Linda Holmes (1) (1971–)
Author of Evvie Drake Starts Over
For other authors named Linda Holmes, see the disambiguation page.
Works by Linda Holmes
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1971
- Gender
- female
- Education
- Lewis & Clark Law School, Oberlin College
- Occupations
- lawyer
radio host
author - Nationality
- USA
- Places of residence
- Washington, D.C., USA
- Associated Place (for map)
- D.C., USA
Members
Reviews
I hate it when a non-romance novelist gets a lot of buzz for writing what is basically a contemporary romance novel. And then I hate it even more when said novel is really, really GOOD. Evvie Drake Starts Over sounds a little too much like a podcast when it starts, but then Linda Holmes settles in and tells a really strong story about guilt, grief, beginnings and endings. As a St. Louis Cardinals fan, I couldn't help loving a hero who is at least a bit modeled on former pitcher Rick Ankiel, show more who notoriously lost his ability to pitch during a playoff game and left the game soon after (only to make a brief but memorable reappearance as an outfielder). And it's easy to root for Evvie to break out of the guilt, fear and anger that have built up over the decades of her marriage to an emotionally abusive but outwardly charming doctor (and have probably been there ever since her mother left the family when Evvie was a young girl). I have to say that Evvie's relationship with her neghbor Andy was arguably even more interesting than the romance; there aren't enough stories out there about platonic friendships between men and women and how that dynamic changes when one of the friends finds a significant other.
TL;DR - worth the hype. Dammit. show less
TL;DR - worth the hype. Dammit. show less
The Publisher Says: A woman returns to her small Maine hometown, uncovering family secrets that take her on a journey of self-discovery and new love, in this warm and charming novel from the New York Times best-selling author of Evvie Drake Starts Over.
Smarting from her recently cancelled wedding and about to turn 40, Laurie Sassalyn returns to her Maine hometown of Calcasset to handle the estate of her great-aunt Dot, a spirited adventurer who lived to be 90. Along with boxes of Polaroids show more 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 the never-married Dot that ends with the line, “And anyway, if you’re ever desperate, there are always ducks, darling.”
Laurie is told that the duck has no financial value. But after it disappears under suspicious circumstances, she feels compelled to figure out why anyone would steal a wooden duck — and why Dot kept it hidden away in the first place. Suddenly Laurie finds herself swept up in a righteous caper that has her negotiating with antiques dealers and con artists, going on after-hours dates at the local library, and reconnecting with her oldest friend and first love. Desperate to uncover her great-aunt’s secrets, Laurie must reckon with her past, her future, and ultimately embrace her own vision of flying solo.
I CHECKED THIS OUT FROM THE LIBRARY. THANK GOODNESS THEY EXIST. BUYING EVERY BOOK I WANT TO READ WOULD BE RUINOUS!
My Review: There's something really wonderful about reading stories that center your own concerns. I'm older than most of these characters, younger than a few, but they're not just starting out, figuring out Life, for the first time. They're part of it, settled into it, and now...there needs to be More.
Laurie and Nick dated eons ago, fell out of touch, and now that Laurie's back in their hometown to settle up her Aunt Dot's estate, she's back in touch with Nick because...well, because she wants to be. Because he wants to be, too. They're grownups with crack-ups in their pasts. They're adult children of people they love and care for. They're professionals and they're nice people.
And they're still...again...relearning how to be...in love. With each other, with their wildly separate lives and their mutually exclusive homes. They are, in short, deeply relatable to me. This book came to me as a not-quite recommendation from a LibraryThing friend who read it and resonated to its companionate themes. I'm resonating to the, well, the desire to make a relationship work that has a lot of strange contours to it and that precludes cohabitation for the foreseeable future. But is still a full, fun, vibrant, living relationship. It's not that common to see this kind of thing in fiction, though I'm aware that it exists in reality.
What happens in the course of Nick and Laurie's rediscovery of each other is a story that weaves together the best of humanity...generous, kind, unselfish souls sharing gladly all that they're asked for, looking for ways to give even more...and the worst, the dishonest and selfish impulse to lie and cheat and steal. In the course of that element of the story being resolved, in a believable way, these two main charatcers go on the real voyage of discovery inside themselves and in relation to the many, many people in their orbit.
I found a lot to enjoy in this read. I laughed out loud at Author Holmes' trademark funny lines:
Fun, funny stuff that totally makes sense to someone who lives in an assisted living facility, and regularly talks about it to someone who doesn't. Author Holmes never stints on the real-life elements of her stories, so far at least, and we should all pray to the Muses she never tries to.
The real-life stuff's not *all* fun, of course, and there's a lot of relatable material in that as well:
It's not deathless prose that stuns with its lapidary gleam and brilliance; it's the way your smarter-than-you friend with the sense of humor talks sense into you when you're falling off of/under/for something. It's comfortable, comforting, and relatable in the best ways.
It's a book I'm glad I read by an author I'm glad is getting contracts. That's more than enough for me right this minute. It felt like a slightly selfish, wicked little gift I was giving myself, reading this pleasant tale about people like me with concerns I could relate to. Giving it a few hours made a whole bunch more of them more pleasant, and that's worth four starts and a thank you every day. show less
Smarting from her recently cancelled wedding and about to turn 40, Laurie Sassalyn returns to her Maine hometown of Calcasset to handle the estate of her great-aunt Dot, a spirited adventurer who lived to be 90. Along with boxes of Polaroids show more 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 the never-married Dot that ends with the line, “And anyway, if you’re ever desperate, there are always ducks, darling.”
Laurie is told that the duck has no financial value. But after it disappears under suspicious circumstances, she feels compelled to figure out why anyone would steal a wooden duck — and why Dot kept it hidden away in the first place. Suddenly Laurie finds herself swept up in a righteous caper that has her negotiating with antiques dealers and con artists, going on after-hours dates at the local library, and reconnecting with her oldest friend and first love. Desperate to uncover her great-aunt’s secrets, Laurie must reckon with her past, her future, and ultimately embrace her own vision of flying solo.
I CHECKED THIS OUT FROM THE LIBRARY. THANK GOODNESS THEY EXIST. BUYING EVERY BOOK I WANT TO READ WOULD BE RUINOUS!
My Review: There's something really wonderful about reading stories that center your own concerns. I'm older than most of these characters, younger than a few, but they're not just starting out, figuring out Life, for the first time. They're part of it, settled into it, and now...there needs to be More.
Laurie and Nick dated eons ago, fell out of touch, and now that Laurie's back in their hometown to settle up her Aunt Dot's estate, she's back in touch with Nick because...well, because she wants to be. Because he wants to be, too. They're grownups with crack-ups in their pasts. They're adult children of people they love and care for. They're professionals and they're nice people.
And they're still...again...relearning how to be...in love. With each other, with their wildly separate lives and their mutually exclusive homes. They are, in short, deeply relatable to me. This book came to me as a not-quite recommendation from a LibraryThing friend who read it and resonated to its companionate themes. I'm resonating to the, well, the desire to make a relationship work that has a lot of strange contours to it and that precludes cohabitation for the foreseeable future. But is still a full, fun, vibrant, living relationship. It's not that common to see this kind of thing in fiction, though I'm aware that it exists in reality.
What happens in the course of Nick and Laurie's rediscovery of each other is a story that weaves together the best of humanity...generous, kind, unselfish souls sharing gladly all that they're asked for, looking for ways to give even more...and the worst, the dishonest and selfish impulse to lie and cheat and steal. In the course of that element of the story being resolved, in a believable way, these two main charatcers go on the real voyage of discovery inside themselves and in relation to the many, many people in their orbit.
I found a lot to enjoy in this read. I laughed out loud at Author Holmes' trademark funny lines:
“...we were pretty much out of cabinet space between the actual dishes and the food dehydrator he had bought himself and then used to make jerky a total of two—as in ‘one, two’—times.”
“How was the jerky?”
“Wretched. It tasted like wet cigarettes. We could have used it to repel raccoons.”
–and–
“...But yes, she started doing senior synchronized swimming at the Sarasota Y recently. She’s going to be in a recital. The theme is Hooray for Hollywood.”
The sound Dot made was closer to a hoot than a laugh. “Good for her. Whatever it takes to get your legs over your head.”
Fun, funny stuff that totally makes sense to someone who lives in an assisted living facility, and regularly talks about it to someone who doesn't. Author Holmes never stints on the real-life elements of her stories, so far at least, and we should all pray to the Muses she never tries to.
The real-life stuff's not *all* fun, of course, and there's a lot of relatable material in that as well:
“This is just a gruesome job. I feel so bad, like a grave robber.”
{The reseller} nodded. “You are far from a grave robber. Remember, she had these things for as long as she needed them, and they probably brought her a lot of happiness. But they most likely won’t bring you any, so there’s not a lot to gain from your coming down hard on yourself because you want to let stuff go.”
–and–
“Nah. Believe me, you don’t want to get married if the marriage you’re going to have is not the same marriage as the one you’d like to have.”
It's not deathless prose that stuns with its lapidary gleam and brilliance; it's the way your smarter-than-you friend with the sense of humor talks sense into you when you're falling off of/under/for something. It's comfortable, comforting, and relatable in the best ways.
It's a book I'm glad I read by an author I'm glad is getting contracts. That's more than enough for me right this minute. It felt like a slightly selfish, wicked little gift I was giving myself, reading this pleasant tale about people like me with concerns I could relate to. Giving it a few hours made a whole bunch more of them more pleasant, and that's worth four starts and a thank you every day. show less
Channeling Evvie Drake, Linda Holmes has once again drawn a character, Cecily Foster, who is constantly being abused and allowing it. Oh, she has plenty of excuses, protecting a friend, afraid of causing the loss of a job, hers included, how to stand strong on her own, not really owning that she deserves the chance, the recognition and accolades, the money, even though she knows she does.
I really liked Cecily, her quirks, preferring headphones to something that she has to look at after it show more has been in her ear, her deprecatory manner, her quick comebacks, and the way she really loves her friends. I really dislike when talented women refuse to look in the mirror and acknowledge that they are important and worthy of being noticed. But if Cecily had that mettle this would have been less of a very good story. There were laugh out loud moments and subtle humor throughout as well as those god awful cringeworthy “how could you do that” situations. The characters who inhabit this story are so well drawn that you can’t help but feel as if you know them and have met their counterparts in your life.
Holmes has written a fun and insightful rom-com that may be just a little more than that. I want to thank Ballantine Books/Random House and NetGalley for a copy. show less
I really liked Cecily, her quirks, preferring headphones to something that she has to look at after it show more has been in her ear, her deprecatory manner, her quick comebacks, and the way she really loves her friends. I really dislike when talented women refuse to look in the mirror and acknowledge that they are important and worthy of being noticed. But if Cecily had that mettle this would have been less of a very good story. There were laugh out loud moments and subtle humor throughout as well as those god awful cringeworthy “how could you do that” situations. The characters who inhabit this story are so well drawn that you can’t help but feel as if you know them and have met their counterparts in your life.
Holmes has written a fun and insightful rom-com that may be just a little more than that. I want to thank Ballantine Books/Random House and NetGalley for a copy. show less
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 onenot even Andy or Evvie?s father¥knows is that her show more 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?¥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 friends¥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. show less
Lists
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 5
- Members
- 2,662
- Popularity
- #9,637
- Rating
- 3.8
- Reviews
- 184
- ISBNs
- 46
- Languages
- 6
- Favorited
- 2
