Happy After All

A Novel

By: Maisey Yates

Narrated by: Stephanie Rose

When a romance author meets a mysterious stranger, love is the last thing she expects to find in a funny and heartfelt novel about second chances by a New York Times bestselling author.

A city girl leaves her life behind in LA to start over in a small town…

It’s a cliché, but it’s also Amelia Taylor’s life. And her new life as a romance novelist and motelier is going great—until Nathan Hart checks in.

Of course he’s disastrously handsome, thoroughly disagreeable, and seems to be set against Amelia on sight. Of course there’s smoldering tension between them that can’t be ignored. They’d make the perfect enemies to lovers story. It’s one of Amelia’s favorite tropes.

But the man in room 32 seems genuinely broken, and it’s going to take more than romance tropes and wishful thinking to get past his wounds. As a tentative friendship grows into a deeper connection, Amelia and Nathan both realize that facing each other’s painful secrets takes courage. Do they dare take the risk and hope it ends happily after all?

©2025 by Maisey Yates. (P)2024 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“Yates’s protagonists turn out to be perfectly matched as they help each other get over past heartbreak. Readers will have no trouble rooting for these two.”—Publishers Weekly

Grief Magnets ❤️‍🩹

Such a great journey for these two and their grief and their writing. I loved the expository chapter titles and how they all played out. Also, shout out to women authors!

Relatable Story of Loss and Love

When I lost my daughter, Alexandra, I was devastated. I was attached the moment I found out that I was pregnant with her. I had a supportive husband. The main character had no support system. The father of her baby was a piece of work.
The development of this story is slow and steady. I love the build-up. It's a great story, and it does get steamy. Maybe my title should be Slow, Steady, and Steamy.☺️

The self-aware protagonist

I love how the author telegraphs each story element while maintaining the emotional believability of the tale.
You’d be hard pressed to find another romance with the gourmet embellishments of fiery natural disaster, Christmas decorations, and flamingo pink,
It all works together to make a sparkling new twist on a beloved genre.

touching story

I really enjoyed reading this author.  I look forward to reading more books by this author in the near future.

Emotional

I went into this blind!
So, at first I was thinking quirky rom-com. That is not what this book is.
Quirky? Absolutely.
But this book gets deep, touches on VERY intense topics.
Amelia's growth and understanding of herself kept me engaged. Learning about the mystery that was Nathan and seeing how he carried his grief so much differently than Amelia carried hers was intense.

The chapter titles are hilarious, I really enjoyed that.

I listened to this on Audible (KU read & listen for free)... the narration was easy to listen to. I listened at 1.5x speed.

Better than a Hallmark Any Day!

I laughed and cried at so many occasions throughout the story. Real life experiences described that touched me deeply leaving sobbing openly. Beautiful ending.

Beautiful story but drawn out

The story is absolutely beautiful and the narration is spot on - especially when Amelia finally reveals her tragedy. Unfortunately, it is about 1 to 2 hours too long due to the author's obsession with self reflection. I found my attention waining from time to time, but I wanted to know their secrets and how their romance would play out. For that reason, I would still give it 3.7 stars, but I have to round up on Audible.


Note that this book needs serious trigger warnings: miscarriage, loss of spouse, natural disaster, life after a natural disaster, cheating, emotionally unavailable parents, childhood trauma, grief, drinking, etc

Lovely story about healing

Happy After All is a lovely story about healing from past trauma and learning to love again. The main characters have each suffered the loss of a loved one that has left them emotionally damaged. The FMC coped by running away to a new town and buying a hotel with several senior citizen permanent residents (who are a hoot). The MMC coped by hiding himself away from the world. They meet one summer when the MMC spends several months at FMC's hotel while working on a book. They slowly learn to trust each other and help each other heal.

This is a slow burn love story with medium spice and a happy ending. The MMC is very grumpy and taciturn for much of the book, but comes out of his shell toward the end. There are few triggers (infidelity, death of a child, death of a spouse, difficult childhood) and those all occur in the past.

Stephanie Rose does a wonderful job narrating this book.

Realistic Love

You will join the main characters on a realistic falling in love experience. A journey about healing the path that led them to this point while keeping the "dash" off life in mind. To actively choose to live life rather than let themselves be swallowed by grief. Beautifully narrated.

Narrator was great

I surprisingly loved this book! The depths on grief and working through it while living a happy life were so good. Like this book had me crying my eyes out over the grief both of the protagonists were going through. While also trying to live their lives. I felt it in my emo kid soul. Spice was decent, had lots of fade to black moments for it, but I didn’t hate it. I loved the descriptions/definitions for romance book terms and that both main characters were writers.