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Downsizing by Lin Stepp – Review & Giveaway

April 7, 2021 by Suzie Waltner 4 Comments

Downsizing JustRead Blog + Review Tour
Welcome to the Blog + Review Tour for Downsizing by Lin Stepp, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!

ABOUT THE BOOK

Downsizing Title: Downsizing
Series: Mountain Home Books #2
Author: Lin Stepp
Publisher: Mountain Hill Press
Release Date: April 1, 2021
Genre: Clean/Sweet Contemporary Romance

Forced to suddenly downsize her life, and not by choice, pushes Mary Pat Latham to give up all that is familiar, to reexamine her life in every area, and to eventually open her heart to new beauty and purpose, instead of only looking back in regret.

At midlife, Mary Pat Latham has an almost perfect life—a successful husband, a beautiful home, four fine grown children, and a wealth of meaningful activities and social clubs to fill her days—so it’s a total shock when her husband walks in one day and says he wants a divorce. As if hearing a stranger talking in her own kitchen, Mary Pat listens to Russell’s reasons for wanting to abandon their long marriage and to his plans, already in place, to sell their home and move on. What will she do? Where will she go? She hasn’t worked since the children were born, her life wrapped up in home and family. Stunned, Mary Pat heads to the small mountain home she and Russell bought from her parents years ago, too shocked and humiliated to face her friends or anyone she knows right now.

Owen McCarter knew he’d need to stop by the old Jennings place, on some pretense or other, after Wheeler told him he’d seen a woman up there acting sick. After all, the house was next door to his at the end of Highland Drive. When he knocked on the front door later, it took him a minute to recognize Mary Pat, weeping and so different from the girl he’d known in childhood and fallen in love with. Owen reached out in friendship, of course, seeing Mary Pat so upset, but he felt surprised at the old memories that touched him, too. Hearing her problems and learning why she’d come to the mountains, Owen knew it unlikely she’d stay for long after the more lavish life she’d known. But he couldn’t help wishing she would.

Another Lin Stepp novel set in the Smoky Mountains … with a special “Downsizing Diet” available free to readers as a book supplement.

PURCHASE LINKS*: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository

MORE BOOKS IN THIS SERIES


IN MY OPINION

As a person much nearer retirement age than adolescence, I really appreciate characters in books with more life experience, and Lin Stepp gives readers that and more in Downsizing.

From the first chapter, I couldn’t help but sympathize with Mary Pat. Her life is turned upside down in a matter of minutes and she’s adrift. I also couldn’t help but cheer her on when she makes a choice to improve her life or admire her determination to go after that goal.

And then there’s Owen—a man I liked the first time he walked on the page. His support and patience with Mary Pat are just what she needs and despite his attraction to the woman, his discernment is what sets him apart.

Stepp gives readers an insider view of the Smoky Mountain area that’s different from what the tourists see as well as an education in bear behavior. But at the heart of this story is the hope that that life goes on—and sometimes even improves—after devastation.

My Rating:

Disclosure statement:
I receive complimentary books from publishers, publicists, and/or authors, including
NetGalley. I am not required to write positive reviews. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

 


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lin Stepp

image credit Katie Riley

Lin Stepp is a New York Times, USA Today, Publishers Weekly, and Amazon best-selling international author, A native Tennessean, businesswoman, and former faculty member at Tusculum College, Lin has twenty-one published books, including her beloved Smoky Mountain and Mountain Home novels, all set in different Tennessee and North Carolina locations, plus a novella A Smoky Mountain Gift in one of Kensington’s Christmas anthologies.

Stepp’s latest novels, set around the Smoky Mountains, are Downsizing (2021) and Happy Valley (2019). Lin also has three novels set on the South Carolina coast in her Edisto Trilogy: Claire at Edisto (2019), Return to Edisto (2020) and Edisto Song (2021). Lin and her husband J.L. also write regional guidebooks, including a Smoky Mountain hiking guide and two state parks guidebooks for Tennessee and South Carolina.

Lin’s title Claire At Edisto was the 2019 Best Books Award Winner in Fiction: Romance, sponsored by American Book Fest, her novel Welcome Back a finalist in the 2017 Selah Awards, and Lin and her husband’s guidebook Discovering Tennessee State Parks a 2019 Best Books Award Finalist in Nonfiction: Travel Guides with American Book Fest.

Lin enjoys hiking and exploring out of doors and she loves speaking for events, festivals, libraries, and book clubs and sharing about her work and interests through her monthly blog and newsletter, both on her website at: www.linstepp.com

CONNECT WITH LIN: Website | Facebook | Twitter


TOUR GIVEAWAY

(1) winner will receive a Tennesee gift pack including a print copy of Downsizing by Lin Stepp, The Afternoon Hiker and Discovering Tennessee State Parks by J.L. & Lin Stepp, and a Great Smoky Mountains National Park pocket guide!

Downsizing JustRead Giveaway

Full tour schedule linked below. Giveaway began at midnight April 5, 2021 and will last through 11:59 PM EST on April 12, 2021. Winner will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. US only. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.

Giveaway is subject to the policies found here.

ENTER GIVEAWAY HERE


Follow along at JustRead Tours for a full list of stops!

JustRead Publicity Tours

*NOTE: This post contains affiliate links.

Filed Under: Book Review

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. JustRead Tours says

    April 7, 2021 at 10:54 AM

    Thank you for sharing your review! I’m glad to hear you enjoyed this one!

    Reply
  2. Kay Garrett says

    April 7, 2021 at 8:51 PM

    Thank you for your review on “Downsizing” by Lin Stepp and for being part of the JustRead Publicity Tours book tour.

    Sounds like a wonderful book. On my TBR list since I first heard about it and can’t wait to dive in reading.

    Reply
  3. Lin Stepp - Author says

    April 11, 2021 at 12:48 PM

    Suzie … Thanks for spotlighting my new Smokies title DOWNSIZING … and thank you, also, for your thoughtful and positive review words. So glad you enjoyed this new title … Best and blessings and happy spring …

    Reply
  4. Lin Stepp - Author says

    April 11, 2021 at 1:10 PM

    Suzie … Thanks for spotlighting my new book DOWNSIZING…. and thanks also for your thoughtful review. I know that you have read many of my books and I’m grateful you have enjoyed them. Hard to believe this is my seventeenth novel now!!! … and I’m still loving this author journey … Have a blessed spring. … All best, Lin Stepp – Author

    Reply

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