The Staycation

By: Michele Gorman

Narrated by: Karen Cass

Two families. One cancelled flight. And a last-minute house swap....

Things get desperate for strangers Harriet and Sophie when they become stranded with their families in Heathrow's Terminal 5. Each woman has her own reason for really, really, really needing the family holiday they've anticipated for months. But Iceland's volcano has other plans for them. When their flights are cancelled, the families swap houses and discover that sometimes the best things in life happen close to home.

This ash cloud has a silver lining, even if no one can quite see it yet.

For fans of Sarah Morgan and Sue Moorcroft.

©2020 Michele Gorman (P)2020 Orion Publishing Group

Charming & Enjoyable

Necessity is the mother of invention, so when a volcano dashes Sophie and Harriet's families' vacations, they come up with a house swap for a “Plan B". The city dwellers take over the farmers’ home and vice versa. Each family is well suited to their usual habitats, but they all make do.

While the story is a little funny, it was not nearly the raucous laugh-fest I anticipated. Sophie and Harriet develop a friendship of sorts, and through their phone calls, text messages and emails, and readers learn the details behind the importance of this family vacation. Staycation is a story of what it takes to make a marriage work and what doesn’t work in a relationship. I loved the development of Sophie and Harriet's self- and relationship-awareness. It was amazing to see how a cobbled-together, two-week vacation could spark so much growth and change in both women. A charming read that I truly enjoyed.

The audiobook is expertly narrated by Karen Cass.

Slow 'plot' - unlikeable characters

With the exception of the most minor figures, the characters populating this novel are simply unlikeable - and therefore impossible to care about. The plot itself has no substance - difficult to discern one, really. Chapter upon chapter of filler scenes - painfully prolonged, minute descriptions of spa treatments, for example. Not once, nor twice ... but ad nauseum.

In any case, narrator Karen Cass does make the listen worth it - but only barely. Worth purchasing if you're looking for some mindless nattering while engaged in activities that require a bit of distraction, but little attention.