Nice to Come Home To

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*A funny, entertaining novel of love and family for our times: a single woman who fears she's lost her chance at a family of her own, begins to accumulate an ad hoc one around her.* 
In the tradition of Elinor Lipman or Marisa de los Santos (Love Walked In), Flowers delivers a smart, witty, appealing story of love, family, and community that breaks the mold of the conventional love story-and will have readers cheering. 
Everyone around Prudence Whistler, thirty-six, seems to be settling down. Her once single girlfriends have married and had babies. Her gay best friend is discussing marriage with his partner. Even her irresponsible younger sister, Patsy, is the single mother of a two-year-old. But when Pru panics at losing her mediocre boyfriend of two years-and begins to see the door to her traditional family life closing-she accidentally finds something even better: a new definition of family and happiness. First, it's the crazy cat who moves into her apartment. Then come Pru's headstrong sister and two-year-old niece. Then the niece's dog, the sister's ex-boyfriend, and, ultimately, Patsy and Pru's widowed mother. With the strength of her modern new household, Pru musters the confidence to open the dress shop she's always wanted in town-and discovers an extended family of sorts in the community of shop owners and devoted customers. It's only then that she ends up with the man of her dreams. Endearing, romantic, and satisfying, Nice to Come Home To is a charming, crowd-pleasing debut.
**From Publishers Weekly
Though she's methodically navigated 36 years by making lists and plans, D.C. resident Prudence Whistler's carefully constructed life is about to get shaken up. She's let go from the nonprofit job that never did much to fulfill her in the first place. Then Rudy—who she's finally decided will suffice as The One—condescendingly dumps her. But before she has too much time to stew, her loved ones rally 'round: catty, coupled college friends; her younger sister, Patsy, the unmarried mother of a two-year-old; and John Owen, the in-divorce-proceedings diner owner Pru first encounters while schlepping Rudy's television out to the curb. This crew's the catalyst for a series of adventures and lifestyle shakeups that has retail-addict Pru wondering whether her love for fashion could deliver more than the latest Marc Jacobs dress. And then there's the ongoing coffee klatch at John's diner that inspires the big question: is Pru in the market for getting-each-other-through-a-bad-time-love with John, or is it time to stick her neck out for real-love love? Readers may find Pru's early bad luck streak contrived, but as her lovable friends and neighbors spring into action, the well-written story rounds out and rolls toward a satisfying finish. (Apr.)
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From Booklist
Flowers’ warm, winning debut, set in Washington, D.C., finds 36-year-old Pru Whistler down on her luck. She has been laid off her job, and her boyfriend, Rudy, whom she hoped was going to propose, unceremoniously dumps her. Lost and uncertain of her next step, Pru finds herself gravitating toward the local coffee shop and its handsome owner, John Owen, who is grappling with a divorce. Then Pru is stuck with her ex’s hellion of a cat and visits from her two-year-old niece after her sister Patsy, a single mother, meets her dream guy. Amid all the chaos, Pru takes a job as a salesgirl in a boutique clothing store and discovers her hidden affinity for fashion. Pru’s witty, funny observations and her attempts to pick up the pieces of her life and journey down a road she never expected to be on will have readers cheering her on in Flowers’ engaging, heartfelt, wise, and deftly written novel. --Kristine Huntley