Dolly All the Time
Dolly All the Time ~ Annabelle Monaghan
Dolly is the single mom to a 13 year old boy, Gus. She teaches kindergarten in Boston, but is spending the summer at her father’s Rhode Island home, repairing damage from a small fire. Struggling to make ends meet, she supplements her income by driving for Uber and working in customer support for a tiny company that specializes in weighted vests. She also helps out with her father’s seafood business. Years earlier, her mother persuaded him to expand the company, then abandoned the family when the venture failed, leaving him deeply in debt. Now the house needs a new roof to avoid being condemned, and Dolly has no idea how they will afford the $50,000 cost.
While delivering shrimp by bicycle to the ultra-rich Whitfield family, Dolly comes across Stewart, the presumed heir, stranded with a flat tire and a dead phone. He’s having a horrible day – his fiancée has left him for a famous baseball player, and due to the family’s prominence, a photo of her kissing the baseball player has landed on Page Six of the New York Post. Dolly is a can do type, and helps him to change his tire, while teasing him about not being able to do anything for himself. The next day he comes to the seafood shop to proposition her – will she pose as his girlfriend for the rest of the summer, in order to convince the family (and the board of directors) that he is dependable enough to become CEO when his father retires?
We all know where this is going. We saw Pretty Woman. It’s the getting there that matters, and I’ll admit that I enjoyed the ride. I enjoyed the relationships between Dolly and her family members. I liked the growth that both she and Stewart went through in healing some of their more fraught familial relationships. I liked their relationship with each other, and the sweet way they fell in love. I liked that the issue that almost breaks them up (I mean, we knew that was coming, right?) isn’t just both of them not talking to each other, though there is a little bit of that. Overall a good read. Recommended.
18 Comments
Elisabeth
This is on my TBR (I still have at least a month wait, I think)!!
I’ve heard such good things! I REALLY liked Norah Goes Off Script and I’m excited for this book, though admittedly romance is not really my genre.
J
I always say that Romance is not really my genre, but then I read a good one and yeah, I’m sucked in. Maybe it’s kinda my genre, lol.
Lisa's Yarns
I ADORED this book, but I am a big fan of the author’s works. I’ve read all of them except one that has an infidelity plot line (something I don’t care for, especially in a romance!). This was just so delightful and I loved the setting!
J
I’m glad you enjoyed it so much! I enjoyed the setting as well. This is the first of her work that I’ve read.
NGS
Everything Elisabeth said! Nora Goes Off Script is one of my favorite romance novels of the 2020s. I can hardly wait to read this one!
J
Well, you and Elisabeth have convinced me. I just put Nora Goes Off Script on hold. It’s 4 years old, and has a 10 week wait, which is saying something I guess. By the time I get it I will have no idea who suggested it to me, so don’t be surprised if you get zero credit if/when I write it up.
Nicole MacPherson
I’m in the holds queue for this one, I do like this author.
J
I had no idea she was so popular, this is the first time I’ve read one of her books.
Michelle G.
This sounds good! It’s going on my list!
J
I think you will enjoy it!
ernie
I listened to this on the drive to/from SC. Delightful. I enjoyed the side-kick characters, like her friend. I am not one to read romance usually, but this was sweet and fun and had enough going on that it sucked me in, even though we know something is gonna run amuck.
J
I’m glad you enjoyed it! I also listened to it and thought that was a good way to go.
Diane
This book was in a Little Free Library at the pool. I couldn’t believe such a recent release was there, so I snatched it up immdiately.
I LOVED this book so much! All the characters, the rich guy fantasy, but also the single mom still going to work every day, the writing… I’ve re-read this three times already because I just loved hanging out with Dolly and Stewert and Gus and everyone so much.
I then immediately went to the library and got Nora Goes Off Script, which was also a delightful swoony read. The characters aren’t as well defined, in Nora Goes Off Script, but the story is just as good, I thought. Now I just want to read all of Annabel Monaghan’s backlist.
J
You read it 3 times already? I FEEL SEEN. I do this sometimes, too.
I now have Nora Goes off Script on hold via Libby, but it’s a long wait.
Suzanne
I like to credit Nora Goes Off Script with getting me into romance novels — I NEVER would have considered myself a “romance” reader prior to that book, but it was the perfect gateway. I thought Dolly All the Time was darling. A little silly/outlandish and predictable, sure, but charming and fun nonetheless.
J
Back in my 20s I used to like Danielle Steele. I blamed my college major at the time, which was Comparative Literature. I loved it, but sometimes I just wanted to read something dumb, which her books always were. So yeah, I’m thrilled to find romances that are actually good reads!
Tobia | craftaliciousme
Alright this goes on my TBR. I read her previous books and they are great entertainment. Thanks for the recommendation. I wasn’t aware there is a new book by her.
J
I’m late to the party regarding this author, but late is better than never.