Author: Rachael Johns
ISBN: 9781489261465
RRP: $32.99
Publication Date: 22nd October 2018
Publisher: HQ Fiction
Copy: Courtesy of the Publisher
Rachael Johns is a firm Aussie favourite for me and I’m always on the lookout for her next release. I was able to offer this one as a book club title through her amazing publishers, and I thank them for being such great supporters of our book club. This was the first book I read in November and I kept putting off getting a book club post up waiting to find the time to write a review. Well, I’m almost out of month and still haven’t found that time so I have to get a post up so that our fabulous readers have somewhere to share their love for this book with you.
Lost Without You was a five star read for me and I have heard lots of good things from others.
Four women, one dress and secrets that will leave no life unchanged.
Paige MacRitchie is celebrating the launch of her picture book when her mother collapses during the speeches. The collapse changes everything and Paige soon decides she wants to honour her parents’s marriage by wearing her mother’s wedding dress when she marries.
Unfortunately the dress has long left the family, but Paige is not to be dissuaded; she is determined to track down the dress. Her investigations uncover more than she bargained for.
In an emotional tale of lives crossing paths we learn the stories of Paige and her mother Rebecca. The lovely nurse Clara and eighties-loving Josie.
This is a story of coincidences, consequences and the ties that bind through the years, and the generations.
I loved it and I hope all our readers did too.
Rachael Johns can be found on Twitter, Facebook and her Website.
Thanks to HQ Fiction 20 of our Beauty and Lace Club members will be reading Lost Without You so please be aware there may be spoilers in the comments below. I look forward to hearing what they think.
Lost Without You is published by HQ Fiction and is available now through Angus & Robertson Bookworld, Booktopia and where all good books are sold.
I devour books, vampires and supernatural creatures are my genre of choice but over the past couple of years, I have broadened my horizons considerably. In a nutshell – I love to write! I love interacting with a diverse range of artists to bring you interviews. Perhaps we were perfect before – I LOVE WORDS!
Do you know, I love a book where you have all these different characters and you wonder and guess about how they could all possibly be related to each other. If you love books like that too, then you’ll definitely need to read ‘Lost without you’ by Rachael Johns. This story centres around a wedding dress that is worn by different women who have a connection, but don’t know it. I thought the dress was such a lovely thing to connect over. The characters were well thought out and all had a useful role in the telling of the story.
I have read some of Rachael’s other novels too and will always keep a look out for her books at my local bookstore. ‘Lost without you’ was a really lovely story with a satisfying ending! Thanks Beauty and Lace for another wonderful book to read and review >:o)
I’ve read all of Rachael Johns’ ‘Life Lit’ books (and a couple of her romances), and thoroughly enjoyed them, so I was excited when ‘Lost Without You’ was being released. At first, it felt like there were lots of characters to keep track of, but by the end, I knew them all so well! Rachael did a great job of revealing each of the character’s stories and their connections to the ‘travelling’ wedding dress. The stories of Paige, Rebecca, Clara and Josie show new connections, old connections, and the stories tell of the current time, and also memories of the past. There’s a bit of an 80s focus in this book, and that’s an era I love the music and movies of, but even if you didn’t, it’s certainly not the main focus of the book. The characters, and their life stories are the focus. If you enjoy a book where the characters are richly portrayed, and interactions between them are shown… well… this is a book for you! Rachael’s forte is introducing us to characters we feel we’ve gotten to really know and care about.
I don’t want to give too much away, but I will say this is a fabulous story, beautifully told, and one I’m recommending to friends and family.
Thanks to Beauty and Lace and HQ Fiction for a copy of this book for an unbiased review.
What a glorious book!!! Having loved “The Greatest Gift,” I was looking forward to Rachael’s next book. There are times when the book after one you’ve loved by an author can disappoint but most definitely not this one. “Lost Without You” is just perfect. It felt REAL and totally authentic. Often books with quite a heavy lean to coincidence can be disappointing to a degree but there was not one weak link. All the characters were real and all the coincidences believable. The way the lives of those involved intertwined was masterful and totally beautiful.
The beautiful way the wedding dress was going to end up is really special and it is simply wonderful that Rachael Johns decided to donate her own wedding dress in the same way.
It’s just about impossible to add details without giving too much away. Suffice to say this is up there with my all time favourites and I would recommend it to anyone who loves a beautiful story, beautifully written that is sentimental but anything but mushy. Add that it is by a wonderful Australian woman and you have complete magic that will stay with you for a long time.
I can’t thank Beauty and Lace enough for the opportunity to experience this wonderful book. Thank you so much HQ Fiction for making our copies available and to Rachael Johns for this glorious book. I couldn’t have loved it more.
Another fabulous book by Rachael Johns! I have read The Patterson Girls and The Greatest Gift previously and must say they’re all a great read.
I loved the characters, the emotions and the awareness it brought to the forefront of real life. It really makes you think twice about family and thought the connections were good between those who were right under the others noses without knowing it, especially Josie and Robbie meeting unbeknown.
I didn’t expect it to end like it did which was good in the way it wasn’t predictable.
This book makes you want to really cherish what we have in our lives and highly recommend it.
Thanks so much for this beautiful book.
First up thank you Beauty and Lace for the opportunity to read and review Lost Without You by Rachael Johns.
I am a big fan of Rachael Johns and was very excited to read this book. It’s safe to say it did not disappoint. Filled with lots of different emotiona throughout I felt at times I was there experiencing them too.
There is not much I can say without giving away too much but I loved the characters and the way they were connected it was really great to read. I think it ended well and as always greatly written.
Look forward to more front Rachael in the future.
This book is another fabulous one by Rachel Johns. It explores a similar idea to Kelly Doust in “Precious Things” namely, how are multiple women linked together by the same item of clothing.
For Rachel’s characters they are four women who are linked together by a wedding dress and a man from the past. This is a delightful slice of contemporary fiction that grapples with lots of different themes like: birth, death and marriage.
Crack it open but don’t forget the tissues!
I have read all of Rachel Johns novels, and loved them all. This one did not disappoint. I could not put it down.
Involving the main characters around a wedding dress was brilliant, and the twists, turns, sadness and betrayal, which turn to love, acceptance and understanding, as well as grief bringing them all together, made for a page turner.
I highly recommend, this fabulous book,. 5/5
Thank you for the opportunity to read Lost Without You by Rachael Johns. I have read some of her books previously so was looking forward to it.
Paige and her Mum Rebecca have a wonderful relationship, and then Paige tries to find Rebecca’s wedding dress. This takes many twists and turns and involves another two ladies, Clara and Josie. The dress connects them all and has the ability to change relationships. It was an interesting story and I loved the 80s references as that was my youth. There were many different stages the four ladies had to go through between each other and with others in their lives. It just goes to show how connected we all are. It would be hard to know how I would react in any of their circumstances, but it certainly had me thinking.
This was great life lit and would be for anyone who is interested in how people interact.
I absolutely loved this book Lost Without You. Rachael Johns is an amazing author. She is one of my favourite authors. I have read most of her books and loved them all. A fantastic read and the characters were all amazing.
I loved this book! I am a big fan of Rachael Johns so was thrilled to be given this book thanks to Beauty & Lace & HQ Fiction. It was hard to put this book down. I was immediately drawn into the story & felt for the characters throughout. Although I did start to get really annoyed & cranky towards the end (I won’t give it away!!) but ended up happy with how it turned out. A 5 star read for me too!