Lit Loving Mom: Book Review: The Last Chance Matinee

The Last Chance Matinee by Mariah Stewart

While March has been a bit dreary, one of the highlights was getting the opportunity to read a newly released book and participate in my first book blog tour. Thankfully, it is a book that I enjoyed reading during these bleak March days.

If you are looking for a fun, frothy piece of romantic escapism, then you should check out The Last Chance Matinee. It combines three sisters (one meeting the other two for the very first time), Hollywood, pleasant & quirky small towns, and several hints at romance. When the Cara, Allie and Des learn that in order to receive their hefty inheritances they must live together and rebuild their hidden family's art-deco theater, they balk at the idea. However, Stewart weaves the story well. With interesting characters and an engaging plot, readers will be able to put off their agendas and escape into a fun read.

This book is the first in a series of three, with this book focusing mainly on Cara's story. It reminded me of Nora Roberts' bride quartet, so if you liked that series, you will enjoy this one as well. I am excited to know there are two books in the trilogy being published in the future! Pick this one up for a fun, fast spring break read!

* I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

More information from the publisher:

THE LAST CHANCE MATINEE

Mariah Stewart

Publication Date: March 21, 2017

Publisher: Gallery Books

$16.00 Trade Paperback Original

ISBN: 9781501144905

Fiction

Book 1 in the Hudson Sisters series

Look for Book 2 in 2018 and Book 3 in 2019!

Praise for The Last Chance Matinee:

“The combination of a quirky small-town setting, a family mystery, a gentle romance, and three estranged sisters is catnip for women’s-fiction fans, and the backdrop of the faded movie palace adds a fascinating element to the story. Stewart’s lively, warmhearted series starter [The Last Chance Matinee] will have readers eagerly awaiting the second installment.”

—Booklist

“A good read, with a nice blend of mystery, family drama, and romance. Readers will look forward to the next installment.”

—Library Journal

About The Last Chance Matinee:

From the New York Times bestselling author Mariah Stewart comes the first novel in her all-new series, which follows a trio of reluctant sisters who set out to fulfill their father’s dying wish and, in the process, discover the truth not only about their pasts but about each other—and themselves—in a way that will forever alter their futures.

When celebrated and respected Fritz Hudson passes away suddenly, he leaves a trail of Hollywood glory in his wake—and two separate families who never knew the other existed. Allie and Des Hudson are products of Fritz’s first marriage to Honora, a beautiful but troubled starlet whose life ended tragically. As his relationship with Honora was unraveling, Fritz was simultaneously falling in love on the Delaware Bay with New Age hippie Susa—but while Fritz adored Susa and fathered daughter Cara with her, he never quite managed to come clean about his West Coast Family.

Now Fritz is gone, and the three sisters are brought together under strange circumstances: there’s a large inheritance to be had, specifically one that could save Allie from her ever-deepening debt following a disastrous divorce; allow Des to open a rescue shelter for abused and wounded animals; and give Cara a fresh start after her husband left her for her best friend; but only if the sisters upend their lives and work together to restore an old theater that was Fritz’s obsession growing up in his small hometown in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains. Will the sisters come together to turn their father’s dream into a reality – and will they come away with far more than they bargained for?

About Mariah Stewart:

Mariah Stewart is an award-winning New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of numerous novels as well as several novellas and short stories. She lives with her husband and two rambunctious rescue dogs amid the rolling hills of Chester County, Pennsylvania, where she savors county life and tends her gardens while she works on her next novel. Visit her at mariahstewart.com and follow her on Facebook.com/AuthorMariahStewart and on Instagram @mariah_stewart_books.

From the Preface, The Last Chance Matinee:

Everyone is familiar with the adage “write what you know”; it’s a saying that has dictated much of my decades-long career in publishing. But this time, it was what I (or rather, my mother) didn’t know that formed the basis for this first book in my new Hudson Sisters series.

When my mother was in her mid-forties, she received a letter from a woman named Alice, the wife of her recently deceased cousin Bill. Alice thanked my mother for the sympathy card she’d sent her, and finished her note by saying, “You do know that Bill was your half brother, right?”

Ah, no. She did not.

…Of course, I was fascinated. My grandfather died when I was four or five years old, and I have very little memory of him other than his deep, hearty laugh. I’ve been thinking for years that this foundation of a love child and secret siblings would make a great story; but not knowing all the facts, I was free to fill in the blanks—and so I did. Years passed before I felt I had the right story in my head. This is that story. I hope you enjoy my version of what could happen under such circumstances.

—Mariah Stewart

Monday Matinee Giveaway:

Follow XOXO After Dark on Twitter (@xoxoafterdark) Mondays in April to see which blogs on the blog tour will host a giveaway for The Last Chance Matinee: April 3, 10, 17, 24! #MondayMatinee

Events with Mariah Stewart:

Wednesday, April 5th, 6:30 pm

The Doylestown Bookshop

16 S. Main Street

Doylestown, Pa 18901

Tuesday, April 11th, 7:00 pm

Towne Book Centre

220 Plaza Drive – Ste B3

Collegeville, PA 19426

Note:

Mariah Stewart’s separate series, the bestselling Chesapeake Diaries, has been a favorite with readers since 2010. The eleventh installment, The Chesapeake Bride, will publish August 29, 2017.