I love me a good “renovate your house, renovate your life” story. After reading a particularly terrifying but excellent novel, I decided I needed something a bit lighter as my next read.
Cue The Hideaway, by Lauren K. Denton. This was an impulse grab at the library. I generally stop by my town library once or twice a week to pick up books that have come in for me (love the InterLibraryLoan system…or whatever it’s called these days!), and I decided to browse the New Releases shelves. Although I love picking up books that I’ve requested — it’s like getting a present! — I sometimes miss lazily browsing shelves in the library or bookstore for a random read. (I also miss browsing through a selection of videos to rent on a Friday night. RIP Blockbuster.)
I was first drawn to the cover of this book — I mean, look at it! It fondly beckons images of vacation and serenity and relaxation. Ain’t no one gonna be creepily eating birds in this one (re: aforementioned previous read).
Side note: I almost always judge a book by its cover–at least, at first. Doesn’t everyone? I work in publishing, and we all know how important cover art is. It’s the first and often only thing that grabs your attention, so it’s gotta be good. I’ve very rarely been led astray by good cover art, though there have been a few painful exceptions. But that’s a story for another post.
Anyhoo. The cover of The Hideaway grabbed my attention, and after skimming the plot summary, I was convinced this was my next read. I loved the fact that it’s set in New Orleans — where my husband and I ate our way through our honeymoon — and then also on the quiet shores of the Alabama, where, coincidentally, one of my favorite bloggers (Living In Yellow) vacationed earlier this year, causing me to suddenly have a keen interest in the hidden wonders of Alabama (who knew?!? not me). Throw in an unexpected house inheritance + an attractive handyman helping to restore the home? DONE. Add it to the pile.
I devoured The Hideaway like a sweet treat, constantly wanting to gobble up a few more pages in my spare moments. I loved the languid lifestyle that the main character suddenly found and enjoyed after her busy and successful lifestyle in NOLA, and I loved the quirky characters that live within the grand old house in the small town of Sweet Bay. The book champions the uncomplicated and simple pleasures of life, and that’s definitely something I need to remind myself is important. The love stories were good, too — one bittersweet and one burgeoning, both honest and real — and, although I’m no prude, I also kinda liked that, while intimacies were a large part of one story, the naughty details were kept off-scene. This is something I would feel comfortable recommending to, like, my mother to read, or to a book group of little old ladies with a sense of propriety that I never really had in the first place. (Unlike The Wedding Sisters, which my 60-something year old mother loaned me after she had finished reading it. I loved the story, but it took me forever to finish the book because with each explicitly detailed sex scene, all I could think was “My mother read these words. While holding THIS book. And then somehow decided to loan the same copy of this sexy book to me, her daughter.” I can’t. I CAN’T.)
The Hideaway is the perfect “beach read,” but it’s also a perfect read for anytime you want to escape to a slower, sweeter pace of life. And, reading it between back-to-back thrillers, it’s the perfect literary palate cleanser — like a refreshing sniff of coffee beans between smelling lots of Yankee Candles.
What are your favorite reads to help you escape and unwind?
Stay tuned for The Hideaway (and Nawlins!)-inspired recipe, Creamy Cajun Shrimp!
