An unlikely friendship between a septuagenarian and a younger woman becomes a story of broken trust, lost love, and the unexpected blooming of hope against the longest odds.
'You trying to kill yourself, or are you just stupid?'
Marcie Malone didn't think she was either, but when she drives from Georgia to the southwestern shore of Florida without a plan and wakes up in a stranger's home, she doesn't seem to know anymore. Despondent and heartbroken over an unexpected loss and the man she thought she could count on, Marcie leaves him behind, along with her job and her whole life, and finds she has nowhere to go.
Herman Flint has seen just about everything in his seventy years living in a fading, blue-collar Florida town, but the body collapsed on the beach outside his window is something new. The woman is clearly in some kind of trouble and Flint wants no part of it-he's learned to live on his own just fine, without the hassle of worrying about others. But against his better judgment he takes Marcie in and lets her stay until she's on her feet on the condition she keeps out of his way.
As the unlikely pair slowly copes with the damage life has wrought, Marcie and Flint have to decide whether to face up to the past they've each been running from, and find a way to move forward with the people they care about most.
A heartfelt story about family, forgiveness, and starting over when the happy ending ends-and handling it all with a little bit of grace.
Family is everything-Grace Adams McHale's mom must have said it to her a thousand times before she died. Before Grace's dad ran off with an aspiring actress half his age. Before only-child Grace found out she was unable to have children of her own. Before Brian-her childhood best friend, business partner, and finally her husband-dropped a 'bombshell' on her in the form of her stunning new replacement.
Which means Grace now has...nothing.
Until she receives a letter from a woman claiming to be a relative Grace never knew she had, sending her on a journey from the childhood home she had to move back into, to a Florida island to meet a total stranger who embraces her as family. There, Grace starts to uncover answers about the eccentric woman her family never mentioned: a larger-than-life octogenarian who is the keeper of a secret held for more than fifty years, and the ultimate inspiration to always be true to yourself. As Grace gets to know this woman and picks up the pieces of her own shattered life, she is forced to question whether she can find forgiveness for the unforgivable.
Brook Ogden's counseling practice as the Breakup Doctor is so busy that she's expanded to offer group sessions. Her radio show and advice column have made her a local celebrity, and even her personal life, after some gruesome breakups of her own, is in recovery: Ben Garrett started out as a revenge date against an ex, but has turned into so much more. But when sizzling-hot Chip Santana, an old client she once shared a rather unprofessional midnight roll in the sand with, comes back into her life asking for her help, Brook can't say no. Yet while she's busy stitching up his relationship troubles, Chip reveals much more than a therapeutic interest in her. In the standoff between her heart and her hormones, Brook's cool, collected Wise Therapist persona begins to crack like thrown wedding china. She's yelling at recalcitrant cheating husbands, offering crazy advice to radio callers, and even hugging her clients. When the situation goes critical, Brook's forced into a decision she isn't ready to make, and the Breakup Doctor has to decide what kind of casualties she's willing to accept.Contains mature themes.
Call Brook Ogden a matchmaker-in-reverse. Let others bring people together; Brook, licensed mental health counselor, picks up the pieces after things come apart. When her own therapy practice collapses, she lands on her feet with a weekly advice-to-the-lovelorn column and a successful consulting service as the Breakup Doctor. But when her own relationship suddenly crumbles, Brook finds herself engaging in almost every bad breakup behavior she preaches against. And worse, she starts a rebound relationship with the most inappropriate of men: a dangerously sexy bartender with anger-management issues, who also happens to be a former patient. As her increasingly out-of-control behavior lands her at rock-bottom, Brook realizes that you can't always handle a messy breakup neatly, and that sometimes you can't pull yourself together until you let yourself fall apart.Contains mature themes.
