The Skinny

Olivia Chevalier is a single mother who runs the local bookstore passed down by her grandmother, Mrs. May. Since having Mia, her life has been consumed by her daughter and Olivia finds herself being much more of an introvert and afraid of stepping outside of her normal. Her life and her time revolve around being able to provide for Mia. While commendable, Olivia's life is bland and boring in Tarrin's Bay.

When Joel Foster, author of a popular best-selling memoir, sweeps into town to run a few writing courses, Olivia is tempted to join the class. She wants to preserve the stories of her grandmother and write her grandmother's memoir. As Olivia delves deeper into May's life, she discovers a sweet romance with a young man named William before marrying her grandfather. Joel encourages Olivia to join his class and challenges her to do new things and make book-worthy moments. Their friendship slowly develops as Olivia works through the course and steps outside of her comfort zone.



The Quote

"Life isn't always magical," she said, "but there are magical moments in life, if you let them in."



The Highs and Lows

May. Now in her 90s, Mrs. May's health has naturally declined. She loved living in her own independent community, but after a downward turn she is forced to move into a home to live out the remainder of her life. It is a blow to Olivia, who is extremely close to her grandmother. Before her time is up, Olivia wants to record May's memories and write a memoir for her. It's something new and out of the ordinary, but she wants to do it for her grandmother and for herself. She quickly learns Mrs. May had a secret admirer as a young lady - and it wasn't Mr. Chevalier! Oliva wants to learn more about May's secret letters and the young man who sent them. Olivia gets caught up in May's stories of her sweet romance with William and I kept turning pages to find out, too.

Book-worthy Moments. When Olivia meets Joel for what becomes the first of their Friday lunch dates, Joel urges Olivia to do new things, embrace life. He challenges her to do one book-worthy thing each week. Where better to get book ideas? Olivia's first new thing is eating a burger instead of her usual salad. New book-worthy moments include new animal shaped pancakes on Sunday mornings, getting stuck in a window, and a memorable camping trip. Joel's insistence of new things has Olivia pausing in her overcrowded days to appreciate life and rethinking her own.

Mia. She's nine years old and a hoot! She adds a little flair and zest to Olivia's life. She's just a fun kid - and a good kid!

Friendship. What I loved most about the story was the parallel between May and William and Olivia and Joel. Both couples started out as friends, helping one another, and a slow, sweet romance soon blooms.

Memories of May is book 5 in Juliet Madison’s Tarrin’s Bay series.

Olivia Chevalier is a single mother to 9 year old Mia. She owns the local bookshop and is pretty happy with her simple, some may say boring, life. That is until adventurer and author Joel Foster comes into town to teach a writing course and turns Olivia’s life upside down.
Olivia decides to attend Joel’s writing course and write her Grandmother’s life story.

I loved the blending of story’s; Olivia’s story, Joel’s story and Olivia’s Grandmother May’s story. They all held my interest and were relevant to the theme of the overall story.

<i>”Life is merely a collection of moments, of memories. Every life matters. It is up to you to take risks, live your life fully, and follow your heart. Don’t settle for a life half lived. Make amazing memories. Make memories matter.” </i>

Memories of May is a heart-warming story of new beginnings and the urging to create your own life, not just the one that is expected of you.


Nine year old Mia was a lovely addition to the story. She was fun and outspoken but not too precocious. It was a good way of introducing a child’s view of aging and death.

Even though this is part of a series each book can be read on it’s own but it’s always nice when familiar characters, from previous books, make an appearance through the story.

I finished this book with that warm feeling that life and love really are good.

Looking forward to the next book in the series.

I didn't love this book, unfortunately. I wanted to, but I couldn't quite connect with the character. The story didn't grab me.

As I have matured, I can better appreciate the desire to learn and preserve stories from your relatives. This is exactly what Olivia sets out to do for her grandmother, May. Everyone has been blessed by May's bookstore which Olivia now runs. But, Olivia knows there are stories to record and preserve for future generations.

When Joel Foster, an acclaimed author, enters the bookstore with flyers for a class he's teaching on telling your story, Olivia knows it is time to act. May's health is deteriorating and she wants to accomplish her dream of telling May's story.

Along the way, Olivia and Joel grow close and help each other grow in ways they hadn't imagined.

Overall, a great read as well as a wonderful reminder of how we should preserve memories of the past. While this is within the Tarrin’s Bay series, you can read it as a stand alone.

Juliet Madison’s Memories of May is the first book I have read by this author. It is certainly a romance book for May’s granddaughter Olivia and Joel but it could also be listed as women’s fiction. May’s memories with the letters and books are all a wonderful part that pushes Olivia to re-evaluate her own life. There are thrill, dares out of one’s comfort zone but also so sadness too. The friendship that slowly progresses to love for Joel and Olivia is a delight to read.

Even more than that it is a thought provoking book that inspires the reader to live a life full of book-worthy moments. I think that one idea will stick with me causing me to see everyday activities differently while giving myself some dares.

Brilliant book. Excellent main characters and plot. I would recommend this book.

Olivia Chevalier’s close circle is a really small circle that includes her daughter, her mother and grandmother. She has very few friends, a bookstore -passed on from the family – to run and a nine year old daughter to tend to. The last few years of her life is nothing but busy and her life is little (make it big) short of excitement or adventurous. Her 90-year old grandmother, Mrs.May’s health takes a turn and she is forced to moved to a semi-dependent nursing home to spend the last few moths of her life. Olivia is quite attached to her grandmother, as she is sort of an inspiration to her, running the book store for three generations now. Joel Foster, a successful author who has written his memoir of surviving the wilderness -One more Breath, is in Tarrin’s Bay offering a short writing course that will help wannabe-authors in fulfilling their dream book. A chance encounter with Olivia, and Joel thinks she is “absolutely adorable, but so.. plain”.

With her grandmother’s health deteriorating, Olivia decides to write a book on her and in a spur-of-the-moment decision, enrolls in Joel’s class. Joel urges his students to think differently and and requests Olivia to start doing everyday mundane things in a different way, beginning with her food choices. As she tries to get her grandmother talk about her early life, she learns that Mrs.May had a secret admirer before her grandfather and is intrigued by the tales she shares. William, the not-so secret admirer, is sort of a dreamer, who wants to have exciting adventures and wishes to go beyond Tarrin’s Bay. The book moves to how Mrs.May became Mrs.Chevalier and book-worthy moments that Joel forces Olivia into.

Like a bucket list, but a book-worthy moments list. If you were writing your memoir, what things could you say that you’d done?

This is such a sweet book and I loved every page of it. The responsibilities of being a single parent and being a great one at that, deprives Olivia of all her 20’s and she is now in her 30’s with nothing exciting to share to her future grand kids. To rectify this, she agrees on Joel’s challenges and goes on a motorbike, a plane, paragliding and camping.

Her fear and excitement in doing things she normally doesn’t do is catchy and makes one be engrossed , thinking what would be Joel’s next challenge to her.

The very first lines of the book had me hooked.

If Olivia Chevalier’s head hadn’t been stuck in a book, she would….

I loved how Joel and Olivia start off – not insta-love, but being friends, teasing each other, flirting, getting to know each other , she through his book and he through observing her in class and their exclusive Friday lunch dates. Their texting gave me a smile, and nowhere in the book did i feel “Eww” it was cute and sweet all the way till the end.

A different closeness.. A mutual understanding and respect. He was looking for home, she’d been hidden away at home for too long. And somewhere in the middle, they had crossed paths, or collided, more like it

The love between William and May was tender and Mrs.May remembers him through his incredibly beautiful letters and the books she read, which pushes her to keep a bookstore. Had the book ended with finding William, it would have been too much cliche. But it didn’t and this what makes me like it even more.

I think I could go on and on.. but I guess you get my point. Go Read this book.Now!

My rating would be 5/5, because I was never bored and I did not regret choosing this book. If anything, it brought back sweet memories of my own grandmother, who loved to talk non-stop about her dead husband, like a love-sick teenager.