Save What’s Left by Elizabeth Castellano
Published: June 27, 2023
Anchor
Pages: 294
Genre: Women’s Humorous Fiction
KKECReads Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
I received a copy of this book for free, and I leave my review voluntarily.
Elizabeth Castellano grew up in a beach town. She lives in New York. Save What’s Left is her debut novel.
It turns out, though, that life in Whitbey is nothing like Josie’s letters. Kathleen’s new neighbor, Rosemary, is cantankerous, and the town’s supervisor won’t return Kathleen’s emails, but worst of all is the Sugar Cube, the monstrosity masquerading as a holiday home that Kathleen’s absentee neighbors are building next door to her quaint (read: tiny) cottage. As Kathleen gets more and more involved in the fight against the Sugar Cube and town politics overall, she realizes that Whitbey may not be a fairytale, but it just might be exactly what she needed.
“I want to think anything is fabulous.”
Kathleen is recently divorced, and she decided to do something spontaneous. She sells her home and moves to what she thinks will be her dream beach house. But instead of a fresh start, a quiet life, and new friends, all Kathleen finds is an uphill battle against the zoning board and a neighbor who keeps her involved in the fight.
This wasn’t as funny as I was expecting. It was kind of heavy and a tad dark. Kathleen didn’t seem happy, and she just went through the motions with everything, even when she didn’t want to.
I found this more realistic than humorous, though there were some funny bits. Overall, it took me a while to get into the story and the never-ending fight with the zoning board.
For a debut novel, this was decent. The character development was fine; the scenery was described with excellent detail, making visualizing easy.