Evvie Drake Starts Over

A Novel

By: Linda Holmes

Narrated by: Julia Whelan, Linda Holmes

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Read with Jenna Book Club Pick as Featured on Today • “Everything a romantic comedy should be: witty, relatable, and a little complicated.”—People

A heartfelt debut about the unlikely relationship between a young woman who’s lost her husband and a major league pitcher who’s lost his game.

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR

In a sleepy seaside town in Maine, recently widowed Eveleth “Evvie” Drake rarely leaves her large, painfully empty house nearly a year after her husband’s death in a car crash. Everyone in town, even her best friend, Andy, thinks grief keeps her locked inside, and Evvie doesn’t correct them.

Meanwhile, in New York City, Dean Tenney, former Major League pitcher and Andy’s childhood best friend, is wrestling with what miserable athletes living out their worst nightmares call the “yips”: he can’t throw straight anymore, and, even worse, he can’t figure out why. As the media storm heats up, an invitation from Andy to stay in Maine seems like the perfect chance to hit the reset button on Dean’s future.

When he moves into an apartment at the back of Evvie’s house, the two make a deal: Dean won’t ask about Evvie’s late husband, and Evvie won’t ask about Dean’s baseball career. Rules, though, have a funny way of being broken—and what starts as an unexpected friendship soon turns into something more. To move forward, Evvie and Dean will have to reckon with their pasts—the friendships they’ve damaged, the secrets they’ve kept—but in life, as in baseball, there’s always a chance—up until the last out.

A joyful, hilarious, and hope-filled debut, Evvie Drake Starts Over will have you cheering for the two most unlikely comebacks of the year—and will leave you wanting more from Linda Holmes.

Praise for Evvie Drake Starts Over

“A quirky, sweet, and splendid story of a woman coming into her own.”—Taylor Jenkins Reid, New York Times bestselling author of Daisy Jones & The Six

“Effortlessly enjoyable . . . [a] pitch-perfect . . . adult love story that is as romantic as it is real.”–USA Today

“Charming, hopeful, and gently romantic . . . Evvie Drake is great company.”—Rainbow Rowell, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Eleanor & Park

Great book!

There is little sexual content and the humor is light. This book is well written, engaging.

So Enjoyable

4 stars for the book and a 5th for how much I LOVED it. Loved it. And as usual, Julia Whelan made the fantastic dialogue and witty exchanges come alive beautifully.

Amazing! So happy for Linda Holmes

This book is spectacular, so well written and so full of genuine heart. I could not be happier for Linda, who I’ve listened to on her podcast for 6 years. This book is a triumph, so many congratulations!!

Awesome and engaging!

I have to say that this book is one of best I have listened to!
The humor and lightheartedness was so fun and I hated that it ended!
I sure hope this author will write many more books because I was disappointed to see this was her 1st as I had no more to read from her!!

Great read, altogether!

This is a really good book… Easy to read, great story and the incomparable Julia Whelan narrating. Excellent!