Evvie Drake Starts Over is a sweet and kinda quirky read that I really enjoyed. However, I think it was a little bit too hyped up for me (so many people are obsessed with it!) that I felt like it was a little bit of a letdown. But I know it's not the book's fault other people hyped it up to me, so I don't let those preconceived notions cloud my review.

The book starts with Evvie getting ready to leave her husband. She even has the car packed! But before she can even pull away from the house, she gets the news that her husband has died. Flash forward a couple years and Evvie is still consumed with grief mostly fueled by guilt. When her best friend, Andy, asks if his friend Dean can move into the separate apartment in her house, she agrees. Dean is an incredibly successful MLB player who has suddenly stopped being able to pitch. He leaves NYC and heads to the middle of Maine to get away from the press and angry fans. He and Evvie become friends and agree not to discuss their issues (her husband and his pitching).

It's hard not to fall in love with Evvie. Though she can be frustrating at times, she's such a sweet girl with a good heart. Dean is also an incredibly likable character and I'm sure most people will find themselves cheering on the both of them.

It's a charming, sweet, and romantic book that isn't cheesy or overdone. For me, there was just a little something missing and I can't put my finger on exactly what it is. I think the best way for me to describe it is to say that I really enjoyed reading the book, but I don't really see myself ever picking it up again for a re-read. But that's OK and not necessarily the only indicator of a great book.

This book was truly a joy! Evvie (rhymes with Chevy) is charming in a way that seems extremely real and not at all put on. Dean moves into her guest house and the two of them bond (obviously). I truly feel in love with all the characters, and even relatively minor ones feel fleshed out in a way that brings the book to life. I cannot recommend this enough! There is enough food for thought that I think it could be a great book club book, but it is also light enough that I read it in two sittings and couldn't stop thinking about it when I was away.

I have long been a fan of Linda Holmes so I have been looking forward to this book for ages and it did not disappoint at all!

Minor spoiler/content warning about the book: Evvie was emotionally abused by her husband which, while treated sensitively, is a recurring discussion in the book

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

In a sleepy seaside town in Maine, recently widowed Eveleth “Evvie” Drake rarely leaves her large, painfully empty house nearly a year after her husband’s death in a car crash. Everyone in town, even her best friend, Andy, thinks grief keeps her locked inside, and Evvie doesn’t correct them.

Meanwhile, in New York City, Dean Tenney, former Major League pitcher, and Andy’s childhood best friend, is wrestling with what miserable athletes living out their worst nightmares call the “yips”: he can’t throw straight anymore, and, even worse, he can’t figure out why. As the media storm heats up, an invitation from Andy to stay in Maine seems like the perfect chance to hit the reset button on Dean’s future.

When he moves into an apartment at the back of Evvie’s house, the two make a deal: Dean won’t ask about Evvie’s late husband, and Evvie won’t ask about Dean’s baseball career. Rules, though, have a funny way of being broken—and what starts as an unexpected friendship soon turns into something more. To move forward, Evvie and Dean will have to reckon with their pasts—the friendships they’ve damaged, the secrets they’ve kept—but in life, as in baseball, there’s always a chance—up until the last out.

Evvie and Dean are hilarious and seem to be made for one another.
Thanks, NetGalley for the advance copy.

Evvie Drake has lost her husband. Dean Tenny, a major league pitcher has lost his pitching arm. When Dean comes to refresh in Maine, he moves into Evvie's empty apartment. Can they help each other get over their grief and find happiness in their new lives? This is a smart modern story of love and grief. At times funny and at times heartbreaking, Linda Holmes has some wise words about how grief can affect one's life. Set in a small atmospheric town in Maine (you can almost feel the ocean breezes through the page), the reader gets to know Evvie and Dean's friends and relatives. The book is fun and modern, filled with lots pop culture references. Don't miss this wonderful book! Thank you to Netgalley for the e-copy.

evvie drake was packing the car to leave her husband, when she gets a call that he’s been in a fatal car accident. evvie struggles to come to terms that her seemingly ‘perfect’ life on the outside, was less so on the inside.—she told no one. she struggles through he guilt of pretending she’s grieving her husband while learning how to become her own person for the first time in her adult life.

I was so excited to read this, since I've been a fan of Linda Holmes's work for years - I love listening to Pop Culture Happy Hour and have been rooting for her to finish and release her book since she announced that she was working on it. This was such a fun read, and I spent a lot of time reading it outdoors in the sunshine (which was a great place to read this book). I loved:

-spending time with these characters, and especially loved Evvie's relationship with her best friend, Andy.
-the setting in a small town in Maine, and all the anecdotes and gossip that come along with being in a place where everyone knows you and expects you to act in a certain way
-the depiction of Evvie's marriage and the slow unraveling of details about it

This was heartwarming and charming, with more complex issues under the surface as well. I had fun spending time with this story.

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a great rom-com for a few reasons:

1. The characters have problems but they’re also mature adults. There are no contrived misunderstandings that take half the novel to resolve.

2. It’s really witty. There are so many great lines.

I anticipate this novel being a hit this summer and with good reason. It’s smart and funny and romantic (but it explicit) and really it’s about putting on your big girl panties to do what you know you need to do, and realizing that you can’t do it alone.

The only thing I don’t love is the title.

Appealing and quirky story about the healing of a young widow, Evelyn Drake. Only her emotional isolation is not due to grief, as everyone in her small town believes, but because she feels guilty about hiding the fact that she had stopped loving her husband and was planning on leaving him when he died.

These emotional cross-currents keep her in a pretty reclusive state for far too long, except for weekly breakfasts with her platonic friend Andy, a divorced father. When Andy's best friend Dean moves to town to escape from endless media scrutiny over his sudden inability to pitch at the major league level, he rents Evvie's spare apartment.

And while the expected relationship does develop, the friendship and companionship builds first as they both work on trust. Both immensely likable characters, Dean and Evvie are decent people who have a lot of work to do to put the past behind them and enjoy the happiness of the present.

And it is much appreciated that her love for Dean doesn't "cure" or "save" Evvie. Rather she finds her own solutions and builds herself a secure place where she is comfortable by herself. Thanks much to the publisher and to Net Galley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Enjoyed this book about a woman trying to get her life back on track. It's a charming read with friendship, romance, broken dreams, and making the most out of life. It'll stick with you after you're done.

One year after Evvie Drake’s husband died in a car crash, everyone thinks she is still grieving and she is...sorta. On the night he died, Evvie had finally decided to leave him and was packing the car when she got the call - does that make her a monster? Enter Dean Tenney, recently a celebrated major league pitcher who can’t pitch any more. Grief comes in all kinds of forms. He rents her apartment which leads to talking about the two things they don’t want to talk about - dead husbands and baseball. Honesty may be easier with those you don’t know. Real characters, true grief, figuring out how to move on, male/female best friends, small towns, relationships, hope...a perfect discussion book.

I love this book. Right from the start, the plot line had me hooked. The story, while isn't that special on the surface, kept my engaged from start to finish. I enjoyed the way the author let little nuggets of important information out as the story went on. I found myself thinking about this book when I wasn't reading it. Would definitely recommend to a friend.

This was a lovely story about a woman who planned to leave her husband on the same night he was in an accident and died. The guilt and secret she held weighed on her until she met someone that ended up renting an apartment on her property. Finding someone to share with and falling in love again was something she needed to do at her own pace. It was even difficult to share her fears and secret with a male platonic friend that she loved. Airing their thoughts, her admitting needing and seeking therapy, resolving her anger towards her mother, taking time for herself and finding happiness made this an enjoyable read. Thank you to the publisher for the ARC.

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via Net Galley. A light puff ball of a book by Pop Culture Happy Hour host Linda Holmes. Set in coastal Maine, Evvie married her high school sweetheart but all is not as it seems. Evvie unexpectedly gets a chance to start over when she meets a former major league pitcher who had to end his career when he wan't able to conquer "the yips".

I first heard about this book on PCHH and breathlessly waited to see if I could get an advance copy (thanks, NetGalley!). The book completely lived up to my expectations from Linda Holmes' thoughtful commentary and incisive pop culture writing. "Delightful" is the best word to describe this book, but that doesn't mean to say it's light on it's feet -- the story goes deep enough into the character's issues to feel perfectly substantial. I was thoroughly engrossed in the story and along for the ride of Evvie and Dean's relationship. I appreciated that by the end of the novel, conflicts were wrapped up, but issues were not glossed over.

Very enjoyable read and can't wait for Linda's next book!

I absolutely adored this book! The plot and characters made it an easy and quick read. The story follows the main character Evvie in a small town in mind following the unexpected death of her husband. Her platonic friend Andy brings up the idea of his childhood friend Dean staying in the apartment attached to her home. After he arrives the story follows both of their journeys as they better understand what they actually want from their lives.

The novel is a light and easy read. I think what I most enjoyed is the conversations between the characters. So often I find the "falling in love" part of novels unrealistic, but this book provided real beautiful correspondences between the characters. I highly recommend!

This was my first read by this author, and I was so pleased with it. Evvie Drake Starts Over is an intelligently written, humorous, and sensitive novel that is about our protagonist, Eveleth “Evvie” Drake as she starts over and moves on from a marriage she was miserable in that ended when her husband died unexpectedly. She is overcome with guilt and paralyzed with indecision about the future. Through a series of random circumstances, into Evvie’s life walks Dean Tenney. Dean was a Major League Baseball player who suddenly lost his ability to pitch, in a spectacularly crash and burn way. The author deftly allows them to connect and ultimately heal each other.

The real highlight in this one was the dialogue. I laughed out loud so many times!

Thank you Netgalley for my free copy!!! I definitely intend on reading more by this author now.

I really enjoyed this book, which was warm and humorous with engaging characters and an entertaining story. I'd recommend this to readers looking for a light, thought not fluffy read!

Let me start by saying that I loved this novel. It focuses on Evvie Drake, a woman who is more or less happy, with an okay job. Her husband passed away over a year ago and while everyone thinks Evvie is broken up over is, what we quickly discovered is that Evvie was in the proccess of trying to leave her husband the night he died. Now, she's been beating herself up over it ever since.

This was a good story, but what truly elevated the novel was the fact that it was written by a woman. That may sound odd, but let me explain. Not once in the novel is Evvie's body described to you. Why? Because it isn't important. She mentions her frazzled hair and trying to tie it back, but that's it. Had a man written this book, I'm sorry, but I could probably have drawn you a perfect picture of her body and it would have been completely unimportant. By having Holmes write this story, she was able to move past the artificial layers and descriptions. We were able to learn about the real emotions of the characters and their surroundings. I could actually see the daisy plates and the front poor. That black baseball glove with the pink laces is burned into my mind. But Evvie? She could look like anyone and I love it.

Evvie ("like Chevy, not Evie like Max Greevie" she says in the novel) is a recent widow who isn't sad about her husband's death. In fact, she was packing the car to leave him when she got the call he was in an accident. Her best friend Andy's childhood best friend is former Yankees pitcher Dean Tenny, who recently developed a case of the yips (for those of you who don't speak sports, that's when you go from great to sucky in 0.3 seconds). To get away from the media hounding him, Dean moves to Maine and rents the apartment in the back of Evvie's house. The two get to know each other and fall in love. It's not quite that simple, as both the main characters are very flawed and have to work out their issues before getting together.

Easily one of my favorite books from this year. Swoony and thoughtful and perfect. I fell in love with Evvie Drake.,