Sean Gleason

A delightful, complex, and very funny novel...

Martie Smurfit has a lot on her plate (and that's the last culinary pun I swear). The child she gave up for adoption 16 years earlier is coming to meet her, she has been sacked from her job as executive chef, and her partner is pushing her to go into business together.

She takes advantage of Brendan McKechnie, a clueless contractor with his own set of wild dreams, and eases herself into position to take over his failing gastro-pub, hiding out in show more the kitchen so he does not learn anything about her personal life and fire her. All that hiding leads to unintended consequences as Brendan brings in a financier who gets outed by the bartender in a case of The Troubles of Northern Ireland visiting the States.

Hilarity ensues, as they say, and the novel becomes flat-out funny as Martie and Brendan try to cover up a crime of battery, only to lose the Irish gangster. Jumping at every noise, fearing arrest at any minute, they carry on with the grand opening while praying that the patron saint of cooks can work a miracle.

Perfect for a weekend's entertainment, the story has plenty of twists and turns and presents a lesbian protagonist as just an ordinary professional woman in a cut-throat business. show less

Sean Gleason demonstrates a rare ability to write fiction that reflects our ordinary, very real, lives. Reading STILL LIFE is like sitting in Louisa Patch's farmhouse, experiencing the highs and lows with her as she struggles to find success in the thoroughbred industry...and show her family that they wrong about her career choice.

Between caring for her special needs daughter and running a horse farm, the last thing she needs is another problem, but here comes her older sister with a new show more husband in tow. Louisa sees through him at once, and sets out to split the pair before her sister gets burned.

At the same time, she's working hard at building a relationship with the farm's owner, while an old flame is working twice as hard to build a relationship with her. She can't keep Cecil out of her life when she needs an ally to help her prove that she's right about the brother-in-law, who has managed to turn her family against her. The next thing she knows, she's in a racehorse syndicate with a mysterious backer who's hiding in plain sight.

The novel is deliciously complex, the narrative so compelling that you can't stop reading. Perfect for a weekend read when you need a few laughs and a few tears. show less

An enlightening story of love of family and that of running a horse stable, which was Louisa's deep passion her entire life growing up. It all begins when Louisa has problems during the delivery of her daughter Chleo, that leaves her with special needs. Her husband Josh, couldn't deal with these issues and moves out of the marriage.Then shortly after Louisa gets the opportunity of a lifetime to run a horse stable down south and she jumps at this chance to fulfill her childhood passion. Now show more she has too balance her personal life with that of running a successful horse farm, this keeps the reader thinking about the next situation that will arise. show less

Louisa Patch is a single mother to a special needs daughter and runs a horse farm in Kentucky. Even though her relationships with her family members are strained, Louisa is determined to prove to her sister that she married a con artist. As if she didn't have enough things going on in her life, Louisa just might add dating to the mix and it looks like she has a few potential suitors.

On paper, the plot lines sound promising and Louisa should be a character that you are really rooting for to show more get that happy ending. Unfortunately, there seemed to be too much going on the story and I never really felt emotionally invested in the main character. I felt confused numerous times throughout the book because it seemed like certain key things were glossed over without a clear explanation. So basically I liked the idea behind this book much more than the actual execution.

I won a free copy of this book from LibraryThing Early Reviewers. All views expressed are my honest opinion. show less