One Piece – …on the B.L.

Worth A Read Yes and No
Length 304
Quick Review A predictable love story about a widow and a pro baseball player beginning again.

Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes | Swimsuit | Sunglasses

Evvie Drake has lived in small town Maine all her life. She’s married to the beloved doctor. Her porch is the prettiest in town. As she packs her bags to leave him and her life behind, he dies. There are pages one through four. Evvie is forced to figure out what to do next because it’s impossible to leave a dead husband. Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes is a sad and funny look into the after.

The plot is subpar and not interesting in any way. It’s about as trite and saccharine as a love story can be. Every single character and interaction is overdone and predictable. Nothing is a surprise. The sad girl who’s only ever been seen by one man and is the pity of the town even though the dead husband was *gasp* abusive is finally seen as sexy and alluring in her sweaters by a famous ex-baseball player who is going through his own struggle because he can’t pitch anymore *oh no!!!*. They flirt, boink, go their separate ways because misunderstanding, throw in a dog and some great scenery, cut to the last ten pages, and you know the ending.

The only redeeming factor to the Evvie Drake Starts Over is Holmes’ dialogue. Though the plot is crap, the dialogue and humor pulled me through. As much as the characters are a bore, I do like them. They’re funny and witty and completely flawed. Evvie resonates with me because I too existential crisis “”lie on the floor in the middle of the night and contemplate my existence.”” Holmes paints the characters as if they are much older than their early thirties. I’m not even in my thirties and I love sweaters, but leading with those factoids makes Evvie seem old and matronly. Add in the widowhood, and I had to keep reminding myself she was basically my age. The conversations between characters is funny in the way I like to think I am with my friends:
Evvie: “”Everything okay?””
Dean: “”Yeah, yeah, sorry about the noise. Knocked a box off the counter. It’s never the box with the sheets in it, you know? It’s always whatever will make it sound the most like you tried to murder a robot by throwing it down a couple of flights of stairs.””

It’s super baseball themed because the love interest is a sports dude, ugh. The book is split into parts: Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer to Opening Day.

Honestly, the plot in Evvie Drake Starts Over makes me sad. The dialogue is funny and engaging. I was hoping this would be something more… I can’t tell you what, but I was hoping it would be a better version of a rom-com. Although, it is a great read for vacation. I powered through it in one day on the beach. Tough life, I know.

Memorable Quotes
“Evvie’s Scandinavian grandmother had claimed that young women dream about the husbands they want, old women dream about the husbands they wanted, and only the luckiest women, for a moment in the middle, dream about the husbands they’ve got.”
“She stretched out on the sofa, trying to ignore the do something, do something voice…”
“”Climate-change denial is flat-earth idiocy for people who want us all to drown.””

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Title: Evvie Drake Starts Over
Author: Linda Holmes
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Copyright: 2019
ISBN: 9780525619246

I’m smiling so hard because I’m sucking in a lot.

Tiptoes makes my legs look good. Posing so hard.

Playing in Galveston! | Bikini Bottoms | Bikini Top

It’s swimsuit season. Although, I live in Houston, so swimsuit season lasts ten and a half months. This summer is a little, lottle, less comfortable for me.

I’m self conscious. I didn’t wear bikinis much or at all until the summer before I went to college when I was 19. I was always a one piece girl. Partially because of my mom, and partially because that’s what is easiest to dive and jump and slide in.

I was a late bloomer. I didn’t really hit puberty until I was 17. I was also very active and genetically super thin. For a very long time, I was a ballerina and built like it. The majority of my life, I was teeny-weeny. Then, I hit puberty, grew boobs and a butt, and gained weight. The things that happen when a girl becomes a woman. From the time I was 18 to 25, my weight fluctuated a lot. I’ve never been heavy, but when you were a size zero for a decade, anything resembling curvy was rough to wrap my head around. Right before I turned 25, I went through a huge health crisis and almost died. It’s a long story. I ended up losing a decent amount of weight and stayed there for the last three years.

Over the last two months, I have been dealing with a lot of stress. I’m also in the midst of an anxiety induced existential crisis perpetuated by OCD. Kidding, kind of. When I’m stressed, I gain weight. A lot. And quickly. In the span of twelve days, I gained 18 pounds. Believe me, it’s possible. I’ve lost eight of those pounds, but I’m hovering ten pounds over where I’m comfortable. No matter what I do, I’m not dropping them. Ugh.

So it’s swimsuit season. I’m in the midst of an ongoing emotional roller coaster. I know I don’t look bad. I’m still on the thin side of normal for my giantess height status. I’m just not as comfortable with where I’m at in comparison to where I’ve been the last few years. I’m still going to wear swimsuits and bikinis because I’m not going to let ten pounds keep me from the cute suits I’ve spent good money on.

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Raise your arm. Suck in. Point your toes. Your waist looks thin!

Tag: One Piece

Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes

Swimsuit Season… Uncomfortable