This book is wonderful, it’s remarkable. It will make your heart do so many things: hurt, weep, sigh, rejoice, beat so fast you think you’ll faint. Silly parts, serious parts, swoony parts, it has them all. A story so well plotted, well written, with well-developed characters that become special to you.

Ashleigh’s not in a very good place but she won’t admit it. She’s dealing with grief by wrapping herself up, closing herself off, like a once wide open, blooming, beautiful flower that has now regressed to a tight little bud that may never bloom again. She’s just fine, thank you very much, and she has a response for every challenge to that declaration. She only needs a date to a wedding, not a relationship, so what’s wrong with asking her friends to interview potential candidates for her? Nothing. It was the right thing to turn down that promotion and leave her job, because she has a different job now, one she loves and excels at. Perfect. And if she says all this to herself enough times it might just become true.

Ashleigh is a cleaner. And that’s how she meets George. Well, ‘meets’ is not exactly accurate. She cleans his apartment and through spending several hours a week in his space learns many things about him, gets to know him well.

George, on the other hand, doesn’t think he’s fine but he’s sure he’s got the solution to fix that. He just needs that promotion and those pesky panic attacks will stop. And unlike Ashleigh, he does have a relationship – with the boss’s daughter who will someday run the company, a driven, to the point woman to be sure, but she and George clicked at some level at one time – he moved from England to New York because of it, didn’t he – so the relationship must be great. Yep, great.

Both Ashleigh and George have a lot of history they aren’t quite dealing with. His apartment is so tidy and clean he hardly needs a cleaner, but something about her being there (when he’s not) just feels kind of good.

They do eventually meet, and things seem good, then bad, then awful, then who knows what this is. Crosswords play a charming part in this story – wait for 7,2,4,4,3. You’ll love it. Bakery owners Oswald and Carlos of Oscars are delightful, caring, protective friends. Mrs. Lundy – Hildy – has some valuable insight and advice. And George’s romance speak? #MakesYourHeartFlutter.

Thanks to Harper Collins Publishers UK, One More Chapter for providing an advance copy of The Life-Changing Magic of Falling in Love via NetGalley, and giving me one of the most enjoyable, smile-provoking, heartwarming stories I have read in a long time. Author Eve Devon has done a fantastic job in portraying people coping with loss and fear, trying valiantly to work their way through, buoyed by friends and family and provided a very, very, very satisfactory ending. I will definitely be reading more by this author. I voluntarily leave this review; all opinions are my own. ( )

Cute and lighter read despite some heavier themes. Ashleigh was once a magazine proofreader now working as a cleaner. George works in advertising, meets Ashleigh when she is assigned to clean his apartment. They're sweet, and the crossword puzzles were a nice meet-cute vehicle. Be warned that both characters struggle with anxiety issues, although for very different reasons, and there are a lot of instances of them dealing with and describing their anxiety and panic attacks. Their experiences with controlling their anxiety seems realistic, although the means to them resolving their anxiety issues felt a bit too formulaic (but realistic, I guess, for a romance story). I liked the touches of humor and Ashleigh had a nice level of snark. I was a little mixed on them as they were getting together initially, their face-to-face chemistry seemed clunky and it was almost as if their personalities were more clearly expressed before they met in person. It did even out a bit after that, but I almost enjoyed their characters better when they were apart. Great supporting cast! Thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC of this story, this is my objective opinion. ( )