Evvie Drake Starts Over is a delightful, witty, and charming book. I stayed up late at night to read it, which is the sign of a good read. My streak of reading romance novels continues, though this time I decided to read something from the modern era.
Evvie Drake has lived in a small mid-coastal Maine town her whole life. She married her high school sweetheart, but the marriage is not a good one. In the opening pages, Evvie decides to leave her husband Tim. But as she is packing up her car she receives tragic news: Tim was killed in a car accident. The whole town pities Evvie for her misfortune at being such a young widow, but no one, including her best friend Andy, understands her emotional state.
Andy’s childhood friend and professional baseball star Dean enters the scene. Dean has “the yips” and his baseball pitching career is in the toilet. To get away from his shattered life, Dean shows up in Maine to see his friend Andy and get off the grid for awhile. Andy suggests that Dean rent Evvie’s available apartment that is connected to her large and fairly empty home. Both Dean and Evvie mutually agree not to discuss her dead husband or his baseball career, and a very charming friendship ensues. I’ll stop here before spoiling the rest of the plot.
I really enjoyed this book. The characters had great depth, though sometimes they were too stubborn for their own good when it came to communicating with each other. I realize this is a trope in romance novels but at times I wanted to shake Evvie, Dean, and Andy for being too obstinate. The dialogue and banter in this book were hilarious and very well done. The author captured how actual adults talk to each other. I giggled out loud at some of their quips throughout the book. Even during fight scenes, the characters had very believable screaming matches. I could see myself being friends with these people, though again, I would want to shout at them for not taking action that could change their lives!
Linda Holmes is a well-known personality on NPR and in other media, though I did not realize the author was THAT Linda Holmes until I read the acknowledgments. She is a delightful writer and I hope to read more from her in the future.
Some stats (I like stats):
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Finished on January 4, 2020, took four days to read
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4 stars on Goodreads
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Genre: Romance
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