Book Review of
Brighter Than Before

Author: Courtney Walsh

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Book Summary:

Brighter Than Before by Courtney Walsh is a clean romance book published in 2026.

After her husbands aftair shatters her marriage and her country club life, Claire finds herself single and starting over again.

Before she can talk herself out of it she leaves her life and leases an apartment in Chicago, the city she has loved for years.

She rediscovers her love for baking, makes new friends, and even allows her daughter to create an online dating profile.

Claire learns to live a new life, while finding out who she really is.

Lynn's Review

Courtney Walsh is one of my favorite clean romance writers. I have read at least ten of her books over the last five or so years. I love her books because they have romance, but the characters have depth and deal with real-life problems.

Yes, Courtney Walsh’s books can be a bit cheesy, but they also read like real life at times.

When I saw that she had a new book out, I knew that it would make a great summer read. I finally got to it in August.

After a very public and difficult divorce, Claire is ready to change her life. She sells everything and moves to Chicago to start over. She starts her new life with no friends and no job, but she has a goal to change that.

She leases an apartment and begins to discover who she really is now that she is not married and leading a country club life.

With the encouragement of her daughter and her neighbor, she starts dating. However, the dates are a disaster. Her job hunting is not going any better. Claire starts to doubt her new life. But then she begins to realize what neighbors, friends, and community are all about.

I thought Brighter Than Bfore was a little different than Courtney Walsh’s other books that I have read. The main character, Claire, and Miles, her neighbor, are older than your typical rom-com characters.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. However, I don’t think the characters have quite the depth of some other books by Courtney Walsh. They just seemed surface-level at times. I also thought this book was not believable at times. It didn’t read as real life as some of her other books either.

I am still glad that I read it, and I think fans of Courtney Walsh will enjoy it. If you like clean romance books or books that read like a Hallmark movie, I think you will enjoy Courtney Walsh’s books.