Years ago, Mary Margaret Sullivan changed her name, boxed up her previous life, moved into the Eagle Gate Apartments, and hid her painful memories in her chicken-wire storage unit in the basement. But secrets have an inconvenient way of surfacing when least expected.Three weeks before Christmas, an elegant man in a penthouse, a young woman named Carly—homeless and ill with pneumonia—and two … two calculating thieves invade Maggie’s carefully reconstructed life, and in different ways, each is connected to Maggie’s difficult past. As Maggie and friends in her senior living community nurse Carly back to health, hearts begin to heal with a hope for the future. But all is not as it seems. When faced with the shocking truth, Maggie must rely on her wits, her friends, and her own strength as never before.
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Maggie’s Place is not Annette Haws first book, but it’s the first book of hers that I’ve read. This book isn’t your typical romance or mystery. At first look this book wasn’t enticing for me to pick up voluntarily. But since I had a goal to read all the fiction books published by Covenant Communications in the month they came out, I picked this book up to listen to. Though I started this book in the month it came out, I didn’t finish it until today. The Christmas season is too crazy for me to find time to read or in this case listen too books. I find my time working and coming home to watch Christmas movies.
Speaking of Christmas, this book takes place around Christmas time. But, I really wouldn’t label it a Christmas book. It is a story about how it is never too late to find love and forgiveness. Add in a runaway, the mysterious man in 8B, the cute security guard, a gaggle of nosey seniors, thugs, and dwelling on loss of a good friend, this book makes for an entertaining read.
Though it took me a while to finish this book, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it in the end. I recommend this book to those who wants something different to read for a change.
Such a lovely story. Gently written and so touching. Yet…don’t mess with the elderly! They’ve been through, and survived, the first two stages of life and they’re brighter than given credit. This is a story of enduring friendships and love of family all mixed up with secrets and some good and some bad people.
Youth, old age, romance, betrayal, friendship and family; all intertwined, all surprising. The characters are so lovable, I couldn’t put the book down because I had to discover what was going to happen to them.
I loved this book! The characters and places seemed so familiar. It was a very relatable book. I enjoyed the character Maggie and felt like I knew her. I loved walking around Salt Lake City with her. Carly was an endearing character who I was pulling for the whole time. I can’t wait until I get to read more books by Annette Haws.
Maggie’s Place was such a pleasant surprise. While the description caught my attention, I wasn’t sure what to expect from the author. I’m happy to say that Annette Haws really delivered with this novel.
Maggie is a senior citizen with limited means and a mysterious past. Life seems to have given her more than her fair share of lemons, and I found myself very invested to see if she would get a happy ending. I loved her friends, and felt so bad about her strained relationship with her children.
My emotions took quite the ride throughout the story. I literally laughed and cried and loved the themes of love, redemption, and forgiveness.
I highly recommend Maggie’s Place, and am looking forward to reading it again.
4.5 Stars
MAGGIE’S PLACE is part women’s fiction and part suspense. It’s a story of heartbreak, loss, and mistakes, but also friendship, forgiveness, and second chances. It’s full of charming, quirky, and sweet characters that readers will fall in love with, and how their lives connect in complex ways. Definitely recommended to women’s fiction and LDS fiction readers.
These characters! What a riot these ladies were!! I loved them all immensely! I also fell in love with Carly and Ed. I loved the motley crew these characters make and the way they interact with each other. Their lives have such a full history and they’re in the latter end, and yet they’re still learning and developing friendships. There were so many laugh-out-loud moments as well as sweet ones. Then there were moments that made me want to cry, that were heartbreaking. Add to that the suspense elements and the situation Carly finds herself in. It was the perfect balance of a slue of emotions and plot twists that kept this story entertaining and heartfelt from beginning to end.
Just a note about this book… I wasn’t sure, at first, if this was a general market release or a religious one. For those not members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, there aren’t any religious moments or preaching. The characters are members of the church and there are some cultural references, but nothing that those not members wouldn’t understand. It’s more of a background to the characters and the downtown setting of Salt Lake City, Utah.
In the end, was it what I wished for? I wasn’t sure what to expect when I picked this up, but I definitely enjoyed this story. It was engaging from the first to the last page, with lovable characters, and a story full of heart with plenty of intrigue. Highly recommended!
Content: Some violence and blunt references.
Source: I received a complimentary copy from the publisher, which did not require a positive review. All opinions are my own.
Maggie’s Place takes places during the holidays. It’s not the traditional holiday read, but I liked the message that it had for the holidays. The story reminded me of a modern day Oliver Twist and had several themes that it explored: homelessness, forgiveness, love, fraud, death and friendship. It’s interesting to see the lives of three strangers intersect and to see how they are connected. The secrets of their lives are connected make the story interesting and compelling to read. The only downside of the story is that Annette Haws gives a very vague description of some of the places in Salt Lake City and if a reader isn’t familiar with the area it might be hard for them to picture the setting. She also gives a light description of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the book and it seemed like if she was going to put it in she should have added more depth or left it out altogether. This is an interesting read and would be great for a discussion in a book club.
Please note that I received a free copy to review, however, this is my honest opinion.
”Maggies Place” is a story of secrets, deception, survival, courage, and forgiveness interwoven with a splash of humor when you least expect it.
I found myself anxious to speed read to find out how all the puzzle pieces fit together but made myself slow down so as not to miss any of the authors delightful description and dialogue.
This book took just a few chapters for me to get into. Once I did, however, I loved it. There are just so many great things about it.
One of my favorite things about it is the characters. This book has so many quirky, fun, characters. I loved all of them!
The main two characters that the reader gets to know are Maggie and Carly. They are connected, but neither of them realizes it for quite a while in the plot. Maggie is an old woman, living alone in an apartment building. Her life made me a bit sad. Her kids wanted nothing to do with her. And it was obvious that Maggie had a secret.
Carly’s life was sad too. Carly had run away from home. Now she lives in Salt Lake City, in an apartment with a bunch of people. Carly has become a thief as she was trying to learn to survive. But I loved how she grew up along the way, and a lot of that growing up was due to Maggie.
I loved the setting of this one. I lived in Salt Lake City, in the area this one takes place for about a year. All the talk of familiar places in this one made me smile.
If you’re looking for a great book, with great characters, plot and message, don’t hesitate to grab this one!
I was sent a copy of Maggie’s Place as a gift from the publisher. All opinions are my own.
This story alternated between Maggie, a woman in her 70s; and Carly a homeless teen in downtown Salt Lake City Utah and how their stories intertwine. Maggie lives in Eagle Gate Apartments where she and her friends get together to go walking, play games and help each other with day to day chores. Throughout the book, past parts of Maggie’s life with her kids Kristen and Henry are mentioned along with current events which help them work towards healing and forgiveness.
I found this book somewhat depressing-I was hoping for more of a lighthearted holiday story. The parts about SLC Utah with crime, schemes and homeless teens was very accurate, sad and unfortunately real life. The characters and story line were believable and likable, but the story just wasn’t for me.
I received a copy of this book complimentary for blog and social media review. All opinions are my own.
A great read for this time of year. Just the right amount of mystery and intrigue to keep you turning the pages. Plus a little romance as an added bonus. Haws keeps you laughing with her funny one liners.
This book really spoke to my heart and was more than I expected it to be. The writing is gentle yet captivating, and I had a sense of anticipation as secrets are revealed little by little, new relationships begin, and the suspense of impending danger hangs over everything. The story is mainly told from Maggie’s perspective and her great-niece Carly, a runaway who finds herself in over her head, with a few enlightening chapters from the point of view of Kristen, Maggie’s estranged daughter. The author skillfully shows the individuality and humanity of each of Maggie’s neighbors, and how they bring value to each other’s lives. I loved how Maggie’s closest friends supported her and helped her choose happiness after decades of heartbreak. (Some of their adventures remind me of my mom and her closest female friends who love to travel together and have sessions where they map out life goals and follow up with each other). The theme of friendship is strong, and is woven into Carly’s story with her loyalty to her friend Terry who endured with her the cruelty of being an outcast in school and at home and joined her on her misadventure, and her new friendship with Paolo, the diligent security guard of Eagle Gate. Most interesting to me was Kristen’s story, how she resented her long-suffering mother and the difficulties and trauma she and her brother endured in their youth. It briefly explored her bitterness and how it prevented healing over the years, even though she has a good life. I loved seeing the support of her husband and his wisdom in discerning what she needs. While the lives of the characters are realistically messy and flawed, there are moments of grace, memories of love, and hope for the future that prevent the hardships from bringing the tone of the book down. I appreciated the sensitivity of the author with the difficult themes of rejection, depression, loneliness, homelessness, suicide, aging, death, and grief. I felt that it brought an awareness to universal struggles that can be countered with kindness, friendship, forgiveness, compassion, and humility. This is a wonderful book that prompts thoughts, insights, and inspires discussion and self-reflection.
(I received a complimentary copy of the book; all opinions in this review are my own)
November 20, 2019
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Meet Maggie Sullivan, 74, widowed, healthy, mentally sharp, living in the historic Eagle Gate Apartments in the heart of Salt Lake City, where it’s close enough to walk or take the bus anywhere she wants to go. Maggie’s in what she calls Act Three of her life, “more agile than most and still in possession of her original knees,” (and teeth), and chooses to live every day of that life happily. After the rent’s paid, her means are modest, (i.e., nearly nonexistent), but her needs are few; she’s comfortable and surrounded by good friends, who believe “anytime’s an excuse for a party” or a lively game of Scrabble.
Devastating and painful secrets from Acts One and Two of her life caused Maggie to revert to her maiden name and begin a new life, Act Three. Maggie’s grand-niece Carly appears at her door, deathly ill, with dangerous gang connections. Maggie takes her in lovingly, knowing Carly could run back to the gang anytime, but prays she won’t. A mysterious wealthy man, Ed from 8-B, begins to pay attention to Maggie, but, unlike the throng of eligible single women longing to meet him, casseroles in hand, Maggie’s not interested in dating, and something’s not quite right about Ed.
In Maggie’s Place, Salt Lake City is featured almost as a character itself, with its unique and historical beauty, upscale lifestyle and culture, and, unfortunately, with its underbelly of crime common to all large cities. Haws knows the city well, bringing the reader right to the actual bus stop where Maggie waits to ride to her part-time job at a knitting shop; the Symphony; the Broadway Theater; the Alta Club; the Beehive House, power walks around Temple Square; the unpredictable, often brutal, but sometimes extraordinarily beautiful winter weather; and the quiet old elegance of the Eagle Gate Apartments. Best of all, Haws leads us into the hearts and souls of the well-developed characters who live in them, as well as those who don’t.
Maggie’s place is a cozy read. Haws takes an honest, unflinching look at aging and all that goes with it, addressing it with honesty, grace, and humor. The plot is lively with unexpected elements, and the descriptions of the characters who wander in and out of Maggie’s Place are priceless.
I highly recommend this delightful book.
Janet Kay Jensen
Author, The Book Lover’s Cookbook. Don’t You Marry the Mormon Boys and Gabriel’s Daughters
I really enjoyed this book. It was easy to feel the emotions of the characters and made it easy to picture everything happening right before me. The storyline was great and I loved the back and forth viewpoints of the characters. Definitely planning to read it again and recommend it to others!
When I started reading this book I had a difficult time getting into it for about the first 25% of it because it was not my usual choice in genres. But I am glad I persevered because I enjoyed it very much. Being of the same age group as Maggie and the other characters I was able to sympathize with them and what they went through. It is a very moving story that you will enjoy. It is set in Salt Lake City and very much involves the Latter Day Saints Church. It is set around the holidays so it is a good time to read and enjoy it. I received an ARC of this book from the publisher. All opinions expressed are my very own.
I absolutely loved this book. The mystery was so engaging and the haunting setting was eerie and believable ! The story was so quick paced, the plot moved forward in a way that kept me on the edge of my seat! I adored the characters. Red and Bellamy’s relationship was so beautiful. The story wasn’t predictable and my heart ached in an amazing way at the end. I highly recommend this book!
I really fell in love with Maggie’s Place! I felt like Maggie had such a story to share and too many things she was holding on to from the past. I loved the community of amazing friends she had and the support they all showed for each other. The entire story was about Maggie, her story, and her journey. There were parts of this story that were fun, happy, sad, tragic, emotional, bittersweet…this book covers an entire range of emotions. If you are willing, take a walk to Maggie’s Place, and you will find that you will never want to leave. More than your typical book, Maggie’s Place is a story of love, forgiveness, giving, and most of all….hope. I received a copy of this book for free; all thoughts and opinions are my own.
I hope that when I reach my golden years my friendships are just like the ones described in this book. Maggie’s Place seems like the perfect holiday read for any age. It’s about family, heart-break, integrity, and forgiveness, with the tongue-in-cheek turn of phrase I’ve come to expect from this author. It’s a great airplane or vacation read, or maybe something to cuddle up with when the snow starts to fall. My favorite quality of the book is that the characters are flawed and have experienced real heart-break. It’s got a little more substance than your average candy-floss romance. And the climax scene will stick with me for quite some time.
I received a complimentary copy and this is my honest review.
Maggie’s Place is a relevant beautifully written story. The author paints wonderful characters that I was sympathetic with and could relate to. The background of Salt Lake City described at Christmastime with the magic of lights, snow and Christmas music is charming. A story of aging beautifully, friendship, family, forgiveness and doing the right thing. I will miss Maggie and her friends that I learned to care about from this book. A great read for book clubs!