The Hideaway is a wonderful story about love and choices after tragedy. Sara, who has a successful job running her own business in New Orleans, has her life changed when her grandmother Mags dies and leaves her the bed and breakfast which is called The Hideaway in Sweet Bay, Alabama.
She travels to Sweet Bay and takes on the task of renovating the building. The book is written in alternate chapters from the point of view (POV) of Sara in the present day as well as chapters written from Mags's POV with events from the 1960s.
The book really captures the atmosphere of losing a loved one and trying to move on. The author realistically creates the emotions of love, fear and shock as well as the grieving process as Sara sets about going through her grandmother's belongings, and, with the help of people who knew her grandmother, learns new things too. The relationship between Mags and her husband William is told in Mags's POV and is render and sweet but sad at times. It was exciting to see how the Hideaway ended up in the family in the 1960s and how it was passed down the generations to be inherited by Sara.
Thanks to the author and publisher for an advanced copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The book is perfect for anyone who loves stories about descovering family heritage and heirlooms, love loss and the challenges of moving on. If you like books with chapters written in multiple points of view and spanning decades, this book is also for you. A memorable, engrossing and relaxing read. A true "feel-good" book. What seems like a simple story is thoughtfully and cleverly turned into a multi-layered plot with some surprises here and there. Recommended!

The Hideaway by Lauren K. Denton
Source: Netgalley
My Rating: 5/5 stars
My Review:

I’m just going to go ahead and call it right now, Lauren K. Denton’s The Hideaway is on my list of favorite reads for 2017!! From start to finish, I was emotionally invested in this read and couldn’t put this book down!!

Margaret van Buren, Mags to her friends, is a fixture in her small town. In all her decades, Mags has come to be known as the slightly nutty old lady who owns and operates the once beautiful, but now rundown bed and breakfast known as The Hideaway. Mags is kind and generous, caring and devoted, and determined and independent. Most know The Hideaway to be more refuge than fully functioning bed and breakfast, but what most don’t know is The Hideaway was once a refuge for its long-time proprietor. In fact, if it weren’t for The Hideaway, Mags’ life may have been radically different.

For years, Sara has made her life in New Orleans where she owns a specialty shop and works as an interior designer. When time permits, and it often does not, Sara returns to The Hideaway to visit her grandmother, Mags. Never, not in her wildest dreams would Sara have suspected she would one day be the proud owner of The Hideaway. In fact, Sara has never considered returning home until she gets the call about Mags’s death. In an instant, everything Sara has known and built gets turned upside down as Mags’s will requires her to not only return to The Hideaway, but to restore it to its former glory.

With the decision made to renovate, Sara digs in and plays to her skills and talents turning The Hideaway into a beautiful home and a once-again fully functioning bed and breakfast. Digging through the old house and sorting Mags’s belongings gives Sara chance to understand her grandmother in a way she never has before. Sara find secrets and stories never told which impacts her own life as much as they did Mags’s life. With each new revelation, Sara finds herself feeling closer to her grandmother than ever before and seriously considering spending the rest of her life at The Hideaway.

The Bottom Line: I absolutely loved this book even though it made me cry 😊 The Hideaway isn’t just a story, but the recounting of the life of one woman who overcame adversity, sacrificed her own happiness for the sake of others, and made a place for herself in the world. Mags’s life was full of both great sorrow and tremendous joy and that all plays out as her granddaughter brings her beloved bed and breakfast back to life. This is a story of discovery, of love lost and found, of great caring and friendship, and overwhelming emotion. The past meets the present as Sara struggles to understand her own place in the world and learns to accept that what she thought she knew and wanted may not be what’s best for her in the long run. The Hideaway is a beautifully woven together tale sure to captivate the reader.

The Hideaway turned out to be an unexpectedly lovely read for me. I’ll talk about the ‘lovely’ first and get to the ‘unexpected’ parts at the end. You’ll see why, I promise.

The Hideaway fits very well into a particular sub-sub-sub-genre of women’s fiction/small town romance. This is one of those stories where a woman finds herself obligated to return to the small town she grew up in, after years away in some big city, to take care of some family something-or-other that is left behind when an elderly relative dies (or occasionally has a health crisis). And in the process of taking care of whatever-it-was, she discovers that the relative she sincerely loved but didn’t visit enough had some big secrets that she finds out about much too late, when that person is gone. And that her new knowledge of those secrets both changes the way she views that person, and makes her rethink quite a lot of her own life.

Especially since her return home usually forces her to confront whatever baggage she left behind – because it’s all still waiting for her back at what used to be home.

And for whatever reason, taking care of that final obligation always takes way more time than she planned, and in that time she has a chance to rethink her current life in whatever big city she now resides, the opportunity to fall back in love with her hometown, and the chance to fall in love with someone completely new.

Which also brings her to a major life choice; return to the life she left behind in the city, or stay in the small town she never wanted to return to with a new purpose and a new love.

This particular plot has become a classic for a reason – in the hands of a good writer, it makes a powerful (and lovely) story, as it does here in The Hideaway.

What makes The Hideaway (the book) and the Hideaway (the place) are the people and their stories. Especially Sara and her grandmother Mags. Mags has just died, and has passed the ownership of the run down Hideaway Bed and Breakfast, along with its slightly run down permanent residents, to Sara.

Sara, the proud but workaholic owner of a successful decorating shop in New Orleans, expects to wrap Mags’ estate up in a week, only to discover that it is going to take months to carry out Mags’ final wish that she restore the Hideaway back to its original splendor, and then either sell it or continue to operate it, however she sees fit.

The long-term residents of the Hideaway pretty much HAVE a fit. The four older residents discovered the Hideaway as a safe harbor 30 or more years ago. It’s their home as much as it was Mags’, and they all feel bereft, even though they all know that Mags did the right thing. It was, after all, her house.

But as Sara dives into the renovations, she discovers that there was a whole lot more to Mags’ past than she ever imagined, and that the things she believed, both about Mags and about herself, are not quite what she thought they were.

Knowing now what she didn’t know then, and what Mags didn’t know then, sets Sara free.

Escape Rating A-: The Hideaway is a sweet and lovely take on a tried-and-true trope, and it works very, very well.

The story (and its perspective) flips back and forth between Mags’ arrival at the Hideaway in the late 1950s, and Sara’s return to the Hideaway and Sweet Bay Alabama in 2016. Both stories have a lot of heart. They also mirror each other. Mags has a good life, but she misses her happy ever after. Sara still has a chance at hers – she just has to drop her old baggage and grab it.

On the one hand, there’s that saying about the past being another country, that they do things differently there. There’s also the saying that specifically refers to the South, that the past isn’t dead, it isn’t even past. Both those versions come into play in this story.

The world, and the options for women in it, were rather different in the 1950s than they are today. That Mags managed to carve a life of her own even somewhat away from the expectations of her parents was a major accomplishment for her and a huge disappointment for them in ways that seem almost quaint in 2017 – but were real at the time. That she fell short of the ultimate goal due to other people’s beliefs and expectations does turn out to be a tragedy, but not as big a tragedy as it might have been.

Sara, on the other hand, has the possibility of having, if not “it all”, then at least most of it. Her journey felt easier to identify with, but Mags’ story had more depth. Mags did the best she could in the circumstances she had, and managed to make a life and world for herself mostly according to her own desires. We wish better for her, but it is surprising that she got as much as she wanted.

And for readers, both Mags AND Sara’s journeys are at turns heart-rending and heart-warming, and we feel for both of them and want them to be happy. That Mags came so close but didn’t quite make it is heartbreaking because we care.

I loved this book. It made a neverending day at an airport absolutely fly by. But I was surprised that I enjoyed it so much, and by this point you’re wondering why. Most readers don’t pay a whole lot of attention to the publisher of a book, and with some exceptions, I usually don’t either. But there are a few genres that just don’t interest me, and one of those genres is inspirational literature, whether romance or nonfiction. The publisher of The Hideaway, Thomas Nelson Publishers, is a well-respected publisher of inspirational literature, specifically Christian inspirational literature. When The Hideaway was offered for tour, as much as the description of the book appealed to me, I just wasn’t interested if it was inspirational. I was assured it was not, and after reading it I completely concur, it isn’t. (There is nothing wrong with inspirational literature, it just isn’t my cuppa, and life is too short to read books that you know upfront are just not your jam.) The Hideaway is not an inspirational romance. It doesn’t have any of the characteristics that make a book an “inspie”. The romances in this book are both squeaky clean, but a well-done “fade to black” is a tried-and-true method of handling romance scenes. And I’d much rather read a well-done fade to black than a horribly or laughably written sex scene. But the lack of sexual scenes does not make a book inspirational. And The Hideaway isn’t. It’s just an excellent women’s fiction/contemporary romance story.

This does all lead up to something. At first, based on the publisher, I was expecting an inspie, and was pleased to discover that this book isn’t. But because I enjoyed it so much, I’m now concerned about it. My concern is about whether this book will find the audience it deserves, because of the publisher. People who look at Thomas Nelson for an inspie are going to be disappointed. And people who stay far, far away from inspirational fiction aren’t going to even look at this book, because of the publisher. It’s definitely a dilemma.

So go back to ignoring the publisher. If you like southern fiction, or small town romance, or stories where there’s a choice to be made between the life you have and the life you’ve come to love, read this book!

I was given an ARC of this book from the publisher and Net Galley for an honest review.

I enjoyed this charming book which told the story of a woman who opens her heart to love and life again after moving back home again to renovate her grandmother's B&B. In the process she learns the true life story of her deceased, eccentric grandmother. I really enjoyed the character and story of the grandmother Mags and wished that part of the book had been fleshed out a little more. She was quite an interesting character and I would have enjoyed reading more about her. Great Southern location. Grab and a sweet tea and a porch swing and enjoy this gentle read!

Love this book by Lauren Denton. How often have you read a good story with no cuss words or sex? This story brings Sara home to Alabama where she embarks on restoring the old B&B inhabited by her grandmother's old friends. Along the way, she discovers the past as well as romance. What a delightful first book for Lauren Denton.

The Hideaway by Lauren K. Denton is set in coastal Alabama and is about two women's stories told in alternating timelines. Mags' story is set in the late sixties and early seventies primarily and Sara's story is set in the current day. Mags is Sara's grandmother.

When the story begins, Mags has passed away and Sarah has inherited her home, The Hideaway. The Hideaway, began as a bed and breakfast under another owner and turned into a sort of commune under Mags. Random people visited and some never left. Mags was fine with that. Mags also allowed The Hideaway to become run down over the years and Sarah's task as requested by Mags, is to fix the place up to its former glory.

This requires Sarah to spend time back home in Alabama to oversee the project. Sarah left home as soon as she graduated high school and eventually established a business in New Orleans. The decision to stay in Sweetwater is not a simple one. While there, Sarah begins to learn about a Mags she never knew and wishes now that it is too late that she had. Mags' story is revealed in tandem with Sarah's progress with the house and her own romance that develops.

I really liked this book a lot and look forward to reading more by this author. She handled the two timelines very well and each of the two stories was as interesting as the other. This is not always the case in alternating timeline stories. Denton did it very well.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to read a copy of this novel in exchange for a review.

The Hideaway
Lauren K. Denton
Thomas Nelson, April 2017
ISBN 978
Trade Paperback

From the publisher—

After her last remaining family member dies, Sara Jenkins goes home to The Hideaway, her grandmother Mags’s ramshackle B&B in Sweet Bay, Alabama. She intends to quickly tie up loose ends then return to her busy life and thriving antique shop in New Orleans. Instead, she learns Mags has willed The Hideaway to her and charged her with renovating it—no small task considering her grandmother’s best friends, a motley crew of senior citizens, still live there.

Rather than hurrying back to New Orleans, Sara stays in Sweet Bay and begins the biggest house-rehabbing project of her career. Amid drywall dust, old memories, and a charming contractor, she discovers that slipping back into life at The Hideaway is easier than she expected.

Then she discovers a box Mags left in the attic with clues to a life Sara never imagined for her grandmother. With help from Mags’s friends, Sara begins to piece together the mysterious life of bravery, passion, and choices that changed her grandmother’s destiny in both marvelous and devastating ways.

When an opportunistic land developer threatens to seize The Hideaway, Sara is forced to make a choice—stay in Sweet Bay and fight for the house and the people she’s grown to love or leave again and return to her successful but solitary life in New Orleans.

When it comes to eye-catching book covers, The Hideaway is one of the best I’ve seen in a long time. Immediately, it made me think of summers on a Southern front porch of an old house with floor-to-ceiling windows and, in fact, that’s exactly what this book is about, an old house that’s as much a character as its humans. I’d like to acknowledge the artist but the advance reading copy I have doesn’t give the name. Whoever it is, kudos!

If it weren’t for the fact that running a bed and breakfast requires much more labor than I’ve ever been willing to do, it has always appealed to me but Sara’s reluctance to restore The Hideaway to its former life is understandable. Sara has her own life in New Orleans and she’s truly happy as an antiques dealer; at the same time, she loved her grandmother and there are memories in Sweet Bay, Alabama. It’s easy to see why she would be drawn in by her grandmother’s last wish, her directive for Sara to not only renovate the house but live in the house during the work.

Mags and Sara had different and yet very similar lives and as Sara’s time in Sweet Bay goes by, we see Mags through her own eyes and narrative. While their respective tragedies weren’t at all alike, the one constant is the importance The Hideaway played in their pasts and Sara begins to learn so much about Mags that she had not known before.

Ms. Denton’s debut is a charming tale of family and hidden lives blended with the sometimes annoying but always loyal people who become extended family, often more important than blood relatives. In essence, this is a tale of reaching for what one’s destiny can be and how those closest to us become embedded in our souls and anyone looking for a comfortable, easy story would do well to pick up The Hideaway.

Reviewed by Lelia Taylor, April 2017.

This book had an interesting synopsis and I was drawn to the cover. However, I couldn't emotionally connect with the characters and I got bored. I wish I would have enjoyed it more, but I just didn't.

I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.
We tend to think of our parents and grandparents as always being the way we know them after we come into their lives. We forget that they had lives, often quite different ones, before we were a part of them.

“The Hideaway” by Lauren Denton is the story of Sara who returns to Sweet Bay, Alabama after her strange grandmother, Mags, dies and leaves Sara her run down bed and breakfast that has become “a senior citizen commune with a revolving door”. Mags last request is that Sara return, use her talents and skills to renovate the house and property to its fullest potential” and live there while the renovations are taking place.

After returning to The Hideaway to fulfill her grandmother’s last wishes, she stumbles upon a box filled with curious items that belonged to Mags. These items point to a very different person than Sara believed her grandmother to be. Her first inkling that perhaps Mags was not quite who she thought she was occurred at the funeral where a photo of her is displayed. In it, Mags is in her early twenties and smiling at the person taking the photo in a way that clearly showed how much she loved the person taking the photo. Sara also realizes how much she resembles Mags… much more than either of her parents who died tragically when she was twelve.

“The Hideaway” switches from the present to 1960 where we learn what the items in the box are and how they made Mags into the courageous, strong woman that she became. During the course of the book, Sara questions what she thought of her grandmother and what she believes true happiness is and where it can be found.

I gave “The Hideaway” five stars. It is a beautiful story of love, kindness and becoming the person you were meant to be. Oh, and I loved the cover; it was perfect.

This was a nice story, alternating between a woman and her grandmother. It seemed a little drawn out to me, with a few bumpy spots, but overall a quiet, pleasant read.

Thoroughly enjoyed this book! Nice, relaxing read. Sara, who lost her parents at a young age, lived with her quirky grandmother, Mags, who owns a B&B in Sweet Bay called The Hideaway. Not your typical B&B. The guests here have lived in The Hideaway for years and are close friends of Mags. Mags has allowed to B&B to deteriorate over the years.
Sara escaped, once grown, to New Orleans where she owns a small antique store. Sara keeps in touch with her grandmother through phone calls and occasional visits. Upon learning of her grandmother's unexpected death, Sara goes back to Sweet Bay for the reading of the will, where she is surprised to learn Mags has left the B&B to her, along with funds and instructions to restore the house. Sara wants nothing more than to have the task completed and sell the B&B. Well, you know what happens to our best laid plans...
This is a must read.
I was given an ecopy of this book from the publisher, Thomas Nelson and Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

What a great debut novel. I absolutely loved this southern novel. The book has a great plot and characters. I can just picture this small Alabama town and the Hideaway.

This is a perfect feel-good read that you can sink right into. It would be a fantastic book to read during a day on a beach. I was in the mood for something light and uplifting, and that's what I got. This book is a little about love, but mostly family. It's funny at times, but mostly heartwarming without being too sappy.

Sara is a successful business owner in New Orleans. Her little shop full of odds and ends keeps her busy. Her romantic life is pretty lackluster, but she feels content in general... until she receives a life changing phone call. Her grandmother, the eccentric Mags, has suddenly passed away. She leaves behind what used to be a B&B and what is now a ramshackle house full of her long-time friends. In her will, she leaves the house and property to Sara and requests that she renovate it and return it to its former glory. This is the last thing Sara wanted to do. She didn't plan on staying in the little seaside town long, eager to return to her business in New Orleans. She does want to honor her grandmother's wishes, however, unwilling to go against the woman who raised her after the untimely death of her parents.

Soon, she's immersed in restoring The Hideaway, spending time with her grandmother's dearest friends. As she falls back into love with her childhood home, it looks like she may also find romance with the charming man she's hired to renovate. She's also unearthing old family secrets about her grandmother and the life she led, realising she didn't know the woman as well as she thought she did.

We also get chapters from Mag's perspective in the 1960s, starting as a well brought up woman in her early twenties married to a serial cheater. What brought her to The Hideaway, and what made her stay?

I received an ARC of this book from Net Galley and Thomas Nelson, thank you! My review is honest and unbiased.

The Hideaway is the first novel by Lauren K. Denton. Sara Jenkins has a bustling antique and design business in New Orleans. Three hours away is her hometown of Sweet Bay, Alabama and her only living relative, her grandmother Margaret 'Mags' Van Buren. Although she makes few trips back to Sweet Bay, she has weekly phone conversations with her grandmother.

The one Sunday they miss connections turns out to be the last time they could talk. A few days later Sara is contacted by her grandmother's attorney to learn that Mags has suddenly passed away. Sara plans for a week back in Sweet Bay for the funeral and reading of the will. Then she learns she has inherited her grandmother's home, The Hideaway, along with her senior residents, and is charged with restoring the former bed and breakfast.

With her business in the hands of her trusted assistant, Allyn, Sara embarks upon the task of restoring The Hideaway, finding contractor Crawford Hayes to carry out her plans. What Sara didn't plan for were the relationships she would establish with her grandmother's friends, the connection she would find with Crawford, and the discoveries she would make about her grandmother.

Her heart now belongs in Sweet Bay and no longer in New Orleans. That is until developer Sammy Grosvenor schemes to take away The Hideaway. How can she keep all that she has come to love? And how will a mysterious stranger come to her rescue?

With endearing characters, a plot of discovery, and a lesson in love and loss, this is an excellent first novel. I am in hopes that Ms. Denton will return us to Sweet Bay and these delightful people. I do recommend this book.

Sara is happy with her life running her own business, an antique shop in New Orleans, when she gets the news that her Grandmother Mags has died. Going back to Sweet Bay Alabama was not something that she had planned and so she intends to go there sort everything out and get back to New Orleans as soon as she can.

When she arrives to sort out the Hideaway, the old house that Mags ran as a B & B she realises that it is now a sanctuary for her old cronies rather than a going concern and Mags has stipulated in her will that she wants Sara to renovate it and return it to its former glory.

Setting out to do this as quickly as she can Sara starts to get embroiled in the life there and finds out secrets about Mags that she never knew - the motley assortment of residents start to become friends - so maybe she was a little hasty in her original plan

A lovely book with great characters that really draw you in so that you really care about what happens to them and shows the real values of friends and family

Storyteller Lauren K. Denton, a new voice in Southern fiction delivers a smashing debut, THE HIDEAWAY. Making me want to return to my southern front porch and curl up for a long leisurely nostalgic afternoon while being transported with this beautiful love story.

My vote for Southern Debut of 2017!

Set in Sweet Bay, Alabama in the Deep South, we meet Dot, a friend of Mags (Mrs. Margaret Van Buren), a tenant of The Hideaway. The Hideaway was once a booming Bed and Breakfast; however, over the years it has turned into a home for eccentric seniors (bohemian) style, artists, and the free-spirted looking for an escape; you came and never left.

As the book opens, Dot (husband, Bert) are seniors living at the house. She is admiring the latest Southern Living article featuring Maggie (Mag)’s granddaughter, Sara who owns a highly successful interior design shop in New Orleans.

People tend to arrive at this charming inn and they fall in love and decide to never leave.

Mag’s daughter, Jenny is deceased and she helped raise her granddaughter Sara. Mags was very unconventional and some called eccentric. Sara was embarrassed by her lifestyle growing up. Mags has never told her own story to Sara. By the time she had moved in with her at age twelve, Sara was at that critical age where there were peer pressure and friends’ opinions.

Sara turned out to be a stronger woman because of who Mags turned out to be. If Mags had remained under her parents’ thumb, worrying about how other perceived her, she would have been a wispy shadow of a real woman.

Sara loved the French Quarter in the Big Easy. She was proud of her shop, Bits and Pieces. She has no time for a man, relationship, or anything other than her shop. She has restored an old shotgun house and filled it with restored furniture, and antiques. A bit of everything. Her assistant manager, Allyn was always there to help out (loved him).

Her mind always went back to Sweet Bay to see Mags, her grandmother. However, she was too busy with the shop to visit more often.

However, when Sara receives the news from Mag’s attorney, she knows it is too late to spend time with her eccentric little grandmother. She had left her for greener pastures in New Orleans, but Mags was her only family. Her grandmother has passed always. Now she has regrets for not making the time.

What would happen to the house now that Mags was gone?

"The Hideaway was always full of friends and lovers, mothers and daughters, secret keepers, and secret-spillers, straight talkers and soft shoulders. We had hurt and we had joy, but I wouldn't have it any other way."

It had not been a proper bed-and-breakfast since she was a kid. As she got older, she became more aware of the unusual living arrangements. It might have been a legitimate B&B at one time, but over the years it had become a senior citizen commune with a revolving door. A long layover for people on their way to Florida retirement glory.

The old Victorian which was once a beauty, now in a poor condition. It was formerly in all the travel guides as the Southern Sight to See. They would all be shocked to see it now.

Sara soon learns she has inherited the inn and the resident seniors. She is to bring the inn back to its glory days. However, in the process, Sara soon learns there was much more to her grandmother than she ever knew.

The author takes us back to 1960's to learn about Margaret's parents, family and how she met her husband to be. The man she married. A man her family wanted her to marry. A banker. After he began cheating, over and over, she escapes to The Hideaway. A solace for many.

After meeting the original owner, whose husband died, the inn was not the prestigious Gatsby house it was previously in its hay day. Margaret comes under a false name and soon gives up the rich life, pearls and pillbox hats, for a simpler life. One she adored.

Mags meets William, a man who changes her life. A wood maker, who teaches her the important things in life. The man who held the key to her heart. However, her old life comes back to complicate things. She chooses the bohemian life, so different that the one she had previously. Mag’s past changed her from quiet to bold. Weak to strong.

Sara soon discovers more and more about her grandmother and the mysterious man in her life from the past. However, she may be more like her grandmother than she knows. She decides to remodel The Hideaway per her grandmother’s wishes.

In the process, she meets the handsome contractor which slowly changes her perspective. In addition, she encounters challenges with the residing seniors, now part of the family, and a developer who wants the land, after all the work. Plus she has her life and shop in New Orleans. She never wanted to return to Alabama. Much less run an inn.

However, just when she is about to wrap up the renovation and make plans to return to New Orleans, the old nasty developer is threatening to take away the historic dream, for a condo new project development, until someone intercepts, which changes more than one life. Sweet surprises for many.

Compelling and Inspiring! Rich in history, character, and lots of heart, Denton bridges the gap from past to present with a heartwarming and charming southern tale of family and friendship. The important things in life. A thought-provoking takeaway on a journey to self-discovery.

Do we really know our parents and grandparents? We all need to slow down, listen, and hear the intriguing stories from past generations which will enrich our lives while helping us to understand their struggles and sacrifices. After all, they helped mold us to become the person we are today. I loved Mags!!

For fans of southern, historic, Christian, women’s and contemporary fiction.

Those who enjoy authors: Viola Shipman, Nicholas Sparks, Beth Hoffman, Patti Callahan Henry, Susan Rebecca White, Mary Ellen Taylor, Lisa Wingate, Kristy Woodson Harvey, Mary Kay Andrews, Joanne DeMaio, Donna Ball, Debbie Macomber, Sherryl Woods, Laura Lane McNeal, Camille de Maio, Wendy Wax and Karen White, will enjoy this newfound author.

Well-written, a must read. The Hideaway resonates with me on so many levels. As a B&Bs, design, antiques, historic properties, plus more!

A special thank you to Thomas Nelson Fiction and NetGalley for an early reading copy.

JDCMustReadBooks

Favorite Quotes:

It might have been a legitimate B and B at one time, but over the years it had become a senior citizen commune with a revolving door, a long layover for people on their way to Florida retirement glory.


The Hideaway was always a hodgepodge of flabby arms, gray hair, housedresses, and suspenders.

Was that what I was doing? Running? It didn’t feel that way. It felt more like I was arriving.

Silence stretched between us, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. Rather, it was a space for dreams. For possibility.

The smell of his cologne was thick as cake batter.

For the first time I took him in from top to bottom. Movie star sunglasses perched on his head. Acid-green hair with blond roots showing. Red tank top tucked into black skinny jeans. Black Converse lace-ups. ‘You look like a Christmas nightmare,’ I said.

Don’t see too many girls around here who look so classy. No offense… But you kind of stick out like legs on a fish.

I’ve known real love and true beauty, two things not given to every person.


My Review:

The Hideaway, like its occupants, was quirky, complex, and delightful. I absolutely adored this book from start to finish. I was immediately pulled in and intrigued by these irresistible characters and couldn’t seem to read fast enough as I wanted to know every little thing about them, yet I also wanted to savor each and every word of this richly detailed, poignant, and artfully crafted tale. The writing was smooth and well-paced; while the story was unique, amusing, emotive, and compelling. I relished the ease and comfort in following the narrating voices, as well as the colorful depictions and lush descriptions of each scene and person. But the characters held my heart as they were fascinating, well-drawn, knowable, endearingly flawed, and divinely written. The storyline was full of feels, and more than once I felt my throat grow hot - causing me to gasp for breath while I wiped my eyes to continue reading. Lauren K. Denton’s word voodoo held me captive from page one until the satisfying conclusion, although, I now feel more than a bit bereft to leave them behind. I want to be like Dot and Major who had checked in at the Hideaway and just never checked out.

I love, love, LOVE when I find a brand new, debut author!! Lauren K. Denton is an outstanding storyteller, and her new novel, "The Hideaway" is a keeper! One of my favorites of this year, and Denton breaks tradition with more family relationships and less romance.

From the cover to the content, I loved every moment spent with this book. Sara and Mags, though separated by decades, are kindred souls. It just takes remodeling the inn to reform the relationship she could have had with her grandmother.

Denton also paints a portrait of family that is exquisite. Sara is alone, the final branch on her family tree; and yet she's not alone. The people that surrounded her grandmother end up being her posse by the end of the tale.

Be prepared to pray for imaginary people! When the unscrupulous developer comes calling, you'll want to take a swing at him and pray protection over Sara and her companions. Losing The Hideaway would be losing her heart, and Denton drags you in page after page.

What a wonderful story. I can't wait to read it one more time, and I'm giving "The Hideaway" my "Oh, The Feels!" award, and giving Lauren K. Denton my "One To Watch". Keep your eye on this writer--greater things are yet to come--I can feel it in my bookmarks!

I received a free copy from the publisher and no services or opinions were given in exchange.

Mark Your Place,

Deena

I really enjoyed this book. The characters were lovable and interesting. The book was written with two different women as the story tellers. Just a sweet fun read. I hope to read others by this author

First, I'm a suck for dual-time-line stories, and toss a family secret in there? I'm in. Denton's debut features two strong female protagonists: Mags and Sara. Both women, besides being related, are tied to the Hideaway-- a B&B in a little town called Sweet Bay.

Things I loved about this book: the descriptions, the swoony parts, and the food (oh man, this book made me so hungry).

Denton's debut is strong, and as sweet as the town it features. Loved the Mags plotline especially, and Sara was an easy heroine to cheer for.