Greetings! I hope everyone is enjoying their Saturday. If you enjoy suspense/thriller novels, I would like to suggest you check out Angela Marsons and M.J. Arlidge. They both write wonderful novels that will keep you riveted. Angela Marsons writes the D.I. Kim Stone Novels and M.J. Arlidge writes A Helen Grace Thriller series. Dead Souls by Angela Marsons will be out on April 28. You do need to read each book in the series. They are not stand alone novels!
The Hideaway is a debut novel by
Lauren K. Denton. Sara Jenkins lives in
New Orleans where she owns her own shop called Bits and Pieces. She gets a call from her grandmother’s attorney
asking her to contact him. Later that
day Sara calls Vernon Bains, the lawyer and discovers that her eccentric and
fun loving grandmother, Mags passed away.
Sara was raised by Mags after her parents passed away in a car accident. She was raised at Mags’ bed and breakfast,
The Hideaway along with the guests that checked in, but never checked out. Sara leaves the shop in the care of Allyn, her
trusty assistant, and heads back to Sweet Bay, Alabama (three hours away). When the will is read, Sara finds out that
she has been left The Hideaway, a bed and breakfast, along with funds to
restore it. Her grandmother’s wish was
for Sara to restore The Hideaway. Sara
is reluctant to stay in Sweet Bay for that length of time, but she feels a pull
to the home. As Sara starts going
through the house, she finds a box in the attic. It contains mementos belonging to her
grandmother, Margaret Van Buren (aka Mags).
Mags had wanted to share her story with Sara, but she died before she
could accomplish the task. Mags’ friends
(the permanent guests of The Hideaway) along with the possessions in the box,
Sara starts to piece together her grandmother’s past. Mags was not always the flamboyant free spirit
that Sara knew and loved. Sara discovers
that she is enjoying staying in Sweet Bay, but then Sammy Grosvenor threatens
The Hideaway. Sammy has been trying to
buy the land for years to develop it and Mags refused to sell. Now Sammy has found another way to accomplish
his goal. Can Sara find a way to save
this special house or will she return to her life in New Orleans?
The Hideaway is a sweet novel
that I enjoyed reading. I found it
well-written, contained a good setting, and had a good pace. There are a variety of quirky characters that
enhance the book and go along with the Southern charm and setting. The book is written with alternating
chapters. We are in the present with
Sara’s story and then in the past with Mags’.
I give The Hideaway 4 out of 5 stars (I liked it). While The Hideaway is released by a Christian
publisher, it is not a true Christian novel.
There is no foul language or explicit sex scenes (thank heavens), but
there is adultery. Religion is not a
factor in this story. I appreciated the
author’s descriptive writing that made the setting and characters come to
life. Ms. Denton also did a good job
with mingling the past and the present.
There is the requisite romance in the story between Sara and the
contractor (Crawford) she hired to restore The Hideaway. I did feel that the book was just a little
too long and there were a couple of slow, meandering spots. The end was a bit rushed with some strange
details (I was say but then it would be a spoiler). Otherwise, I enjoyed Lauren K. Denton’s debut
novel The Hideaway. The Hideaway is a
charming novel that readers can enjoy on a slow, summer afternoon with a glass
of cold, sweet tea.
I am going to enjoy a nice, relaxing Saturday before a busy Easter. I hope each of you have a lovely day. I will be reviewing One Perfect Lie by Lisa Scottoline next. Take care and Happy Reading!
Kris
The Avid Reader
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