Linda Holmes (1) (1971–)

Evvie Drake, a grieving widow, rents the apartment in her Maine house to a retired major league baseball player.

This is my favorite genre of wish fulfillment romance: the poverty isn't grinding but can be overcome, it takes only one try to find a therapist you vibe with, one drunken screaming match can bridge the damage dealt to a friendship from years of a perniciously bad relationship. The grief is well-written, especially the spilt rice scene (that is indeed a very common expression of grief, where you make it through something truly awful and then lose your sh*t over something trivial).

This book was the result of me requesting something that was light-hearted but real, that wouldn't give me nightmares if I read it before bed, and it hit the mark.… (mehr)

Digital audiobook narrated by Julia Whelan

From the book jacket: Smarting from her recently canceled wedding and about to turn forty, Laurie Sassalyn returns to her Maine hometown to handle the estate of her great-aunt Dot, a spirited adventurer who lived to be ninety-three. Alongside boxes of Polaroids and pottery, a mysterious wooden duck shows up at the bottom of a cedar chest. Laurie’s curiosity is piqued, especially after she finds a love letter to Dot. As she works to uncover the mystery behind Dot’s duck, Laurie comes face-to-face with her own past, and has to make a decision about her future.

My reactions
This was a fun rom-com / mystery / heist caper! Laurie is a conflicted woman, resolutely a loner but clearly attracted to her old high-school boyfriend (who is now divorced). She’s assisted in her tasks by her best friend, June, as well as librarian Nick (aka old boyfriend), and one of her brothers, who is an actor. As she works to get answers to Dot’s past, she meets a variety of colorful characters in town, including several elderly residents who have a few stories to tell.

Julia Whelan does a marvelous job of narrating the audiobook. She has a lot of characters to handle and manages to give them sufficiently unique voices so that I was never confused about who was speaking.… (mehr)

Very good book. Glad I read. KIRKUS REVIEWA widow and a former baseball player try to start over after life throws them some surprises in Pop Culture Happy Hour podcaster Holmes? debut.As far as everyone in her small town knows, Evvie Drake is a grieving widow. Her husband died in a car accident, and she?s been living all alone in their big house, rarely venturing out except to get breakfast with her best friend, Andy. But what no one¥not even Andy or Evvie?s fatherÂ¥knows is that her husband was emotionally abusive, and she was planning to leave him on the night of his death. When Andy suggests that his old friend, former baseball player Dean Tenney, move in to the apartment attached to Evvie?s house, she agrees. Much like Evvie, Dean?s life hasn?t turned out the way he wanted it to. After pitching for years, he?s struggling with ?the yips?Â¥he?s unable to pitch for reasons that neither he nor any professionals can figure out. Evvie and Dean are both mourning their old lives, for very different reasons, and the two of them quickly become friendsÂ¥and then, slowly, something more than friends. Holmes writes with an easy warmth about kind people who are trying their best but messing things up anyway. Characters speak to each other with natural but hilarious dialogue, making their conversations a joy to read. Refreshingly, Evvie and Dean?s relationship hurdles come about because they?re adults with complex lives and baggage, not because of easily fixed miscommunications. Although their romance is often front and center, there are many other emotionally affecting storylines, chief among them the changing friendship between Andy and Evvie and Evvie?s need to stand up to her family.A warm and lovely romance, perfect for readers of Rainbow Rowell and Louise Miller.… (mehr)