e-ALC, 12:18:45
Narrated by: Teddy Hamilton and Joy Nash
Release Date: July 21, 2026
Published by: HarperCollins
Read from: July 17-19, 2026
Stand-alone
Source: Libro FM (I received this ALC for free from the publisher and Libro FM. This did nothing to influence my review.)
Content Warning: Sexual Content, Grief, Death of a Parent, Death, Cancer, Toxic Relationship, Chronic Illness, Fatphobia, Vomit
For Readers of: Adult, Audio, Body Diversity, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary, Dual Narrators, Dual POV, Most Anticipated, Realistic Fiction, Romance, Family Diversity (Loss of a Parent/Grandparent as Caregiver)From #1 New York Times bestseller Julie Murphy comes a heartfelt and hilarious tale of a woman who thinks life and love have passed her by until she’s thrown into her grandmother’s quirky world of octogenarian free love and gets a second chance with the one man she never expected to see again. Perhaps it’s never too late to play the opening credits…
Welcome to Starlight Palms, a favorite retirement facility among Hollywood actors and industry professionals tucked away just outside of sunny Palm Springs. Filled with forgotten scream queens, eccentric screenwriters, and heartthrobs of the past, it has a brand-new resident: Vera Stein, age forty.
Vera knows she’s missed her chance at a life worthy of the silver screen, just like she missed her chance at ever finding true love. But Vera isn’t one to take chances. She’s spent most of her adult years caretaking for her dying mother and her movie star boss’s ego. Now abruptly houseless and jobless, Vera has nowhere to land, so to grandmother’s house we go!
The Starlight Palms Senior Living Center is midcentury Hollywood down to its pastel-painted bones. This desert gem isn’t lacking in saucy plot twists (swinging seniors, anyone?) or a leading man: Elias Buckley, the on-site doctor and Vera’s former ill-fated college fling and—for reasons that will stay in Vegas—legally her ex-husband according to the state of Nevada.
It’s not long before Vera falls into a job as the activities coordinator and under the spell of a certain smart-mouthed doctor… Suddenly all those empty years in LA look less like mistakes and a lot more like backstory. With a fresh start at her fingertips, Vera begins to see that even with all the detours she’s taken, there’s still a Hollywood ending (and maybe even a happily ever after) in sight…TROPES
– Second Chance Romance
– Workplace Romance
– Multigenerational Family Drama
– Forced Proximity
– New Lease on Life and Spice
*MY THOUGHTS*
This was incredible. I know this sounds so cliche but I had so much fun reading this! I haven’t been in the mood for a romance, but I still gave this one a try and man it was everything I wanted it to be. I can always count on Julie Murphy to take care of business.
The humor in this is what made this for me. I have to tell you I spit my damn water out when she walked in on him doing the do with…. Well you’ll have to read it for it to make sense lmao just know I had to put the book down for a little because second hand embarrassment LOL And of course Ruby had me laughing the whole book too. I really wish I had the balls she did because mannnnn Ruby was LIVING! That clown car comment from Vera in the beginning had me laughing so hard I had a stich in my side. Maybe I’m a child, but I thought this was funny as hell lol
The romance was cute, but I did want more. Like they spent the whole book getting in their own way. I wanted to see them together more. I know part of this had to do with the fact that they were against a timeline and trying to get both sides of that, but I think a few more chapters showing they were together and what happened with the one she let go. I just Idk, I hate when things are left up to me because I can’t make those decisions LOL And I mean, this man even told her, “I don’t want the girl you used to be, Vera. I want the woman you are.” GAH I yelled at her from my couch, “MARRY HIM!”
This also was a great story to talk about family with as well. Her and Ruby’s relationship was so strained, but it was also so real. And I loved the way they worked everything out without really saying much of anything. They were toxic, but they realized that and moved accordingly. She was trying to run Ruby’s life but got mad because Ruby was trying to do the same to her. They found what worked for them and I was happy they finally did. It opened up both of them to find the love they deserved.
This also made me think of the age old argument of second chance romance. Does it count if they weren’t together but it just wasn’t the right time? I think so, but I know not everyone does. Or does it only work if they were in love and in a relationship before? I think it should count if it wasn’t the right time. Especially in couples like this. So I just wonder, what would y’all call it?
This book is such a good time. I want to talk to y’all about so much of it, so I need y’all to hurry up and put this on your radar! If you haven’t read it, I need you to get on that. Where else are you going to find this kind of weirdness in Vera and Ruby? lol
Overall, I give this
