Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes

Lynnie

Amy   

contemporary fiction

Evvie Drake is a widow whose husband was emotionally abusive though she never told anyone about it. After her husband's death, Evvie withdraws from her community, with the exception of her best friend, Andy, and some family. Enter Andy's childhood friend, major league pitcher, Dean, who, suffering a serious case of the yips, moves into the in-law apartment in Evvie's home to get away from the rumors and the stress of being in the city.


Lynnie's Review

In Evvie Drake Starts Over, Linda Holmes has created a charming, frothy book  --  nothing deep or profound in its pages, but filled with interesting, quirky characters and a story that made me smile. I'm shocked how long it took me to read this book, but I enjoyed meandering with the characters and wasn't in a great hurry to leave them. This would be a great beach read (or a great read when you're stuck inside during a Pandemic) that will warm your heart.

Amy's Review

Two people who are unhappy in their current situations are brought together by circumstance and turn out to be just what the other needed.  This is not an original story idea but is almost always satisfying. This was a balm for the crazy state of things these days. There is no mystery about how things would turn out but I still enjoyed reading it. The characters were likeable, their banter was cute, and their need for help to get out of their ruts was obvious.  Dean’s inability to pitch for the major leagues seemed like a more believable story than Evvie’s inability to move forward despite being rid of her husband as she wanted. But I went with it. I don’t have much more to say because there isn’t much to the story. The romance was fun to watch and, by the way, this one was not sexually explicit. People make differences in other peoples’ lives, people address their own issues, and people end up happy.

This was the third audiobook I’ve heard narrated by JuliaWhelan. She does a great job.  She has a good repertoire of voices and accents and does good voice acting.  She was sort of stuck with the characters of Evvie and Dean who don’t really show much emotion but I’ll give her an A.