REVIEW: The Happy Life of Isadora Bentley by Courtney Walsh

In The Happy Life of Isadora Bentley by Courtney Walsh, A researcher at Chicago University, Isadora Bentley spends her days–and her nights and weekends, if she’s being honest–compiling and comparing data on a multitude of subjects. She’s content with her structured life, even if it’s a solitary one. Something she’s become accustomed to after a childhood of being an outsider. So, Isadora is rather surprised when she’s waylaid by a magazine article that promises Thirty-One Ways to be Happy. Being content is the same thing as being happy, right? But somehow, while she shops for her annual birthday junk food marathon, she realizes that turning thirty all alone might not really seem like something happy or fun to most people. And perhaps not even to herself anymore, either.

‘I seem to repel happiness. If happiness were a person, I’d be the lady in the mall with a clipboard that happiness takes the stairs to avoid. Cal, however, seems to embody it.’

Isadora makes the decision to follow all thirty-one steps in the article and conduct her own experiment to see if there’s actually any truth to it. Of course, some of the items listed won’t be a hardship such as Enjoy Chocolate. That would make just about anyone happy. However, Smiling at a Stranger? Yikes. Isadora is ready to break out into hives. But as she makes her way through the list, line by line, she manages to overcome some of the fears she’s had forever. And because of her experiment she makes a couple of friends–not just acquaintances she’ll avoid at every turn. True friends who like her and treat her with kindness. Add to that handsome Dr. Cal Baxter, whom she is helping conduct research for his book and who seems to have taken a shine to her, and Isadora doesn’t know what to make of her new life.

“Just because one guy didn’t handle your heart with the care it deserves doesn’t mean every other guy will do the same thing.”
“I hear what you’re saying, and logically, it makes sense. One person doesn’t represent the whole group,” I say. “But in my experience, nobody handles my heart with care.”

A book that ran the full gamut of emotions from loneliness and sadness to joy and love–plus everything in between–The Happy Life of Isadora Bentley did indeed include within its pages the secrets (plural) to finding happiness.

“Happiness isn’t that hard to find, you know. It’s everywhere. It’s all around us. But it’s not something that happens to us. It’s something we seek. It’s something we pursue. And you’ll never find it if you never let anyone in.”

This is my first time reading anything by Courtney Walsh but I suspect it won’t be my last. It was so easy to fall right into the story with all of the rich, emotional scenes and the downright charming characters she created. I will say that Isadora was a person I understood deeply. Although she might potentially be a smidge too awkward and have too little of a verbal filter for some readers. But I found her to be honest in the way she showed her fears and vulnerabilities to us readers and eventually to the new friends she made during her experiment.

Isadora’s lack of knowledge when it came to social cues and interpersonal relationships was one of the big sticking points in her life. She excelled at nearly everything else. So, yes, it was painfully cringe-worthy a few times watching her fumble or embarrass herself with others, but it was written in a way I think most of us will relate to. And when Isadora did finally make a connection with someone else? That was when she found the friendships she had been waiting many years for–which was absolutely heartwarming. It was those friends: Marty, Darby, Delilah (oh, how I loved her!!), and Cal who coaxed Isadora out of her comfort zone little by little and showed her what it meant to be truly seen and heard.

Cal, the professor Isadora was asked to help with his book research, was a capable, honest guy who was good through and through. I loved how he valued Isadora as a person and as a colleague. And that they were both basically looking for the same thing: happiness, but were going about it in different ways. Cal had his book while Isadora had her experiment trying to disprove a magazine article’s ‘Thirty-One Ways to be Happy’. There were a couple of moments where it didn’t look good for Cal and Isadora, but Walsh pulled out all the stops for the HEA that made me chuckle and swoon in equal measures–all while bringing things around full circle to even include the cast we’d fallen for as well as the outcome of Isadora’s research.

QOTD: Have you read any novels where you connect with a character on a truly deep level?

Book Info:

Publication: June 1st, 2023 | Thomas Nelson |

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.