And Now There's Zelda... by Carolyn Clarke - #bookreview

 

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Dealing with a controlling, manipulative, and self-absorbed mother-in-law can be a challenge. But when your child brings home a fiancé who's completely unworthy, and the shoe is suddenly on the other foot, do you take the high road, or get down and dirty?

It's been five years since Allison Montgomery's beloved father-in-law, George, passed away and her cantankerous mother-in-law, Margaret, moved in. After nearly killing each other during their initial adjustment period, Allie and Margaret have finally buried the hatchet and have even launched a thriving home staging business together.

Today, Allie is enjoying life. That is until her twenty-two-year-old son, Cameron, unexpectedly brings home Zelda, his new fiancé. The problem is, no one has ever met or even heard of her. And when Zelda's first impression raises more than a few red flags, Allie finds herself in unfamiliar territory.

Facing the prospect of becoming a mother-in-law far sooner than expected, and to someone unworthy of her darling baby boy, Allie's protective instinct kicks in. And who better to turn to for guidance and support than Margaret, her former nemesis and master of the mothers-in-law's dark arts.

Allie and Margaret launch Project Zelda, an intervention of sorts designed to show Cameron who Zelda really is and to prevent him from making a catastrophic mistake. However, with Zelda's ingratiating behavior, Margaret's occasional disappearances, and Allie's doubts about turning into her own mother-in-law, will Allie find a way to reconcile her protective instincts or will history repeat itself?

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Parenting is a funny old business. We devote eighteen years to raising a child to become an independent adult, and when they do, we wish they were little again! Yes, I was that mother who sobbed when each of my four sons left for university, and wished they were eight again and not eighteen.

Consequently, there was much I could identify with in And Now There’s Zelda. The main character is Allie, whose adult son Cameron, has come home with an unexpected fiancee in tow. Allie takes an instant dislike to Zelda, her maternal protective instincts are on full alert and she assumes that Zelda is not good enough for her beloved son.

The book follows on from the author’s previous novel, And Then There’s Margaret, which I really loved. You can read my review of it by clicking here. I should add that this book also works perfectly well as a standalone novel.

I have so enjoyed spending more time with the characters. Allie is in midlife. She lives with her husband and his mother, and both her son and daughter have flown the nest and are making lives of their own. 

The book focuses on a planned family holiday to Florida to celebrate the seventy-fifth birthday of Allies’s mother.  Allie has been looking forward to the four of them having a family holiday, just her, her husband and two children, but as with the best laid plans, it doesn’t go quite the way she had planned.

Allie is a tremendous character. I think most women will be able to identify with her need to keep so many balls in the air. Although it is fairly obvious that she will discover her assumptions regarding Zelda are incorrect, following the journey of how the relationship develops was fun to read.

And this is what Ms Clarke does best. She takes an ordinary situation and imbues it with both humour and plausibility. She also encourages the reader to sympathise with Allie. It was easy to identify and engage with Allie’s fears, and she is an enormously likeable character.

However, the secondary characters are also extremely well portrayed. The author understands people very well and really inhabits her characters, and in doing so has created an engaging and compelling book which was a joy to read.

Personally, I have been very fortunate. My four sons have all married lovely girls, and so, for me, I have definitely gained daughters and not lost sons.

This is a fabulously enjoyable and relatable novel which I highly recommend.

Carolyn will be here on the blog on the 14th May, so please do come back to hear from Carolyn herself about her book.

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About the Author:

Carolyn Clarke is the founder and curator of HenLit Central, a blog focused on 'life and lit' for women over 40. 

AND NOW THERE'S ZELDA is her second novel after AND THEN THERE'S MARGARET (2022).

She has been an ESL teacher for over sixteen years and has co-authored several articles and resources with Cambridge University Press, MacMillan Education and her award-winning blog ESL Made Easy.

She lives in Toronto, Canada with her partner, Tony, her two daughters and bulldog, Sophie.

(ARC and media courtesy of the author)

(all opinions are my own)