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Blix Holliday has lived a full, incredible life, and now in her 80s she’s at the end: She has a tumor that’s quickly taking her toward death. And she’s made her peace with it, mostly. She is spending time with her beloved friends and longtime love and living as she sees fit (which she’s pretty much done most of her life, anyway). One of the biggest blessings the universe has brought her at this late stage is Marnie MacGraw, who is engaged to her great-nephew. When Blix meets Marnie, she sees herself in her instantly and encourages the young woman to embrace all the possibilities of what will surely be a great big life.
But Marnie just wants to have a nice conventional life: settle down, enjoy a quiet and happy existence with her husband and future kids. Blix thinks otherwise, and she tells Marnie she has so many gifts to share and so much she can do and experience, that she’s a free spirit. They both have a talent for matchmaking, for example, just seeing people and somehow knowing they would go together perfectly.
Marnie goes about her plans, however, despite Blix’s opinions about a different future for her, and they come crashing down spectacularly painfully when her fiancé balks the day of the wedding but goes through with it and then divorces her two weeks afterward. She doesn’t know what to do with herself. But she works toward that conventional future again, a house and family near her parents and sister in Florida, and just as she’s starting to see it come to pass, Blix dies and leaves Marnie her brownstone in Brooklyn — with the stipulation that she must live there for three months before she can consider selling it.
Blix still has plans for Marnie, even though she’s gone. And she knows Marnie can step into her shoes and be the one to continue working on her plans for everyone else she cares about. Marnie resists and resists, but Brooklyn, and the house, and the people, do grow on her. Eventually, she’ll have to decide which life she truly is meant for and whether she wants it.
I just fell in love with this book, with its characters, with its messages. I think it was just what I needed when I chose among a number of books that have piled up on my Kindle. I read much of it in one long evening, and it was perfect. It’s not unique: older quirky lady befriends younger one, puts her into a situation that will end up making her happier, find true love, etc. But Maddie Dawson makes it so delightful, so sweet and true, that it’s irresistible. I laughed at the wry text exchanges Marnie has with a tenant in the brownstone basement because they were just so fun and clever. I loved Blix and all of her wisdom (some could lean toward cliché New Age-y maxims, but they still rang true anyway) and her determination to make people happier because she just knew they could be, and she had a gift for helping them see it.
Dawson’s touch with the “pen” is light and deft and I enjoyed her way with words, her fun metaphors and style. I laughed, I dabbed at my eyes a bit. Sweet and lovely book. Only drawback: 20 or so f-words. Why? They were just so unnecessary.
Rated: High. There are roughly 20 uses of strong language and just occasional uses of milder language. Sexual content has references of adultery and the few sex scenes are very brief with few details.
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