A Million Little Things. Susan Mallery

Published:
Date: February 28th 2017
Format: e-ARC
Pages: 368
Genre: Women's Fiction
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Rating:
                      

Zoe Saldivar is more than just single-she's ALONE. She recently broke up with her longtime boyfriend, she works from home and her best friend Jen is so obsessed with her baby that she has practically abandoned their friendship. The day Zoe accidentally traps herself in her attic with her hungry-looking cat, she realizes that it's up to her to stop living in isolation

Her seemingly empty life takes a sudden turn for the complicated-her first new friend is Jen's widowed mom, Pam. The only guy to give her butterflies in a very long time is Jen's brother. And meanwhile, Pam is being very deliberately seduced by Zoe's own smooth-as-tequila father. Pam's flustered, Jen's annoyed and Zoe is beginning to think "alone" doesn't sound so bad, after all

    

A Million Little Things - #3 in Susan Mallery's Mischief Bay series, is a book I looked forward to from the time I knew it was in the pipeline. I had enjoyed the first two and was so ready to dive into the next one. And... it delighted me as much as the first two.

We have three women - Zoe, Jen and Pam. Zoe and Jen are friends, Zoe works from home and I loved the opening scene where she deals with a misbehaving ladder to the attic. Jen has a little guy who is perfect in every way, but... he isn't talking and she is worried. Surely by now that milestone should have been celebrated. Added to that she is hyper alert over every little germ and obsessive over organic food. In other words a bit of an uptight mess.  So much so it is impacting on her marriage and her friendship with Zoe.

We met Pam in the first book, a lively woman who had the sudden loss of her husband to deal with. She is Jen's mother and up until now has been worried about Jen and her anxiety over little Jack. However there is some likeness between mother and daughter, as Pam too has been a little on the anxious side. It becomes full blown when her son who she set up to get to know Zoe, meets a hiccup in his life that she just can't get her head around: she is in danger of losing her son if she can't give up her need to keep him safe.  Pam has until now had a good friendship with Zoe and Zoe kind of sees her as a mother figure, someone to go to as her own mother has died.

There are some great men in the book as well. Kirk is Jen's husband and he has taken on new work with the LAPD and has a new partner - Lucas, and Jen doesn't really approve of him. She has judged him on certain appearances and found him lacking. That changes through the story and it was one of the interesting aspects of proceedings. Steven - Pam's son is a great guy and I really liked him, he was strong minded and made his own decisions for happiness.

All in all I found this a very satisfying and enjoyable read. I liked the characters, their issues and the explorations of them. It was a perfect, light read.  Keep them coming Susan Mallery.