What do you do when you’ve had enough of the big city and want to simplify your life? You move back home to Oklahoma and head straight for small-town life in charming Guthrie.
That’s just what Beverley Green does. Only it doesn’t uncomplicate her life – it just complicates it in a whole new way. Beverley finds herself struggling with some of life’s larger issues, such as: - How do you resist a pair of blue sparkly eyes worthy of the best romance novel? - Does writing an article about Bigfoot really count as journalism? - How do you deal with a chicken who wants to kill you? - Does a Sasquatch Stakeout count as a first date? And if so, what do you bring in your backpack? - Where did the last Hostess Cupcake go?
Join Beverley as she discovers the joys – and frustrations – of small-town Oklahoma life. Has she made the biggest mistake of her life moving home? You won’t want to miss the answer.
Andrea Neil is the Amazon bestselling author of eleven books and writes lighthearted fiction about loveable late bloomers. She lives in Oklahoma but grew up in Southern California—and the latter will always be home in her heart. In 2015 she left a job in finance to follow her passion for writing and creating art. With age comes wisdom—or at least a few more stories to tell—and soon Andrea began self-publishing quirky novels with the intention of brightening her readers’ day. When she’s not trying to get her own words onto a page, Andrea edits other people’s fiction, eats dark chocolate, and goes on walks if the weather’s nice. You can find her at www.acneil.com.
This novel is about Beverly Green a native Okie who made her mark in New York City and returns to Oklahoma to kind of slow down a little bit and get back to her roots and chill out a little bit.
Chickens play a prominent part of the story. Especially one chicken with an attitude. So she moves to Guthrie, Oklahoma, the former state capitol (and still brooding about it) about an hour north of Oklahoma City. She opens a small bookstore but this being the gig economy and all she also gets.a newspaper gig as a side hustle and raises chickens.
Guthrie is a funky old town and is the perfect setting for this story. The editor at the local paper where she works has assigned her the job of reporting on a local Sasquatch sighting and she dreads it. She doesn’t believe in Sasquatches see, but she was also tormented in her youth by visions of the beasts.
She sullenly goes through the motion of pursuing the story, talking to local characters who believe in the creatures. In the meantime she keeps running into a man who she gradually becomes very attracted to. I guess that it what makes this a romantic novel. To me it is a romantic comedy and this part of the novel is hilarious. I haven’t read too much fiction before where a female character goes on in detail about why she is attracted to a guy.
I am more into thrillers, detective stories, and non-fiction but this book drew me in and I kept going. The writing just pulled me through was very sparkly and interesting from start to finish. The story involves a Sasquatch stakeout, chickens, and a kiss (a kiss is just a kiss right? or is it?) . It seems set up for a sequel or maybe a whole series.
I give this four stars out of four, or five out of five or however many stars you like. It’s a good read, and I hope there is another one from Andrea Neil soon.
You can get the book at Amazon or if you live in Tulsa at Magic City Bookstore. Both the physical book and the Kindle version, which I got, is are reasonably priced.
I think Bigfoot gave it five stars. Either that or he/she/they might just have been silently judging us all from their invisible perch deep in the wilderness. Hard to say.
I’m not saying Clan Squatch doesn’t exist. I’m just saying that definitive proof hasn’t been found in any of the years since we developed technology that can locate evidence of water on planetary bodies millions of miles away. Sometimes facts have no correlation. Sometimes they do.
Now that I’ve enraged the eighteen people that will buy this book mistakenly thinking that they are buying non-fiction, let’s talk about Beverley.
Do you want a book that will make you smile and amp up your desire to suddenly check out library books about animal husbandry? Bingo!
I’m not even sure my city allows chickens, but I want some. Thanks Bev! My neighbors are probably going to riot.
Would you also like to see how much small town charm can be squeezed from a box of cupcakes and a cup of coffee? Pick this one!
Guthrie, OK is that place everyone sort of dreams about retiring to on “some land” but nobody really knows what that means. It’s a place best described as cute, quaint, or charming. But not cute like when your friend has a housewarming party at her new studio apartment and the only adjective you can find to describe the place is “cute” aka so small that you’d have more personal space at an EDM club on half price drink night.
The book is perfect for Guthrie. Cute, quaint, and charming fit them both. If you want a light read with a lovable set of characters then you won’t be disappointed. Buy the book!
This was such a fun read! Beverley Green's world is filled with cranky chickens, quirky small-town characters, cute guys, great coffee, and a maybe-not-so-mythical-Bigfoot. Beverley just moved home from the big city and, desperate for fresh eggs, is trying her hand at urban animal husbandry in her hometown of Guthrie, Oklahoma. But poultry is the least of her troubles when she gets assigned a Sasquatch story that sets her on the adventure she wasn't even looking for. Andrea C. Neil's first installment of the Beverley Green series is a joy. Fresh and fun, great characters and fast paced, I loved every bit.
The cover was cuter than the story itself. The story was ok, quite predictable but the sasquatch part was ridiculous. It also felt slow at the beginning, nothing happened and then the last 20% all of the things happened.
I thoroughly enjoyed dropping into the life of Beverley Green. A first person narrative that’s easy to read. I look forward to seeing what’s next…Chupacabra…pet squirrel?
My goodness!! Technology is interesting! So I tried to rate Andrea aka Ace Writes with 5 Stars and messed up and left a 1 Star....WTF?!?
Anyhow, grateful a bit of time away from the screen AND a bigger screen (mini iPad versus 5C iPhone.....I know what you’re thinking....those still EXIST???), so I was able to research and fix!
I love the story of Beverley Green, but more than that I just love any writing by Andrea Neil...her blog, emails, funny & thought provoking Facebook responses....mostly enjoy real talk sometimes in a riddle of sorts with humor and thoughtful ideas to allow the reader to set aside their views and ponder a bit.
Looking forward to any next bit of writing, ACE. Namaste 🙏🏾
Witty, funny and so relatable. I enjoyed the book so much that I limited myself to 1 or 2 chapters a day. I didn't want the happiness to end too soon. I'm so glad the adventure series will continue. Andrea - stop procrastinating and give us more of Beverly Green!
Did you ever pick up a book for the wrong reason? Well, I did with this one. It sounded funny at the beginning, but with every page I read I could only come to one conclusion - why the **** am I doing this to myself?
There's Beverly, who leaves her carreer and the big city life behind her, only to live in a small city in a frustrating home with a frustrating landlord and she keeps frustrating chickens (which she shouldn't have, according to her landlord). She's frustrated because her bookshop doesn't actually sell any books and ... do you get my point? Everythings frustrating to the point that I've just given up.
I guess a lot of people consider 3 stars to be a terrible rating. For me, it is somewhat above average. I've read a number of books in which the heroine is a woman who moves to a small town from a big city in order to make a new life for herself. Beverly Greens first adventure follows that pattern. Beverly left a job as an editor in the New York publishing world to open a bookstore in Guthrie, Oklahoma. This one diverges from the usual path when the editor of the town's weekly newspaper assigns Beverly to write an article on recent Bigfoot sightings and Beverly discovers that everyone in the town insists Bigfoot is real. I couldn't imagine how this story would end so I stuck with it. It is a fun read with some quirky characters. I will look for other books by the author.
I have to honest here, I struggled through this book. Too many words to describe unnecessary situations. Four paragraphs to describe food falling from her sandwich on to her Kindle!? Seriously? And then another couple of paragraphs to describe her embarrassment turning to anger to be seen with said food in front of the handsome guy. Really? And he pretty much didn't say anything except offer a napkin and walk away.
I really really wanted to like this one. But don't take my word for any of this. I know based on reviews, I'm in the minority. Try it, you might like it.
A fun, refreshing,entertaining adventure. Midlife crisis or not moving hone seemed right, maybe not home with the parents but close. Unbelievable or not finding Bigfoot, nope not happening! My boss is kidding, what’s wrong with these people. Am I the only person who thinks they are loony toons! Did I just see Bigfoot?? Guess you will have to read and see!!!
It was a bit of a slog to read this one - long winded at times and when you get down to it not all that interesting. I never felt the author was all that invested in either proving or disproving there as a Sasquatch in the area and without that it was just another small town girl heads back home after living in the big city plot.
I rate this book as middling-good. I feel like I could come to like the MC. The woman's power of procrastination is stellar, and I'm totally on-board with that. I'm going to try book 2 and see how the relationships, friendships, community mature with time.
Beverly is differently a woman that questions every thing. Her inter thoughts was long. The story is fun. I liked that there is a Bigfoot sighting. I loved how she comes to terms living in a small town.
Fun but a little "frothy". I felt like some of the character and plot threads were left a little untied by the end (perhaps to be continued in the next book?). But I enjoyed reading this at the end of a long day and I would probably pick up the next book in the series...
This was such a fun book to read. I loved how easy it was to picture each character and had so many chuckles throughout the story. I definitely call this a must read. You won't be sorry!