Welcome to Litsy!

I enjoyed this wonderful book. Beautiful themes of love, healing, and starting over after abuse. It brightened day. My only minor complaint is that I could tell it was written by someone who had vacationed in Maine but not lived here. Vacationing here vs living here are two different experiences, IMO.
Aside from that, great read!

#MentalHealthMonday check-in

How‘s everyone? I‘m OK. Trying to maintain a balance between staying informed and staying sane. Made an appointment with my counselor/coach for next week. Today I went for a walk and finished this lovely audiobook. It was enjoyable.

Normally I do a second or third question, but I couldn‘t think of any today. So I thought a basic check-in would suffice. Hope everyone is hanging in there!

Really enjoyed this book about a #freshstart!
#25alive

Any guesses on how many pages I read before this bench gets uncomfortable?

Audiobook narration by Julia Whelan really brings out both the great banter and serious emotional themes of this story. So fun to listen to, and touching and romantic too.

#WinterGames #HollyJollyReaders and caught me a Pokemon. :-) #GottaCatchEmAll

This was a sweet and quick read with some serious character development for Evvie. Great small town feel

Now I know why everyone loved this book. I did, too!
#ReadTheUSA2023 #Maine @aperfectmjk
#TrappedOnAnIsland (February) #SayMyName #2023ReadySetRead @Clwojick

This was really good! The main characters are in tough situations and find themselves both supporting and challenging each other. Watching them fall for each other while working things out is really rewarding. I loved the baseball and transcription pieces, Linda Holmes is a wonderful writer. Great on #audio. #BookspinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

Wasn't a fan but it works for #Loveathon #FriendsToLovers

New book, rainy day ☔️

This was included on a site that listed books about new beginnings and fresh starts. I had read, and enjoyed, some of the books posted so I gave this a try, looking for something light. This was just boring and I didn't care at all for the characters. . . I didn't finish.

This audiobook is such a non-cheesey easy romance read by a great voice actor. A widow and a washed out baseball ⚾️ pitcher meet and mingle, with serious undertones: anxiety, grief, separation. Definitely a #blameitonLitsy -so good I‘m listening to Flying Solo by the same author

#alphabetgame #letterE

@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Adorable

Evvie Drake is learning how to live again after the death of her abusive husband, with the help of a few close friends and an ex major league pitcher who rents out the apartment attached to her house. This was good-light, sweet and funny at times, which was what I was looking for.

I wasn't wowed by this, but it was a charming, pleasant diversion.

#12Booksof2021 #1stBookof2021 #January
@Andrew65

3⭐️ Thought it was ok; was kinda average. There were some aspects that I thought were better than others, but felt it was nothing special. #2021 #fiction #contemporary #romance #bookreview #bookstagram

+16pts #wintergames2021 #mistletoemaniacs

Go now, or you‘ll never go, Evvie warned herself.

#firstlinefridays

Sadly, I ended up disliking this book: the story seemed incomplete and entirely predictable and forgettable, boring characters... It just did not work for me.

Starting a new book 📖

I first read Linda Holmes's Evvie Drake Starts Over back in 2019 and just loved it, so I was excited when my IRL Book Club picked this one as our September read. This time, I listened, and I loved it all over again!

I'm a fan of Linda Holmes on the Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast, so it was no surprise that the same wit, sensitivity, and common sense that characterize her analyses of pop culture also appear in Evvie Drake. ⬇

Really liked this one. Finished it in 1 day!

I may have read this book in a day, in like 6-7 hours. I always love romance books since they‘re such a good palate cleanser. Doesn‘t make this book bad at all. I really loved it. Evvie definitely went through a lot and had to figure a lot out. Dean was really great too. I loved Evvies‘s journey and I think she should have been a part of the wedding party.

It‘s always nice to have a relaxing Friday night when you have a super busy weekend ahead of you!

🍷&📚

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This is exactly what I hope for when cracking open a contemporary fiction rom-com story. Well-written, funny, a little dark, a little light. Relatable characters. Evvie - short for Eveleth - is finally ready to leave her emotionally abusive husband only to find at that moment, he has suddenly died. The story unfolds revealing complex relationships with both family and friends. I loved Evvie. It‘s a good read!

This book sounds like a light romance, but it explored a number of surprisingly hard topics on the way. Both Evvie & Dean are dealing w/grief, managing others' expectations, & balancing that w/their own needs. The questions they have to ask themselves are hard & real. I like how Holmes keeps that foundation of reality, having characters call each other out on odd or hurtful choices, while also keeping the overall mood light, fun, & readable.

This was a really fun and easy read. It's about starting over (obviously) but it also deals with failure and complicated relationships (of all kinds). I've seen reviews comparing it to a Hallmark movie (in the nicest way possible) and I don't disagree...

It was just ok to me. I wanted more depth to the characters.

#LitsySpringBreak #Ballgame
Dean is a baseball player who's lost his ability to pitch, and wants to go somewhere quiet for awhile so he'll be left alone, so he rents the extra room in Evvie's house.
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @TheKidUpstairs

Evvie‘s emotionally abusive husband, a doctor & beloved member of their community, dies on the day she packs a bag to leave him; seeing herself as a disloyal monster, she hides this fact even from those nearest & dearest to her.

When a friend of a friend, a man getting over his own self-doubt, moves in as a tenant, they form a bond.

Though Evvie Drake is, in large part, a love story — the narrative centers even more on one woman‘s evolution.👇🏻

“Eveleth had always hated how blushing felt. It was accompanied by such a miserable desire to cease to be, utterly, to turn into a fog that could be waved away. This blush, though, was like blooming, like she might look down and see petals flutter from her own shoulders.”

Hot cocoa & indecision. ☕️

This romantic comedy set in a small Maine coastal town is a really fun listen! I enjoyed the characters, the bantering dialogue and the many pop culture references! The titular character, a recent widow, winds up renting her apartment to an ex-professional baseball player with the yips- I found myself listening at every opportunity! Well-performed and genuinely a good time! #AudioColoring

I stayed up late reading! I feel like one of the best parts of me - the lover of books - is coming back after a long absence. Also, knitting this beautiful yarn into a scarf.

I didn't want this book to end! I loved Evvie, Andy, and Dean, and I wanted to read more about them! Evvie is a young widow who's having a hard time moving on, but not for the reasons everyone thinks. Andy is her best friend, and even he didn't know what she'd been going through. Dean is a baseball player who's lost his ability to pitch, and wants to go somewhere quiet for awhile so he'll be left alone, so he rents the extra room in Evvie's house.

Sweet, but not too sweet, romance between two people who are each struggling with their own issues. Many topics, such as mental health, M/F friendship, and grief, are addressed and done well. The narrator did a great job too!

This was my pick for #pop21 #dooversorfreshstarts
#bookspinbingo

Maybe it‘s just because of where I‘ve come from and where I‘m going, but I love Evvie so much. We have a lot of things in common and are on a similar path. I was rooting for her and for Dean, as individuals and as a couple. The author didn‘t downplay their struggles, and everything wasn‘t magically resolved in a page and a half at the end. Despite the realism, it is full of hope and optimism for the future, and I find that encouraging.

Happy New Year! #coffeeandabook

Evvie Drake Starts Over will be my last book of 2020 and my first book of 2021.
#lastfirst @BookNAround

I just started this book this morning. I was planning to start it this week, then set it aside to start my January buddy reads and reading challenge books a few days early, then picked it up this morning because it just sounded so interesting. I'm really enjoying it so far, and I'm so glad I decided to go ahead and read it!

This was a really sweet and fun contemporary romance. No saccharine slop but plenty of rainbow sprinkles 💜💙🧡💚💛
A delightful choice for #Pop21 #DoOversAndFreshStarts
Heaps of praise forJulia Whelan who narrates the audiobook 🎧

Going for something light after my last listen. I‘m liking it so far 🎧

Cute rom-com with lots of cheeky flirtation that I ate up! I felt for Evvie so much, very relatable. I was rooting for every single character by the end, which of course didn‘t disappoint. I love a happy ending! ☺️

On to the next one! 😉 What are you reading currently?!

Started this light read today.