I am delighted to be participating in a blog tour for the very first time. This blog tour is hosted by Simon and Schuster’s Gallery Books, the publisher of “The Last Chance Matinee (Hudson Sisters #1)” by Mariah Stewart.
Many thanks to Melissa Gramstad, publicity manager for Simon & Schuster/Gallery, for inviting me to participate!
First off, here is …
My review
Three sisters are brought together by a shocking family secret and their father’s last wish.
Hollywood agent Fritz Hudson was leading a double life, with one marriage producing Allie and Des and the other producing Cara. Until they are called in to hear their father’s last will and testament, Allie and Des know nothing about Cara, and vice versa.
The will includes a generous inheritance for the three women, but there’s a catch – they must go to their father’s hometown of Hidden Falls, Pennsylvania, and restore the old theater where Fritz fell in love with the stage and with Allie and Des’ mother, Nora. If any one of the women walks away from the project, none of them receive a penny.
As the three sisters become acquainted with Hidden Falls, they come to discover a side of their father they never knew.
“The Last Chance Matinee” is a heartwarming read, full of surprising secrets, humor and lessons about what it means to be a family. Allie, Des and Cara have little in common except DNA, so the task of restoring the theater isn’t going to be an easy one. Allie, in particular, is a California girl who can’t stand Hidden Falls and is chomping at the bit to get the theater fixed up and go home to her daughter Nikki. Des is a single gal who’s been living in Montana and is passionate about rescuing abused and neglected dogs. Cara is a down-to-earth divorcee who runs a yoga studio in New Jersey.
Throughout the course of the book, the three of them start to warm up to each other, with the help of their aunt Bonnie (or “Barney,” as she likes to be called). And when sweet, bubbly Nikki comes for a visit, the walls between the sisters really start to crumble.
This book has a little bit of everything you’d expect from women’s fiction, and then some. There’s a heavy dose of romance (might I add, clean romance, which is so refreshing!), true-to-life humor, shades of mystery, and a lot of real talk between the sisters about relationships, life priorities and more.
I love stories about small towns, and in that regard, “The Last Chance Matinee” did not disappoint. There’s the one tavern in town, the town council meetings held in the back of the police station, the chit-chat at the gas station, the not-so-discreet gawking when an out-of-towner shows up, and so much more. The way Stewart portrays small-town life is charming, and never derogatory (unless Allie has something to say about it!).
Hopefully I haven’t given too much away, but I don’t think I have. I thoroughly enjoyed the first installment of “The Hudson Sisters” trilogy, and can’t wait to read the next one!
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
5 stars
Wanna know more? Courtesy of Ms. Gramstad, here’s …
The 411
THE LAST CHANCE MATINEE
Mariah Stewart
Publication Date: March 21, 2017
Publisher: Gallery Books
$16.00 Trade Paperback Original
ISBN: 9781501144905
Fiction
Book 1 in the Hudson Sisters series
Look for Book 2 in 2018 and Book 3 in 2019!
Praise for The Last Chance Matinee:
“The combination of a quirky small-town setting, a family mystery, a gentle romance, and three estranged sisters is catnip for women’s-fiction fans, and the backdrop of the faded movie palace adds a fascinating element to the story. Stewart’s lively, warmhearted series starter [The Last Chance Matinee] will have readers eagerly awaiting the second installment.”
—Booklist
“A good read, with a nice blend of mystery, family drama, and romance. Readers will look forward to the next installment.”
—Library Journal
About The Last Chance Matinee:
From the New York Times bestselling author Mariah Stewart comes the first novel in her all-new series, which follows a trio of reluctant sisters who set out to fulfill their father’s dying wish and, in the process, discover the truth not only about their pasts but about each other—and themselves—in a way that will forever alter their futures.
When celebrated and respected Fritz Hudson passes away suddenly, he leaves a trail of Hollywood glory in his wake—and two separate families who never knew the other existed. Allie and Des Hudson are products of Fritz’s first marriage to Honora, a beautiful but troubled starlet whose life ended tragically. As his relationship with Honora was unraveling, Fritz was simultaneously falling in love on the Delaware Bay with New Age hippie Susa—but while Fritz adored Susa and fathered daughter Cara with her, he never quite managed to come clean about his West Coast Family.
Now Fritz is gone, and the three sisters are brought together under strange circumstances: there’s a large inheritance to be had, specifically one that could save Allie from her ever-deepening debt following a disastrous divorce; allow Des to open a rescue shelter for abused and wounded animals; and give Cara a fresh start after her husband left her for her best friend; but only if the sisters upend their lives and work together to restore an old theater that was Fritz’s obsession growing up in his small hometown in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains. Will the sisters come together to turn their father’s dream into a reality – and will they come away with far more than they bargained for?
About Mariah Stewart:
Mariah Stewart is an award-winning New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of
Photo courtesy of author’s Goodreads profile
numerous novels as well as several novellas and short stories. She lives with her husband and two rambunctious rescue dogs amid the rolling hills of Chester County, Pennsylvania, where she savors county life and tends her gardens while she works on her next novel. Visit her at mariahstewart.com and follow her on Facebook.com/AuthorMariahStewart and on Instagram @mariah_stewart_books.
From the Preface, The Last Chance Matinee:
Everyone is familiar with the adage “write what you know”; it’s a saying that has dictated much of my decades-long career in publishing. But this time, it was what I (or rather, my mother) didn’t know that formed the basis for this first book in my new Hudson Sisters series.
When my mother was in her mid-forties, she received a letter from a woman named Alice, the wife of her recently deceased cousin Bill. Alice thanked my mother for the sympathy card she’d sent her, and finished her note by saying, “You do know that Bill was your half brother, right?”
Ah, no. She did not.
…Of course, I was fascinated. My grandfather died when I was four or five years old, and I have very little memory of him other than his deep, hearty laugh. I’ve been thinking for years that this foundation of a love child and secret siblings would make a great story; but not knowing all the facts, I was free to fill in the blanks—and so I did. Years passed before I felt I had the right story in my head. This is that story. I hope you enjoy my version of what could happen under such circumstances.
—Mariah Stewart
Monday Matinee Giveaway:
Follow XOXO After Dark on Twitter (@xoxoafterdark) Mondays in April to see which blogs on the blog tour will host a giveaway for The Last Chance Matinee: April 3, 10, 17, 24! #MondayMatinee
Events with Mariah Stewart:
Sunday, March 26th, 4:30 pm
“An Afternoon With The Author – Mariah Stewart”
Hockessin Bookshelf
7179 Lancaster Pike
Hockessin, DE 19707
Wednesday, April 5th, 6:30 pm
The Doylestown Bookshop
16 S. Main Street
Doylestown, Pa 18901
Tuesday, April 11th, 7:00 pm
Towne Book Centre
220 Plaza Drive – Ste B3
Collegeville, PA 19426
Note:
Mariah Stewart’s separate series, the bestselling Chesapeake Diaries, has been a favorite with readers since 2010. The eleventh installment, The Chesapeake Bride, will publish August 29, 2017.
Complete blog tour schedule
March 21st
USA Today Happy Ever After – Down & Dirty Q&A
March 22nd
March 23rd
The Librarian (Authors on the Air Global Radio Network) – Interview 7:00 pm ET
March 24th
March 25th
March 26th
March 27th
March 28th
March 29th
March 30th
March 31st
April 1st
April 3rd
Visit @xoxoafterdark for Monday Matinee Giveaway! #MondayMatinee
April 7th
April 10th
Visit @xoxoafterdark for Monday Matinee Giveaway! #MondayMatinee
April 14th
Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers
April 17th
Visit @xoxoafterdark for Monday Matinee Giveaway! #MondayMatinee
April 21st
That Book Lady Blog 
It feels somewhat cruel to me that the dad had two families, both of which he denied relationships because he kept them secret, and then took the cowardly way out and made them meet each other and fight it out after his death, ask in the band of money and hitting his love for ONE of their mothers. How awkward for Cara
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