Darcy Comes First
(for a change):
Love is a Beach
by Lilliana Anderson
Darcy is expecting a celebration. Or at least a nice piece of cake. Instead, she's served with divorce papers. Oh, and she's broke.
With her twenty-year union over and two children to support, she moves in with her eccentric grandmother, hoping to find peace and quiet in the seaside town of Bayside.
What she isn’t expecting to find is a set of saggy old man balls upon arrival.
Needing to bleach her eyes, calm her screaming teen daughter and stop her eight-year-old son from filming the chaos to upload, Darcy is already reconsidering the sanity in her decision. Turns out, Nana is quite the player in the retirement circle.
She also fancies herself a bit of a matchmaker.
Deciding local football legend, Leo Murphy will provide the ultimate distraction for Darcy, Nana enlists the help of her trouble-loving great-grandson with somewhat disastrous results. Leo doesn't know what hit him. Literally.
With a great smile and a body to die for, it isn’t hard to convince Darcy to give Leo a chance. It also helps that he has a lot of patience for one particularly rambunctious young boy and can’t run too fast on his busted knee—a captive audience is easily swayed, after all.
But with a teenager in the midst of a meltdown, a heart cracked and bruised, and a son who keeps her on her toes, even a chance could prove too much for Darcy. Luckily Leo isn’t the kind of man who gives up easily.
My Rating:
“I didn’t even know you could milk rice,” Archer says, his face scrunched up in thought while he mixes the fruit and porridge. “Do they even have titties?”
“I hope I never meet her.” “Oh, you will. Just keep an eye out for the flying monkeys, they’ll herald her arrival.”
I’m straight-up regular past-my-prime kinda pretty.
“Betsy is making espresso martinis as a test for our next craft club.” “Haven’t you two had enough to drink today?” “We’re so old, we need the alcohol to preserve our organs.”
I try not to spend too much time on one man, dear. They get too comfortable and next thing you know, you’re washing their underwear and vacuuming under their feet.
“We could go riding together. Start a gang.” She grins, her eyes dancing as she meets mine. The visual has me smiling. “And what would your gang be called?” She thinks for a moment, her lips working together as her eyes narrow. “The Bayside Biddies. We could get T-shirts.”
My Review:
This book had a bit of everything, humor, tons of family drama, angst, betrayal, vile villains, diabolical exes, feisty senior citizens, obnoxious teens, and a steamy romance with a delicious and swoon-worthy sex god. This was a well-balanced read between heavy and relevant family issues and humorous situations, with several active and eventful storylines and a large cast of unique and intriguing characters.
Darcy thought learning her husband was in remission would be a happy day for them, until he informed he was over being married and a father before they even left the parking lot. She was all the d’s - dumbfounded, devastated, decimated, and unknowingly debt-ridden; as he was long gone before evidence surfaced of his defaulted loans and their cleaned out bank accounts, which left her holding the bag for a massive amount of debt and no home, assets, or means to pay them or meaningful skills to support her children.
Yikes! An abandoned, betrayed, and broke forty-year-old housewife doesn’t sound like the basis for a humorous novel, but fear not, this entertaining tale contained a considerable amount of highly amusing and provocative levity; which was primarily provided by Darcy’s disarmingly endearing and vibrant grandmother and her little gang of cocktail swigging octogenarians and their drunken craft gatherings/coven meetings/tarot readings/and busybody meddling. Nana and the Biddies were a source of constant amusement, and I enjoyed each and every one of their contributions.
I gleaned a few unfamiliar gems for my Aussie Word List with spruiker – which was defined by Mr. Google as “someone who tries to persuade people to buy something, use a service, etc often in a dishonest or exaggerated way” which is what I would call a huckster; ropable- angry; and gumnuts - the hard woody fruit of Eucalyptus trees, which in the story a little boy was using in his slingshot.
About The Author
Bestselling Author of the Beautiful Series, Drawn and 47 Things, Lilliana has always loved to read and write, considering it the best form of escapism that the world has to offer.
Bestselling Author of the Beautiful Series, Drawn and 47 Things, Lilliana has always loved to read and write, considering it the best form of escapism that the world has to offer.
Australian born and bred, she writes New Adult Romance revolving around her authentically Aussie characters with all the quirks you’d expect from those born Down Under.
Lilliana feels that the world should see Australia for more than just it's outback and tries to show characters in a city and suburban setting.
When she isn't writing, she wears the hat of 'wife and mother' to her husband and five children.
Before Lilliana turned to writing, she worked in a variety of industries and studied humanities and communications before transferring to commerce/law at university.
Originally from Sydney's Western suburbs, she currently lives a fairly quiet life in suburban Melbourne.
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