don’t how I would have coped in the interim if it was any longer. I feel like my heart has been ripped out, but I have no doubt Jennifer will stitch it back together by the time book two rolls around. Counting down the days until A Pessimist’s Guide to Love is released!

“Hope wins”