First edition as new

Eh. Passable beach read. ( )

Definitely not one of her best books, but not nearly as poor as I was led to believe. Admittedly, it's set in my home town, which never fails to delight me as my home town only read made it on to the map in the last 15 years or so. But I enjoyed following the main character's vision and her hard work on restoring the Cracker house, and I thoroughly enjoyed the romantic interest's background of owning Jungle Jerry's, a fictional but entirely accurate take on Sarasota Jungle Gardens, right down to the parrot that rides a bike.

Nostalgia definitely bumped the rating on this book at least a star; the villains were too villainous to be real - although in Florida non of them were impossible - and the plots were superficial at best. I always hold up her non detective fiction against her an early work of hers, Hissy Fit, and this falls far short of that incredibly readable story, but it's not, as I said, her worst. Living as far from home as one can get and still be on the planet, I thoroughly enjoyed the virtual trip home, so, 4 stars. ( )

A diversion from my usual reads, this romantic fiction was set in Bradenton, Anna Maria, and Holmes Beach, places I’ve been. Enjoyable with happy ending. ( )

When lifestyle blogger Grace Stanton catches her husband, Ben, in a compromising position in his beloved Audi with her assistant, she does what any woman would do. She drives his car into the backyard swimming pool. She flees with very little to her childhood home, an apartment above the family bar. Forced by a woman hating judge to attend "divorce recovery" Grace sets out to reinvent her life as a single (and broke) woman. She stumbles upon a cottage and convinces its owner to let her remodel it. Her only payment? Let her use the remodel job on her new blog. Unfortunately, Grace faces roadblocks at every turn. And when someone tries to burn the house down, well, she sets out to find the culprit.

But Grace is not the only future divorcee' to be sent to "divorce recovery." Along with three other women, and a man whose only attribute is he is cute, Grace slogs through sessions ran by a woman who is more interested in the $300 per person fee and her pill habit than in helping the divorcee's getting their lives together.

This book is a mixture of laughter, tears, ups, and downs. I have always enjoyed Mary Kay Andrews's writing and this book, although it is an older one, is now one of my favorites. Andrews brings personality to all of her characters and supporting characters. I think one of my favorites was Wyatt's father, Nelson. He reminds me of the crotchety old man that we all love.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys an easy beach read, a good boy meets girl in divorce recovery read, or a book that can be read by a fire on a cold day. Pick it up, sit back and enjoy! ( )