In the South, family is always more complicated than it seems. After her last remaining family member dies, Sara Jenkins goes home to The Hideaway, her grandmother Mags’s ramshackle B&B in Sweet Bay. She intends to quickly tie up loose ends then return to her busy life and thriving antique shop in New Orleans. Instead, she learns Mags has willed The Hideaway to her and charged her with … charged her with renovating it–no small task considering her grandmother’s best friends, a motley crew of senior citizens, still live there.
Rather than hurrying back to New Orleans, Sara stays in Sweet Bay and begins the biggest house-rehabbing project of her career. Amid drywall dust, old memories, and a charming contractor, she discovers that slipping back into life at The Hideaway is easier than she expected.
Then she discovers a box Mags left in the attic with clues to a life Sara never imagined for her grandmother. With help from Mags’s friends, Sara begins to piece together the mysterious life of bravery, passion, and choices that changed her grandmother’s destiny in both marvelous and devastating ways.
When an opportunistic land developer threatens to seize The Hideaway, Sara is forced to make a choice–stay in Sweet Bay and fight for the house and the people she’s grown to love or leave again and return to her successful but solitary life in New Orleans.
“A story both powerful and enchanting: a don’t-miss novel in the greatest southern traditions of storytelling.” –Patti Callahan Henry, New York Times bestselling author
“Two endearing heroines and their poignant storylines of love lost and found make this the perfect book for an afternoon on the back porch with a glass of sweet tea.” –Karen White, New York Times bestselling author
- USA TODAY and Amazon Charts bestseller
- Full-length Southern Women’s Fiction
- Includes Discussion Questions for Book Clubs
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I adored this book. So nice to read about such a lovely and eccentric well meaning and lovely people who cobble together their own version of what defines family. Go get yourself a copy now. You won’t be disappointed.
Really good writing for a first book.
4.5/5
I have enjoyed all three books I’ve read by this author, and this was her debut.
This one centers around two women, Sara and Mags her grandmother told in alternating chapters. And their family home (The Hideaway) has such a strong presence, it’s arguably the third center. This is more like a coming-of-age story (although Sara is close to 30), in that in learning more about her grandmother (after she dies) she comes into her own.
A wonderful and varied cast of characters, a nostalgic feeling of place and watching as Sara and Mags grow amidst tragedy and loss made this a winner for me.
If you’re interested, her Glory Road and The Summer House are even better than this debut.
This is a unique storyline of Mags-the grandmother and Sarah her granddaughter and their similarities. Mags leaves her run down bed-and-breakfast to her granddaughter. Sarah isn’t particularly attached to the place until she returns and uncovers it’s history. The story flips back and forth between eras, which I am not particularly a fan of since it makes it hard to keep the characters straight. But the author is talented and makes it works. Sarah renovates the B & B and brings it back to it’s former glory. Along the way she begins to understand the woman her grandmother was. She discovers they had more in common than she realized. Captivating plot.
I loved this novel! Although there were parts that made me sad, there were also parts that were full of joy, happiness, and new beginnings. The love story that was interwoven throughout the whole book was beautiful! I enjoyed the characters, especially the ones who lived in the bed and breakfast for years. Sara’s grandmother has passed away. Sara leaves behind her antique shop in New Orleans to visit Sweet Bay, Alabama, the area where she grew up and where her grandmother Mags still lived. She quickly finds out that Mags has left her B&B The Hideaway to Sara in her will. And Sara finds out secrets that Mags has kept from everyone.
If you like a southern romance spanning generations…you will love this book. I plan to read more by this author.
Five Star Review
The Hideaway was such a heartfelt, delightful and incredibly lovely story about family, friendship and love! It’s filled with such wonderful Southern charm that is both energetic and enchanting.
Sara, the granddaughter of “Mags” returns to her childhood home in Sweet Bay, Alabama leaving her business in New Orleans in the hands of her partner and trusted friend Allyn. Mags has left The Hideaway, an old ramshackle Bed and Breakfast to Sara and has asked, in her will, that she renovate it. Its occupants are a bunch of eccentric old friends of Mags that have lived there for decades. While the project is underway Sara meets a charming contractor, discovers memorabilia and letters that uncover hidden secrets about her family, her grandmother and her life. She starts to piece together a different and mysterious picture of what her grandmother was really like.
When a developer threatens to take hold of The Hideaway, Sara is left with difficult choices. Lauren K. Denton, Author delivers a wonderful story of courage, devotion, and romance that will captivate any reader. I personally loved each and every one of the characters in this story, and a few times found myself with tears in my eyes. It was chosen as our book club read, and I highly recommend it.
Engrossing, relatable read. I love a story with a female heroine. It helps women draw strength for our own life struggles and evolve to greater heights.
Gloria Squitiro: A first lady of Kanas City and author of May Cause Drowsiness and Blurred Vision: The Side Effects of Bravery—YOU, Too! can OVERCOME ANXIETY and live a bigger more carefree life—Become a New and Better You!
#YayWomenWriters
This book is a must read! Denton weaves a masterful story that keeps you turning the page to find out more. I stretched the last 50 pages of this book out as long as I could because I didn’t want the story to end. As soon as I finished, I was ready to start the book all over again. It’s not often a book leaves you wanting to read it again as soon as you finish it.
Loved this book!!! Did not want it to end. The story telling and the characters were so realistic and I felt as if I knew them.
Where do I begin. A touching, uplifting story of family, friends, love and loss with one thing in common, a quirky little house that has become The Hideaway. This story is as light and breezy as the South itself with a little bit of mystery as well. Set in Sweet Bay, Alabama, the story unfolds as choices must be made in order to keep this little corner of the world’s history and it’s occupants true to “it” and more importantly, themselves. It is heartfelt and entertaining. You will just love these characters as they begin to reveal themselves to you and the layers begin to peel back. The text flows very well as the story continues with its journey between the two main characters, Mags and Sara and a few colorful others. I typically don’t rate a five star rating, but this story truly has captured me. A feel-good story sure not to disappoint. Thank you Lauren K. Denton for this wonderful addition to my collection and I am looking forward to your next novel, Hurricane Season.
Novels & Latte Book Blog
Novels & Latte Book Club
Sara Jenkins returns home to Sweet Bay after her eccentric grandmother’s death, determined to tie up loose ends and then go back to her life in New Orleans. But two things change her plans: her grandmother has willed her the house—a B&B that has seen better days with permanent senior residents—and she finds a box revealing her grandmother’s past in a way that Sara could never have imagined. Sara stays on, remodeling the house (and meeting a good-looking contractor in the process), and searching out answers to her grandmother’s past. What she finds amazes her.
The Hideaway is a heartfelt story of returning home and learning that you really don’t always know the people in your life as well as you think. Sara begins to understand her grandmother’s odd behavior as she explores her past, and also finds that she is still in love with her childhood home, despite having run away from it years before. It’s a sweet story that will warm your heart.
I just loved this book I have just gotten her new one: Hurricane Season
I loved this story. Realistic characters to laugh with and cry with. No profanity is a real plus for me.
Anything Lauren Denton writes is wonderful!
Good cozy read.
Pretty lame story line. Too predictable
Thank you, Lauren Denton, for a great novel. The character development brought the people to life, so easy to see them in my mind’s eye. It’s a captivating story of love of all types — family, friends, places, and romance. I live on the Eastern shore of Alabama where most of the story takes place, so that was special too. I loved this book!
Of the past twenty books I’ve read, this one is my favorite!
I highly reccomend this book. A great read.