The Alphabet Challenge: G

 The "G" Books


For the G books, I managed to pick two fun, summer reads.

Book One: Mad Dash by Patricia Gaffney

Dash and her husband, Andrew, return home and find a puppy huddled on their front porch. Dash wants to keep it. Her husband doesn't. He's allergic to dogs, despite having an aging dog. A fight over a puppy doesn't seem like a good reason to leave your husband of twenty years, but the spat over the puppy is one of many things that have been building up over the years. 

Dash is tired of the endless faculty parties at the college where Andrew teaches. He wears the same old, tired ensemble every time. He won't try anything new. And then there is his constant fretting over illnesses he doesn't have. Why can't he see that with their daughter off to college and her mother gone, Dash needs something more? Why doesn't he get it?

With the puppy in tow, Dash storms off to their cabin in the woods to start over. She can finally do what she wants to do...if she can figure out what she wants to do. 

Dash is a wonderful, fun, eccentric character. The story was delightful. It was a fast-paced read. 

If you're looking for a fun, light summer read, I highly recommend this one. It deserves to be read while you sit by the pool, sipping a cool drink and delighting in the madcap adventures of a woman discovering love and life.

*****

Book two: The Woman Who Ran Away from Everything by  Fiona Gibson.

Somehow, I managed to pick two books about women going through a mid-life crisis who leave their husbands and rediscover themselves. 

Kate is sick of being taken for granted by her comedian husband, Vince. They had a nice life in London with friends she could hang out with, and then he up and moved them to his hometown. Now she feels like an outcast, like she doesn't fit in, and does Vince care? No, he expects Kate to wait on him hand and foot while he entertains his old chums.

After Kate returns home from work and finds an impromptu party that Vince once again expects her to take care of, she snaps, crawls out the bathroom window, and leaves. She ends up at Euston train station, where a chance encounter with a woman who thinks Kate is the Kate she has hired to restore her family's garden. They end up in a charming town in Scotland. Kate learns how to spruce up the grounds, makes friends with the locals, meets a charming bookstore owner, and rediscovers herself. 

Everything is magical until her husband shows up. Will she return to her old life or stay with the new?

This was a delightful read. I loved how Kate rediscovered herself. If you're traveling or looking for something fun to take you away from the day-to-day moments of life, check this book out. 

*****





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