On the heels of reading Viola Shipman’s The Summer Cottage and Nancy Thayer’s Family Reunion books back to back, I noticed two trends. First, readers are obsessed with stories about homes located in idyllic spots like Nantucket and Lake Michigan. Second, authors go to extreme lengths, not to mention the protagonist’s size.

Now, I like nothing more than watching a new homeowner knock down a retaining wall to open up space on HGTV but still, I get easily bored reading about an actual house like its the main character. I imagine that we all have a natural curiosity to know what type of people living in white elephants and cottages on the coastlines of oceans and lakes. Or even in the garden districts of cities like Savannah, Charleston, and New Orleans.  In both novels, the protagonists’ family have owned their property for several decades. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t mind inheriting beachfront property either, regardless of the home’s condition. However, I would hope owning a home wouldn’t be my only claim to fame or strongest personality trait.

Regarding the second issue, the ambiguous shape and size of protagonists in fiction. Several authors have mentioned their publishers have pressured them about the size and shape of the protagonists on Divabetic’s monthly podcast. Publishers either want authors to describe the protagonists in general terms or make their protagonists smaller in shape and size. For example, one author interviewed told me that her publisher forced her to make her size 18 protagonist a size 12. She stated that her publisher didn’t think it was believable for a size 18 woman to have a romantic life.

I admit that I found Viola Shipman and Nancy Thayer’s ambiguous references to their protagonists’ size distracting. Descriptions of both main characters lead the reader to believe their beautiful. Both characters also express their own dissatisfaction with their bodies too. But that’s about the extent of it. Both authors’ avoidance seems downright obvious. So what is the big deal? There are plenty of women who looks like the cast of ‘Sex & The City’ but still manage to have active, fulfilling sex lives.

A widow over seventy starting to date again is an exciting story regardless of her size! However, if I had a clearer picture of what she looked like, I think I would have enjoyed reading more about Eleanor’s dating adventures.

Strangely, there are many mentions of her displeasure with the softness of her upper arms but nothing else.

Eleanor struggles with her energy level, and lack of focus, and coping with financial matters as she ages.

A lot of Family Reunion is about accepting the aging process.  I found these passages to honest and heartfelt. Here’s a quick synopsis:

Eleanor Sunderland loves living on Nantucket, in a gorgeous cliffside home that has been in her family for decades. Yet this year she can’t help but feel a bit isolated, even as the island begins to come alive with summer tourists and travelers. Her best friend has skipped town on a last-minute cruise, leaving Eleanor feeling lonely and nostalgic about her family’s weekend trips to the island, made less frequently in the years since her husband’s passing. Now, her money-driven children contact her mostly to complain and to beg her to sell her beloved home for a steep payout. Hoping to kick the season off on a good note, Eleanor decides her seventieth birthday may be the perfect occasion for a much-needed reunion.

Fresh off the heels of her college graduation, Eleanor’s dear granddaughter, Ari, has just ended an engagement that felt less like true love and more like a chore. She longs for a change of scenery and to venture far from her parents’ snobbish expectations. Taking advantage of her newfound freedom, she heads to Nantucket to clear her head before graduate school, moving in with her grandmother and taking a job at the local beach camp. As she watches Eleanor begin to form a bond with an old acquaintance, Ari herself becomes completely smitten with a friend’s charming older brother. But just as grandmother and granddaughter fall into a carefree routine, a few shocking discoveries throw them off course, and their ideas of the future seem suddenly uncertain.

Eleanor and Ari make exciting connections, old and new, over the course of an unpredictable, life-changing few months, and learn to lean on each other through every new challenge they face in life and love, in this tale filled with Nancy Thayer’s signature Nantucket magic.

Here’s what we were snacking on while reading Family Reunion. Grilled romaine lettuce, with tomato and topped with Tabitha Brown‘s carrot bacon. Added a little olive oil to make a simple marinade for the dressing.

Tabitha Brown is an American actress and social media personality. She creates online video content incorporating veganism, humor, and motivational speaking. Brown has over four million followers on TikTok and over three million followers on Instagram as of July 2021.

Check out Tabitha Brown’s favorite bacon substitute is Carrot Bacon! 

As for her advice for others who are considering starting a vegan diet, Brown recently told our sister magazine Health that “food can be medicine, or it can be the thing that puts us in the ground…You have to start with your ‘why.’ My why was that I was sick. My why was life or death. I chose life,” Brown said. Sure, it will be challenging at first. “Do I still get cravings? Yeah, girl, right now I could see myself dipping a crab leg into some butter. But my why is strong enough. I say: ‘Be easy on yourself. Take your time. Don’t be hard on yourself. The world is hard enough already.'” Truer words have never been spoken, Tab.