It’s a state of chaos.

When publicist Mia Andrews becomes the face of a viral disaster dubbed #PantyGate, her career implodes along with her reputation.

Now jobless and single, Mia lands in the last place she expected—her grandmother’s anything-but-quiet retirement community in Florida. It’s chaos. It’s hilarious. It’s exactly what she didn’t know she needed.

Even worse? The meddling retirees are determined to fix Mia’s love life. Somehow, they find time to play matchmaker—with not one but two bachelors under thirty-five.

But amid the mayhem, Mia’s learning that the best second chances come when—and where—you least expect them.

For fans of witty banter, lovable troublemakers, and slow-burn romance, this is the laugh-out-loud novel that proves love never gets old.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

I stumble inside, as graceful as a giraffe on skates and twice as loud.

The man’s worth a fortune, and he proposed with a rock I couldn’t see without my glasses and a prenup smaller than his penis.

“That’s why I like my men like I like my drinks.” Grandma Helen hefts her nearly empty glass in the air. “Extra strong and gone by morning.”

Big talk from the lady who hasn’t invited a man into her room for so long, she’ll have to Google how…

The chime sets off a chain reaction, squealing and shuffling and hollers from members of our crew who don’t feel quite ready yet. It reminds me of my first apartment in Miami, where a flip of the light would send roaches running.

…feeling your feelings is not for the faint of heart.

My Review:

Another fun and delightfully amusing adventure with senior shenanigans tucked into a slow-burn romance between a pair of their grandchildren. This eclectic group was quite the handful. I reveled in their sass and pluck and looked forward to their next well-orchestrated rebellion, that’s just how I roll. Each character was authentically conjured, with originally quirky and well-fleshed-out personalities.

Cindi Madsen has superior observation skills and is undoubtedly highly perceptive to have created such well-nuanced women far beyond her own years. The writing style was smooth, engaging, well-polished, easy to follow, and sparked frequent smirks and giggle-snorts during perusal.

Vee is nervous about returning to the village of Willowbrook. Not only is Dragonfly Cottage – the house her late mum left her – in need of a total refurb, but the neighbours still remember Vee as a troublesome teen, even though she’s now in her fifties.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

…spiderwebs hung from every corner. It felt like the place where depressed flies came to die.

‘Winnie, I’ve never seen anyone be so keen to go on a banana boat.’ ‘And I only fell off once,’ said Winnie, preening herself. ‘I showed those youngsters a thing or two, didn’t I, Beryl? You were hanging on for dear life.’ ‘Yes, it was two things you showed them, if I remember rightly. Your bikini top came right off. That lifeguard will probably never be the same again.’

This was the life. Mother wouldn’t have approved at all, which made the idea even more appealing.

It wasn’t much fun being a teenager, when I look back on that year. We were full of our own importance some of the time but totally lacking in confidence the rest of it.

My Review:

This was a fun and amusing read with well-balanced hits of family drama and inner turmoil amongst the wry wit and acerbic observations. I’m new to Celia Anderson, shame on me for not noticing this crafty scribbler before. I enjoy her well-textured and agile word skills, snarky humor, and how she totally had me on the hook to unravel what happened in 1985.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

“Tell me everything. Every detail. How hot was it?” “On a scale of chili peppers?” I settled back into the neck rest. “We’re talking habanero hot.”

Detective, if I killed every male who’s ever sexually harassed me in any way, I’d have a whole trail of bodies behind me, starting with Troy Nestor in sixth grade.

My Review:

This was an enjoyable, entertaining, and quick read that kept me engaged and amused throughout perusal. The writing style was easy to follow, well-polished, with just the right light touch of emotiveness as well as head-scratching intrigue for a humorous cozy mystery. Ms. Fox cleverly conjured and populated her tale with a delightful array of authentically quirky characters, my favorite kind! I look forward to more installments from this crafty scribbler.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

I looked him up and down. There was something about him that made me uneasy. Perhaps it was that he had dressed like a cartoon spy? He even had a furled copy of the Daily Telegraph under his arm. I wondered whether, if he opened it up, there’d be holes cut in the pages for his eyes.

It just goes to show that you should never underestimate the elderly. They were all young once, and you never knew what their back story might be.

To my relief, Mrs Shepherd laughed and laughed, as if I’d made a hilarious joke. ‘Oh, good Lord, I’m not ill. I’m not sick in any way, praise be. Living in the refrigerators that pass for vicarages for thirty years has hardened me against physical illness. Any germs that cling on to me when I’m out and about leap off and run the minute I enter my front door, driven by their instincts for self-preservation.’

Suki’s method is always at risk of Chinese Whispers distorting the message in the process. That’s one reason why Suki’s gossip is always such fun– it’s a heady blend of fact and fiction, and not to be taken seriously without a fact check.

I defy anyone walking into a police station not to feel a little nervous, as if they’re about to be rumbled for some inadvertent misdemeanour.

My Review:

This was an entertaining and amusing tale, and I also learned 2 new things from perusing this fun little missive. I had never heard of a Wendy house, but Mr. Google has informed me that it is what the British call a children’s playhouse, and was named after Wendy Darling from Peter Pan. How precious is that? I also learned about the elaborate Japanese collectable art of netsuke, something I didn’t expect to happen from reading a British cozy mystery, but there you have it. And my mother always chided me for reading fiction, saying it was a waste of time.

The writing style is well-polished, humorous, easy to follow, and comfortably engaging. I enjoyed the author’s wry wit and colorful descriptions, which conjured vivid images in my mind’s eye. I will be watching for future installments of this lively series.

My Rating:

Favorite Quote:

Everyone’s life looks fun on social media; that’s the sorcery of it. Your soul may be slowly decaying, but there’s a filter for that.

I like my friends, and we keep each other entertained. But lately, I feel like more of a lone wolf— or maybe I’m just running with the wrong pack.

I roll down the windows to let in the last gasp of summer. There is a particular richness to early September, when the sunlight is broad and lazy.

Time is a vapor, impossible to measure.

They say that hearing is the last sense to go. I want to say something profound before it’s too late, but there is no script for this moment. All I can think to say is, “Thank you,” so I say it over and over. Thank you. Thank you. “Thank you for loving me, Dad,” I say one last time. “I know you don’t remember me, but I remember you. I always will.”

It just wasn’t what I expected— marriage, motherhood. And at some point, I realized I only had one life. So why shouldn’t it be the one I actually want?

Though I have said it many times, only now do I fully believe it to be true: a good oracle shows you what you already know.

My Review:

This emotive tale was stunningly perceptive and squeezed my cold heart, put hot rocks in my throat, and stung my eyes on more than one occasion. Tory Henwood Hoen has mad skills and serious word voodoo. I fell into a poignant and cunningly created vortex and remained engaged, and on the hook, despite the somewhat disconcerting tightening I occasionally noted in my chest. She achieved an impossibly delicate balance between amusing wry wit and thought-provoking insights that slowed my reading to consider and savor. Her well-crafted characters were remarkably human, realistically flawed, and drew me in like a magnet. I covet her skills and am now a devoted acolyte.

My Rating:

Favorite Quote:

The Internet is the private investigator’s mean streets of old. Our nickname of gumshoe is outdated. We should be called creepers or googlers or dark web surfers.

I don’t want to kill Sammy Sykes. It’s something I feel I have to do. Like getting a crown at the dentist. Or talking to the other parents at Evelyn’s school.

It’s amazing how polite even the most despicable people can be when they want something.

The subconscious is my favorite of the consciences. That part of our brains where the real work gets done. Where our little voice comes from, as if the subconscious is a separate person. A wiser person. More observant. More sensitive. But a bit secretive— it doesn’t always want to tell us what it knows.

But meeting Casey the way I did reminds me of the gifts that life offers. Tiny miracles that can grow into the keystones of one’s life. We’re surrounded by them. It’s just a matter of choosing the right ones and nurturing them to their potential.

My Review:

I have been remiss in my reading research, as for shame, this was my first time to pick up a Matt Goldman missive. But I plan to rectify my sloth and make reading his clever arrangements of words a regular habit. His characters were strong and thoughtfully constructed, while also vulnerable and endearingly flawed. I enjoyed the odyssey of their storyline development while this wily scribbler perceptively peeled back the layers to their gooey center. The man has mad skills and exceptional word voodoo.