The Mostly True Story of Tanner & Louise by Colleen Oakley

Lynnie      
Amy          

contemporary fiction

 

In The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise, 

Louise Wilt is an octogenarian who is recovering from a broken hip. Her children mandate that Louise get a live-in caretaker and find family friend, Tanner, a college-age woman with her own recent injury, to take the job. Louise and Tanner fall into a routine of mutual avoidance (unless Tanner is driving Mrs. Wilt to her appointments) until Tanner begins to notice strange things about Mrs. Wilt.

Lynnie's Review

This was a great book from beginning to end. It was easy to like both Tanner and Louise despite the initial cantankerousness of both as Colleen Oakley has created characters that you want to know better. Despite, or perhaps because of, their age difference, Tanner and Louise make a wonderful pair and each have lessons to learn from one another. As Tanner and Louise both allow their hard shells to crack just a bit for one another, we learn more about the circumstances that brought them to their current situation and about the tenacity of a woman on a mission.

I truly enjoyed the banter between the characters in this book. Whether it was Louise and Tanner or any of the side characters, the dialogue was always entertaining. This is the buddy road trip story you never knew you needed. It would make a fantastic movie or TV series - I could picture the events perfectly in my mind.

I definitely recommend this book. It's a fun, feel-good adventure that will bring a smile to your face.

Amy's Review

The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise is about the adventures of octogenarian, Louise, and her 21-year-old summer live-in caregiver, Tanner.  They disappear together after Tanner has been living with Louise for a few weeks causing Louise’s children to file a missing person’s report with the police. What they don’t know is that the FBI is also interested in finding Louise.

This novel was one of those where two people didn’t realize they needed each other until they were thrown together and stuff happened. Neither of them were particularly thrilled when Louise’s daughter hired Tanner to drive Louise to her appointments and help around the house. But Tanner, whose college athletic hopes had been ruined due to an accident, needed a job and Louise needed a driver. So, after a prickly beginning, they are forced to get to know each other better once Louise has to take an urgent journey across the country.

Neither of them are particularly likeable at the beginning but they grow on the readers the more we get to know them and understand their pasts.  This was a fun story that spotlighted the power of women and the power of friendship. I especially loved Louise’s no-nonsense personality and Tanner’s caring heart. They made a terrific team. And the ending was better than I anticipated!

The audiobook was narrated by Hillary Huber who seems to be a hot narrator these days, having narrated several novels to which I’ve listened lately.  She did a terrific job with all the characters in this one and was able to put her snarky voice to use perfectly with Tanner and Louise.  I’ll give her an A.