The Happy Life of Isadora Bentley

A Novel

De: Courtney Walsh

Narrado por: Jorjeana Marie

She’s out to prove that there’s no such thing as choosing happiness.

Isadora Bentley follows the rules. Isadora Bentley likes things just so. Isadora Bentley believes that happiness is something that flat-out doesn’t exist in her life—and never will.

As a university researcher, Isadora keeps to herself as much as possible. She avoids the students she’s supposed to befriend and mentor. She stays away from her neighbors and lives her own quiet, organized life in her own quiet, organized apartment. And she will never get involved in a romantic relationship again—especially with another academic. It will be just Isadora and her research. Forever.

But on her thirtieth birthday, Isadora does something completely out of character. The young woman who never does anything “on a whim” makes an impulse purchase of a magazine featuring a silly article detailing “Thirty-One Ways to Be Happy”—which includes everything from smiling at strangers to exercising for endorphins to giving in to your chocolate cravings. Isadora decides to create her own secret research project—proving the writer of the ridiculous piece wrong.

As Isadora gets deeper into her research—and meets a handsome professor along the way—she’s stunned to discover that maybe, just maybe, she’s proving herself wrong. Perhaps there’s actually something to this happiness concept, and possibly there’s something to be said for loosening up and letting life take you somewhere . . . happy.

• Christian women’s fiction
• Stand-alone novel
• Perfect for fans of Rachel Linden, Gail Honeyman, and Linda Holmes

©2023 Courtney Walsh (P)2023 Thomas Nelson

I LOVE YOU ISADORA BENTLEY

I relate so much to Isadora, her hopes & fears, how she has stood in her own way, and worked through her problems to become an active character in her own life. I may not be fully there yet, I’m working on it, but goodness, there were so many moments where I thought, “Hey, that sounds like me!” or “I have been in her shoes!” I would highly encourage anyone who is in the same place of low self-esteem, low self-confidence, believing the lie that you’re better off alone, read this book. And REALLY see if it can apply in your own life, and think how you can get out of your own way (may not apply to all, trauma and abuse are not the victim’s fault WHATSOEVER). Forgiveness really does set yourself free from the pain you’ve endured in life. Like Darby said, it helps you so you don’t get bitter and get brittle bones.

Loved this book

Great book! Uplifting story. Amazing writing. Everything about this story will make you smile. You will love it.

The words written and the voice spoken! Perfect!

I have never enjoyed a narrator’s voice more than with this book. I loved the combination of the beautiful writing style of the author and the narrator’s voice giving you an impression you literally sitting in Isadora’s brain experiencing life with her. Just perfection 🎉💯

The perfect balance of sweet & complex

This book was a perfect mixture of quirky, fun & sweet balanced with deep, thought-provoking & complex. Isadora will be one of your new favorite characters if you read this book! Also, the narrator was awesome!

Isadorable!

Isadora is intelligent, honest, and a little bit broken - making her all the more relatable. On her quest to figure out what happiness is, she hits some highs and lows, encountering charming, lovable characters at every turn. Hilarious and heartwarming, I would definitely recommend.

Entertaining and well written

I enjoyed the storyline of this book - it kept me engaged and entertained. I can definitely recommend

Adorable!

Such a cute story and I loved it. The performance was great too! Looking for more books from this author.

Inter narration

The book overall is good, not great but it’s fine, clean and heartwarming. BUT, There are sections throughout the book where the narration changes to a British accent giving an overview. These sections are like fingernails on a chalkboard. Absolutely grating. A must to fast forward through. This isn’t a Bridgerton novel… it’s like they think Lady Whistledown can help the story.

A Hidden Gem!

This book took me completely by surprise and I loved every second of it! It took me the first couple of chapters to become fully invested… but once that third and fourth chapter rolled around, I absolutely could not stop listening!

There’s joy, heartbreak, found family, genuine emotional processing and growth, and so much more. 10/10 would recommend!

I loved it!

I picked this title without reading the synopsis, and was instantly delighted. Isadora is the perfect relatable neurodivergent character. Her story was so relatable even down to the mom dynamic. Sometimes audio books are a miss, even with a fantastic narration, but this story was like a warm chocolate chip cookie and an ice cold glass of milk, perfection! This was the first story I'd read by this author and I will definitely read more of her work now! If you need a feel good, happy, relatable story with a quirky main character you'll love Isadora ❤️