Penelope and Michael Davis have been separated for four years and things have changed. For Penelope, life is damned fantastic!Having been the main breadwinner, the housekeeper and the finance manager for their entire relationship, Penelope has moved on with her life, and her hot, twenty-five-year-old lover, Alexander, the DJ.Michael is not faring as well. He is haunted by his failed writing … faring as well. He is haunted by his failed writing career, his finances are a catastrophe and … he is still completely and utterly in love with his ex.
When the situation with Michael’s finances finally come to a head, he asks Penelope if he can stay with her a while. She eventually agrees and the weeks that follow see them reflecting on their past and their present, and where it all fell apart.
With the help of her Friday night drinking pals, Penelope is driven to ask herself the question—how many chances do you give the one you love?
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I really enjoyed how this was about an older couple, not old old but not early 20’s either. Penelope and Michael are at a cross roads in life, they have separated and moved on …well some what anyway, but things aren’t finished between them and I really enjoyed getting to know them and how they became to where they are in life. I felt torn for both Penelope and Michael and at times wasn’t sure what would be best for either of them or where they would end up, but the way we see them go through learning what they really want and value in life was pretty inspiring and shows your never to old to reassess life! Penelope’s Friends are an absolute hoot and I hope the next book is about one of them as they all have a story to tell!
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
The first book in the Empty Nesters series brings a group of empty nesters helping each other out through good and bad times. This story centers on Penelope and Michael. The author brings a realistic story with both serious and humorous incidents and adds plenty of steam and romance along the way.
I enjoyed reading this book and am looking forward to the next one.
I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book. All opinions in this review are my own and freely given.
You, Me, Us by Eliza Bennetts is the first book in a new series The Empty Nesters about a group of five 40 something friends, who get together to help each other through the good and the bad events of each others lives. They are each others support network and their first point of call when they need to reach out.
Book one focuses on Penelope who is 47 and a hard-working professional woman. Penelope has seemingly gotten her life together after separating from her husband 4 years beforehand. She’s now with a young man who’s 25 years old and she is loving having a toyboy, especially in the bedroom.
Penelope is forced into taking a good look at her relationships and what she wants after her husband Michael is forced into homelessness, mainly due to his own inability to take responsibility for his life and go out and earn money.
I actually liked Michael, he has always relied on Penelope throughout their marriage and Penelope let him, until one day she didn’t. I thought he was lost, he thought Penelope and his kids wanted someone who was successful and therefore was completely focused on being a successful writer to the detriment of everything else. His circumstances are now making him reevaluate everything he previously thought and everything he took for granted and I really liked how he rose to the challenge.
I thought Eliza Bennetts did a good job of showing us how easily someone can end up homeless and how it then becomes a vicious cycle, how do you get a job when you don’t have an address, when you can’t keep clean, when you have to sleep in your car, where do you eat, how do you get support?
My opinion of Penelope was constantly changing, at times I found her lack of compassion towards Michael justified and at others I thought she was being selfish. She didn’t really know what she was doing and why and her friends were her fallback when she needed to look at what was going on in her well-ordered life, which was now suddenly in chaos.
Her group of friends, 4 other women, who were very different from each other but they’ve all travelled a long way together and seemingly have a handle on each other, except, I didn’t feel they always did. They are all hiding things from each other, something I’m sure will be uncovered as the series progresses. At times I thought they gave Penelope good advice and at others I found some of them to be quite judgemental, about Penelope and about Michael. I haven’t really warmed to Penelope’s friends yet, I liked bits and pieces about them, but I am looking forward to uncovering who they are in future books.
I really enjoyed this book, I think it was a good starting point to introduce this group of women who are all obviously going through very different things. There were some serious issues, mixed with plenty of humour (a lot of this was from Michael), as well as sex and chemistry and many different relationships to explore. I look forward to the next book in The Empty Nesters series.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Middle Aged and Making Some Changes
This book is the first in a series. Each book focuses on a different member of a group of friends. There is quite a bit of sex in this book that I just passed over. It was a major part of the storyline. There is also an abundance of bad language. Beyond that, the characters all seemed very real. That is the only positive thing that I can say about this book. I received this ARC book for free from Booksprouts and this is my honest review.