This guest review is from Lisa the Librarian: Yes, I’m a librarian, and yes, being surrounded by books all day long is great. But it’s not “I-can-just-read-all-day” great as many people seem to assume. Oh, how I wish that were a thing! I would spend my days reading Regencies, funny contemporaries, cowboy romances, and all the other beautiful books I see every day. My favorite authors include Loretta Chase, Tessa Dare, Kristan Higgins, Eloisa James, Lisa Kleypas, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Julia Quinn, Jill Shalvis, and Maisey Yates.
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This might be a short review. I don’t know how many different ways I can say I love this book.
Eveleth “Evvie” Drake is leaving her husband, Tim. This is not a spoiler. The first line of the book is “Go now, or you’ll never go, Evvie warned herself.” But as she is packing her car, she gets a phone call telling her that Tim has been in a car accident. He dies before she even gets to the hospital.
The book then skips forward almost a year. Her best friend, Andy, and the other people in town think that Evvie has become reclusive due to her grief. In fact she is struggling to move on because of her intense shame and guilt about her LACK of grief. She has never told anyone, including her dad or Andy, about Tim’s dark side or that she was planning to leave him. Everyone saw Tim, a beloved doctor in their small Maine town, as a wonderful husband. He had been “effortlessly charming to nearly everyone who hadn’t married him.”
Meanwhile, in New York City, Yankees pitcher Dean Tenney, has lost his pitching ability due to “the yips”. (Apparently this is a rare, but real, thing that causes athletes to lose the fine motor skills that allow them to perform). Dean did everything he could think of to cure himself. Nothing helped, so now he has retired from pitching. Andy, his childhood friend, asks Evvie to rent the apartment in the back of her house to Dean so that Dean can escape the humiliation surrounding his career meltdown and think about what he’d like to do with the rest of his life.
I barely know where to start with the list of things I loved about this book.
The author, Linda Holmes, is the host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast. Her writing is incredibly assured for a debut. Her descriptions (written in third person POV) are particularly wonderful. Evvie describes a pretty fall day as “assertively crisp.” She describes Dean’s former girlfriend as having “eyebrows that looked like she won them playing poker with Audrey Hepburn’s ghost.” She is also good at the humor. The story that Evvie tells Dean about a local race where kids wear foam cereal boxes is hilarious. That story alone is worth the price of the book. But there’s more! Evvie thinks to herself that revitalizing moisturizer “was for over thirty and under forty, ‘anti-aging’ was for over forty and under seventy, and then when you were seventy, you just told everybody to fuck off.”
Holmes also excels at strong characterizations. Evvie and Dean are well-drawn and wonderfully human and complex. I adored them both. Evvie’s inner dialogue is so funny and irreverent, and we see that Dean is smart and charming when he talks with Evvie. They are not perfect, but they communicate with each other. There is no minor misunderstanding that could easily be fixed if they just talked with each other. They sometimes do hurtful things, but then they apologize and learn from their mistakes. They have interesting quirks. Evvie doesn’t want to give up her favorite gray cardigan even though it leaves a trail of fuzzy puffs everywhere, and Dean loves old pinball machines. And I love that Evvie reads romance novels. Why is this so rare in romance novels? The secondary characters—single father Andy who worries about being a good dad to his daughters; Evvie’s father, a lobsterman; and the others—are also fully drawn.
Even though Evvie and Dean quickly become friends, their romantic relationship develops slowly in a very realistic way. They agreed when they first met that she would not ask about baseball and he would not ask about her husband, but they slowly start revealing more about themselves to each other. Evvie tells Dean about Tim’s emotional abuse, and he slowly begins revealing more about his pitching problems. They start to encourage each other to confront their pasts. There is no insta-lust here. In fact there isn’t much lust at all until after the two are good friends. Eventually, slowly, their relationship turns to romance. And what a sweet, sexy romance it is.
SPOILER ALERT: Here is the seductive-because-it’s-
“All she could think as she finally, finally kissed him was finally, finally… It was a little sloppy and imperfect, or maybe perfect, because they’d never done it before. Toothpaste, scruff, breath. Dean’s hand creeping an inch under her shirt at the waist, a joint in his shoulder that popped like a cracked knuckle when he shifted his arms to hold her tighter. That was all that really registered. That and finally, finally.”
The always natural-sounding and often straight-up hilarious dialogue is a joy to read. When Evvie tells Dean he can cook in her kitchen because his apartment only has a kitchenette he tells her “I’m only good at grilled cheese. And Pringles. I’m also good with Pringles. ”
Evvie: “Just cans of Pringles, or, like, you cook with Pringles?”
Dean: “Just Pringles. I buy them, I open the package, and then I stuff them straight into my face.”
Evvie: “Ah. Got it. That’s how I make Oreos,” she said. He grinned…
This story is fizzy and fun, but it also has depth. Evvie has to learn to trust others and start being more authentic before she can move forward in her life. She must learn to stand up to her mother, Eileen, who left her when she was young and who now wants to see Evvie only when it is convenient for Eileen. Evvie must also learn to negotiate her changing friendship with Andy. He has begun dating, and he doesn’t have as much time for Evvie. He is also hurt and upset when he learns that she was not going to tell him about her plans to leave Tim.
Evvie also has to deal with the emotional abuse that prompted her to leave Tim. We slowly learn details about this abuse. For example, Tim belittled her business of transcribing interview tapes for researchers and journalists.
Evvie remembers the time when she and Tim are having dinner with some doctors, and they ask what she does. Tim says “She makes me happy.” (Ugghh!) Later, Evvie tells him that he should have told them that she has a business and works with journalists. He responds: “I was trying to protect your feelings. I didn’t know how you’d feel if I told a bunch of doctors you were a typist for somebody’s book about trees.” (Double ugghh!)
I often have trouble with the endings of books either because they don’t feel realistic or because things are wrapped up too quickly or neatly. I found the ending of this book hugely satisfying. Our main characters work to solve their problems (through therapy or otherwise finding what works for them) and get the reward they deserve. Also, the ending is just very sweet.
This is a truly satisfying love story, and as much as I adored watching Evvie and Dean reach their HEA, I equally enjoyed watching Evvie take steps to start over after her troubled marriage. When Evvie falls for Dean her love for him does not fix her problems. She has to do that herself. As we see her actually dealing with her issues, she becomes stronger and her relationships change.
This is the perfect breezy summer read. It is also the perfect fresh spring read, the perfect crisp fall read, and the perfect cozy winter read. I hope I’ve adequately conveyed that I have so many feelings about this delightful book – and they are all good.
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I adored this book and I totally second Lisa the Librarian’s review.
A pinch of bittersweet, a heaped spoonful of snark and a whole lot of friendship.
(Unlike “Waiting for Tom Hanks”)This was sheer delight, from the first sentence to the last. I loved it!I’m only 58 but I’m ready to tell everyone to F8ck off with their moisturizers and anti-aging creams. I look how I look.
Also can’t wait to read this! Glad I got in on the library wait list before it hit 3 digits long.
This is waiting for me at the GBPL drive through as we speak. Even more excited for my evening on the patio with this. Thanks Lisa the Librarian.
Really enjoyed the review, Lisa the Librarian! Unlike DonnaMarie, I am number 57 in line for the eBook at my local library….
Sounds like a perfect evening. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did.
Just one-clicked this for my 4th of July read. YAY!
Super looking forward to this one! I love Linda Holmes.
Thanks for an enjoyable review, Lisa the Librarian. I look forward to reading this.
I read this book so fast and with a smile on my face the whole time (except the sad, longing parts).
I laughed at the quips and emotional depth of these characters. I love their flaws and their romance.
Go get it, then pass it to a friend!
/sobs/
My. Library. Can’t. Get. This.
This is a very popular book. I am number 45th in line for the eBook at my local library…Estimated wait is 18 weeks. Audio has 21 holds.
I quite enjoyed it although there were some parts that were just better written than others which I occasionally found a bit jarring. On the whole though, delightful.
I’m looking forward to whatever Linda Holmes’ next book is.
(Also, there’s a shout-out to SB Sarah in the acknowledgements) 🙂
This sounds delightful. I just checked my library, and there are 8 copies out and 11 holds, putting me in 12th in queue – which I can live with 🙂 (my small town library is part of a rural library network which is, unfortunately, underused).
Thanks for the great review! Went and put myself on the hold list – I’m #99 here at the Brooklyn Library. By the time I get the book, I’ll have to re-read this review to remember why I wanted to borrow it, haha.
This sounds great. Have wishlisted (not allowed to buy books till re-employed).
If I’m not mistaken, Linda Holmes’ previous writing experience was as the much-appreciated “Miss Alli” on the late Television Without Pity website, whose detailed recaps were much anticipated.
@Cyanetta-Yep-she did write for Television Without Pity-one of my favorite sites, EVER!
I lucked out and got the book from the library (it was just there! on the shelf!) the day before Jenna Bush picked it for her Today Show book club. SCORE!
It’s the perfect summer read. It’s the perfect fall read! Heck, it’s just a great, feel-good read, period.
I read this over the weekend and I did absolutely nothing else but read this wonderful book.
It’s been a long time since I read something this relatable.
Excellent review!
This book REALLY hit home for me the degree to which the heroes of hetero romances are usually such jerks that they’re not so much fun to read.
Having a beautiful male lead outside of that just makes me want more books like this. I love Holmes’ work and at first was busy cataloging parallels to her life and interests but got so swept up in it!
I love this book and I’m so glad it got the attention it deserves!
A couple years late to the party here, but–your review is spot on! I just read this for the second time. For me, it’s pretty much the perfect contemporary romance. Linda’s writing, while seeming effortless, is just really superb. I’m an annoying over thinker with fiction. I have had to come to terms with the unnatural, implausible plot points that even many top romances include. There’s not a single damn one here. Like you, I could go on with how much I love this book. Can’t wait for her sophomore release!