A sixty-year-old, corporate woman runs away from her recent past to a familiar, but uncertain, life in Sarasota, Florida where she must confront the ancient past in order to assure her familyâs impending future.
Elizabeth Blum is no stranger to loss. In fact, it has ruled her existence for years now. Having buried herself in the high stress, corporate world of Procter & Gamble she accepts an early retirement package and makes the harebrained decision to run away from home.
Yet, the decision to move from Cincinnati, Ohio to Southwest Florida comes with angst, as Liz battles more phobias than Sigmund Freud ever imagined, plus recurring anxiety and panic attacks that are self-medicated with wine and Librium.
Supported by her long-time friend, Jacqueline Hernandez, Liz settles into Pelican Cove along with all the eccentricities the unconventional residents have to offer. Her journey is filled with humor entwined with fear. Along the way she finds friends, foes, family, woes, a possible ghost and ⌠could it be love?
A sixty-year-old, corporate woman runs away from her recent past to a familiar, but uncertain, life in Sarasota, Florida where she must confront the ancient past in order to assure her familyâs impending future.
Elizabeth Blum is no stranger to loss. In fact, it has ruled her existence for years now. Having buried herself in the high stress, corporate world of Procter & Gamble she accepts an early retirement package and makes the harebrained decision to run away from home.
Yet, the decision to move from Cincinnati, Ohio to Southwest Florida comes with angst, as Liz battles more phobias than Sigmund Freud ever imagined, plus recurring anxiety and panic attacks that are self-medicated with wine and Librium.
Supported by her long-time friend, Jacqueline Hernandez, Liz settles into Pelican Cove along with all the eccentricities the unconventional residents have to offer. Her journey is filled with humor entwined with fear. Along the way she finds friends, foes, family, woes, a possible ghost and ⌠could it be love?
June 2011.
So here I sitâall alone with my heart pounding from anxietyâat the airport in Tampa, Florida, waiting for my ride. Actually, a realtor if you can believe it. A realtor Iâve never met in person is coming to pick me up. Inside the air-conditioned luggage claim area, the non-stop opening and closing of the automated doors has allowed the temperature inside to soar. The electronic sign scrolling Welcome to the Suncoast has the time and temperature flashing on it, and at only ten thirty in the morning, itâs already 87 degrees.
Why the hell did I wear long sleeves?
I ponder this as I frantically search my purse and carry-on bag for a tissue. All I can find is a slightly used napkin with Applebeeâs printed on it stuck in an outside luggage pocket.
Thisâll do. I dab at the perspiration on my face and then automatically check to see how much make-up I have wiped off.
Why did I even wear make-up?
âWhat the hell does it matter?â I mutter aloud. My hair is starting to frizz in this humidity and Iâm so emotionally drained I could lie down on one of the lousy plastic benches
I chastise myself for sitting here worrying about how I look for some guy I havenât even met. Heck, weâve only talked on the phone and via emails so far.
âWell maâam,â heâd said on the phone. âIf Iâm fixinâ to find yâall your dream house in paradise, I need to get a better feel for what it actually looks like!â
Speaking of looks, Iâm imagining heâs probably a fat, old, balding southerner, wearing some shabby suit like most male realtors do.
Why do they all wear suits anyway? Itâs not like theyâre bankers or something. My mind wanders.
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Several months ago, I started looking for a new address to call my own by searching online. I would be retiring at the end of the year from Procter & Gamble and had made the major decision every mature adult makes: Iâd wanted to run away from home!
Youâre still young, I told myself. Well youngish, and sixty is the new fifty they say. Thereâs plenty of time to start overâŚ
Anyway, itâs what I have kept telling myself.
Heck, youâre even relatively attractive⌠well, when you work on it you can be.
But the real decisionmaker had come when my inner voice answered back loud and clear one day.
Besides my dear, youâre currently extremely unhappy with your lot in life!
Even though Iâm rather well-traveled, without any research or further contemplation, I chose Sarasota, Florida, as my future refuge. Actually, I was quite familiar with the place as a vacation destination. For countless years, my husband and I would come to Florida when our children were young. That was long ago, and in my heart of hearts I know viewing it as a permanent residenceâand without my familyâis going to be a very different experience indeed.
Why choose a place with so many memories?
I pondered this time and time again. Perhaps it is because I know, deep down inside, they were some of my happiest ones?
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And now the well-worn napkin comes in handy to dab the tears streaming down from the corners of my eyes.
My phone begins playing âBy the Seasideâ (I have recently changed my ringtone to help support this life decision with each and every ring) signaling an incoming call that instantly snaps me back to reality. I answer the thing.
âHello, Elizabeth Blum speaking, how may I help you?â
I immediately scold myself mentally for answering like Iâm some sort of work geek. Old habits die hard!
âHello, Miss Blum?â The male voice on the other end rises like a question.
âThis is she.â
âGreat, this is Frank Landers with Sunshine Real Estate. I believe we have an eleven am appointment today. Are you at the airport?â He sounds different somehow down here, neither old nor bald.
âYes, yes, I am Mr. Landers. I am waiting for you.âÂ
âGreat!â he says quite pleasant and enthusiastic. âGrab your bags and find the sign that reads âcabs and buses this wayâ and exit there. Wait to the left of the cab queue. I just entered the airport grounds, so Iâll be by in about five minutes to pick you up. Iâm driving a black Infinity G37.â
âOkay,â I say, though I am not sure what a G37 is and still a bit overwhelmed by this entire adventure.
âOh,â he says, âand what color are you wearing?â
âRed.â I blurt it out then look down at myself. Even though the predominant color I am now and usually always do wear is black. âActually, itâs only a red scarf.â
âWell maâam,â he says, amused, âif I might be so bold, a woman in nothing but a red scarf shouldnât be hard to spot!â
I received an ARC of this book through Reedsy. Unfortunately, it was in the form of a PDF which made reading it a bit cumbersome. I tried not to let that affect my review. I finished this story yesterday and decided to sleep on it to let it percolate before putting my thoughts on paper, so to speak. For the most part, I enjoyed the book, particularly the voice of Liz, but there were times that the pacing dragged and it felt like there was filler to make the book longer. The story was primarily told in present-tense, first-person, but toward the end, it switched to third-person from the POV of Maggie, Lizâs daughter. This was jarring but manageable. Unfortunately, at one point, the author confused the two POVs and ended up with a paragraph talking about the âwomenâ (Liz and Jack) and then switched to âIâ (Liz). Hereâs the sentence: âBoth women pick up their plastic tiki glasses of wine and âclink!â as Jack toasts to now living their lives in paradise, and I give a big thanks to William and James for making it possible.â (Iâm embarrassed to admit I donât know who William and James are. I guess they werenât integral to the story.)
There were some cute parts of the story and I really liked some of the dialects and the way they were phonetically spelled. For example, one of Lizâs neighbors has a very strong German accent. While walking her dog, she runs into him and he says, âHallo leetle dawgie. And how goes its with you twos?â She goes on to explain that he drives a van with advertising for ceiling popcorn removal, amongst other things, so she asks him for a quote. âHe admits that his wife is the brains of the operation and an interior decorator as well. As best I can decipher, he advises me heâll have her stop by soon to give me a quote. Either that, or sheâs stooped over with a spoon on a boat?â Itâs silly, but I found that very amusing.Â
Additional criticisms: Why donât Liz and Jack use the flashlight function on their phones when the power goes out? Liz uses hers later, so I know their phones were capable. Instead, they bumbled around in the dark, which I suppose is funnier, but I kept thinking how unnecessary it was. Also, I got a little tired of the Blum jokes. Lizâs last name is Blum, pronounced bloom, but every time she says it to someone, they ignore her and pronounce it like plum. The author takes to putting it in parentheses as the story goes on and it happens over and over. After a while, I was like, okay, I get it. People consistently mispronounce her name.Â
Being really careful not to spoil anything:Â Liz is a bit of a prude and avoids sexual discussions, but when she is intimate with Stu, there is a description that I found completely out of character for her. Remember, this is told from the first-person POV. The author described it rather than allowing Liz to describe it in the repressed fashion that the reader has come to expect.Â
Stu is a doctor but is surprisingly unhelpful when it comes to Daisy. I expected him to jump in and explain things and work to assuage peopleâs concerns but he doesnât. Also, we never really find out what happens to Daisy. Based on the supernatural nature of the story overall, I expected a supernatural solution, but if there is one, I missed it.Â
Oh, and also, the denouement is a bit underwhelming. The climax was tense and exciting, with great descriptions, but then, it just kind of fizzled with a tying up of loose ends that didnât tie up all of the loose ends.Â
Overall, I liked the book. I think the writing is engaging and I loved some of the descriptions, which I found to be evocative and realistic. In other words, the author painted a vivid picture of Lizâs life. Iâm happy to have read it, and although I wouldnât give it my highest recommendation, Iâd still suggest it as a fun read.