Welcome to my Blog stop and review of Come Here Often? by Ellie Center. I loved the idea of this book from the second I saw it; just imagine living in a health club secretly! It wasn’t entirely as I expected, it’s annoying in places, and I didn’t feel as much sympathy for Kat as I thought I would, but I enjoyed the story and would love to read more by Ellie Centre soon.
My name is Kat and I have a confession. For the last week, I’ve been secretly living in the gym.
Let me set the scene for you… It was my first day working out. Ever. My idea of cardio is lifting Dunkin’ Donuts, but as if exercising wasn’t bad enough, listen to what happened next. In the space of minutes, my boyfriend dumped me over the phone and my boss fired me.
Cue a Code Red panic attack. Now, no matter how hard I try, my anxiety stops me from physically walking out of the door, back into the hot mess of my life.
So now I’m stuck in this health club, spending night after night sleeping on massage tables, escaping security guards and hiding from my ex. Flirting with personal trainer Marcus, who’s carved like a Greek god and has a smile that makes my stomach flip-flop, is the silver lining to this craziness.
But what happens if I get caught? Can I finally sort my life out? And how personal is too personal when it comes to personal trainers?
This fresh and funny page-turner is for anyone who has ever lost their spark, struggled with anxiety, or prefers pie and lattes to pilates. Perfect for fans of Beth O’Leary, Emily Henry and Jo Watson.
CEllie Center was born in Savannah, Georgia and raised by a psychiatrist and a psychoanalyst. She studied philosophy in college but eventually went on to become an audiologist. After traveling to Israel and living in a Kibbutz, she moved to Nashville, where she started her own business and also started writing novels, falling in love with the process of putting her imagination down on paper. She writes songs in her spare time and lives with Hannah, her cat and a Lab named Joey.
Kat finally builds herself to visit the health club her boyfriend has enrolled her in after weeks. This is her day of change. She arrives at the gym and has a tour of the enormous centre, complete with a gym, swimming pool, exercise classes, restaurant, bar and a shop. It’s a fantastic facility she has never been to before; exercise isn’t her thing. Unfortunately, within the first hour, she manages to lose her job and her boyfriend. Already struggling with her anxiety, she finds herself trapped in the gym and can’t manage to make it back out through the front door to go home.
Come here often has a great premise. Kat finds herself hiding in the gym, finding somewhere new to sleep each night and many new friends. She steadily climbs their leaderboard for most progress on the workouts and finds that she loves exercising. Now, this is where I wonder if this is actually something that perhaps I need to try. If I fully immersed myself in gym life this way, maybe I would like to exercise too, but alas, I enjoy sleep and my bed far too much to even consider it!
Kat’s anxiety is overwhelming and well portrayed. Those without any mental health issues (or even different ones) might struggle to see how this could even be possible. Kat can be a little infuriating, too, sometimes feeling too sorry for herself. She complained about her lack of tablets to help her (because she has already used her monthly supply very quickly) and not wanting to get some help. She doesn’t realise how lucky she is to have so many people around her who would be willing to help and is too embarrassed to ask.
Kat’s beloved dog has recently passed away, and she is devastated by these new events that add more to her distress. I felt that the loss of her dog could have been made clearer from the start. Unfortunately, I didn’t really feel the depth of her loss for a long while into the book. It felt like it was mentioned in passing instead as a massive problem for her. Also, her drinking seemed to lessen while in the gym, which I would have imagined would be the opposite. Therefore, she would be more distressed and drink more, so it didn’t all quite add up to me.
Sam felt like an uncaring stalker at times, wondering where she was. He didn’t seem to be in love with her anymore or particularly interested in her but couldn’t seem to leave her alone either.
I loved Marcus. He is passionate about his job as a personal trainer and is kind and caring, like Kat genuinely.
I enjoyed this book despite some of these issues, but the ending felt too rushed, and I wanted just a bit more. Though I am beginning to wonder if maybe I am just greedy as I seem to write this a lot! I wanted to know what happened afterwards in a less rushed way and what happened to the money side of things. Kat must have built up massive debt in her first week at the gym. How would she ever manage to pay it off?
This was a great read, though, and I thought it portrayed the anxiety and fear well.
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| Title | Come Here Often? |
| Author | Ellie Center |
| Series | N/A |
| Format | eARC |
| Page Count | 323 Pages |
| Genre | Romantic Comedy |
| Publisher | Bookouture |
| Release Date | 23rd May 2022 |
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