This started off so well with two women in a near silent feud over the parking lot usage of their respective establishments. Marianne Windmere has been running the family bakery for a number of years now and business is still fairly good. Her family has owned the building and the business for over a hundred years and it’s a bit of a town institution. Rana owns the Cairo Grill in the one area that Marianne’s father sold to his best friend before he died. When a storm knocks out the power one night, Marianne invites Rana to her home above the bakery to wait out the storm. They find they have an attraction for each other until the subject of customer parking comes up.

Initially I thought this would be an enemies-to-lovers trope with not much in it and I was pleasantly surprised by the quirks and twists in the story. It kept me going for most of the book. The legal and bureaucratic red tape was interesting and fun. I enjoyed the concept and I enjoyed the representation of the number of people on the LGBTQIA+ spectrum.

What I didn’t find quite as appealing was the relationship development. On the first evening Rana and Marianne meet and chat a lovely dynamic develops between them but gets lost for the rest of the story. There is a repetitive sentiment from Marianne about how she thought they had potential but now all is lost including the possibility of friendship. More interaction between the two, whether getting along or not, would have been a better than them not talking much at all.

What started so well, had a disappointing outcome in the end.

Book received from Netgalley and NineStar Press for an honest review.

Cute f/f romance with older, bisexual leads. Lots of LGBTQ+ representation, including one of the leads being asexual and a main side character being trans.

Marianne's family has owned a bakery and half the building for generations. But recently, the parking lot has been filled up by non-customers. Thinking it's the neighboring shop's fault, Marianne holds a grudge against Rana, the women running the restaurant next door. However, with the help of a snowstorm - Marianne finds that assumption to be untrue ... and finds that Rana is cute, sweet and single. But what is really going on with the parking? And how can the businesses survive is the - scummy - landlord wants to sink them?

** I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. **

Wow. 5/5 Stars. I loved this book so much it picked up a little slow but it was worth it.

This book is LGBT+ based on the people in the book which i loved so much just reading all the queer stuff in this book made my little gay heart happy 😭🥺

Its about a woman who runs a bakery shop and is having problems with the lot and running into problems with the town. And she decides to take matters in her own hands and look into all the info about the bakery and lot etc. So much happened and i loved how the book talks about people who walk in the bakery and stuff this book made me hungry as i was reading it because all the food sounded delicious. She also meets another woman who owns a food place as well and such i dont want to spoil anything but if you like LGBT representation and a good read this book is for you.

Thank you netgalley for the ARC!

I loved this story so much. It was not what I was expecting in a few aspects but I wouldn’t change a thing. The characters were much older than I was expecting, yet I was glad because a story from that generation is totally something I have been looking for. I loved seeing people In their 50's and 60's able to articulate who they are in a way that may not have been available to them earlier in life.
Swanley is like a cute miniature version of how I hope the world can one day be. Its not perfect and there are still selfish and closed minded people, but overall it is just accepting. The atmosphere created in this story made my heart swell. Skin color, cultural background, religion, sexual orientation, gender, for the majority of the characters none of it mattered. That’s how I believe it should be.
I loved the small town feel where everyone knows everyone else’s business. It breeds a quirky cast of characters that really brought so much life and humor to the story. The characters felt so real and natural and were so likable. I would love to see more stories in Swanley.
The drama of the story was actually much less light hearted than I was expecting. Parking lot issues sounds frustrating and inconvenient but it quickly became so much more and I really empathized with Marianne and Rana's frustrations and difficulties.
There are so many great aspects of this story. From the idea of legacy and found families to the importance of friendship, communication, and being true to one’s self. The messages Wheeler delivers so gracefully are impactful and fulfilling.
Marianne and Rana are both completely lovable and their friendship and attraction is so sweet and genuine. One of my only disappointments in the whole story is that Rana has very little page time. This really is Marianne's story so I understood why, I just liked seeing the two of them interacting.
I was so impressed with this story and the characters especially. This book is, In the words of Zeke “All around Queer.” And I loved it.

Initial twitter reactions: Reading No Parking and it has a sixty year old bi woman going "Maybe I'm on the ace spectrum?????" and I'm here for it.

I'm confused by the "Shall we kiss half an hour after our first meeting" but I am always confused by romance timing so fuck it.

Me, whispering through the walls: The Evil Landlord is trying to put you both out of business so he can own the whole building! You need to not have stupid fights and call each other liars!

Okay I was HALF right. But also look at this book acknowledging that calling the police is NOT a safe thing to do when one of the people involved is an immigrant! (Who's been there like twenty years, but since when do ICE care about that?)

The protagonist has a THING for competence. MY PEOPLE.

It kinda feels like a Shira Glassman contemporary, in that everyone is queer and trying their best and everything is fairly low-stakes! ... Okay if I'm right about the gentrification thing then maybe not LOW low-stakes, but still!

I HAVE WORKED OUT THE SPECIFIC FORM OF SHADY BULLSHIT THAT'S HAPPENING HERE AND I'M ONLY 50% THROUGH SOMEONE PLEASE FIGURE OUT THE SHADY BULLSHIT!

This book was about a town with a little romance thrown in. I felt like I jumped into the book and new each location and character. The only downside is some of story dragged on, but overall it was a good read.

I'm not too sure about this book, the description sounds good, but when I read it I felt something was missing.

The book didn't seem to have any depth, no build up to the relationship or story.

I finished the book but still not too sure about it

This is a very different book than others I have read. The main characters, Marianne and Rana, have a very interesting relationship. They own businesses close to each other and it is only after a snowy evening that they meet. Sparks fly and the beginning of a relationship starts. However, when a politician who owns the property where Rana's restaurant refuses to renew her lease, a mystery unfolds about who really owns the property.
Would recommend.
I received this ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Who knew a small town could have so much diversity and so much acceptance of the diversity?

We follow the story of Marianne and Rana, two women approaching 60 and owning a business right next to each other. Both women have been married to a man before and have multiple children. The characters are likeable, but somewhat unbelievable. Rana and her daughter are rather open and I found it somewhat unbelievable with their background. I doesn’t line up with my experience.
The ladies have trouble with the parking near their shops, when they try to fix it a lot of problems are unearthed. Somehow they are able to overcome all the obstacles they face, but will they find their way to each other?

When I requested an arc of this (which i recieved, thank you!) i had no idea this novel featured two leads nearing 60! It was a pleasant surprise and the book certainly had all sorts of representation. the small town in this book certainly had a lot of diversity, especially on the lgbt spectrum, which is always great to see, but the characters felt flat and one demensional to me and the legal drama with their landlord was something that just felt tedious to me. I found myself largely skimming most of that aspect of the story. I feel more time could have been spent on the relationship between our two main characters who didn't seem to have much in the way of scenes. As a result, I never quite got invested in them or their relationship.

Overall, not the most exciting book for me but I do appreciate the attempt to do something different.

This is a really cute story. The romance between Marianne and Rana is very soft and subtle, the focus of the story mainly on the parking lot situation and subsequent revelations about Marianne’s property. I love how utterly queer this book is and all the casual diversity. There are many people of color populating this story and Rana is Egyptian and Muslim. Zeke is one of my favorite characters, and I hope he’ll have a story in this world as well. This was a really fun story and the law and history aspects were interesting to read.

Older characters alert! This is a small-town romance about two ladies in their fifties (almost 60). After reading I think you will enjoy this book if you like slow-paced books and identify as asexual or are interested in reading about that point of view.

Both MC's were married with kids, Marianne was born and raised in the small town and Rana is an immigrant from Egypt. Also, there is Zeke, who is a trans (FTM) man.
This book is very sensitive towards the diverse queer community with the correct use of pronounce and a very diverse audience in the book for such a small town. The author didn't overdo it, so it is still very realistic.

The title of the book says it all: No Parking. Although I did not expect it, the storyline revolves around a parking issue and it is a nicely paced story to read. The blurb gave me the impression that "sparks would fly" and in my opinion, they didn't fly. I was expecting more than kissing when sparks fly, to be honest. This could be because Marianne is on the asexual spectrum and I identify as on the opposite. I do believe though that if you are on the asexual spectrum that you can relate to this book and enjoy it very much.

The writing style of Wheeler is solid, the conversations in the book are fun to read and after the showdown in court, the ending of the book is very satisfying. Although it was a nice read, this wasn't (for me) a read to shout about. But I do want to cheer because of the unique elements: older mc's, the transgender characters and the asexual spectrum.
If you identify yourself as such or want to read about mature women I'm sure you will enjoy reading this book.

I'm sure this book has its audience, and it isn't me. I enjoy that it was a small town romance that featured diverse characters, including sexuality, race, religion, ability, age. I enjoyed reading a romance in which one of the characters was asexual.

I didn't enjoy the prose. I'm more apt to complain when there's too much figurative language and it's leaning toward purple. This had virtually no figurative language at all, and it felt flat to me, like I wanted some attention on the actual art of writing.

Additionally, the balance between plot and romance was way off to me. The tension between the two main characters is resolved almost immediately, and the rest of the book is the plot about small town record keeping shenanigans. I wanted more development of the actual romance.

I think this book suffered from being a third person book from Marianne's POV. Readers just don't spend enough time with Rana to get to know her. Chapters would go by in which she wasn't there at all or barely figures. I think perhaps if she'd been more involved in the plot, this could have worked?

Again, I can imagine that a book that is on the refreshing and different side, one so light on the romance, might really appeal to a different reader.

No Parking was a easy read and a little on the slow side at times. Marianne Windmere owns a bakery and the building it is in. She is having a parking problem in the back of her lot, but assumes because of the restaurant next door. Her neighbor Rana leases out the store next door and has a restaurant. She assumes that the parking is because of the bakery. As to story progresses, the focus becomes who is parking in the lot, who owns it along with a host of other issues about the building that houses Rana's restuarant.

I admit that I have never read a romance with the Main characters who are to fall in love are in their late 50's. So if you noticed I phased that this way because I actually don't think this was a romance. It was sort of a mystery that has a hint of romance. I did enjoy how diverse this book was and the different types of characters. You have transgender folks, an asexual and plenty of bisexual (okay maybe not plenty) folks. You also have different religions and ethnicities. So I did really like that. I liked the story line of the mystery of who is parking in the lot and all the issues that comes up with it. I did find the romance to be lacking and some of the book to be slow/boring for me.

Overall it was a decent enough read and give it 3.50 stars

3.50 Stars. This was a nice read. My first by Wheeler and I believe her full length debut. For some reason I thought this was a novella but according to my Kindle it was a full length story and it felt like it. This was a little different than I expected, but I’m a fan of different so I appreciate those aspects. There were a few parts that I felt could have been stronger but it was a sweet read for sure.

This is a story about two bisexual women -either 59 or 60- who work next door to each other in the same building. The main character who’s POV we are in is Marianne. Marianne runs a bakery and owns half the building and the parking lot that is always filled with no parking left for her customers. While she is in a mini parking war with her neighbor, she can’t help but find that same neighbor attractive. Is there a chance at something more for the two women or will bad blood get in the way?

I think the best way to describe this book would be contemporary fiction but with a light romance. I found the romance really took a back seat. The main character Marianne believes she might be asexual, so there are no sex scenes in this book. I just want to make clear that Marianne being asexual has nothing to do with this not having much romance. It was just that much more time was spent on family, food, and the whole parking issue which got more interesting as the book went on. Part of the romance issue was that the main characters would see each other once but then go ages without seeing each other again. Funny enough they actually moved too fast for me in the beginning, but then they slowed down to a snail’s pace. This was a part of the book that I felt could have been stronger. I wanted their relationship to be sturdier with a better connection, and there is plenty of ways to do that without having to add sex scenes.

One thing I really liked was the diversity. This is a very LGBTQ friendly town and it was nice to see. There were multiple bisexual characters, lesbians, trans, and even gender fluid. I also appreciated that the mains were older since we don’t see a ton of characters that are 59, 60. Both had been married to men before and it was nice to see their second chance at love story.

The parking wars part turned into a major storyline. Way bigger than it seemed in the beginning. I liked how the storyline twisted and turned into something different. There was almost a mini baby mystery to figure out about what was going on. Add in some small town politics and a fun court scene and I enjoyed this storyline quite a bit.

Overall, I like this read. It wasn’t the strong romance I was hoping for, but I enjoyed the other storylines. If you are looking for a book with some diversity both in age and sexuality, this is a good choice. It’s different that a lot of books out there, which I see as a good thing.

I am a sucker for older characters! I really enjoyed how well the main characters were represented. They each had their struggles, and I thought the pacing of their feelings toward one another was well done.

I absolutely loved this book and the story definitely tied in with the message of you're never too told to find yourself and enter a new relationship, the characters were very likable and easy to follow and I love LOVED Zeke's character!

No Parking starts off a story about a woman named Marianne who owns a bakery and lives upstairs but always noticed that her parking lot was full and they weren't her customers because they were always complaining about not being able to park there, she has it out for Rana that rents the other side of the building as a restaurant because she swears that it's all of her customers.

A winter storm brings the women together in a connection that Marianne didn't see coming, how could she be crushing on someone who she had thought the worst of? Marianne and Rana fight for their parking lot together and end up bringing the community together as well as sparking a new flame.

We absolutely love books with older MCs. Creating a love story for people in their 50s/close to 60 is somehow so optimistic and heart-warming. Love doesn’t have to be the bastion of only the youth (teens) or young (people up to mid-30s), age groups that most romance writers stick to.

Marianne Windmere owns and runs a bakery that has been their family business for almost 150 years. She also owns the building which houses her business. There are two storefronts (suites) in the building and at some point in his life, her father has sold one to his best friend. Though never mentioned overtly, this loss of one suite is kind of a sore point with Marianne and she’s never bothered to visit with any of the frequently changing businesses housed in the second suite, never bothering with them one way or another. However, the new business there, a restaurant specializing in Egyptian food, is bothering her because Marianne customers keep complaining about the lack of parking. One evening a wicked snowstorm traps the two business owners in the building without electricity and thus Marianne meets Rana Wahbi, a beguiling Egyptian lady. They spend a lovely evening together but come morning and a fight about the parking ends their brief idyll. Marianna investigates the parking issue and finds that it is being used by a third party altogether and both the businesses are receiving complaints. Marianne and Rana put up a no commuter parking sign and the city frowns at them asking them to pull it down. So Marianne begins investigating into whom the parking lot really belongs to. This little thread unravels with unexpected outcomes.

With all the scheming around the property and a slimy politician, this could’ve been a breathless book but what we have is a cast of extremely likeable characters living their lives, supporting each other and a lovely new relationship being developed at an unhurried and engaging pace. Most of the characters are in the rainbow fold (queer, gay, bi, pan, trans, ace) and entirely accepting. It may be hard to believe that world but it is a lovely dream which is laid out in an entirely possible fashion. Marianne is 58 and on the asexual spectrum. When she was younger, this was not a known concept and she wonders whether knowing it would’ve made her marriage a different experience. This is so, so real. In fact, all the ‘what ifs’ raised as just mental questions are all very real. The relationship between Marianne and Rana is soft, gentle and pretty (so pretty) with enough there to make the chemistry tangible.

This was a lovely book which we thoroughly enjoyed.

What a beautifully refreshing story of love that comes later in life. I loved that the main characters were middle-aged women not obsessed with the sexual part of a blossoming relationship. The characters were engaging and likable. The story made me want to continue reading and the setting itself really called to me - a small town bakery with a long history.

Kudos to the author for including bisexual and trans characters...but my only negative is that I found it very hard to believe that so many characters in the book/town were gay, bi or trans, including the main character's husband. While I appreciate that these characters were included, it felt unrealistic.

Overall, I really enjoyed this.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to pre-read this book, No Parking bu Valentine Wheeler. This was what I would call a bisexual rom-com for the older set. I find rom coms are normally for the 20-30...this was a bit older. I liked how Marianne was friends with her exhusband...basically how it started it and it continued from there. This book presented a bit of ownership issues with the parking lot. I think that park caused the book to drag and it may have been the focal point of the book but it was not holding the book together. The other parts keep the book going.

Thank you again.