Every mogul knows the best idea is an old idea with a new twist. So Andi proudly revives her father's business: an old-fashioned car wash...staffed entirely by bikini-clad women. That ought to get traffic--and blood--flowing on Grosvenor Street
This gutsy gimmick soon has the whole town in a lather, and not necessarily in a good way.
Scandalized citizens are howling, neighboring businesses are worried. But straitlaced grocery-store owner Pete Guthrie is definitely intrigued. He knows it's hard to run a small business in a big-box world. To him, Andi's brains and bravery are as alluring as the bikini she calls business attire.
Comment: Here it is another book by Pamela Morsi, one more book to be crossed over from the TBR list and one more book by her I had to read. I was very curious about it and wondered if it would be as interesting as the blurb made it seem. I have to say I pleasantly surprised.
This is the story of Andrea Wolkowicz, a young woman who returns to her small hometown after her mother died. Andrea feels the need to take care of her father and help him with her twin sister, someone who has mental incapacity. However, Andres also needs a job and the small town doesn't offer many opportunities and Andrea quickly tries all the available spots.
After meeting other young women that need to start making some money and facing the bureaucratic problems set by the town's council, Andrea comes up with the idea of revamping her father's old car wash business. But in order to do it successfully, Andrea and the other two girls decide to do it while wearing their bikinis...
Thinking about this blurb, one gets the idea this should be one of those inconsequential fluffy, vacant stories whose aim was to present silly characters and silly situations. But truthfully, ms Morsi has done a good job in portraying Andrea and the other secondary characters and their motivations and personality.
In fact, there's nothing fluffy with this story and I was impressed by how serious some issues were and how the author chosen to address them and put them on the page.
From Andrea's sister problems but simple way of dealing with life's obstacles to her own difficulty in having a job and the problems the hero has by owning a small town business vs the huge supermarket chains that are more competitive, everything turned this story into a great story.
This doesn't mean the story is just a drama developing. There are funny scenes, emotional ones and interesting points to one think about. I think this story is quite balanced, between serious questions and situations almost caricature in style, everything has just the right amount to turn this story into something I had a real enjoyment reading.
I liked how Andrea took a demanding problem like unemployment and tried to change her situation and tried to help others at the same time. I loved when Tiff, one of the other bikini girls says she's not ashamed of doing something to earn honest money to raise her son and that it's better than doing nothing. How I agree with her. I liked seeing characters struggling but being honest about what they were going through.
The romance was very quiet, slowly assumed, but I liked how Andrea and Peter didn't rush anything and slowly fell in love. I wish the end were a bit more developed but I'm simply glad the HEA happened.
The secondary characters suited the tone of the story and the small town location feel. I liked how some of the characters were important to the main plot and the "lessons" we could learn from their personal stories.
I had a great time reading this book. I'm looking forward to read more stories by the author. I feel this author writes in a way I find appealing and it was really good to be in this "world".
The problems I had were sometimes the pace that felt slow and some character's options felt avoidable because of how exaggerated they were. Sure, I'd change some little things but overall, I felt this book was positive and worked well for me.
Grade: 8/10
I remember this book. And I agree with your opinion. It was pleasantly suprising.
ReplyDeleteIt was! I'm glad this wasn't silly or stupid! :)
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