One of Real Simple’s Best Books of 2018 Liam Jones was the love of Juliet’s life. He was her brother’s best friend, then her best friend, then the father of her little boy. In those shining weeks after Zac was born, she had never been happier and neither had Liam. And then one night, Liam disappeared without a trace. Ten-year-old Zac Hutchinson collects facts: octopuses have three hearts, … collects facts: octopuses have three hearts, Usain Bolt is the fastest man on earth. But no one will tell him what happened to his father and where he went.
When Juliet, inadvertently admits that his father is the only man she’s ever loved, Zac decides he is going to find him and deliver his mom the happily ever after she deserves.
But Liam left for a reason, and as Zac searches for clues of his father, Juliet begins to rebuild what shattered so many years ago.
An unforgettable, heart-stopping story of the secrets we keep and of love in all of its many forms.
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A beautiful, wrenching, joyful story about family, loss, love… and one intrepid little boy. This book will steal your heart.
Little Big Love introduces us to a little boy with a big heart. It’s a story of love and loss, secrets and lies, but ultimately, it’s a celebration of the healing power of forgiveness and grace. Funny and wise, heartbreaking and uplifting, this novel is one to cherish. Keep the tissues handy.
Delightful, heart-wrenching, poignant, and absolutely real, Katy Regan has created a uniquely brave and beautiful voice. She writes with tremendous acuity and tenderness, with a story that you will not be able to stop reading.
Little Big Love is a delightful book that delves deeply into the human heart and presents characters so realistic you feel as if you know them. Ms. Regan is a fresh and entertaining voice and with a masterful talent for storytelling. I particularly enjoyed how she stamped each character with his or her own personality and world view. I highly recommend this book to anyone searching for a captivating read.
A beautifully written love story, with authentic, compelling characters. You’ll love Katy Regan’s new book . . . So brilliant and the perfect antidote to psychological thrillers
A towering achievement: wise, funny, sad, deeply human–a perfectly timed reminder of the fundamental values of love and family that transcend the current struggles of the wider world. A book that provokes tears and sorrow as skillfully as it delivers deep belly laughs. It kept me up all night and will stay with me for years to come.
As uplifting as it was heartbreaking in places, this sweeping story of one boy’s courage will effortlessly win your heart.
Beautifully written and brimming with people to love and root for, Little Big Love had me from the first page. Zac’s voice is arresting, compelling and completely original — I absolutely loved this book!
I was pleasantly surprised by this. It was so slow to start I wasn’t sure I would stick with it. But the characters were so believable I was sucked into their story. Couldn’t put it down in the end. Highly recommended.
A wonderful story about love, forgiveness and the power of those little white lies. This book is about how family sometimes thinks they are doing the right thing to protect those they love, but truly might be doing more harm than good. But don’t worry the ending is wonderful.
Didn’t quite get the point. Wasn’t horrible, just nothing captivating.
This book drug a bit and at times I lost interest in the story. It was tragic but the story line seems to be very predictable. The lesson of course was forgive, persist and love all ways win out.
I thought the characters were three dimensional and complex. A very good read.
Katy Regan’s writing is effortlessly emotional and authentic, and Little Big Love had me hooked from the first page. Zac’s voice is wonderful—vulnerable and tough and entirely convincing. It’s a heartfelt novel about love, family, and self-belief, and I loved it.
Juliet and her son Zac lodged themselves in my heart from the very first page, and are still there now. Katy Regan makes friends of her characters, and I couldn’t put Little Big Love down until I’d uncovered all their bittersweet, painfully real secrets, wrapping around their Grimsby family like fishing nets. Regan’s writing is smart, funny and full of emotional truths that linger; Juliet’s brave and redemptive life story will stay with me for a long, long time. This is a wonderful one-sitting treat of a novel.
Zac Hutchinson is a ten-year-old boy living with his single mother, Juliet, in England. He doesn’t remember his father since he left the family when he was a baby. He starts to question his roots and finds his family is evasive with their answers. The details surrounding his father’s disappearance has been secreted by his mother and grandparents for a decade. As the facts unwind he learns that his mom still carries feelings for his father and makes it his goal to locate him.
Juliet is a hard working mom who struggles as a single parent. She lacks time to work full time and to effectively care for her curious son. Zac is overweight and lacking a male role model and which makes him a target for bullies. When she discovers Zac’s mission to find his father, she decides it’s time to help him on his quest.
Little Big Love is the US debut for UK author Katy Regan. The book is told in three voices providing an interesting perspective as it crosses multiple generations. This is a perfectly titled book which examines the depth of love and families.
Zac Hutchinson is a 10-year old boy growing up in a small town in England with single mom Juliet and his nearby grandparents, Lynda and Mick. He’s a lovely young boy who is fascinated with facts. After a particularly troublesome night where he hears his mother admit she still loves his father who disappeared when he was born, Zac embarks on a mission to find his “dad” with the help of his best friend Teagan. Unfortunately, he’s facing some serious challenges as his family is just as determined to keep secret the reasons behind his disappearance.
First of all, Zac is just a lovely, wonderful little boy. He has a big heart and is kind to a fault. He’s the center of mom Juliet’s world but not always in a good way, especially when it comes to their eating habits. The story is told from Zac, Juliet and Mick’s perspectives, which often sheds much needed light on the others’ points of view. The quest to find Liam Jones, Zac’s father, unraveled so many issues within each of them and the family, making this a layered and emotional journey. This family broke almost eleven years ago and never really recovered. Zac is the key to them finding their way to recovery, no matter how painful.
This book was a slow burn for me. I struggled through the first half, taking days to get there. But something miraculous happened at the halfway point. It all began to gel and I literally could not let the story go and finished it in one day. You absolutely must push through the initial malaise because the payoff is extraordinary. The scene in the restaurant? I’ll never, ever get over that. Cried like a baby. This story will stick with me forever. It’s not all sweetness and light but what is makes it a must read.
Boy (Zac) embarks on a mission to find his father (Liam) who “did a runner” before he was born. Will Zac be able to find him? Does he want to be found? How will his mom, Juliet, react when she finds out?
10.5 year old Zac and his best friend, Teagan, are determined to find out why Zac’s dad left before he was born. Will his mom, Juliet, and grandparents, Lynda and Mick, be able to put aside their feelings, and reveal their secrets, in order to help him succeed?
Told from alternating perspectives of Zac, Juliet, and Mick, Little Big Love was a sweet story of love, forgiveness, and healing. The story dealt with some big issues, including childhood obesity, bullying, alcohol addiction, shoplifting, and asthma as it relates to poor living conditions. This was the English author’s first time publishing in the U.S., and I look forward to more.
“Love, I’ve learned, has a mind of its own, and just because someone does something bad, something unthinkable, you don’t stop loving them. You can’t just turn it off.” – Juliet
I won an advance copy in a Goodreads giveaway. All opinions are my own.
Location: Grimsby, England
Zac has always wondered why his dad left, and on one fateful night when his mother says his dad was the love of her life, he decides to find his father and bring his family back together. Set in a fishing town on the coast of England, Little Big Love is the story of a broken but loving family. There are deep family secrets and complicated fibs to cover those secrets. Zac’s mother and grandparents are filled with rage, grief, and guilt. The complex situation makes Zac’s find-dad mission even more difficult.
Zac, his mother, Juliet, and his maternal grandfather, Mick are the narrators of Little Big Love. Author Katy Regan superbly intertwines these three voices. While not all of her characters are completely likable, they are quite believable. I did love the innocence of ten-year-old Zac and his best friend, Teagan.
Ms. Regan tackles some hard topics (i.e., childhood obesity, bullying, addiction, shoplifting, poor living conditions and childhood illness), but she does so with a dash of humor and a dollop of panache. Her last-minute twist was quite shocking!
I was not enamored with most of the adults and their behavior, but overall, Little Big Love is a sweet, hopeful-yet-sad tale of love within an imperfect family. Pushing through the somewhat slow start, will be rewarded with a big finish.