Evvie Drake Starts Over

 

Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes

Fiction

2019 Random House Audio

Read by Julia Whelan

Finished on August 13, 2020

Rating: 3/5 (Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

In a small town in Maine, recently widowed Eveleth "Evvie" Drake rarely leaves her house. Everyone in town, including her best friend, Andy, thinks grief keeps her locked inside, and she doesn't correct them. In New York, Dean Tenney, former major-league pitcher and Andy's childhood friend, is struggling with a case of the "yips": he can't throw straight anymore, and he can't figure out why. An invitation from Andy to stay in Maine for a few months seems like the perfect chance to hit the reset button. 

When Dean moves into an apartment at the back of Evvie's house, the two make a deal: Dean won't ask about Evvie's late husband, and Evvie won't ask about Dean's baseball career. Rules, though, have a funny way of being broken--and what starts as an unexpected friendship soon turns into something more. But before they can find out what might lie ahead, they'll have to wrestle a few demons: the bonds they've broken, the plans they've changed, and the secrets they've kept. They'll need a lot of help, but in life, as in baseball, there's always a chance--right up until the last out.

I'm not sure what I was expecting when I started this audiobook. I didn't read the publisher's blurb prior to listening, but chose the book shortly after its release and after reading a few positive reviews from friends. I presumed it was contemporary fiction, but as it turns out, it leans more toward light romance, which is not something I generally read. And yet, looking back on this past year, I've actually read several romances: My Oxford Year (also read by Julia Whelan), Things You Save in a Fire, In Five Years, and The Sight of You. 

Evvie Drakes Starts Over is fairly light and full of lengthy descriptions of daily life (bordering on monotonous) and so predictable I was actually able to predict several responses in the conversations between Evvie and Dean. In spite of the predictability, tired narrative tropes and lack of depth, I was mostly entertained as I listened while out on my daily walks. Julia Whelan is becoming one of my favorite audiobook narrators, which is partly why I didn't call it quits; I know I would have, had I been reading the print format.