Gabi Coatsworth

"Gabi Coatsworth’s debut novel, A Beginner’s Guide to Starting Over, tenderly explores grief, self-discovery, and reinvention in middle life. Readers will cheer for Molly as she learns that standing on one’s own often requires getting comfortable with leaning on others. The heartwarming, hopeful tale is also a gentle reminder that it’s possible to fall in love more than once in a lifetime."

To start over, Molly Stevenson, a widow, mother, and owner of a bookstore, must let go. Not an easy task for a 50-year-old woman whose dead husband Simon is speaking to her from the grave—providing business advice and telling her who to date. Anyone who has had to begin again, to strike out on her own, make a new life and new friends, will relate to this debut novel… Gabi has been there and has an inspiring story with a happy ending to tell.

A warm, engaging novel about love, friendship, and starting over, with a protagonist you will root for from the very first page! Molly is resilient, honest, and complex—in short, everything you could ask for in a protagonist. This is a book about second-chance love and so much more, written by an author who knows how to tell a story. Lovely!

“…a wholly charming story of a widowed bookstore owner whose primary concern is keeping her business afloat in the face of a rent hike. She's still not over her later husband, Simon, and has frequent conversations with his ghost about her difficulties in letting go. When friends urge her to try dating again, she is tentatively open to the possibility. Readers will eagerly root for the highly relatable Molly Stevenson as she navigates unchartered waters later in life and allows herself to be open to love again…

Unforgettable and nuanced, Gabi Coatsworth delivers a heart-warming novel about the risks we must take to have a second chance. This is a book begging to be read cozied up in a chair, a fireplace blazing, and a cuppa tea in your hand. Prepare to sit a spell—Molly’s stumbling journey to embrace the future will keep you soaring through the pages and by the end, Molly will feel like a much-loved old friend…

“A Beginner's Guide to Starting Over follows the delightful journey of Molly Stevenson and her loyalty to a former love, while confronting the challenge of striking out on her own, and opening her heart to a new relationship. You will fall in love with the characters. A heartfelt read.”

“Gabi Coatsworth absolutely nails the emotional journey of a middle-aged woman faced with losing a love and starting over. Her humorous and uplifting style makes this a delightful read.”

I just loved this book! This is a wonderful memoir…the way the author describes love—she did a stunning job.

A compelling and honest memoir covering the history of a marriage where passionate love is lost and found. Each character comes alive on the page, demanding respect and sympathy, with scenes that evoke both laughter and tears.

What a wonderful book! Gabi Coatsworth brings this tale of love and loss--and love again--to life. Reading it, I felt as if I was right there in the room, experiencing all the sorrow and sweetness, the heartbreak and joy, of real, lasting love.

Love’s Journey Home is a moving love story, a memoir of a marriage, and a tribute to a caregiver and her patient, who rediscover the depth of their love as the hour of final separation approaches.