Hi there!
Welcome back to Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers.
Today, we're playing host to a stop along the TLC Book Tours virtual route for a Women's Fiction title that's celebrating its BOOK BIRTHDAY as we speak. (Woo hoo!) It's a book that will draw your eye with its simple yet striking cover, and capture your heart with its memorable characters. If you're looking for your next potential read, I highly recommend you pulling up a chair and catching up with us a bit as we explore today's book of choice...
by
Zoe Fishman
9780062378743
William Morrow
About the book...
A poignant breakout novel, for fans of J. Courtney Sullivan and Elin Hilderbrand, about a single mother who inherits a beautiful beach house with a caveat—she must take care of the ornery elderly woman who lives in it.
For years, Maggie Sheets has been an invisible hand in the glittering homes of wealthy New York City clients, scrubbing, dusting, mopping, and doing all she can to keep her head above water as a single mother. Everything changes when a former employer dies leaving Maggie a staggering inheritance. A house in Sag Harbor. The catch? It comes with an inhabitant: The deceased’s eighty-two-year old mother Edith.
Edith has Alzheimer’s—or so the doctors tell her—but she remembers exactly how her daughter Liza could light up a room, or bring dark clouds in her wake. And now Liza’s gone, by her own hand, and Edith has been left—like a chaise or strand of pearls—to a poorly dressed young woman with a toddler in tow.
Maggie and Edith are both certain this arrangement will be an utter disaster. But as summer days wane, a tenuous bond forms, and Edith, who feels the urgency of her diagnosis, shares a secret that she’s held close for five decades, launching Maggie on a mission that might just lead them each to what they are looking for.
HarperCollins | Amazon | Barne
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This is a story not about a great romantic love but about finding life AND love in those people and situations at the surround us. It's about discovering our own strengths, and being able to accept a hand offered as well as do the offering. It's about realizing that yes, life CAN be grade-A-awful-and-ugly sometimes and everyone has secrets, but to have HOPE...because as the word implies, Hang On, Pain Ends.
I fell in love with this story character by character. Honest, I did! Maggie was a wonderful leading lady, not simply charming and full of poise, but real, down to earth, and toting her adorable tot Lucy, who seems to be the one really in control. I suppose at her tender age, that's bound to happen, but she really steals the show with her astute observations, and her angel with devil horns demeanor. (LOL.) Let's just say like all little ones, she know how to work a situation to her desired outcome and dear old Mom is already choosing her battles. Anywho...when Maggie and Lucy hightail it unexpectedly to Sag Harbor, they know not what to expect, but when they discovered was far more than they could imagine. Edith, leading lady number two, is a BIG part of that surprise. Can you imagine being "gifted" a new home, source of income...and a mother? Yeah, it's a bit unorthodox, but with her recent Alzheimer's diagnosis, it's a final wish that has BOTH their best interests at heart...if they can simply stand each other long enough to get to that happy ending. Though stubborn and proud, she too has secrets and with her mind playing cruel tricks on her, it's best those secrets are uncovered before they drift off for all time. But what happens when a door to the past is opened? Will it bring salvation and peace or simply heartache? One things for sure, they've got to walk through it find out and in doing so, they're about to discover that journey's of the heart are best taken hand in hand with those you love.
In the end, it was an emotional read that may not have you reaching for the tissues, but it will have you experiencing all the feels it has to offer. I couldn't honestly choose a favorite character this time around, seeing as I truly adored all that we had the pleasure of meeting...well, okay, maybe except for the self proclaimed "King" and Lyle. My only mini-complaint would be the lack of sparks in the potential love connection for our Maggie...seriously, it felt as platonic as you could get despite her verbal assertions to the opposite...but then again, it wasn't ever really about all that now was it. A small lacking I can easily forgive because the story itself tugs at the heartstrings while continuing to build the characters up even as they seem ready to fall. It was a joy to read this treasure of a tale that reminds us that even in the darkest of times, there IS light. I know I won't be forgetting my time in Sag Harbor anytime soon, and I highly doubt you would either, given the chance.
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About the author...
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| Photo by Karen Shacham |
Zoe Fishman is the author of Driving Lessons, Saving Ruth, and Balancing Acts. Her books have been translated into German, Italian, Dutch and Polish. She’s the recipient of many awards, including Target’s Breakout and Emerging Author Picks, a New York Post Pick, and has been featured on NBC’s “Atlanta & Co.” as well as in Publishers Weekly and The Huffington Post. She is currently at work on her next novel, as well as teaching writing at The Callanwolde Fine Arts Center. Zoe lives in Atlanta with her husband and two sons.
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Special thanks to Trish at TLC Book Tours for the chance to bring this tour to you and to the Marketing team at HarperCollins for the ARC for review. (THANKS!) For more information on this title, the author, the publisher, THIS TOUR, or those on the horizon, feel free to click through the links provided above. This title is IN STORES NOW today via William Morrow Paperbacks, an imprint of HarperCollins, so be on the lookout for it on a bookstore shelf or virtual retailer of your choosing.
Until next time, remember...if it looks good, READ IT!
I'm always grateful to a book that will make me feel all the feels without having to cry, which I do so easily these days!
ReplyDeleteThank you for being on this tour!