CBR18 Book 29: "Dolly All the Time" by Annabel Monaghan

Page count: 368 pages

Rating: 4.5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons for this ARC. My opinions are my own. This book will be out on May 26th. 

Dolly Brick is a problem solver and has spent most of her life taking care of her family. When her mother left Dolly, her father and her siblings when Dolly was far too young to have to deal with it, she nevertheless ended up basically mothering her younger sister and mentally disabled younger brother. Now she's a 39-year-old single mother (the baby daddy gave her money to "take care of it", she took the money and bought a crib) with a teenage son, Gus. They mostly live in Boston, where Dolly is a kindergarten teacher (she also has two other part-time jobs), but return to her home town of Whitfield, Rhode Island, every few months so Dolly can take care of odds and ends around the house for her dad and brother. After the house catches fire (thankfully not too disastrous) one night, Dolly and Gus have to abandon their other summer plans to return to Whitfield and deal with the damage.

Dolly's father is extremely risk-averse, after spending much of his life paying off the debts of a business expansion that went wrong. He's finally more or less debt-free when the fire department informs them that the roof of the house is very close to falling apart, and the house will have to be condemned if the roof isn't replaced in its entirety. Dolly's already working three jobs (and helping out at her father's fish shop over the summer) - she's not going to find 50 000 dollars just lying around. 

Thankfully, a possible solution presents itself to Dolly after having helped Stewart Whitfield, the eldest son of the wealthy family the town is literally named after. She helps him change a flat tyre (because rich guys never know how to do anything practical), while he confesses his fiancée has been photographed canoodling with a baseball player. A few days later, it turns out Dolly and Stewart were photographed together, and the tabloids are speculating about her being his new love interest. Apparently, Stewart's family and the board of directors of the family company, who are looking to appoint a new CEO when Stewart's father is retiring at the end of the summer, all think that Stewart is a boring workaholic who doesn't have any kind of life outside of the company. He needs to seem like he's a well-rounded individual with some actual non-work interests, and having a girlfriend would help with that. So Stewart is willing to pay Dolly to be his girlfriend for the summer. Dolly can get the money to save her family home and establish a bit of a financial cushion, while Stewart gets to pretend he's not a total failure in the romance department because his fiancée cheated on him. 

While they begin with carefully arranged public dates, Dolly and Stewart are soon spending way more time together than their contract requires. While Stewart had trouble taking time out to spend with his former fiancée, he seems to happily take any chance to hang out with Dolly (and occasionally her entire family). Dolly knows that the relationship isn't real, and that it has an expiration date at the end of the summer, but is also shocked to realise how lovely it is to have someone who seems focused on what SHE wants and does his best to take care of her. She tries so very hard not to fall for Stewart, but may have finally found an impossible challenge.

Last summer, I got an ARC of Annabel Monaghan's It's a Love Story, and since it was perfectly fine (if not all that memorable), I requested an ARC for this when I saw it on NetGalley. It's basically a more realistic take on Pretty Woman, except Dolly Brick is a penniless single mother, rather than a leggy L.A call girl. While the start is a bit slow, it didn't take me long to be utterly charmed by Dolly and her family. The book is both romantic and funny, and a lot of the humour is at the expense of the tremendously wealthy, like the Whitfields (who to be fair, seem mostly very nice for super rich people). 

Dolly has had a hard life, while Stewart's has been one of immense privilege. Despite this, Dolly's mental health is a lot better than Stewart's, and her family are a lot more honest with one another about what troubles them. The exception is Dolly's younger sister, who keeps trying to help out but is often pushed away by Dolly. The sister (whose name I don't remember) correctly feels like Dolly carries resentment for having a lot of her adolescence ruined because she needed to step into their mother's role and still feels like she needs to shelter her sister. Stewart is a perfectionist, with occasionally crippling anxiety, and very few members of his family realise that he, every so often, suffers from panic attacks. Stewart is very aware of his family's legacy, and he desperately wants to do a perfect job and continue that legacy for a new generation. While he has a therapist, he hides his difficulties from his family.

While we encounter both Dolly and Stewart's families over the course of the book, Dolly's family are much more present as supporting characters. Dolly seems to form a genuine friendship with Stewart's sister, though, and towards the end of the book, she also forms a very nice bond with Stewart's mother, who is a paediatrician. 

Sadly, it is still the case with most romances that there has to be a third-act complication, and I was rather unhappy with the way Stewart behaved during this part. Thankfully, he comes to his senses and realises what an utter idiot he has been, eventually, and grovels most satisfactorily. 

This book was a funny, light-hearted, very romantic read. It was almost a five-star read (you know what you did, Stewart!). I'm very happy I asked for this ARC, and will absolutely be reading more of Monaghan's books in the future. 

Judging a book by its cover: The cover manages to be fairly specific (Dolly with her snazzy bob on board Stewart's sailboat), while also being rather vague. You can't really see any clear facial features on either person on the cover, but it nevertheless gives you a look into one scene of the book. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

#CBR6 Book 82: "Finding Colin Firth" by Mia March

Page count: 385 pages
Rating: 3 stars

Veronica Russo lives in Boothbay Harbour in Maine. She's a waitress at the local diner and also makes insanely delicious pies, that are very popular among the people in town. She even has pie-making classes. When she was sixteen, she got pregnant and had to give her baby up for adoption. She still feels as if some of the people she grew up with judge her for this, but is trying to get on with her life. She can't help but think about the baby girl she gave up, though, and hopes that some day the child may contact her.

Bea Crane is baby she gave up, but had no idea that she was adopted until a few weeks ago. A year after the death of her (adoptive) mother, she gets a letter that explains the truth about her origins. Bea is stunned. Recently graduated from college, and not all that happy with her life, she decides to take a chance, go to Boothbay Harbour and meet her biological mother.

Gemma Hendricks returns to Boothbay Harbour to visit old friends and to desperately try to decide what she wants to do with her future. She's an unemployed journalist, who's just discovered she is pregnant. While she's been happy living in New York City, her husband hates it and wants them to move to the little town where his parents ad siblings live. When she tells him about the baby, he's going to have even more ammunition for his plan to move them away from the city. While in Boothbay, she gets a temporary job writing a feature article about the young mother's home in town, where young girls who find themselves pregnant can find a safe haven until their babies are delivered.

All three women are united in their love of Colin Firth (because what woman in her right mind doesn't love the man and his varied film career), who coincidentally is coming to the town to film a movie. Veronica gets a job as an extra on the film set. Bea gets a date with one of the executive producers and Gemma hopes to be able to write a scoop about the film and perhaps get her career kick-started again.

Finding Colin Firth is not the best book to read when you're on a diet, trying to give up sugar and simple carbs. There are a LOT of descriptions of pies in it, because Veronica makes delectable and very popular ones. It probably also helps if you have at least a vague fondness for the actor Colin Firth and the many films he's done in his career, and over the course of the book, the main and supporting characters watch, think about or discuss a huge amount of the films he's been in. Strangely, the book didn't really make me want to watch anything with Colin Firth in it, but rather made me want to re-watch Waitress, the very sweet and underrated film with Keri Russell as a pie making diner waitress.

It's a nice, but not exactly mind-blowing book. All the characters seem nice, and I don't think I'd mind spending time with them if they were real. The book obviously deals with family, motherhood, identity, regret, doubts and insecurities. Boothbay seems like a pretty nice place to live, very picturesque. There are some romantic elements present in the book, but the most important relationships in the book are between women. I really wish I could allow myself to make and eat pies, but that would very much ruin my diet.