This book was exactly what I needed. A sweet story about a young woman and an older woman. One beginning her life and the other one at the end of her life. They seem like they would have nothing in common, and yet they are so similar.

Colleen Oakley really knows how to tell a story. There are no holes in the plot, and each character's story is told with the right amount of detail.

I really grew to love Tanner and Mrs. Wilt and the story had me on the edge of my seat until the very last page.

I will recommend this book to all who love a great story!

I enjoyed The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise, it is a quick, light, satisfying read and would be a great vacation book.
The characters were well rounded and I was mostly on their side. By the time the book was wrapping up it’s twists and turns, I felt that some of the story lines could have been addressed earlier and filled out a little more satisfactorily, but I would still recommend the book as I don’t think harms the readers enjoyment of the book.

What a fun, quirky read. I loved the unlikely adventure of this octogenarian and a young twenty-something. As Tanner struggles to pick up the pieces of her life she is forced to help Louise by driving her to and from her appointments. In any other situation, this would have been a disaster but when an unexpected journey needs to take place, their connection develops.

I really enjoyed the plot, the banter between the characters, as well as seeing the texts from concerning family members thrown in. I can definitely see this being made into a tv show or movie.

THE MOSTLY TRUE STORY OF TANNER AND LOUISE by Colleen Oakley

📆Pub date: March 28, 2023
➡️Swipe for synopsis
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Read if you like:
💨Fast paced books
📖Feel good stories
🚙Road trips

Thank you so much to @berkleypub and @netgalley for the digital ARC of The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise!

This book was sooo cute, fun, and wholesome while having a little mystery thrown in. Louise and her unwilling caretaker, Tanner, are on the run from something and end up taking a road trip cross-country. Of course there is chaos and beautiful moments along the way. In case you didn’t read the synopsis, Louise is an 80-something year old woman and Tanner is a 20-something college student🥰 I loved how Louise slowly opened up and grew to love and appreciate Tanner’s friendship, these characters were just perfect!

I recommend this book if you need a wholesome, fun, and fast-paced book!

On Tanner Quimby’s most ambitious days, she might take off her stained sweatpants and leave her video games long enough to take a shower. So, the idea that now she has to find a job and a new place to live seems like simply too much, but she accepts the job with the cranky 84-year-old Louise because she doesn’t have better options.

Louise doesn’t need this lazy girl, except since she broke her hip, she can’t drive herself around. Grudgingly she accepts Tanner as her chauffer—certainly not her nurse.

When Tanner sees an age-progressed photograph on the news of the suspect in a major jewelry heist decades earlier that looks suspiciously like Louise, Tanner looks questioningly at the tightly locked shed in the back. Then, late that night, Louise wakes Tanner up demanding that she drive her across the country.

This novel is a lot of fun, with the eventual friendship of the two women changing them both.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to review this novel, which RELEASES MARCH 28, 2023.

Tanner busted her leg, lost her scholarship, and is hiding out in her parent's basement playing video games, not really caring if she's showered or changed her clothes in the past week. Direction? She has none.

Louise tells people she's 79, but she's really 84. Sharp as a tack, but after a fall, she's using a cane and can't drive. Her daughter says she needs help.... Tanner's mom said she needs to find a place to live. Match made in heaven? Nope, but they are stuck with each other.

Tanner drives slowly and Louise has no time to waste. While Tanner dwells on her lack of a future, Louise finds her past is catching up with her, but it's not the past you'd imagine for a little old lady. Suddenly, she's waking Tanner up in the middle of the night and they're busting out, heading out on a road trip to save someone named George. There's no place like the road to get to know another person and the generation gap gets smaller as Tanner and Louise share their story and tackle the journey together. The twists, the turns, the advice on life - this is the perfect book club read. No one is ever who they seem and who you are meant to be can change.

Louise [84 yrs old] and Tanner [21 yrs old] embark on drive from Atlanta to Calif. to save George who is danger from Salvatore, soon to be released killer from prison. Tanner thinks Louise is a jewel thief, and the police are after Louise. Tanner is strict rule follower. Louise just wants to protect her friend George whom she hasn't seen in 48 years. There are several unexpected twists to this tale--people aren't who they say they are.
Read to solve the mystery of this 48 year old jewel thief case, if you can do it faster than the FBI.

A solid 4 stars. Started slow and clunky and ended the same way, but the middle section was hilarious. The banter between Louise and Tanner was the best part. A fun, wild ride.

Woman on the lam, FBI on the hunt, flashbacks and plot twists...This was a grand romp-. multigenerational adventure.

Old people got game as our kids might say!

Tanner's life is in the dumps. Due to a soccer injury, her playing days are over, so she spends her life in sweats, playing video games. Tanner wants to earn a bit of money so she can go back to college. Louise Wilt, an octogenarian, took a slight fall and her daughter now insists she needs a full-time caregiver, and a driver. Enter Tanner who just wants Louise to leave her alone. The feeling is mutual.

Louise does have a few quirks, including a garden shed locked up tight. She needs a driver - that means Tanner has to take her where she wants to go. Tanner sees a breaking news story about an unsolved jewel heist from several years ago. The computer-aged picture looks remarkably like Louise. Hmmmm!

Tanner, awakened one night by sirens and Louise, with packed bag in hand, insists they have to take a road trip right now. So Tanner drives the "getaway" car and they head for California, reminiscent of Thelma and Louise.

Louise is one sharp cookie, always ahead of the FBI, ahead of the local police, and ahead of the reporters who feel sure they will be the ones to break the story of the missing Kinsey diamond. Tanner, by turns baffled and amazed by this old lady, takes a long look at her own life.

I have been a fan of Colleen Oakley's novels, ever since I included Close Enough to Touch as one of my 2017 top picks at Chick Lit Central. Her latest novel, The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise, is delightful from start to finish, and I can't wait for readers to get their hands on this one in late March!

Tanner was incredibly relatable, even though we're about twenty-five years apart in age. I love how snarky Louise was, and the banter between her and Tanner was great throughout. There were lots of surprises in the story that kept me turning the pages even quicker to find out what else was in store. Many laugh-out-loud lines and moments, as well. Also, a hot love interest made things even more fun and interesting. ;) The road trip felt like quite an adventure, especially since they were on the run. I also loved the text messages between Louise's kids. Their sibling dynamic was so entertaining.

There was one question that didn't seem to get an answer, but I hope that was fixed for the final publication. Clearly, it had no impact on how much I loved this novel.

Overall, fantastic in every single way. Bravo to Colleen!

Movie casting suggestions:
Tanner: Haley Lu Richardson (after seeing her in White Lotus, I can't picture anyone else)
Louise: Shirley MacLaine
August: Felix Mallard
Jules: Elizabeth Banks
Charlie: Glenn Howerton
Lucy: Amanda Schull
Lorna: Liza Lapira
Candace: Nicholle Tom

This book definitely had some hallmarky and predictability to it, but it was a very pleasant & Quick read

This one started out slow but then picked up the pace. There’s a little something for everyone in this.

Thank you NetGalley for eARC in exchange for an honest review

Thanks to Berkley and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this title prior to publication. I heard about this book from Anne Bogel and was excited about the similarities to Thelma and Louise. Tanner, a college soccer player who recently suffered a career-ending knee injury, comes to live with and drive Louise, an older woman with hip issues and early-stage Parkinson's, to her different appointments. I really liked the development of their relationship and how that contributed to their emotional healing. There's a sudden road trip from Atlanta to CA, lots of secrets, and running from law enforcement, as you would expect for the comparison to T&L. It was a fun, twisty story, even if some of the twists were really unbelievable. 3 stars.

Wow - did this book really take me on a wild ride!

83 year old Louise has recently fallen and broken a hip - her children decide she needs a caregiver and hire 23 year old Tanner to watch over her. Tanner is smarting from an injury to her leg that ends her soccer goals and has moved back home to her parent's basement.

Oh my goodness, this book way exceeded my expectations and the storyline is awesome! The characters are great - the descriptions are so vivid and there are so many twists and turns - but keep up because it's a fun story!

I won a temporary, digital ARC on a contest from Colleen Oakely - thank you to NetGalley for honoring my request after it was denied originally - for my review.

This was such a great book. Tanner is a 21-year old woman just starting her adult life which has been sidetracked after she looses her scholarship and has to move back in with her parents … until her mother kicks her out. With no money and limited options she ends up moving in with an elderly woman who needs a live-in caregiver. For the most part it is a good gig, drive the old lady around to her appointments and spend the afternoon doing what she loves – playing video games. However, Tanner starts to notice her new roommate Mrs. Wilt might not be the sweet old lady she has been lead to believe as evident by her photo showing up on the 5 o’clock news as a wanted felon!

Gosh I loved this book, the contrast between Tanner who is young and naive and Mrs. Wilt who has lead quite the life and sees the world through a different lens made this book hard to put down. They are a very unlikely paring and as expected it took a while for them to find common ground but I loved to see the friendship build between the two women throughout the book.

There are so many layers to this book and Colleen Oakley did a beautiful job of intertwining them. The main story line follows Tanner and Louise, first as they settle into their joint living arrangement. I love Mrs. Wilt and her shoot from the hip honestly and quick witty comebacks which made me laugh out loud on several occasions. As we learn more about Mrs. Wilt it really shines a light on just how much life people in their later stage of life have lived and just how many memories and stories they have to share. Towards the end of the book there are a couple of tender moments that really shows us the bond between the two women and it truly tugs are the heart strings. There are several side characters in this book, while we don’t learn a lot about them they do provide just enough interest and colour to the story as the majority of the book centres around Tanner and Louise.

I’ve had another book by this author on my bookshelf for a while and after having read The Mostly True Story of Tanner & Louise I will definitely be picking it up sooner rather than later. This book was very enjoyable and the perfect palate cleanser as I’ve been reading mostly contemporary romance lately.

Sometimes, I just need something light and humorous. If one of the main characters is older, all the better. This one fits the bill. Louise is 84, recovering from a broken hip, when her children convince her to get a live-in caretaker. Tanner is not the typical caregiver. She’s 21, also recovering from a physical injury and angry that her parents have told her to find somewhere else to live. She only wants to spend her days playing video games. What Tanner doesn’t know is that Louise has a past. And that past is catching up with her. Soon, they’ve embarked on a road trip. But not one Louise has told her three children about, so police and then the FBI get involved.
It’s a character rich story and I came to care about both women. They are angry, private women on the opposite end of the age spectrum, so there are numerous misunderstandings. The story volleys between both of their POVs. Louise reminds me of my mother - God forbid anything come between her and a hair appointment. As time goes on, they start to find more in common. The writing is descriptive without being overly flowery. It’s easy to see each scene play out.
Favorite line (of many):
“Angry women don’t bother me. It’s the ones who aren’t furious that I worry about.”
“What?” Tanner asked, confused. “Why?”
“Means they aren’t paying attention.”

The interludes with the children interacting with the police/FBI are wonderful. The humor ranges from dry and acerbic to laugh out loud funny. The ending was flat out perfect. I didn’t see that coming! I can only hope this gets picked up for either a movie or a mini-series.
My thanks to Netgalley and Berkley for an advance copy of this book.

This was a very slow read for me. I wanted to like it; the writing was okay but the story lagged in bits. Plot not original and it didn't keep my attention to keep reading at big intervels.

Tanner thinks she has landed the dream job, taking care of, Louise, an elderly woman. Tanner settles into her new life until Louise, comes into her room and tells her to pack. Louise is going on the run. The two women have nothing in common but soon become allies. They go on an exciting and sometimes humorous road trip. I liked both the characters and enjoyed the story, you can’t help rooting for the two women. Thank you to net galley for an advanced readers copy.

My first book of the year was finished in one day and was a 5 star read. I have rated every book I've read by Colleen Oakley 5 stars!⁣ This book is about Tanner, who is 21 and living at home after an injury caused her to lose her soccer scholarship. She moves in with Louise, who is 84 and needs help around the house after breaking her hip. When Louise recruits Tanner to drive her out of town, they are suddenly on the run - but from what? ⁣ This was a fun and funny road trip story with great twists and surprises along the way. Tanner and Louise's friendship was such fun to experience! I loved the characters and the whole story as it was revealed along the way.