Lola's Secret

I loved this book! I loved Lola! She is feisty and up-to-date even if she is 84. She's great! This is probably my most favorite read so far this year.

The character development is fantastic. I have a complete picture of Lola. No shrinking violet is she. I laughed. I cried.

I will be buying this book and putting it on my keeper shelf. I also plan to get other books by this author. So much fun!

84 year old Lola Quinlan is keeping a secret from her family and she's going to great lengths for it. She wants her family to go away for the holidays recognizing that each of them need time away to recharge. Plus she needs a break herself. To that end, she's told everyone that she will close the small family owned motel in Australia's Clare Valley and be happy as can be alone with herself this record hot Christmas. But in reality this vibrant octogenarian who freely dispenses wisdom, common sense, and rationality to her grandchildren has planned to gather a group of unknown people around her at the motel, perhaps to delve into their lives and problems much the same as she has for her own family for years. She's designed an internet show more campaign to make her plan work, offering free lodging to the first seven people who respond to her marketing. Her intended guests all have varying reasons for going to a small motel for Christmas but they are united by the fact that life has beaten them down and the holidays are just one more reminder of all the ways in which their lives are off-course, imperfect, and sad. There's a young man who has not only lost his job but been dumped by his girlfriend and sees no point in going on. There's a 17 year old girl who wants to take her younger sisters away from the toxic, constant fighting between their parents. There's an intense and unbending businesswoman who is estranged from her family. And there's a couple who have been sinking under grief and despair in the aftermath of a tragic workplace accident. All of them are the sort people who could use the sort of perfect Christmas Lola is dreaming up. But of course nothing is going to go as planned.

The novel's perspective jumps from Lola and her family's story to her upcoming guests' stories and back again as they all get closer to the holidays. This is a sequel novel to McInerney's The Alphabet Sisters so there's some past history for new readers to figure out but clues are peppered throughout the narrative to make it easier. Lola is still having to referee and act as go-between for her two granddaughters, Carrie and Bett, who find themselves in a ridiculous competition over who has a better life, more supportive spouse, and is a better parent. Meanwhile, Lola herself is still negotiating a very frosty relationship with daughter-in-law Geraldine, with whom she has never gelled, only existing in an uneasy state of detente because of their shared love for Jim, Lola's only son and Geraldine's husband. In addition to family, Lola also works at the local charity resale store and she finds herself in direct conflict with a new volunteer who is full of ideas, bulldozes the long-time workers, and doesn't do a shred of work herself.

Lola is a pistol and manages to keep a level head for those around her. She has so many balls in the air that a Christmas surrounded by strangers would be a relief. And while it's fun to ride along in Lola's slipstream, there are just a few too many plot lines running through the novel, with many of them never being fully developed to the reader's satisfaction. The family relationships seem genuine although the forty some year chill between Lola and Geraldine that culminates in some hurtful words followed by some soul searching on Lola's part seems a bit too simplistic for something that has festered for so long. The people immediately surrounding Lola in her life were fairly well developed but the secret guests Lola has coming to the motel are much more caricature-like and their stories far more superficial than the family drama that is really the center of the book. Overall, this is a sweet novel that attempts to include just a shade too much but for a quick and easy read, it will fit the bill. show less

Lola is a fun and quirky octogenarian, who lets no grass grow under her feet. She also likes to have her own way, and she isn't the least bit shy about finding a way to make that happen. Lola is a mother, grandmother and great grandmother. She is the proprietor of a cozy little motel called the Valley View Motel, in southern Australia. Not the first place one might think of spending Christmas day. To make things even more interesting, there has been a heat wave and the hotter than normal temperatures may be responsible for the family to be even more cranky and whiny than at other times, or maybe Lola just needed a break. So, she set out to have one.

For years they had all gathered at the Valley View Motel. This year, Lola insisted that show more each family group make other plans. She had a plan of her own, too. Most of all it seemed that what Lola wanted and needed was some time away from the demands of a family, all of whom adored her to the brink of madness. She worked hard towards her goals and before you know it, each family had made plans to be elsewhere at Christmas, despite their concern over leaving their Lola alone and sad on the day.

Lola planned to be anything but alone, as it was her family she needed a break from, not the entire world. She had what she was calling Lola's secret. This secret plan would not only bring her guests for the holidays, but it would brighten up Christmas for each of them. As sometimes happens though, the best laid plans are put awry. And so was Lola's Secret Plan. Or, was it? I think you will enjoy finding out for yourself just how the plan went, and what happened with each of her expected guests. It may very well surprise you. It certainly surprised Lola!

This is a sweet read, but not too treacly. Much fun is to be had with a sit down, a cup of tea and Lola's Secret. show less

What really was Lola's secret?

Was her secret something that she needed to keep from her family because they didn't need to know or was her secret something that she does that secretly helps others?

Lola was an 84-year-old mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother and a woman who had a mind of her own and was a person whom everyone loved and looked up to. But....Lola did have unique ideas and one in particular that her family definitely shouldn't know about especially since it was Christmas. She wanted something different for this Christmas even though it included complete strangers.

LOLA'S SECRET was funny, hit close to home in family matters, and made you think about your life. Lola will make you think about the beauty of life and of show more living your life to its fullest with no regrets.

You will absolutely love Lola, absolutely hate Geraldine, and enjoy all the other characters. Lola held them all together. You will wish you had someone like Lola in your life....she was wonderful.

LOLA'S SECRET is a sweet, nostalgic read that has a feel good theme taking place in a small town where everyone knows each other and everyone helps each other with Lola and the Valley View Motel and its owners being the center of it all.

I really enjoyed this book because of the homey, family-oriented theme and the reminder of enjoying life. 5/5

This book was given to me free of charge and without compensation in exchange for an honest review. show less

The promotional material for this book calls McInerney "Australia's answer to Maeve Binchy," and I can certainly see the comparison. This is a book about troubled people finding solutions to their problems. At the center is Lola Quinlan, matriarch of a family full of people with issues. The Quinlan family business is the Valley View motel, and there Lola plans a Christmas celebration that will pull together a random group of people with secrets and problem. See, it's very Binchy. The process of planning this celebration will force the Quinlans to sort out their own problems. Even Binch-ier!

This is definitely a feel-good novel- the sort that aknowledges that there are plenty of problems in life, but reminds you that there is plenty of show more richness to be had too. Lola is one of those spunky old folks who brings her life experience to bear on other peoples' problems. I couldn't exist on this kind of reading alone, but it's a nice change of pace every now and then. show less

I enjoyed this book. It was a cute, touching story about a meddlesome old lady and would be what we call today BBA - 'Baby Boom Adult' fiction. It had many luscious details and lots of interesting character development. The plot dragged a bit slower than I would have liked, but I am not (quite yet) a BBA reader, either. It's nice to know that when I reach that age group (sooner than I'd like to admit) that there will be stories such as this waiting for me that involve real people instead of sparkly vampires.

Thank you Ms. McInerney for this Goodreads First Reads Giveaway

This was a good book with good reading speed but I feel a little left flat at the end. I just feel like the start of the story could have been better intertwined with the events that followed ( it's hard without giving the story away) but also I have THE ALPHABET SISTERS to read and probably should have read that first. It might have given me more insight to this story. And the only give away, I love the thought of growing up running a motel of sorts! The laughable part of the book was a little ditty about a willy-wagtail, a small bird, that would play o the lawn. I of course googled it and the videos of these birds and the playful kookaburras made my day!