Audio: The summer cottage - Viola Shipman

Narrated by: Tanya Eby

Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins

Unabridged Audiobook

Release date: 04-23-19

Language: English

Publisher: Harlequin Audio

Womens fic

To review

My Thoughts

I remember seeing something about 50+ people finding love, and no, this is not a romance, but maybe she finds love (she totally does!). And it felt nice to see someone mature find love too.

Adie Lou has been through a divorce (her hubbie left her for a college student, that asshat!). And even though she has a well paid job, she wants more. She wants something new. She is tired of her jo, tired of seeing men pass her for promotions. She needs to find herself again.

So she decides to make her grandparents summer cottage into a b&b. Of course I at once thought of a Finnish one and was all how?!? But it seems this one has over 8 bedrooms, so that is bloody palace. But it will not be easy. She knows nothing about that kind of life. There is so much work to be done. She has doubts. She finds friends, and yes she does get a chance of some romance too.

I do confess that it is really cheesy sweet. Everything works out and there are quotes everywhere. I would brand it Hallmark feel good book. Make this a Hallmark movie and it would fit right in. And I liked that, the sweet, the hopeful tone of the book.

Narrator

I have listened to Tanya Eby before, and I do like her voice. She also fitted very well for this role and this sort of story. It was enjoyable listening to her and I find her different voices well done.

Adie Lou Kruger’s ex never understood her affection for what her parents called their Cozy Cottage, the charming, ramshackle summer home - complete with its own set of rules for relaxing - that she’s inherited on Lake Michigan. But despite the fact she’s facing a broken marriage and empty nest and that middle age is looming in the distance, memories of happy childhoods on the beach give her reason for hope. She’s determined not to let her husband’s affair with a grad student reduce her to a cliché or to waste one more minute in a career she doesn’t love, so it becomes clear what Adie Lou must do: rebuild her life and restore her cottage shingle by shingle, on her terms.
But converting the beloved, weather-beaten structure into a bed-and-breakfast isn’t quite the efficient home-reno experience she’s seen on TV. Pushback from Saugatuck’s contentious preservation society, costly surprises, and demanding guests were not part of the plan. But as the cottage comes back to life, Adie Lou does, too, finding support in unexpected places and a new love story on the horizon.
One cottage rule at a time, Adie Lou reclaims her own strength, history, and joy by rediscovering the magic in every sunset and sandcastle.

Audio: California Girls - Susan Mallery

• Narrated by: Tanya Eby
• Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins
• Unabridged Audiobook
• Release date: 02-26-19
• Language: English
• Publisher: Harlequin Audio
• Womens fiction
• Thank you harper for this copy!

MY THOUGHTS

This is the story of 3 sisters who all get dumped on the same day.

Ali was my favorite of the sisters. She gets dumped 2 months before her wedding and her fiance does not even do it himself. The more I heard of him I was all, you should have dumped him long ago.

And his brother Daniel, omg, what a man! He was everything her sucky fiance should have been. So yes obvi something will start to grow there

Finola was somewhat cold. She was just so career oriented. Of course that did not give her husband  the right to cheat, talk people! I also feel that she clung to his memory too long.

Zennie, well I do understand why her family and friends felt like she rushed into things. I felt like she rushed into things. Her friends wanted a baby, she said yes to being their surrogate. But even though it was her egg she never thought more of it. I mean that is your baby! That is not their baby, that is half their baby and half yours! Yes, awesome thing to do, but still your baby.

They all deal with their own things as the story progresses, and with their mum getting rid of their old place.

It was a more, oh I can not find the right word, not slow, just peaceful (still not the right word). The only real drama being when Finola found out the truth.

A good book

Narrator
I felt she did justice to all the sisters. They had their own voices. She got the mood of the book too
I feel like I have listened to her before, and if not, then she has a voice that makes you feel at home

Blurb

Finola, a popular LA morning show host, is famously upbeat until she’s blindsided on live TV by news that her husband is sleeping with a young pop sensation who has set their affair to music. While avoiding the tabloids and pretending she’s just fine, she’s crumbling inside, desperate for him to come to his senses and for life to go back to normal.

Zennie’s breakup is no big loss. Although the world insists she pair up, she’d rather be surfing. So agreeing to be the surrogate for her best friend is a no-brainer—after all, she has an available womb and no other attachments to worry about. Except…when everyone else, including her big sister, thinks she’s making a huge mistake, being pregnant is a lot lonelier—and more complicated—than she imagined.

Never the tallest, thinnest or prettiest sister, Ali is used to being overlooked, but when her fiancé sends his disapproving brother to call off the wedding, it’s a new low. And yet Daniel continues to turn up “for support,” making Ali wonder if maybe—for once—someone sees her in a way no one ever has.