One Less Problem Without You

A Novel

By: Beth Harbison

Narrated by: Orlagh Cassidy

Meet Prinny, Chelsea and Diana. Prinny is the owner of Cosmos, a shop that sells crystals, potions, candles, and hope. It’s also a place where no one turns down a little extra-special cocktail that can work as a romance potion or heal a broken heart. But Prinny is in love with her married lawyer and she’ll need nothing short of magic to forget about him.

Chelsea works as a living statue at tourist sites around Washington, DC. It's a thankless job, but it helps pay the rent. That, and her part-time job at Cosmos. As her dream of becoming a successful actress starts to seem more remote and the possibility of being a permanently struggling one seems more realistic, Chelsea begins to wonder: at one point do you give up on your dreams? And will love ever be in the cards for her?

Diana Tiesman is married to Leif, a charismatic man who isn’t faithful. But no matter how many times he lets her down, Diana just can't let him go. She knows the only way she can truly breakaway is if she leaves and goes where he will never think to follow. So she ends up at Cosmos with Leif’s stepsister, where she makes her homemade teas and tinctures as she figures out whether she'd rather be lonely alone than lonely in love.

In Beth Harbinson's One Less Problem Without You, three women suddenly find themselves together at their own very different crossroads. It will take hope, love, strength and a little bit of magic for them to find their way together.

Meh

I found this book a bit difficult to follow. Using different narrators for each character might have helped, as having the same voice for multiple characters made it confusing to listen to at times. The story itself didn’t really draw me in, which made it take much longer than usual to finish.

I’ve really enjoyed other books by this author, so I was surprised by how different this one felt. The characters lacked depth, which likely contributed to the overall lack of engagement. The ending also felt abrupt—more like the end of a chapter than a true conclusion. Overall, this one just didn’t work for me.

Three women

I like how their lives are intertwined. I was sad in a few spots and sand wanted smack the man but in the end a little bit of evil makes you feel good

Worst of her books

I have loved every other book by her, but this one was really pretty bad. If I had been reading it instead of listening, I definitely wouldn't have made it through. The story jumped around too much, the primary characters were really under developed, and I couldn't even remember who the secondary characters were. I was glad she attempted to stray from her normal storyline, but this was not done well. I was also disappointed that the narrator couldn't pronounce "digoxin" correctly. Overall disapppointing.

Great bones

This story had great bones and potential, but not quite as much meat as I'd have liked. It seemed to end quickly. Even though you see the end coming/hope for certain things to happen, I wish it could have been drawn out a bit better.

An interesting read

This is a good story with lots of interesting story lines. Characters are clearly good or bad, which is refreshing. There are whimsical elements and challenging domestic abuse details. Narrator does a great job with all characters.