Shannon VanBergen

This can be viewed as a prequel to a series, I suppose. It's on the short side, about 100 virtual pages in the ebook edition, and it gives us the lay of the land, setting up for the series. Young Nikky (30+) from rural Illinois has had 6 marriages and divorces; now she is taking some time away from fiancé number 7 to be sure by visiting her grandma Geraldine (70+) in small town Florida for an extensive stay. Granny and her buddies sure have some secrets, as well as knowing absolutely show more everything going on in town.

One of the best things about this book, to me, is that Geraldine bears an uncanny resemblance to someone I knew, right down to the early years of singing/dancing/acting and the photo albums full of pictures. So I felt an odd kind of personal connection here.

The writing style, Nikky's first-person account, is breezy and lightly humorous throughout. I got this as a freebie and enjoyed it so much that I bought the next two in the series and started on number two right away... show less

Nikki is definitely settling into life with Grandma and buddies. This adventure had some amusing twists and went where I wasn't expecting... Fully enjoyable. Oh this has one of the cringiest creepy guys that you'll love to greet with a big "ewww". Also Nikki goes on two dates and a little road trip with the gang.

cozy-mystery, seniors, arson, hilarious

Nikki is thirtyish and is divorced from nearly all the young men in her hometown, all six of them. Grandmother Dean has a past in entertainment overseas that left her with a lot of money, but now she runs a jumble shop in a retirement community in Florida. Nikki comes for a visit and to get her life in order on the same day her grandmother's shop is burned. The old girls are really fashion forward and full of mischief, almost as much as the laughs show more generated on each page! Great fun! show less

totally mindless cozy, with an interesting premise...