It’s been nearly a year since her husband died in a car accident and Evvie Drake is no closer to telling anyone the truth – that contrary to what the whole town thinks, Evvie is definitely not mourning her late husband. When her best friend Andy suggests she rent out an apartment in her house to his childhood friend Dean, Evvie says yes. Dean is a former professional baseball pitcher who suddenly one day found himself unable to hit a target. Needing to get away and figure out what he’s going to do now, Dean finds himself moving in with Evvie. At first, the two agree to keep to themselves but soon a friendship emerges that turns into something more.
I liked this book a lot. I’ve listened to Linda Holmes on the NPR Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast for years. I love hearing her take on all things pop culture and when I heard she had written a book, I was super excited. This book had a really long hold list at the library so it took me a while to get my hands on it.
Evvie Drake Starts Over is a romance but I think the main story is about grief and healing and, as the title suggests, starting over. Both Evvie and Dean are mourning their past and starting new – Evvie is coming to terms with the death of her husband and her feelings that she didn’t like him very much. Dean is dealing with the end of his sports career and wondering what comes next. I really enjoyed the interactions between the two and how they helped each other to heal.
None of the characters are perfect, which is what makes them so great. Evvie and Dean both make mistakes but they know how to apologize to one another. The friendship between Evvie and Andy was lovely – I enjoyed seeing a healthy relationship between people of the opposite sex.
This was a fabulous debut novel and I hope Linda Holmes continues to write many more.
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