Do Me a Favor begins as all great books do, with a dog.
Okay, that’s probably not true of all great books, but this one does begin with Willa finding a dog in her garage during a thunderstorm. The dog, named Noodle, belongs to Hudson’s semi-adult son. Hudson comes to get him (a couple of times because Noodle loves a garage adventure) and Hudson and Willa start to connect.
I really enjoyed Cathy Yardley’s Ponto Beach series, but I am loving her books with older protagonists. She does such a good job of getting into the complexity of forming new relationships after 40 while keeping her story light.
Okay, light-ish. Willa is a widow who is still recovering from being the caretaker for her older husband. She’s trying to piece her life back together financially and emotionally. She has inherited her great aunt’s house on an island in Puget Sound and is living there while she decides what’s next and while she ghost writes a cookbook for a shirtless social media influencer. Hudson has been the island’s handy man, but as new money is starting to buy houses on the island, he’d like to switch to being a contractor and make more money. His kids are young adults now with his son trying to make it in LA, and his daughter and his mother run the family farm stand. Willa hates asking for help. Hudson likes to jump in and solve problems.
The two start to build a friendship as Willa starts to come back to herself. The two are tentative about jumping into a romance because Willa might now be able to afford to stay and even if she does stay, what if the romance fails and then they are stuck as neighbors? I loved watching these two inherently decent people fall for each other while they also figure out who they want to be in the next phase of their lives. I love that Willa insists that before they commit to a future together, they need to take time to pursue their own dreams. Willa had allowed her husband’s passions to direct their lives and while it had been wonderful and exciting in many ways, it had left Willa in debt and exhausted after he died. She needs to be sure that she is co-piloting her next relationship. Hudson has put aside his own dreams to raise his children (with a lot of help from his parents) while his ex-wife went to law school and worked on her career. Side note: Hudson’s ex isn’t made into a bad guy.
I also love that Cathy Yardley understands the purpose of a third act break-up and uses it to very good effect here by making it more of a pause than a break-up.
I received this as an advance reader copy from Montlake and NetGalley. My opinions are my own, freely and honestly given.