Review: Redesigning Happiness by Nita Brooks
Redesigning Happiness by Nita Brooks Published by Dafina on July 30, 2019
Genres: African American, Contemporary Women, Romance
Pages: 304
Format: ARC
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Witty, sharply-observed, and warmly wise, Nita Brooks’ debut novel tells the heartfelt story of a suddenly successful single mother who finds her perfectly-designed,
fame-bound life upended by a surprise from the past . . .It wasn’t easy for Yvonne Cable to get over a heartbreaking relationship and revamp her life. But now the once-broke single mom is Atlanta’s most sought-after interior designer—and one-half of the media’s hottest power couple. She and her celebrity fiancé, Nathan, are a perfect, practical match, on—and off—camera. And with their new home improvement reality show the object of a fierce network bidding war, there’s no limit to how far they can go . . .
But Yvonne is stunned when mogul Richard Barrington III unexpectedly makes an offer for their program. He’s the man she thought left her for a more successful woman. And he’s the father of her son—though he didn’t know it until now. Richard wants to get to know their boy, and Yvonne agrees, though she’s wary. Yet little by little, she’s finding it hard to resist the responsible, caring man Richard has become. But when a scandalous leak puts everything Yvonne’s worked for at risk, she’ll have to look beyond surfaces to come to terms with who she is—and discover what she truly wants.
Nita Brooks’ debut novel, Redesigning Happiness, is available today.
I’ll be honest, I saw that the main character, Yvonne, was an interior designer and it piqued my interest almost immediately. My HGTV loving heart was happy.
Yvonne Cable’s life is on the upswing. Her career is booming, her son is healthy, and she’s recently engaged to a great man, contractor Nathan Lange. These two met on a show and became a ratings hit and a home improvement dream. They’re on the cusp of more fame when Yvonne’s ex-boyfriend and her son’s father, Richard, reappears in her life wanting to be a part of her son’s life and potentially a key part to her new reality show dreams.
Richard throws her life in slight upheaval. She’s now only forced to deal with her feelings toward Richard but her feelings about Nathan and the true state of their relationship. Yvonne soon comes to the conclusion that what is deemed perfect isn’t always best for you and happiness can be designed on your own terms.
I liked the pace of the story and the secondary characters that were introduced. There were quite a few of them but they all held their own and added to the novel. The subplots added something extra when I needed it and kept me invested in this novel.
While I liked this book, the overall romance portion of it wasn’t a home run for me. I picked up on Nathan’s truth pretty early on so I was waiting for that to come to light so we could really dig deep into Yvonne and Richard, though that never quite happened. Yes, Richard was the love of her life and the man she obviously wanted to spend time with but I didn’t get the overwhelming love they claimed to have for each other over six years ago. Maybe if we had been shown more about their life before I would have been more invested? They lacked the passion I expected.
In Redesigning Happiness, Yvonne ultimately figured out that her happiness wasn’t dependent on anyone but herself and redesigned her life on her own terms.
Natalya is the author of All The Things I Never Said, a soul-stirring collection of short stories, prose and love letters for the soulful wanderers, the brokenhearted and the hopeless romantics.
You can follow her rantings and occasional sparks of brilliance on Twitter @NatalyaMuncuff.
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