This book sounded like something completely different than the traditional ‘romances’ that I tend to pick up when I am looking for something different.
When I read the description, the main character is 79 years old. I was like oh, interesting….which immediately put it into the category of something different for me. Plus I loved that it said the novel was a ‘coming of old’ story. Not going to lie it made me laugh and I usually tend to pick up books that feature young heroines so reading something with a much older heroine sounded new and exciting.
Plus this debut has been getting a lot of buzz lately and I didn’t want to miss out on something new and exciting, not to mention the sweet dog cartoon on the cover basically sealed the deal.
Summary
For readers of Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine and A Man Called Ove, a life-affirming, deeply moving “coming-of-old” story, a celebration of how ordinary days are made extraordinary through friendship, family, and the power of forgiving yourself–at any age.
Boy meets girl. Girl meets boy. Woman meets dog…
The world has changed around Missy Carmichael. At seventy-nine, she’s estranged from her daughter, her son and only grandson live across the world in Australia, and her great love is gone. Missy spends her days with a sip of sherry, scrubbing the kitchen in her big empty house and reliving her past–though it’s her mistakes, and secrets, that she allows to shine brightest. The last thing Missy expects is for two perfect strangers and one spirited dog to break through her prickly exterior and show Missy just how much love she still has to give. Filled with wry laughter and deep insights into the stories we tell ourselves, The Love Story of Missy Carmichael shows us it’s never too late to teach an old dog new tricks. It’s never too late to love. (summary from Goodreads)
Review
This book hit me right in the feels. I mean don’t you ever stop and look at an older person and wonder what their lives have been like? What heartaches they have had, what triumphs? I have older parents (my mom is 66 and my dad is 80) and now that I am a mom, I look at my parents and start to wonder what were their lives like? This book takes that notion of life regrets and experiences from a new perspective and I absolutely loved it!
I mean this book is definitely more emotional that I was expecting but it was emotional in a good way. I loved that it touched on a number of different issues about the complexity of families, love, and life. It had a lot to unpack and digest and I do not think that readers will be bored in the least. I found the main character, Missy, to be stubborn and cantankerous but at the same time there was something about her that made me want to know more about her.
Not only is the story itself beautiful and touching it packs so much emotion. While this book isn’t necessarily a romance even if the title has ‘love story’ in it. Sure it touches on romance and love but it’s also a story of life, family, and memories.
This book was even more special to me because I have a little boy and honestly little boys are the best and I love being a boy mom so reading this book really endeared itself to me in a number of different ways. I also loved Bob the dog.
This book was a home run for me, it took a little bit for me to get into it but once I did I enjoyed it quite a bit and was glad to read it! This was a great debut and will no doubt be a fan favorite as well as an ideal book for book clubs!
The Lit Bitch 
I’m so looking forward to this one 😀