After learning she has only six months to live, twenty-two-year-old socialite, Maple Summer Wallace, plans to spend her remaining time hanging over a roulette table in Vegas and squandering her family’s fortune. Her plan takes a wrong turn when she finds Veronica, her twenty-year-old housekeeper and daughter of her beloved nanny, Lola, hovering over the dead body of octogenarian Randolph … Brentwood, the fifth richest man in the world.
Maple has never been a warm and fuzzy type of family person, and the last thing she wants to do in her final months of life is deal with Veronica’s mess. But long ago Maple made a promise to Lola that she’d always look out for her “little sister” Veronica. Still, the stubborn Maple, hardened from her own personal loss, resists involvement until she learns that Veronica is pregnant with Lola’s grandchild, an heir to the Brentwood estate.
To make good on her promise to Lola, Maple vows to help Veronica. With the assistance of Michael, a handsome and savvy PI, they journey up and down the East Coast, dodging the authorities, a shady lawyer, a cold-hearted hit man, and the powerful widow, Mrs. Brentwood. As Maple’s bitterness about spending her last days saving Veronica dissipates and her friendship with Michael develops, she realizes that on the way to death, she’s found something she’s never had—life.
(PLEASE NOTE: This is the Author’s Women’s Fiction Debut. It is NOT a Romance. Further, this book touches on serious subjects that may affect more sensitive readers.)
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Sometimes in our reader life we get that one book that takes hold of you from the first pages and never lets you go. Jessica Calla’s Maple Summer Wallace was one of those special books for me. I don’t want to add spoilers so I will only describe the feels this wonderfully written New Adult Mainstream / Women’s Fiction delivered.
I honestly didn’t know much going in, I’d read the blurb but forgotten about it by the time I could pick up the book and dig in.
Wowzas. Chapter one just keep coming at me swinging. Maple’s voice is instantly snarky and sympathetic – a combo that sounds impossible and yet, Ms. Calla writes it flawlessly. I read the first 33% in one setting and only stopped because I had to get up early for work. It was a struggle to leave Maple, she was providing me with equal parts edge of my seat and entertainment with her nicknames for various character.
But, as I started reading the next day I realized, she was also gnawing at my heart.
Overall, this was the best book in its genre that I’ve read this year. It checks every box and I can’t wait for more from this author.
Heartbreaking and absolutely wonderful. This book will stick with me for years to come.
What a gem of a book! I was first drawn in by the beautiful cover, then by the description of the story – it sounded like this was going to be a rollercoaster ride of emotions with a lots of humor, intrigue, and probably a good dose of tears along the way. And I was exactly right.
This was a wonderfully-written story. Without ever getting too heavy or depressing, the book tells the story of Maple Summer Wallace, who is terminally ill and basically done with life anyway. She just wants to collect her family’s fortune and squander it until she dies. Of course, a hilarious, sometimes menacing, and always entertaining cast of characters throw lots of obstacles in her way. She never expects to find the connections, purpose, and meaning that she stumbles upon in her last few months on earth.
There was murder and mayhem and bad guys and good guys and a little romance and a lot of heart. And even though we pretty much know how the book is going to end (Maple is terminally ill, after all) it is still a marvelous journey to be a part of. Highly recommended!
I was engrossed by the book but it is very sad. I shed so many tears I gave myself a headache but I’m glad I read it. The end wasn’t a good resolution, not that I think the end was wrong, it was too hurried and too slick and the book deserved a better written end.
Why is it so hard to love a spoiled, rich kid? Maybe we just can’t relate but she is orphaned suddenly and then her health fails. In her early twenties, she learns she only has six months to live. Will she live it selfishly or will her life have a purpose after all?
So, just imagine finding out you’re about to die, have a “live it up til the end’ plan and have it completely thwarted because you walk in on a murder scene. That is exactly how we first meet Maple Summer Wallace. The story grabs you from the opening page, latches on and doesn’t let go.
Maple and her nuisance of an accidental sidekick, Ronnie are both orphans. Their relationship is complicated having grown up as ‘sisters’ but not related. They are polar opposites. Maple having shut down and shoving away her emotions, and Ronnie has this near naïve innocence about her.
Facing your mortality puts a lot of things in perspective. Sometimes. Maple was a little delayed on that. She wanted to go out the same way she lived. Closed off, and making only superficial connections. Getting tangled up in a murder has a way of derailing one’s plans.
What follows is a journey of finding a reason to live when time is no longer on your side.
Maple initially comes across as cold, unfeeling, the ‘typical socialite’ as it were. She can’t be bothered with Ronnie’s situation, it doesn’t concern her. Plus being around Ronnie makes Maple feel, and that’s something she wants to avoid at all costs. I loved how she’d try to tap into her ‘inner Jackie O’ when she needed to deal with stressful situations. Reminded me of an episode of Sex and The City with Charlotte.
To borrow from Transformers, there was more to Maple than meets the eye. Beneath the cold exterior was a scared young woman. A woman who experienced a lot of loss in a short period of time. Because she didn’t want to appear weak, she hid the pain. Ronnie reminded Maple of everything she wanted to forget. Everyone Maple had a connection with was gone, other than Ronnie, the one person she wanted to avoid because of the memories.
Nothing brings people together than being on the run from the law. Ms. Calla weaves a tale that keeps you wanting to turn the page. The growth Maple goes through in the face of her death will leave you misty eyed and hoping that they find a way out. You want one of those WTF how did that happen hail Marys (or is it Maries?) at the end.
Now I will admit, as much as Maple grows, I’d also hoped for some with Ronnie. Not going to lie, but she got on my nerves more times than not. That naivety and innocence stayed hard fast even in the face of running from the law for murder. It’s like she never fully grasped the seriousness of the situation and while her eternal optimistic outlook was refreshing in small doses, more times than not I wanted to yell at her to get it together.
Regardless on my feelings about Ronnie, this story touched me. Ms. Calla proved that family isn’t always in the DNA. Blood related or not, the two young woman stuck together, looked out for each other, loved each other in a way that only family could.
I highly recommend Maple Summer Wallace.
This book takes off very quickly with a murder in the first chapter and a terminal diagnosis for rich, socialite Maple Summer Wallace. Instead of spending her last months spending her fortune in Vegas, she’s on the run with Ronni.
What follows is a road-trip of epic proportions with Maple discovering so very much about herself and life. Her last journey is heart-wrenching and emotional as she works with her companions to save Ronni and her child and fulfills the promises she made to others. There are plenty of twists and turns (which is why I’m being so vague — these twists are amazing and need to be experienced by the reader — so no spoilers here!)
I really enjoyed this story. It moves along very nicely, the characters are intriguing and Maple’s voice is fresh and kept me interested in turning the pages to the end. While there isn’t a traditional HEA, there is an ending that made my heart swell a little with sadness and hope.
I really enjoyed reading this book. Jessica Calla delivers a very well written story where emotions are tested to the limit.
Maple Summer Wallace is a rich young woman who’s dying. That in itself picked my curiosity to read.
What I didn’t expect, was the journey her life took, so different from what she was planning.
Maple wanted to live the few months she had, free of expectations, in Vegas, but little did she knows that when she enters her parents house for the last time, her plans change drastically.
What comes next is a whirlwind of emotions and suspense, leaving the reader guessing until the last page.
I loved how Maple rediscovers herself and brings out feelings she wasn’t aware of.
This is truly a story about loyalty, friendship, love and humanity. With some funny moments in between.
The book kept me reading to the end . . . although I found the end rather underwhelming and while not necessarily disappointing, not really satisfying either. Spoiler alert – all the bad guys sort of turned out to be good guys so didn’t really get their comeuppance. Contrived might be a good word to use for the ending. But, it was an entertaining read.
Not very realistic. It was an easy, fast read.