Southern by Design

Oh this book was just charming!!! It was such an adorable book. I can not wait to recommend this to book club! I absolutely loed the characters and the sweet story. Wonderful writing.

Souther by Design was a great book that had everything that I look for in a book: great story, great characters, and even a great cover!

Magnolia (Mack) Bishop, still reeling over the loss of a impressive design fellowship in her Charleston home town, is offered the chance of a lifetime. Exquisite Interiors, the most popular reality home design show, wants her to audition for their show. Her restoration work for the Carolina Historic Society on the Daniel House will be featured. To succeed, Mack has to rely on her trusted assistant Maya, her college friend and confidant Fitz and her many loyal workman from the city. There are problems. Her untrustworthy, soon to be ex-husband Grady must do his share of child care for their seven year daughter. Her mother, the original Magnolia, must be prevented from interfering with Mack’s work. This will not be easy. And then there’s a complication. The handsome man who just moved in next door is…the man who broke her heart when he chose a photography residency over her.

All of this fills Southern by Design to the brimming. There is heartbreak, romance, anger and a delightful look at the backstage world of creating a reality home show. I’m hoping that Holy City Flip becomes a series! I want to see more of these characters who I would recognize if I saw them walking down the street. If you like Kristy Woodson Harvey, Mary Kay Andrews or Patti Callahan Henry, you will love Grace Helena Walz and Southern By Design! 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, HarperCollinsFocus and Grace Helena Walz.

This book was so much drama and I was here for it! Thank you NetGalley for this ARC! This book was based in my hometown, Charleston SC. I was born and raised here in Charleston and I am still here. It was so neat to read about the college I went to and the others I am very familiar with, the restaurants, the cities near by. The book itself was brilliant and kept me interested from start to finish. The home restoration & HGTV vibe was so fun to read about! I feel like it tied into the story well. The drama was raw and messy but the story drove home that beauty comes from ashes.

Southern by Design is a delightful and charming book written by an exciting new voice in Southern Women’s Fiction.

Mack Bishop has spent much of her life under her mother’s domineering and critical thumb, including marrying the son of her mother’s best friend much to the delight of both families. The one place where Mack feels confident is in her design business where she restores the old, grand homes of Charleston and gives them new life. She loses out on a coveted fellowship but gets another chance to showcase her talents when her mother presents her with an opportunity to restore a hidden gem from the Historical Commission that needs a lot of love to bring it back to glory. Mack’s assistant also encourages her to apply to host a reality show on home design and this new project will give them the content she and her design firm can use to apply.

Mack’s marriage is in its final stages, as the boy chosen for her by her mother has become a man increasingly difficult to live and work with. In a surprise twist, the boy she had fallen in love with during college comes back to town and buys the house next door. A single dad, his son becomes best friends with Mack’s daughter, forcing them together in ways that let them get to know one another all over again. In the end, we learn why Mack’s mother is the way she is, and it leads to a new understanding for Mack and a better relationship with her mother going forward.

This book had it all for me—home renovation and design, second chance at love with the one that got away, a complicated mother issue that gets resolved in the end, and a happy ending for a woman who has grown in her independence. Charleston plays a starring role in the book, and there is a host of secondary characters that provide layers of color and depth. I loved it!

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins Focus for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Such a sweet story! It did take a bit to get into the meat of the story at least for me personally, but once I got into it I really enjoyed it and I can’t wait to recommend this one to friends! The southern setting was absolutely charming, and I adored the storyline, the characters, everything about this was so well done!

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Absolutely adored every second of this book! Adding Grace as a must read author and can’t wait to see what she writes next!

I loved books about second chance love stories. I always rooted for them get together at the end. The author made a great idea incorporating fashbacks of Mack and Lincolon background. She gave her readers better understanding of the characters. I also am so delighted because my big fan of HGTV, and I savor beautiful scenes of historic downtown Charleston. I recieved a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

It was wonderful to discover this debut novel -- here's hoping there are many more to come! It all takes place in scenic Charleston, in the world of interior design and historic preservation, where "Mack" Bishop is striving to prove herself as a designer of note by preserving an older home. Things don't go as planned, and she has to start over again, beholden to her imperious mother and then to a long lost boyfriend. Lots of romance, humor, and happenings here which will definitely keep you turning the pages. I look forward to recommending this title, especially to readers who enjoy books by Mary Kay Andrews, Elin Hilderbrand, Kristan Higgans, and Susan Mallery.

A great story about protagonist, Magnolia “Mack” Bishop, fighting for success in the middle of a divorce; struggling for a relationship with her mother who believes she rules all; finding true love; and finding her biological father in order to heal and thrive in her life’s journey.

The engrossing story is told in flashbacks to fifteen years before, and present time. The cast of characters is unique; especially Fritz, Mack’s best friend; Lincoln, Mack’s beau; and the team of experts Mack works with restoring an old historic home. The Charleston setting is wonderful. If you enjoy home remodeling and renovation TV shows, you should enjoy this story.

Southern by Design is a heartwarming read. Keep a tissue handy.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This is an absolutely stunning debut. Mack is dealing with divorce, a second chance romance and her overbearing dragon of a mother. I loved all the lough out loud moments that this book had. I was not prepared at all for the twists this story had. I highly recommend this one! Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins Focus for a chance to read this one early in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book. I loved it. What a great new voice in women’s fiction. The characters, the setting, even the main character’s career choice went to making this book of second chances at love a warm and appealing story. I can’t wait to read what Grace Helena Walz comes up with next.

Southern by Design is the perfect I need to get lost in a story kind of book. Southern lit is my absolute favorite and Grace Helena Walz does not disappoint. It’s the perfect mix of southern trauma, southern mama and love in two of South Carolina’s most beautiful cities. The way that this written both in the present and the past is beautifully done. Magnolia, her mother Magnolia and the whole cast of characters are people you want to hang out with and get to know. As Magnolia the daughter navigates her way through her new future the past comes to visit. She has to figure out if the past has any place in her life now. This a must read, cannot put down book. Thank you to #netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book. These are my own opinions..

See my full review at http://michelleardillo.com/2024/11/14/book-review-southern-by-design-by-grace-helena-walz/

Southern by Design was a good southern story. Mack is getting settled after a separation. She is continuing her home renovation business, attempting to land a home renovation show that will document their work! Throughout all this she faces a meddlesome mother who strives to control all aspects of Mack’s life. A recognizable face from her past pops up next door, and we see the sparks begging to rekindle. In between learning to stand up for herself and dig into her past, Mack finds out more than she expected. The conclusion of this book gives us answers to everything we needed, and leaves Mack secure in her place.

This book was delightful!

The book follows Mack, a true southern belle who grew up being the perfect daughter for her Mama. Where did it leave her? With a cheating husband whom her mother still desperately wants her to reconcile with, a career that can't escape her mother's control and searching for the identity of her father whom her mother will not reveal.

But she has had it! Now she has the opportunity to make something of her career on her own and a college fling (or more?) returns to the picture.

You will spend the entirety of the story rooting for Mack, grieving with her and falling for her witty daughter.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. Thank you, NetGalley!

I enjoyed the book and couldn't put it down. I love the characters and how they interact with each other. I also like the mother-daughter relationship and how it is resolved. I also liked learning about historic preservation and house renovations. I highly recommend this book to those who like a good love story but don't want it to be too sweet and sappy.