Turning the page with Andrew Forrester...plus a book giveaway

Credit:  Kate Stafford Weaver

Today we are excited to welcome Andrew Forrester to CLC. His debut novel, How the Story Goes, released earlier this week and it sounds really intriguing. We had fun chatting with Andrew and hope you will enjoy his answers to our questions as much as we did. Thanks to HarperCollins, we have TWO copies to give away!

Andrew Forrester is a writer and former English teacher whose work has appeared in McSweeney’s Internet Tendency and Parents magazine. He holds a PhD in nineteenth-century British literature and lives in Austin, Texas with his family. Visit Andrew at his website and on Instagram.

Synopsis:

In this heartwarming, bookish debut, a young widower of a famous children’s fantasy author teams up with a down-on-her-luck MFA dropout to write the final book in his late wife’s series...and find their own perfect ending along the way.

Whit Longacre has a monumental task and a looming deadline. After his wife, Helen, died of cancer, she left him with their grieving eight-year-old daughter and a surprise in her will: the small task of writing the final book in her mega-popular children’s fantasy series for her legions of waiting fans.

Whit is the author of moderately successful (but well-received!) literary mysteries. He doesn’t have the first idea of how to complete Helen’s beloved series, and his enigmatic wife seems to have left no clues behind on how the story is supposed to end. Writer’s block is one thing, but to fail in fulfilling his wife’s last wish? Whit is guilt-ridden and dodging calls in the school pick-up line from Helen’s publisher and agent as the deadline fast approaches.

Then Whit meets Merritt Pryor, who works at the local bookstore in their small New England town. Merritt has moved back home after a disastrous affair led to her dropping out of her prestigious MFA program. When Whit realizes that Merritt is a superfan of the Greenwood Castle series, they come up with a plan to tackle the book together. For the first time in years, Merritt finds herself falling back in love with writing…and perhaps with the coauthor offering her the opportunity of a lifetime.

But when Whit uncovers a buried secret about Helen’s final wishes, he questions everything about what he and Merritt have created together, endangering the tender, electrifying partnership that has transformed their lives.

Can Whit and Merritt come up with an ending that feels right…for both a beloved series and for their battered hearts? 

"With exquisite worldbuilding, finely-drawn characters, and the perfect helping of escapism, Andrew Forrester has created an enchanting story that reads like the best of classic romance and cozy fantasy combined, as if Nora Ephron had penned a version of the Chronicles of Narnia for adults. How the Story Goes is a gift for book lovers." 
- Ashley Winstead, USA Today bestselling author of In My Dreams I Hold a Knife

"Brimming with charm, heart, and humor! Reading How the Story Goes is like stepping into your favorite Nora Ephron film. It is a salve for the world-weary soul.” 
- Alex Kiester, #1 New York Times bestselling co-author of The Missing Half

“Set in a dreamily charming New England town, How the Story Goes is about smart, empathetic humans wondering how you carry on when your life story has gone awry. I loved losing myself in the novel's world of bookstores and libraries, lingering over tea by roaring fires, rediscovering alongside Forrester's rich characters the pleasure of creating art and the solace of love.” 
- Amanda Eyre Ward, New York Times bestselling author of The Jetsetters

In one sentence, what was the road to publishing like for you?
The road to publishing was long and slow, but it was also filled with helpful people, lucky coincidences, and real joys!

How is Whit similar to or different from you?
Whit and I share some of the same neuroses and an occasional internal curmudgeonliness that we mask with politeness. We're also both dads of third graders! But I would say that Whit is a little more weighed down by the burdens that come with authorship than I am: I actually love the process of drafting, and while I do get stuck, I don't think I've ever despaired that I might never write again. Also his house is nicer than mine.

If How the Story Goes was made into a movie, who would you cast in the leading roles?
Friends have asked me this enough that I have now gone and done research: Hailee Steinfeld (whom I love) is the perfect age for Merritt. The sort of harried but determined air she gives off in Edge of Seventeen would work wonders here! And then I think Penn Badgley can pull off the bedraggled and grumpy but loveable and handsome thing that Whit needs. Netflix, call me.

What is the last book you read that you would recommend?
I just finished Portia Elan's Homeland, another debut novel that was also published on May 5th. It's beautiful, impressive, and a really great read for anyone who enjoyed Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, Cloud Cuckoo Land, or The Sea of Tranquility. I loved it.

If your life was a TV series, which celebrity would you want to narrate it? 
I would love for David Tennant to narrate my life like he does in the excellent BBC series, Twenty Twelve, W1A, and the new (as of yet unwatched for me) Twenty Twenty Six. Either that or the Muses from Disney's 1997 classic, Hercules.

If we were to visit you right now, what are some places you would take us to see?
I live in Austin, and I'd love to show you Barton Springs, the Blanton Museum of Art, Radio (my favorite coffee shop), the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center, and probably, for dinner, Loro. But if you're reading this anytime after early May, I might suggest holding off until, like November. The heat is brutal, and you have been warned!
 

Thanks to Andrew for chatting with us and to HarperCollins for sharing his book with our readers.

How to win: Use KingSumo to enter the giveaway. If you have trouble using KingSumo on our blog, enter the giveaway here. If you are still having issues, please contact us.

Giveaway ends May 12th at midnight EST.

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Book Review: Our Perfect Storm

By Allyson Bales

**See my note below before reading the synopsis**

Frankie and George have been best friends since they were eight years old. Both passionate, impulsive, and headstrong—they’ve always clashed . . . and come back together. Until now. It’s the eve of Frankie’s wedding weekend, and she doesn’t know where they stand or even if George will show up as her best man.

Then, at the start of the festivities, in walks George. For one glorious evening, surrounded by her loved ones, Frankie’s life is finally perfect. But it all comes crashing down when her fiancé dumps her the next morning, leaving only a note as an explanation.

Crushed and confused, Frankie returns to her family’s home to wallow. But George has a different idea and a plan for healing Frankie’s broken heart. He wants her to go on her honeymoon. With him. For one week, to the lush rainforests and misty beaches of Tofino.

Frankie agrees, seeing the trip for what it really is: one last chance to repair their friendship. Even if it means unearthing secrets and long buried feelings neither knows how to handle. Even if it means falling apart for good. (Synopsis courtesy of Amazon.)

Carley Fortune is the QUEEN of summer romances and boy are you in for a treat with this one!

I usually go into summer romances blind, because I thoroughly enjoy meeting the characters and getting transported to another place and highly, HIGHLY suggest you do the same with this one. 

I will say that you are going to absolutely love where Frankie and George go in this story; Tofino, Canada felt like its own character to be honest.  Fortune does an amazing job of making you feel like you are right alongside the characters and Tofino is definitely on my bucket list now! Truly I looked at Google maps to see how long it would take to get there from my house!

If knowing you are going to meet some pretty amazing people in one of the most beautiful places I have ever read about isn't enough for you I’ll give you a few more little crumbs, but that's it!

There are Little Women references, dual timelines, a man named Kevin you are going to LOVE, letters from many years ago, and WHALES!

If you can get your hands on the audio, I highly recommend it!  It's got AJ Bridel and Jack Copland narrating for George and Frankie.

This will definitely be one of THE romances of the summer and I can’t wait for you to read it and love it too!

Thanks to Berkley for the book in exchange for an honest review. Purchase Our Perfect Storm here.

More by Carley Fortune:
One Golden Summer
Every Summer After
Meet Me at the Lake

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Kristy Woodson Harvey delivers a fresh summer escape...plus a book giveaway

 

We're so glad to have Kristy Woodson Harvey back at CLC today to celebrate the publication of her latest novel, Summer State of Mind! This story sounds really intriguing and perfect for fans of Virgin River and Sweet Magnolias. We enjoyed chatting with Kristy and hope you will love her answers to our questions as much as we do. Thanks to Angela Melamud PR, we have one copy for a lucky reader!

Kristy Woodson Harvey is a New York Times, USA TODAY, and Publishers Weekly bestselling author of fourteen novels, including Beach House Rules and the Peachtree Bluff series. Several of her books are in development for film and television, including A Happier Life (MGM/Amazon) and The Summer of Songbirds (Hulu).

Her work has earned honors such as Good Morning America’s Buzz Pick and Southern Living’s Most Anticipated Reads, and she is a Lucy Bramlette Patterson Award winner and Southern Book Prize finalist. She co-hosts the podcast Friends & Fiction and co-founded Design Chic.

Kristy lives on the North Carolina coast with her family and is always working on her next novel.

Visit Kristy online:
Website * Facebook * Instagram

Synopsis:

After the worst day in her professional life, burnt-out NICU nurse Daisy Stevens runs to Cape Carolina, North Carolina, looking for a new life—and possibly new romance. On her first day at her “simpler” job, high school baseball coach Mason Thaysden discovers an abandoned baby, sending ripples through the entire tight-knit town of Cape Carolina.

Mason is still struggling to reconcile the scars of the injury that kept him out of the big leagues, stuck in his hometown, and searching for a way out. This newcomer and the child they’ve saved together might be just the motivation he needs to stay put. Sparks fly as Mason acquaints Daisy with Cape Carolina, introducing her to his friends and family, including his batty Aunt Tilley, who is looking for relief from long-buried family secrets and her own fresh start.

But as Daisy becomes increasingly attached to this abandoned child, and begins facing her own demons in the process, a startling discovery is made that threatens to rip the entire town of Cape Carolina apart, placing Daisy, Mason, and Tilley in the center of the storm. In a novel that proves that “Kristy Woodson Harvey is (the) go-to for elevated beach reads” (People), they will each learn that with love, understanding—and a community theater production of Hello, Dolly!—sometimes life conspires to bring us just exactly where we belong. (Courtesy of Amazon.)

"Kristy Woodson Harvey has written the book that every contemporary romance reader will savor this summer. With wonderfully memorable characters and surprises around every corner, Summer State of Mind is a celebration of family, community, and the kind of magical, messy, complicated love that makes life real and worth living." 
- Marie Bostwick, New York Times bestselling author of The Book Club for Troublesome Women

"Kristy Woodson Harvey has perfected the art of the beach read. Summer State of Mind delivers pure summer escape through deliciously tangled family secrets and rich emotion. A story of found family, belonging, and second chances that will last long after the summer sun sets." 
- Meagan Church, New York Times bestselling author of The Mad Wife

What is a favorite compliment you have received on your writing?
When my debut novel was about to release, I was a wreck, of course. And an early reader wrote me to tell me that she had had a baby before she was married and given it up for adoption. Her husband knew, but her children did not. And Dear Carolina gave her the confidence to tell them, reach out to her adopted daughter, and gave them this whole new layer of family. I will never forget how gobsmacked I was by that. And I thought, Okay. If this whole thing is a flop, I was meant to write that story so that family could have a happy ending. That was enough. But I have such generous readers and, this might sound silly, but I keep a “kind emails” folder on my computer, and if I’m feeling down about the whole writing thing, I go read them!

What is something you've learned from writing your previous novels that you applied to Summer State of Mind?
I think I’m answering the opposite of your question here, but it sort of applies in a roundabout way! Generally, I write books about a protagonist whose life has recently fallen apart or does so on the first page or two of the book. And then we spend 375-ish pages watching them take a circuitous path to getting it back together. In this book, we watch Daisy fall apart and come back together a couple different times in real time. Something about that rang really true for me with her story!

If Summer State of Mind were made into a movie, which songs would be on the soundtrack?
Most of the Hello, Dolly soundtrack, but especially “Just Leave Everything to Me” and “It Only Takes a Moment.” Then, most definitely Ben Rector’s “Thank God for the Summertime,” The Highwomen’s “Crowded Table,” and “Summer Love” by One Direction!

What is your favorite summertime activity?
I am a summer girl through and through and there is nothing I love more than taking the boat over to one of the islands around our house – Cape Lookout is my favorite – with lots of friends and family and packing a big cooler of food and sitting around and talking and laughing. It’s so special!

If your life was a TV series, which celebrity would you want to narrate it? 

This is very difficult because it’s a real toss up between Reese Witherspoon and Matthew McConaughey. So it really comes down to whether a man or woman is narrating! 

If we were to visit you, what places would you take us to see?
Well, first, we would sit on my front porch and have coffee (from Historic Grounds!) and wave at the neighbors. Then we’d do the double decker bus tour around town at Beaufort Historic Site and a little morning shopping to hit up my favorite spots like Beaufort Linen Co and Island Proper. We’d grab lunch at Beaufort Grocery and go out on the boat and do some island hopping so you could see the wild horses and the dolphins and all the beautiful scenery. Then we’d come back and take a sunset sail on the Lookout Catamaran followed by either a dressier dinner at Blue Moon or a more casual one on the deck of Front Street Grill at Stillwater. Then we’d have to have a night cap at Back Street Pub – the oldest in Beaufort – and listen to a little live music. We’d stargaze a little on the widow’s walk when we got back home. It would be a really great day!

Thank you so, so much for having me – and for all your support for so many years. I’m so grateful! 

Thanks to Kristy for visiting with us and to Angela Melamud PR for sharing her book with our readers.

How to win: Use KingSumo to enter the giveaway. If you have trouble using KingSumo on our blog, enter the giveaway here. If you are still having issues, please contact us.

Giveaway ends May 10th at midnight EST.

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Book Review: Enormous Wings

By Jami Denison

There are only two reasons to look forward to menopause: getting rid of the monthly mess and no more worries about pregnancy. But in Laurie Frankel’s latest novel, Enormous Wings, something goes terribly wrong in the biological make-up of 77-year-old Pepper Mills. Shortly after moving into an independent living facility and meeting a nice man, Pepper finds herself pregnant. Pregnancy is tough enough at the usual age. But for a senior citizen with thin skin, weak knees, and diminished lung capacity, it could be fatal. Unfortunately, Pepper lives in Texas. She doesn’t have the right to make decisions about her own body.

Pepper is easy to root for, and Frankel lets readers get to know her well before revealing the twist. She has three grown children, four grandchildren (including 15-year-old Lola, who is enormously attached to her), an ex-husband, and a habit of washing other people’s cars when she’s stressed. The story begins when she rear-ends a priest, who cuts up her license and insists she shouldn’t be driving. Her panicked children convince her to move into the same independent living facility where they’ve already parked her ex-husband. She’d prefer to stay in her own home, but she moves in because she understands it’s easier for her children, and she doesn’t want them to worry about her. Even though the food is terrible and the enrichment activities have been oversold, Pepper doesn’t complain—instead, she makes good friends and even finds a boyfriend. With Pepper’s funny first-person narration, she’s immediately engaging. 

With the “miracle” of her pregnancy, Pepper immediately becomes a stand-in for every woman who becomes pregnant without wanting to be. But rather than a private anguish, her condition immediately makes her famous when an anti-choice doctor on her team lies to her about the dangers of abortion and then outs her pregnancy to the press—making it impossible for her to leave the state to end it. Paparazzi won’t leave her alone. Both the pro-life and the pro-choice camps want to make her their spokesperson. Her doctor puts her on bedrest. A good friend dies. Then Lola has a crisis that takes over everything. 

For the most part, Enormous Wings is a gentle, soft, family saga about a group of people working together to solve a problem. While Frankel does offer a scientific explanation for the pregnancy, it feels a bit out of place with the tone of the novel, and it’s a setup without a real payoff. Letting the conception be a weird biological fluke might have worked better. The pacing is consistent and steady, although I felt the pregnancy was diagnosed too quickly. Pepper gets sick what feels like a few days after she and her boyfriend become intimate, and the doctor immediately detects the pregnancy. Why would a doctor run a pregnancy test on a 77-year-old woman? Letting the pregnancy progress undetected for a few weeks while other conditions are suspected would have added more tension. 

Other than those small issues, Enormous Wings is a highly enjoyable read. With its messages about autonomy, parenthood, grandparenthood, friendship, love, life, and death, it’s a reminder that all of life’s problems are better faced when one has a village to depend upon. 

Thanks to Henry Holt for the book in exchange for an honest review.

More by Laurie Frankel:
This is How it Always Is
One Two Three
Family Family

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Book Review: Wed or Alive

By Sara Steven

Whitney's life is not going to plan. Her romantic comedy novel isn't selling, her career feels stuck, and by the time she realises she's in love with her best friend and roommate, Andy, he's back from his work trip with a fiancée - and a wedding date that is alarmingly soon.

Enter a cowboy with his own problems, including a country estate he's desperate to buy and an owner who doesn't trust developers - or men without roots. When a viral moment throws Whitney and Jake together, they strike a deal. Whitney gets the real-life love story publishers want. Jake gets to look like a committed, family-minded man who belongs at Rosewood. All they have to do is pretend they're in love.

As Andy's wedding approaches, Whitney uncovers a plot twist that could change everything for him - but the romcom she's acting out with Jake is starting to feel dangerously real.

Falling for your best friend is complicated, but riding off into the sunset with a cowboy is pure fiction… Right? (Synopsis courtesy of Goodreads.)

Wed or Alive was the perfect example of thinking you know what you want, or need, then something (or someone) becomes the catalyst that makes you change your mind; but really, what you thought all along that was right under your nose isn’t really what you wanted or needed to begin with. Or is it? 

Sound a little dizzying? That’s the type of viewpoint and perception that Whitney has when it comes to her love life. She’s all over the place. I get the feeling that she has a tough time finding her happily ever after because she wants the type of storyline she creates within her imagination. To find that perfect man that doesn’t exist in the real world. The only person who would ever come close is her best friend and roommate, Andy–but when she finally figures out that she could see a happily ever after with him, he’s found that scenario with someone else. 

Jake is a sexy cowboy that Whitney could see as perfect potential, but she doesn’t know him, other than how quick he’d been to save her from an unfortunate experience in a water fountain. (It was a cute and unique way to have the two characters meet each other for the first time.) Whitney’s best friend (and agent) JJ comes up with a clever plan for Whitney to get what she wants, creating a path to a successful romcom writing career, while Jake can get what he wants, which is buying a country estate–but in order for everyone to pull off the plan, Whitney and Jake have to pretend to be an engaged couple.

This could backfire, or it could go in Whitney’s favor, depending on what it might mean for Andy and his own personal feelings towards Whitney. There are moments of obvious jealousy, and there are moments of confusion when trying to decide if Andy’s fiance is really who she claims to be, or if there is some shrouded secret that surrounds that situation. During Whitney’s trial and error experiences, she ultimately discovers what she wants and needs, not based on outside influences, and the way she discovers that is a lot of fun to witness and see. It was also nice to recognize that there is no perfect person, only a perfect person for the individual seeking love. But Whitney has to decide what that means and who that might be for her, whether it’s Andy, Jake, someone else, or no one else. Wed or Alive was light-hearted and sweet, an easy-breezy five-star experience! 

Thanks to Rachel's Random Resources for the book in exchange for an honest review.

Purchase Links:
Amazon US * Amazon UK

Portia MacIntosh is the multi-million copy bestselling author of over 40 romantic comedy novels. Whether it’s southern Italy or the French alps, Portia’s stories are the holiday you’re craving, conveniently packed in between the pages. Formerly a journalist, Portia lives with her husband and her dog in Yorkshire.

Visit Portia online:
Website * Facebook * Instagram

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Checked out (in the best way) with Janet Skeslien Charles...plus a book giveaway

We're pleased to have Janet Skeslien Charles back at CLC to talk about her experience working at the American Library in Paris, which inspired her latest novel, The Parisian Chapter, which will be available next week. Melissa had a lot of good things to say about this novel, which you can read about in her review. Janet has one print copy and one audiobook to give away!

Janet Skeslien Charles is the New York Times, USA Today, and #1 international bestselling author of The Paris Library, Moonlight in Odessa, Miss Morgan's Book Brigade (called The Librarians of Rue de Picardie in the UK and Commonwealth). Her essays and short stories have appeared in the Chicago Tribune, The Sydney Morning Herald, and the anthology Montana Noir. Her work has been translated into 40 languages. 

Janet was born and raised in Montana. After graduating from the University of Montana, she got a job teaching English in Ukraine. She later went to France intending to teach for a year, and has been there ever since. Place is at the heart of every story she has ever written. She loves traveling, spending time with friends and family, and researching stories of forgotten people and places.  (Bio courtesy of Janet's website.)

Visit Janet online:
Website * Facebook * Instagram

Synopsis:

Paris, 1995: It’s been five years since Lily Jacobsen and her best friend Mary Louise arrived in Paris from their small town of Froid, Montana. Determined to establish themselves as artists, they shared a tiny walkup and survived on brie and baguettes. But when Mary Louise abruptly moves out, Lily feels alone in the city of light for the first time and needs a new way to support herself. She lands a job as a programs manager at the American Library in Paris, following in the footsteps of Odile, her beloved French neighbor in Montana who told her stories of heroic World War II librarians when Lily was growing up.

At work, Lily meets an extraordinary cast of characters—including her favorite writer, struggling students, haughty trustees, and devoted volunteers—each with their own stories...and agendas. In the library’s attic, Lily discovers a box of archives that may be a link to Odile’s own Parisian chapter.

This “stirring and rich with detail” (Kristin Harmel, New York Times bestselling author) story is a love letter to the power of literature, the life of the artist, the importance of friendship, and leaving home only to find it again. (Courtesy of Amazon.)

"In The Parisian Chapter, Janet Skeslien Charles blends humor, heartbreak, and the magic of books into a beautifully layered narrative centered around the American Library in Paris."
 - @bookscoffeebrews

"I enjoyed every minute of Lily’s coming of age, which is a story of friendship, growing up, and the importance of forgiveness." 
- M DeFord (Amazon)

Hello, I’m thrilled to be back at Chick Lit Central with my fourth book, The Parisian Chapter. Many thanks to Melissa for her support over these last fifteen years! I love her description of my novel, “The Devil Wears Prada set in a library.”

I started writing the book in 2010, when I worked as the programs manager at the American Library in Paris. It was a dream job – working with books and authors, scheduling and planning evening events, sharing my love of the written words with longtime patrons and people just passing through. Still, there were difficult moment. One evening, after an event, audience members said goodbye and went home. As usual, I was the last person to leave. Or so I thought. Instead, I found myself alone in a darkened three-story building with a belligerent patron twice my size. When asked, then told to leave, he refused. It was a scary moment.

In my life, I’ve worked many jobs, from hotel maid to waiting tables to cooking in the University of Montana cafeteria. And yet I’ve never been talked down to as I was at the library. Patrons and staff were far from family in the States. Some booklovers were homesick and short-tempered, others were lost and didn’t know where to turn. My level-headed coworker kept a box of tissues on her desk because people sometimes burst into tears. In one case, Kate, an American volunteer, was thrilled because her French boyfriend had proposed. Over Sunday lunch, when the newly engaged couple shared the news with his parents, maman and papa convinced their son that marriage to a foreigner was a terrible idea. Kate dried her tears, ditched her fiancé, and continued her studies. I’m glad that she had the library, a place she could share her pain and confusion. 

In my novel, I wanted to show people like Kate, and what the library meant to each one. I hoped to capture happy memories as well as challenging moments that forced growth. Told from different points of view, the novel underlines the relationship each character has with the library. For David, a volunteer, the library is home; for Tolstoy, a soldier with PTSD, it is a second chance; for Lily, the library is a trampoline that jumpstarts her career. And because novels need friction, there are a few disgruntled characters. The head librarian has started to loath people - to him the library is a battlefield. To the director, the job is constant stress, ranging from problem patrons to busted water pipes. Depending on the POV, the library is a source of frustration, dread, hope, or joy.

It is here that you see my Montana roots. The form of The Parisian Chapter is a wagon wheel. The main character Lily Jacobsen is the hub. The other narrators are radiating spokes that connect to the tire. The wheel is endangered when several spokes break. Like a wagon wheel, the library is reinforced by the patrons and staff. And of course, these spokes speak to our experiences.

One of my favorite spokes is the character Felicity, a trailing spouse. She visits the library to check out books for her teen daughter, Ellen. At the scent of the stacks, she is hit by nostalgia, not only when she used to take Ellen to story hour, but to when her own mother used to take her to the library as a child. I love these beautiful echoes in life. 

The Parisian Chapter is an ode to libraries and to life. I hope that you will check it out!

Thanks to Janet for visiting with us and sharing her book with our readers.

How to win: Use KingSumo to enter the giveaway. If you have trouble using KingSumo on our blog, enter the giveaway here. If you are still having issues, please contact us.

Giveaway ends May 5th at midnight EST.

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Book Review: The Last Sunday in May

By Jami Denison

Every February, my city of St. Petersburg hosts a Grand Prix race in the middle of downtown. Streets are closed, traffic diverted, tourists swarm. For the entire weekend, the noise from the cars dominates the outdoors, and even in the house it sounds like a giant swarm of bees about to attack. Needless to say, I’m not a fan of racing.

But I am a fan of trailblazing women, so Kate Clark Stone’s debut novel about a woman trying to make the Indy 500 sounded appealing. And it is. Even if your idea of racing is passing Grandma in the righthand lane on I-95, The Last Sunday in May has much more to offer than just fast cars. 

Ten years ago, MacKenzie “Mack” Williams, daughter of racing legend Wes Williams, had a ticket to qualify for the Indy 500. But instead, the 20-year-old passed another kind of test—a pregnancy test. Soon after Mack gave birth to her daughter Shaw, her father suffered a traumatic brain injury in a racing accident. Ever since, her life has been about raising Shaw, taking care of her recovering father, and running their small racetrack in rural Indiana. Then one night, racing legend Janet Joyner shows up on Mack’s doorstep. She wants Mack to join her team and race for her at the Indy 500. All she needs to do is line up a million dollars in sponsorships and race fast enough to qualify—even though Mack hasn’t raced in 10 years. Piece of cake, right?

It’s a dream come true… but who is going to watch Shaw? Run the racetrack? Take care of Dad? Surprisingly, her father’s girlfriend Billie steps up—even though Mack had her pegged as flighty and flirty. And Mack’s distant older half-sister Laurie, who lives in Indianapolis but left Mack in the lurch when she had a colicky infant and a sick father, offers a place to stay and a cheering squad. Even star driver Leo Raisman believes Mack can make the cut, despite their attraction that could complicate everything. In fact, it seems the only person who doesn’t believe in Mack is Mack herself.

Stone’s love for and knowledge of racing is evident on every page. The reader is immersed in the sights, sounds, and smell of the track, and even in the driver’s seat with Mack. She filters everything through Mack’s point-of-view, so the narrative never feels like a lecture.

The Last Sunday in May is about much more than a race. Mack might be only thirty, but she asks herself a question that people of all ages routinely ask: Am I too old to chase my dreams? And for women, especially: Is it fair to chase my dreams when people at home are depending on me? Mack not only has to re-learn how to drive a race car. She also needs to learn to trust other people: the engineers building her car. Billie, who’s changing her father’s lifestyle. Leo and her other teammates, who root for her even though she could take one of their spots. It’s a hard ask for a woman who’s used to doing everything on her own. Sometimes Stone gets a little heavy handed with the subtext, as Mack is in her head a lot.

I had a few quibbles with the plot. I wished Mack had done something on the page to earn Janet’s attention; instead, the woman swoops in like a fairy godmother. Leo seemed too good to be true to me, and I didn’t need a romance on top of everything else. And Shaw’s father, a bad boy motorcycle racer, was a one-note villain. 

However, this book delivers because it’s so optimistic. It tells readers to go after their dreams. It tells them to trust that the people in their life will be there to help them out. It says to go ahead and make mistakes, because the universe offers second chances. 

Stone ends the book before the story is over, which preserves its fairy-tale feeling. I would have appreciated an epilogue, but perhaps she’s planning a sequel. 

I’m still not a racing fan, but I’m definitely a fan of Kate Clark Stone. I look forward to her next project.   

Thanks to Kaye Publicity for the book in exchange for an honest review.

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