A young widow in Maine and a major league pitcher who has lost his throwing arm's confidence rent a house together, and agree on rules
Two people starting over
In a small coastal town in Maine, everyone believes Evvie Drake is a grieving widow. Her husband, a popular local doctor, died in a car accident. What nobody knows is that she had her bags packed and was about to leave him that very night. A year later, she is stuck. Then her best friend Andy suggests a tenant for the apartment at the back of her house: his childhood friend Dean, a famous pitcher who can suddenly no longer throw.
Who will enjoy it
Readers who like warm, witty, character-driven romances about grief, friendship and second chances.
What you will get
A warm, witty and hopeful romance about a widow hiding a secret and a baseball star who has lost his game, helping each other start again.
Evvie Drake Starts Over Facts: Pages, Genre and Setting
Genre
Romance · Small town · Baseball · Second chances
Length
320 pages · ≈ 9 h
More about this book
What happens when two people who have stopped moving forward end up under the same roof? Dean has come to Maine to escape the media after a sudden, mysterious loss of control on the pitcher's mound. Evvie is hiding from a town that thinks it knows her. They make a deal: she will not ask about baseball, and he will not ask about her husband. Naturally, the rule cannot last.
Holmes, a well-known pop culture critic, writes with sharp, funny dialogue and an eye for small-town life: the diner, the gossip, the friendly busybodies who mean well. What gives the book depth is its honesty about Evvie's marriage. She has to face what she endured and why she feels guilty about not grieving the way people expect. Dean's struggle with his confidence is handled with equal care. The romance builds slowly and feels earned.
It is a comforting, intelligent read, with a lovely friendship between Evvie and Andy at its heart. Even readers with no interest in baseball will enjoy it, since the sport is mostly a way into character, and the small-town Maine setting is pitch-perfect. About 320 pages in the Ballantine paperback.
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