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I am required to make it clear at the beginning of my reviews that I received this book for free from Rachel's Random Resources. I have not been paid for doing this and all opinions are my own. I am Bookshop.org affiliated, which means I earn a very small amount of money if you buy from there using my direct link. Although I include purchase links to Amazon, I am not affiliated with them. I include them to make it easy for you to navigate to them if you so wish.
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The Blurb
They're off for the time of their lives. But are you?
Book #1 in The Empty Nesters Series.
Single parent Heather isn't neurotic (honest!) - she's simply dreading the day her only child leaves for university - so her meticulous checklists grow longer by the hour. When she seeks advice on a parents' forum, she clashes with Scott, a single dad whose "helpful" statistics and assertions about “helicopter parenting” leave her fuming.
Move-in day delivers the ultimate surprise: their daughters aren’t just roommates – they are self-declared "besties for life". Suddenly, Heather and Scott are thrown into a begrudging alliance.
As they navigate the new status quo, Heather's instinct to organise meets Scott's philosophy of letting go. Their practical text messages about mattress toppers and emergency supplies evolve into conversations about dream jobs and bucket list aspirations. Despite their intentions to avoid relationships at all costs, unpredictable events keep throwing them together, meaning Heather and Scott find it increasingly difficult to ignore each other...
My Review
This was a wonderful book to read and I enjoyed every page.
The main characters, Heather and Scott, both single parents, rub each other up the wrong way when they join an online support group for the parents of young people who are heading off to St Andrews University. Heather is feeling a sense of dread at her only daughter, Georgia, going off to university, whereas Scott has raised his daughter, Brianna, to be independent and self-sufficient. When Georgia and Brianna become the best of friends, Heather and Scott have to deal with seeing each other more than they wished.
Heather was such an easy character to identify with. Yes, I was that mother who sobbed when each of my sons went off to uni. Then when my youngest left, my nest felt very empty indeed. I think anyone who has had a child go off to university will relate to Heather wholeheartedly. And while Scott initially came across as judgemental and a little offhand, as the book progresses and we learn more of his backstory, he becomes an equally likeable character.
It's obvious from the beginning that they were going to be attracted to one another despite their initial dislike. The author portrays this enemies-to-lovers story extremely well. As a debut novel she has done an excellent job and I am already looking forward to reading her next book, The Twenty Dates, which is due to be released in October 2026.
I also enjoyed the way the author depicted the story. We have chapters told from the perspectives of both Heather and Scott, as well as through the online forum messages and text messages between the characters. In addition, the author used both dialogue and narrative to move the story along at an appropriate pace.
The author uses both humour and sadness in this story. She is clearly a skilled writer and I am looking forward to reading more from her in the future. It is very rare that I would award a book of this genre five stars, but this one really deserves it. I highly recommend this book.
Book Details
ISBN: 978 1918664010
Publisher: All Ways Books
Formats: e-book and paperback (currently available on Kindle Unlimited)
No. of Pages: 454 (paperback)
Series: Book 1 in the Empty Nesters series
Purchase Links
About the Author
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Ko Porteous lived in a tiny fishing village in the north of Scotland before moving to Edinburgh aged 10.
Ko loves meeting people with interesting stories to tell and is constantly on the lookout for knotty story themes, particularly involving women navigating the messiness of life. She has worked as a Research Chemist, Assistant Chef, Teacher and School Leader.
As well as writing, Ko works as a Business Manager and provides listening services for a mental health charity aiming to reduce the number of deaths caused by suicide.
In her free time, Ko loves to run, meditate and travel; preferably all on the same day.
Ko has been married for 25 years, has 2 children of her own and is now navigating her own empty nest.
The Freshman Parents is Ko’s debut novel and is the first in ‘The Empty Nesters’ series.
You can also find Ko at:
My Other Blog Posts Featuring This Author
(ARC and media courtesy of Rachel's Random Resources)
(all opinions are my own)
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