Evvie Drake Starts Over ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Evvie Drake Starts Over  by Linda Holmes

G👀dreads

A heartfelt debut about the unlikely relationship between a young woman who’s lost her husband and a major league pitcher who’s lost his game.

In a sleepy seaside town in Maine, recently widowed Eveleth “Evvie” Drake rarely leaves her large, painfully empty house nearly a year after her husband’s death in a car crash. Everyone in town, even her best friend, Andy, thinks grief keeps her locked inside, and Evvie doesn’t correct them.

Meanwhile, in New York City, Dean Tenney, former Major League pitcher and Andy’s childhood best friend, is wrestling with what miserable athletes living out their worst nightmares call the “yips:" he can’t throw straight anymore, and, even worse, he can’t figure out why. As the media storm heats up, an invitation from Andy to stay in Maine seems like the perfect chance to hit the reset button on Dean’s future.

When he moves into an apartment at the back of Evvie’s house, the two make a deal: Dean won’t ask about Evvie’s late husband, and Evvie won’t ask about Dean’s baseball career. Rules, though, have a funny way of being broken—and what starts as an unexpected friendship soon turns into something more. To move forward, Evvie and Dean will have to reckon with their pasts—the friendships they’ve damaged, the secrets they’ve kept—but in life, as in baseball, there’s always a chance—up until the last out.

Genre: Fiction, Romance, Chick Lit

The How/Why: Julia Whelan via IG. She's one of my favorite narrators and was talking about working with Linda Holmes.
+ I liked the title. It sounded cozy without being cutsie. 
- The About sounds very Hallmark-esq. 
I could use a little lighthearted listen after my last mystery/thriller. 
Update: not so lighthearted. These people have issues! 

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

🎉 Overall Enjoyment? 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

🎣 Did it grab and keep my attention? 🎣🎣🎣🎣🎣

🗣️Would I recommend it to anyone? Yes ➕

🕮 Would I want a sequel?  Maybe 🤷 I'm not big on a series but wouldn't mind a follow-up with this cast.

📚 Would I want to read more books by this author? Yes 

💣💥 📢 Content Warnings? Em0tionąl AbŲsɇ, Griɇf

🌶 Spice? No but Google says PG13, Pillow Talk (Closed Door)

🌪 Plot Twist? No

👟 Pace? Good

💻 Tidbits ~ I loved the entire cast of characters and want to be their neighbors. Parents, friends, community. All like a gentle hug without being sappy. Oh, and I'm stealing her bestie Andy. You heard it here first. 

Backing up - If you're expecting a Hallmark-esq story, this isn't it. I was surprised too! I thought the About sounded very Hallmark Saturday Night Movie. In fact, I can think of two Hallmark movies off the top of my head with this storyline. Hot guy recovering from something-or-other moves into lady's guest house, they fall in love. I was okay with the Made-For-TV sounding storyline. No shade to Hallmark BTW. I’ve watched 2 or 200 or 2,000 in my day. Who's counting? BUT… two major differences with this one though.
D1 – Witty banter was off the charts.
D2 – Much more in-depth storytelling. Their backgrounds, their immediate past, their current situation. Friends and family intertwined. 
Add back in one Hallmark trademark scene where they break up over a misunderstanding. 

Fast Forward - Evvie was about to leave her [perfect in everyone else's eyes] husband when she gets a call he's been in an accident. He died on her way to the hospital. Nobody knows she was unhappy let alone about to take off with no goodbye. Not her father, not her bestie.
Andy :swoon: is the best guy friend ever. He stayed with Evvie and took care of her when her husband died. He's a single dad with two totally adorable little daughters. 
Andy's best guy friend Dean is struggling with a career stopper and needs to get away. Andy thinks it would be a great idea if Dean rented the little apartment at Evvie's house. She's all alone and could use the extra money, he needs a place to contemplate his future. emmmm, hmmmm. 

Evvie and Dean's relationship is a medium flame (as opposed to insta-love or slow burn). It's  ignited through getting to know each other and feeling comfortable enough to share the deep dark secrets that haunt them. 

My apologizes for jumping to a Saturday Night Movie likeness. Yes, I'm judgy!  
The author addressed serious real-life topics: Em0tionąl AbŲsɇ, Griɇf, Mɇntal Hɇalth IssŲes, Past Trɐumɐ. 

Favorite Quote ~ Evvie thinking about her unhappy marriage: “Evvie’s Scandinavian grandmother had claimed that young women dream about the husbands they want, old women dream about the husbands they wanted, and only the luckiest women, for a moment in the middle, dream about the husbands they’ve got.”

🎧 Narrator: Julia Whelan  (+Linda Holmes for the Author's Note)

🎧9.0  hours 🕮 289 pages


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