I am happy to say that today is my day for the Blog Blitz for this delightful read by Dee MacDonald.
Buy Links:
Amazon
iBookstore
Kobo
Googleplay
One morning, Connie McColl wakes up and decides to swap her ordinary life, for an extraordinary adventure…
Connie McColl is finally free to make her own decisions for the first time in decades. And when she meets glamorous Gill and downtrodden Maggie, at a rather dull flower arranging class, it seems that she’s not the only one dreaming of adventure. The three very different women all agree it’s about time they had a holiday to remember.
So they make a pact for this summer to be their best yet - and drive off into the sunset together…
As they meander their way along the beautiful beaches of France and onto the glorious delights of Italy in their luxury campervan, the new friends have plenty of fun and frolics in the sunshine. But the vacation isn’t quite what they expected…
Gill will do anything to have one last holiday romance, Connie has a surprise inheritance awaiting her in Italy, and Maggie has a secret that is going to catch up with them all…
In the end, all three women discover that the journey they thought would be their last really is just the beginning…
From the bestselling author of The Runaway Wife, The Getaway Girls is a laugh-out-loud, life-affirming journey of friendship, romance and living life to the full. If you loved The Kicking the Bucket List and The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry this book is for you.
About the author:
The Runaway Wife is Dee’s first (published) novel but in fact she wrote her very first book - at around seven years of age! This was a love story which she duly illustrated before sewing all the pages together up one side. Writing was what she ‘was good at’ in school and she won several essay competitions, but then life got in the way and she didn’t pick up a pen again until after retirement.
Dee left Scotland and headed for London at the beginning of the swinging sixties. After typing her way round the West End she became an air stewardess on long haul routes with BA (then BOAC) for eight years. After that she did market research at Heathrow for both the government statistics and for BA, she became a sales rep., and was the receptionist at the Thames Television Studios in Teddington when they had the franchise.
She then ran a small B&B for ten years in Cornwall, where she lives with her husband. Dee has one son and two grandsons who live locally.
Her second book, The Getaway Girls, will be published in August.
You can find Dee on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/dee.macdonald.18659
and on Twitter at https://twitter.com/DMacDonaldAuth
MY REVIEW:
My rating: 4 Stars
Readers of Dee MacDonald's Runaway Wife met Connie McColl and the new adventures she added to her life. Well, it is about time for more change and her ordinary life is about to become extraordinary. Previously, she divorced her husband of forty-one years. Lately, Connie has been giving flower-arrangement lessons and, quite truthfully, was becoming quite bored. As it seems, Connie has discovered "The Box", a box which contains proof of Connie's past. Having been adopted at age five, she is more than intrigued.
To identify the contents of The Box, Connie will have to leave her comfortable home in England and travel to Italy, especially if she wants to find out about her past. She hatches an ingenious idea - she will buy a caravan and make the trek that way. The thing is, she and her family know she could never make the trip alone. After spending time with two ladies there were in her flower-arranging class, Gill and Maggie, a true plan is hatched. Although their friendship is still rather new. the three ladies decide to travel together.
While I wasn't too sure what to think of three nearly septuagenarians on a road trip, by the earliest chapters, I was happily along for the ride. Not only was the adventure exciting for the ladies, but for me the reader as well. Things are not simply smooth sailing. Connie needs to know what is in store for her, Gill is seeking the love of her life and Maggie has a secret, something that could derail all of their plans. The story had an element of mystery and danger as Maggie just barely stayed one step away from her ex.
I enjoyed reading The Getaway Girls. It is great fun, has excellent pacing, and was easily read in just a few hours. I so enjoy a story that can make me laugh out loud and this book certainly did just that. It also had quite an enjoyable romance story and, in all, is tender and truly sweet with a fun conclusion. I look forward to reading even more from Dee MacDonald, and it may seem like I am going backwards, but I am putting the previous title, The Runaway Wife, on my TBR list.
Many thanks to Bookouture and to NetGalley for this ARC to review in exchange for my honest opinion.