Paradise Girls
A Novel
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $8.99
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
Sandy Gingras's Paradise Girls features a broken engagement. A ruined vacation in paradise. One adorable little girl. The perfect recipe for the chance of a lifetime...
Mary Valley is in a funk. She’s a writer for home magazines, but she’s lost touch with what home means. Her life seems meaningless. The last house she wrote about was a gazillion-dollar mansion with a moat! Plus, she’s estranged from her daughter, CC and granddaughter, Larkin and mired in a dead-end relationship with her boss.
Daniel is a man adrift since his son Timmy was killed in Afghanistan. He’s living on a houseboat in Florida with Timmy’s three-legged dog, Tripod and taking tourists out on fishing charters. But his life is on the edge. He’s painting his houseboat black, and he can’t stop thinking about “getting lost at sea.”
When Mary’s boss tells her he’s spending Christmas with his ex, she books a trip with her family to The Low Key Inn, a hotel on the edge of the Everglades. But things go wrong from the get-go. CC bails out of the vacation, and Mary is stuck with an unhappy Larkin. The hotel is dated and down-on-its-luck, and perhaps its owner is a witch. Then Mary meets Daniel, casts a hook into his head and wrecks his boat.
This is the story of how wounded people can help each other heal, how lost people can help each other find their way home. How life can become a love story…
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Children's book author Gingras (100 Hugs) makes her adult debut with a mellow story of loss, forgiveness, and personal growth. At 42, Mary Valley is estranged from her daughter and granddaughter and reeling from a relationship with her boss gone sour. She decides to take a break from New York City, inviting her daughter, CC, and five-year-old granddaughter, Larkin, on a vacation to Florida. CC bails at the last moment, leaving Mary and Larkin headed to the Low-Key Inn, a rundown beach motel, alone. There, Mary meets fishing guide Daniel, a contemplative loner dealing with grief over his son's death, and befriends the inn's owner, Ollie, a witchy old woman struggling to keep the business afloat. All at crossroads in their lives, Mary, Daniel, and Ollie draw strength from each other and find new hope in their budding friendship—and, in Mary and Daniel's case, new romance. The pace is leisurely and the plot sometimes predictable, but Gingras gives her characters quirks, concerns, and backstories that make them well-rounded and believable enough to keep readers invested. The detailed descriptions of the Florida scenery, meanwhile, make Mary's vacation a delight. Loaded with family, friends, and possibility, this easygoing romance is sure to please.
Customer Reviews
Excellent read
Such a sad, heart wrenching book. I found myself in tears several times while reading. This is a deeply depressing story in places, yet the promise of better times and light shines in and out in slivers and steady by the end. The hope and possibilities of an HEA for these endearing and emotionally damaged characters is the best of this story.