Island Life Sentence // Carrie Jo Howe

published: 3/6/2018

pages: 183 (ebook)

ISBN: 978-0-06-239419-4

read: 2/7-8/2018

rating: LOVED IT!

book: 5 of 12 (secretly aiming for 52 but happy with 30) of 2018

SYNOPSIS

Peg Savage has contractually agreed to move to Key West, Florida. The smudged signatures on the damp cocktail napkin are irrefutable proof.
“An adventure…” her husband Clark says.

Peg can’t swim; she’s afraid of bridges (there are 42 of them); and she doesn’t want to leave her friends. However, after a bottle of Cabernet, a move from Chicago to the southernmost city in the United States seems like the best decision ever.

But now Clark has taken a long term job in Cuba and she’s on her own.
Neither her dog Nipper, nor the ghosts in the attic, offer up any good advice. But how hard can it be living in paradise?

Peg dives into island life but the more effort she makes, the wider her wake of catastrophes. She is tortured by a paddle board, a giant poisonous toad, the local Conservation group, and the patron saint of hurricanes. Not to mention the persistent sweat rash under her left breast.

A tropical depression descends on the island – one that can’t be cured with medication. Peg must gather her strength if she has any hope of surviving the storm.

MY THOUGHTS

first off!, thank you to Carrie & Brittany for getting me an advance copy of this book to review but please note that all opinions are my own. (low-key, I've always wanted to type that sentence!)

Eunice (@nerdytalksbookblog) recommended me on Instagram (i wasn't aware she even knew who i was) to Carrie's rep and that's how i got a free e-copy but i will be looking for a hard copy as soon as it's available.

I decided to give it a go after i couldn't get into the Whitney Cummings book and I'm so glad that i did!

this book is SO FREAKING FUNNY!

this is the book i should have had with me when i was on vacation in Cabo. all i wanted to do was sit by the pool/beach and just read a good book...just like everyone else was doing.

Peg moves to Florida after some incessant nagging from her husband and its as okay as okay can be for the first few days until her husband hits her with the classic "I'm going to Cuba to save them all" spiel. and then its just one thing after another after another and i mean, poor Peg. but you have to hand it to her, she does the best that she can with what she's handed.

AND SHE IS HANDED A LOT.

it starts out with her getting a warning from the lady who cleans her house and that just spirals her a bit out of control (i mean, she's already a little bit out of control given the changes but after what she hears, i don't blame her. I'd lose my shit too). you kind of forget about that subject until after all this random but believable stuff happens to her and then...then it hits you (its not so much a spoiler because its listed above...but I'm talking about ghosts.) and when i read it i was like wait, what *scratches head* but i kept reading (you know when you re-read stuff to make it make sense because the first time around, it doesn't really click? that's what the beginning of that chapter did to me.) and it made sense. and for a quick second i was scared thinking that all of a sudden it was going to take a dark turn (y'all know how big of a chicken i am) buuuut...it went by quick. she just chalked it up to the long day she had had.

after that it just gets funnier and funnier. some of the things that she goes through!

i get the occasional one here and there. but that many to one person in that short period of time! but still, i was at work trying so hard not to laugh out loud because some of the scenes!!!! so hilarious.

that coconut!!!

Jesus. that whole scene with Trudy at the bar! a) that bar they were in reminds me of a bar we went to in Cabo. tree, lights, characters and all. b) i mean, Trudy! where did you go!??

and that ending!

GAH!

serves Clark all right! but i think i love it more because we don't see how it ends on his side of the story. its all about Peg and Peg is all about being a bad ass (to me anyway).

i LOVED Peg. she's so funny and i love that through it all, she doesn't beat herself up. shit hits the fan but she stands tall. things take a dive but she stands tall (on land anyway, lol!) and handles it all.

but that scene with Nipper (her dog) at the end, i loved her for it. i would have done the same thing. i hope it never comes to anything like that but if it ever does, i hope i have her courage to do what she did....although she did have some help. but still....

the entire time that i read this book i just kept falling in love with Peg. and i love even more that when its time for her to woMAN up, she does.

i read this so fast and if it wasn't for the fact that i was up way later than usual and falling asleep because of that, i would have finished this book faster and in one sitting. i couldn't get enough.

the very next day when it was time for bed, i was upset that i no longer had any more Peg adventures to read.

because the book isn't out yet, i won't do my usual spoilers after the jump. I'll come back and add them after it's released but definitely give this book a shot and be ready to laugh at everything and for the entire time. i just couldn't believe Peg. I LOVE HER!

thanks Brittany & Carrie for an ARC.

i ABSOLUTELY loved this book!

thanks for reading!