Rating: 3 Stars

Format: Ebook, Audiobook

Genre: Fiction, Contemporary Fiction

There is something so lovely about a book that follows a woman who, after her husband dies, finds a renewed purpose and passion. Stories following older women whose lives do not revolve around serving their husbands and families feel rare, so this was refreshing to see.

While I liked Venetia I felt disconnected from her for most of the book. We get flashbacks sprinkled in and more explicitly character history towards the end, but for the first 50% of the book I didn’t understand why she seemed so indifferent to Hawk’s death. And, even with the very late context given, I didn’t feel satisfied by her character arc. I was definitely more interested in Liberty and Kite as characters. They both had clearer motivations and more personality and life to them.

This was very low stakes and cozy, occasionally leaning into mundane. It’s the kind of book that my grandmother would love. Not bad at all if you’re looking for a palette cleanser.