This was a lovely book that I thoroughly enjoyed. Interesting, quirky and well-drawn characters and a strong plot made for a satisfying love story that I highly recommend. A love story for grown-ups, not young adults for a change.

Thanks to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Loved this!!! One of the best things I’ve read in awhile, couldn’t put it down. Evvie is so honest and raw, you feel for her throughout this book. The dialogue here is fantastic. Great beach read (or snuggle up on your couch and read in one day, essentially what I did!) (Posted on goodreads)

I know what you're thinking- "Oh like that baseball movie". And the answer is, yeah kinda, but not really! While it shares the same concept of baseball involved theme undercurrent, its main them is about finding yourself. And about sometimes it isn't what you think will make you happy, that does. It just might be letting go of pre-conceived notions of what success is, or what SHOULD make you happy, to find the true core of your happiness. You'll find yourself rapidly reading, wanting to know how it all turns out, and hoping for a happy ending for Dean and Evvie, after all their secrets come out. A perfect beach read, do NOT miss this book, this Summer!

I loved this book. For most of it, it felt like a nice fluffy contemporary. It revolved around a sweet romance between Evvie and her tenant, a washed out Major League Baseball player, while throwing in a complicated but beautiful friendship with her best friend Andy. This would of been just a “fine” book but the character arc for Evvie the last 30% of the book was so well done. It really took the story up a level and made me love it so much more. Definitely a great summer read (especially if you like a contemporary with some romance but not too “steamy”).

Evvie Drake Starts Over is the perfect summer read. Evvie is on her way out of the house to leave her husband when she gets a call that her husband as been in a horrible car accident. Evvie rushes to the hospital to be by her husbands side but he doesn't make it. So now Evvie is a widow with a bit of a secret. Her little town of Maine thinks that Evvie is grieving the love of her life. Evvie is just trying to decide what the next steps of her life should be when her best friends, Andy, asks if a buddy of his can spend the summer in the rental side of her house. Dean moves in and is recovering from a case of the yips, as a former star pitcher with the New York Yankees. From this point Dean and Evvie's relationship starts to grow and they become a bit more than friends. Evvie is still hiding her secret from everyone in her life but Dean. Can Evvie comes to terms with her secret, and can Dean escape his past for this relationship to grow? This is the perfect book to pick up and read this summer.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Evvie makes a decision to leave her verbally abusive husband on the night that he loses his life in a car accident. She struggles with guilt and friendships. Great relationship storyline.

This is a solid beach read, especially if you are looking for an entertaining romance (without the bedroom mechanics), some excellent and witty dialogue, and funny scenes set in small-town Maine. Baseball fans, specifically Yankees lovers, will get a kick out Dean's story, and there are great allusions to current pop culture.

I finally sat down to read this book because of the enormous buzz it is getting. A sweet, romantic tale with well developed characters and a quaint setting, I liked it a lot but don't think it lived up to its massive hype. While there was nothing particularly unique about it, it was perfectly enjoyable- I would definitely recommend it as a light, smart read.

Joyous is what I read about this book and that word describes this book perfectly. I laughed, I cried and I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

This was a well written story about characters I cared about. It was relatable, and enjoyable! I’m glad I read it, and Have recommended it to people already!

Evvie is in the act of leaving her husband, driving away from their home with her packed suitcase, when she gets a phone call that he has been in a terrible car accident and has died. Now, in the months following, she is holed up in their big old house in Maine, in what everyone assumes is deep grief - but what is actually guilt over not actually feeling that much grief, given the aforementioned plan of leaving her husband, which nobody else knows about. In an effort to bring her out of her shell a bit, her best friend proposes that she take a tenant in the unused upstairs apartment: his childhood friend, a star pitcher whose baseball career is majorly in the dumps right now and needs a place to get away. Evvie and Dean start a friendship on their pact to never talk about their major issues (the dead husband and the failed baseball career), but of course their shared fresh start begins to blossom into more... This book was an absolute DELIGHT. It's in this general women's fiction/rom-com category where I've enjoyed a lot of books and found others to be total misses - but there is something about this one that made it stand out even more than others I've enjoyed. Perhaps it's the perfect level of fun pop culture references, thanks to author Linda Holmes' main gig as NPR pop culture correspondent, that add a little extra sparkle. Perhaps it's the writing in general, which flows well, tells a story that is fun to read and has just the right amount of quirk but also has depth, and develops incredibly loveable characters. Perhaps it's that you get the rom-com fulfillment you might be looking for, but also true friendship with depth that the relationship is based on. But I think most of all for me it was the dialogue between Evvie and Dean, this wonderful banter that just made me smile. 4.5/5 stars

Fantastic! I devoured this one in a weekend. Delightful characterization, unique premise and compelling story arc. Reading the last page was bittersweet because this story is such a satisfying read but I'll miss Evvie and Dean.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions shared here are my own.

I loved Evvie’s growth in this story. She has to survive her emotionally abusive husband and feeling guilty not being sad enough over his death since no one knew how he was at home. She needs to find her way on her own. She has to learn to stop over apologizing. I also loved following Dean as he realizes that maybe baseball isn’t the only thing in life. Baseball runs strong in our house so it was a fun read!

I LOVED this book! Evvie was relatable and real. I so enjoyed watching the relationship grow between Evvie and Dean. And seeing Evvie find her new self. The writing was fabulous...I can't wait to read what's next for this author!

This book is such a cute and easy read! At first, I was not sure if I wanted to read a book about a young widow, but I am very glad that I did! I usually avoid books with widows because they sound too heartbreaking for me. I am glad that I decided to give this book a try though. You find out very quickly that Evvie is not a normal widow.

Dean, the former pitcher, is also an interesting character. He needed to escape his normal life for a bit so I had to understand him wanting to get away. Although I am not a huge baseball fan, the author did not reference it too much for me.

The two main characters Evvie and Dean both have secrets to hide, and the book is mainly about their journey.
I really enjoyed the author’s style of writing with complex characters and engaging dialogue. Although Evvie and Dean were great characters, I enjoyed reading about the supporting characters as well. I especially enjoyed her friend Andy.

This book is an easy and quick read that I found myself finishing fairly quickly after I picked it up. There was no need to rush through it like race, but a journey instead. This would be a great book for a trip to the beach or a plane ride. Wherever you read it you will be glad you did. I think that this book is not just a regular romance book, but a book that is also about families, friendships, and more that is told with humor. If you are looking for an enjoyable read that is not just a typical romance novel, I recommend this book!

*Thank you to the publisher for an ARC in return for a fair and honest review.
This was an extremely well-written story of the slow romance between a widow and a former major league baseball player. Holmes tackles a number of serious issues in this book, including mental health and spousal abuse, in a way that is respectful and not at all maudlin. I seem to be in the vast majority for not loving it, and to be honest I"m not sure why. I liked it, but it wasn't a home run for me (see what I did there? Home run? Such wit!). Chances are you'll be in the vast majority, love this book, and want to read more of Ms Holmes. So make yourself happy and do it!

4.5 Stars. I LOVED this book, it was just what I needed to get out of a book rut. The story centers around the life of Evvie, whose husband died the day she was planning on leaving him and what she goes through to find herself and her life again. Although there for sure moments of sadness, this was overall such a heartwarming and uplifting read and so funny at some moments. You could not help but root for Evvie to find her way and her happiness. The story with Dean was pretty great too, very sweet and romantic. I cannot recommend it enough. Thank you to Netgalley and Ballantine Books for the ARC!

This was super duper enjoyable. Nothing earth-shattering or mind-blowing; just a completely entertaining novel.

(I feel like I'm a little bit of a Linda Holmes fangirl now. She's so awesome!)

Evvie Drake has turned into a recluse. The people in her coastal Maine town think she is grieving for her late doctor husband, who died in a car accident. After all, they had been high school sweethearts. What the community does not know, and Evvie has no plans to tell them, is that her late husband was an abuser and she was planning to leave him. Now she has a huge old Victorian home, and she tells people her husband had no life insurance. Her very good friend Andy suggests that she rent out an apartment to his very good friend, Dean Tenney. Dean is a professional baseball pitcher, struggling with the yips, which have destroyed his career.
Evvie and Andy who are BFF, and have seen each other through a lot of struggles, find they need to chart a new course with the addition of Andy's girlfriend, Monica and Evvie's friend, Dean.
Evvie and Dean become good friends and eventually fall in love with one another. But it's complicated. Evvie is grieving not for her marriage but for herself and what might have been, and Dean is trying to figure out what he needs to do with the rest of his life.
The story has good writing, developing relationships, but it does not overlook how complicated people are. Evvie's therapist reminds her she can't fix someone else, until she fixes herself.

Evvie Drake Starts Over is the first novel written by Linda Holmes, a correspondent for NPR. It is about Evvie, who lives in Maine. She grew up in Calcasset; then, she and her high school sweetheart, Tim, went to USC. Tim became a doctor, and they returned to Maine and married. But, not all was happily ever after.

It is also about Dean, a major league pitcher who developed the yips. Forced into an untimely retirement, Dean needs to get away for awhile. So, he comes to Maine and rents the apartment in Evvie’s house, a house that is now too big after Tim’s untimely death.

Evvie and Dean appear to be normal, albeit fortunate, people. Each may be a person whom many of us admire and perhaps even envy. But, as Holmes chronicles their struggles with the adversity that has confronted them and the battle to find a way to move forward, we see that all is not as it appears.

The characters in Evvie Drake Starts Over are not the typical, “juicy” characters found in many novels. To many of us, Evvie and Dean are not worthy of a book. They are seemingly normal; some might even think that they are flat or boring characters. One interpretation of this might be that this is simply a shortcoming in new novelist Holmes. But, in my opinion, Holmes purposefully crafted her characters in this manner. Although we all know many such normal-but-boring people, none of us truly knows what lies behind this perceived normalcy. Once we peek, we just might be surprised by what we find.

Some of the early reviewers comment that Evvie Drake Starts Over is a quick, easy read – that it is a charming or lovely romance. I think these reviewers miss the point – as many miss, or overlook, the richness of the Evvies and Deans in our lives. Holmes is spot on as she portrays those in our modern society who appear one way, who are misunderstood, and who get lost in the shuffle. Evvie Drake Starts Over provides an interesting perspective about a segment of our culture that is often overlooked or taken for granted. As Holmes reminds us, all is not as it appears.