Lesley was home to work on a renovation flip that she bought over the internet from her home in Chicago. Or at least her home for the past 16 years. You see she use to live in the town where she just bought the new remodel. The town of Los Alamos in New Mexico. She left there because it held nothing but awful memories of her past. A marriage that was wiped away by the church so that now you can’t really call it a marriage. But trying telling the she devil that which is what I call her ex’s mother which by the way is so true. For it seems that everyone in that town not only has an opinion of what and who Lesley is but they feel a need to yell it at her. It wasn’t bad enough that she grew up feeling like she was not special, pretty or loved by anyone. But the ones that should of just seemed to tell her all her faults. The thing she found out is that when she left is that she started to really like herself and that she found the real her. And she found that she didn’t really give a shit what other’s thought. Oh that is until she was home to work on this place for what say 24 hours? If even that. Then boy did life take an interesting twist. Coming back she knew she would have to face the skeletons in the closet. She was not the same woman who left. Her looks, self-image, job, and moxie had all changed. But if that closet opened or her ex’s mother showed up she could crumble at any moment. This cast of characters were so exciting and vibrant. Each one brought its own brand of crazy to the story. You get so wrapped up in the scenes that you feel like you are right in the room with them. That just makes the chapters just seem to fly by. I loved Lesley and Dominic’s relationship I think because it was never boring and that it had so many layers to it. Kyle was a really cool kid that every parent would want especially in a house of crazy.But my all-time favorite in this book is “GP”, Martino, Lesley’s grandpa. OMG! He was just a hoot! I can’t even believe what came out of his mouth. But I laughed, he reminded me of my grand-dad. You will totally laugh out loud and then feel some other troubling emotions too. Once again this book I loved it must be the family saga but this writer has to be good in order to hold my attention and have this great of a cast or then again I could just be warped. I did love it. Provided by netgalley.com
Along with Meg Maguire and Ruthie Knox (and doubtlessly many other authors I have yet to discover), Sandra Antonelli is another excellent example of Contemporary Romance that is contemporary not only in its setting but also in its sensibilities. What all three of them share (and what more traditional Romances are often lacking in) are protagonists that are flawed but likeable, heroines that have agency, and plots that avoid clichés but still push enough of the right buttons to trigger that fuzzy happy Romance feeling in their readers.A Basic Renovation is Sandra Antonelli’s first novel (first published one, anyway), and it does show in parts – sometimes the plot machinery has to do some really heavy-duty lifting to keep events moving forward, and then it’s creaking rather loudly. Not loud enough, however, to seriously impede the enjoyment of what is a highly entertaining novel and one of the funnier ones I have read in recent memories.The witty banter and the quirky characters with which Sandra Antonelli has filled her novel have garnered her many comparisons with Jennifer Crusie; but while there are some similarities, A Basic Renovation covers territory that is all its own. Most strikingly, this is noticeable in the age of its protagonists – the main couple are both in their mid-forties and the secondary couple even several decades older than that. And this is not just window dressing to make the novel seem different, but affects it at its heart and is what drives the plot forward: The characters behave (for the most part) like responsible adults and thus avoid all of the often rather silly behavioural patterns infecting younger Romance protagonists but are suffering from their own, age-appropriate set of insecurities instead that Sandra Antonelli describes with wit, verve and sympathy. Overall, another author who proves that it is possible to write Romance that is both intelligent and fun to read; also, bonus points for the non-embarrassing cover.
What do You think about A Basic Renovation (2013)?
6/1 - Alrighty now, back to normal reading/reviewing schedules after the craziness of Christmas.The argument over the tweezers on page 34 got me laughing and in a romance that's always a good thing. The line "No! What do you mean no?!" in response to a request for a particular item is always funny (for me), it's like the literary equivalent of slapstick comedy. Keep the laughs coming, please. To be continued... 27/1 - Unfortunately this was one of a number of Netgalley books I didn't get finished in time (I had three days left to read it when I started it on the 6th) over and around the Christmas period. If I ever have the chance to read it again I definitely will as it was shaping up to be a pretty decent romance.
—Sarah
I received a copy from Netgalley and publisher for an honest review.A Basic Renovation was a total surprise. Not the usual fair in the romance section. Leslie and Dominic are 40ish. Cursing in several languages, crazy senior citizens, and a totally FUBAR family dynamic. I found myself irked by almost everyone except Dominic's 16 yr old son. However, I was sucked in and found myself teary eyed in the end.Leslie has come home to flip an old house as a working vacation to see family. She fled her hometown years ago after a disaster of a marriage. She's built a tough shell, and is determined not to care what anyone thinks about how she lives her life. Now she's fending off rats in the oven, busy body parents, a nasty ex mother-in-law, and mixed feelings for her ex brother-in-law Dominic.As off the wall as the characters seemed to be, I found something real about them. I hung in there and it was worth it.
—Debi
Why I read it: I bought this book a little while back, having heard lots of good things about it.What worked for me (and what didn’t): Forty-something heroines and heroes appeal to me now in a way they didn’t when I was in my twenties. From my current perspective, it does not seem at all ridiculous or icky to read a romance with older protagonists. I am happy enough to read about younger people too, but there is definitely room in my reading for people my age and older. Lesley and Dominic are both in their 40s, both experiencing some of the visible signs of aging Olay warns you about on the television at every possible opportunity. (I expect, nevertheless, they look better than I do – that’s okay, I tend to imagine romance heroes and heroines are good looking no matter what the text tells me – perhaps this is a flaw, I don’t know). Because both are older, they fit well into their own skins – they know themselves, their wants and desires, their tics and foibles fairly well and neither of them are likely to change all that much. But they have both changed very much from the people they were when they (briefly) knew each other sixteen years earlier, when Lesley was (briefly) married to Dominic’s douchebag brother Terry. The book presents them as having come into their own – particularly Lesley, rather than just being “not young anymore” and certainly, Dominic finds the current Lesley much more fascinating and attractive than he ever did before. Read the rest of the review here: http://www.kaetrinsmusings.com/2013/0...
—Kaetrin
