Mark just found out that his Aunt had died and for some reason left him all of her property and stuff. He had not heard from her since he was a preteen. So he made the trip thinking he would have everything ready to go and be out of Manistique in a weekend and not have to be back. Well things did not go smoothly. His Aunt ran a bed and breakfast and had reservations for people. He while being grumpy is nice and let’s people stay. Dr. Emily is going on a getaway to make up her mind on what to do in the personal relationship situation that she is in. In the process she hits a deer or as she says they deer hit her. Being in a small town the car fix is not a fast or easy process. She ends up at the Bed and Breakfast staying with Mark. Since she does not have a car and is not old enough to rent a car Mark drives her around some places. They both end up working things out in their lives and become friends in the process and become each other’s family. There of course are shenanigans along the way though.
I did not know what to expect of this book but I was pleased once I read it. It was a great showing of a growing friendship that was strictly platonic and sibling like.
At one point one of the big mysteries of the book I did figure out but it was just an inkling at the back of my mind. I am glad that I got it right though.
I got this book for free to read from netgalley in exchange for an honest review. The opinions in this review are 100% my own.

This book read like a play, with pages and pages of dialogue and a comedic tone. I could see it set on a stage and performed in the Michigan U.P. for the local Yoopers. There's lots of local color, they'd get a kick out of it.

Solid 4 stars.

I enjoyed the premise of this book. Some strange but interesting characters, and some quite funny parts. Loved that the main male character had a major phobia, and finally shared it with the main female character. The story was plausible and enjoyable. I don't want to give too much detail, I hate spoilers in reviews; but I do recommend this book!

First let me say that I received an advance reader copy of this book but that did not affect my opinion in any way. This was a nice read, not the type of book that I usually read but I enjoyed it. Would have liked for the ending to be a bit different but hopefully there will be a sequel to answer the questions that I have which means that the book was good enough that I will read the sequel if there is one. Job well done!

What a book. Keeps you engaged in the story to the very end. The characters are well written. There is a little bit of humour in it. So you will have a little giggle. A must read.
Thank you to both NetGalley and Celestial Eye Press for my ARC in exchange for my honest unbiased review

Stick in Manistique is a light and funny mystery. How would you feel if you inherited your aunt's residence and it ended up being a bed and breakfast? Well read this and you will find out. I would read future books by Dennis Cuesta.

I was interested in this book because of friends I have from the UP. It did not disappoint. The story included death, love, fear, humor, confusion, and an ending that didn't. I highly recommend this book for anyone who lives in the UP or anyone, like me, who is interested in learning more about Northern Michigan. After reading the book, I put the UP on my "Must Visit List." And as I write this, I've discovered that what I really liked about this story is that it is about normal people with all our successes and failures. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. I found some minor editing problems, but the story more than made up for it to keep it at five stars.

Stuck in Manistique felt like a warm sweater on a brisk fall day. Nice, comfortable characters just strolling through their lives trying to do the best that they can do. I loved Mark and his quirky comments. I wish I had seen Fawlty Towers so I could totally understand all of his references. Emily felt like everyone’s little sister- that happens to be a doctor. All of the B&B guests and town residents were wonderful. All in all a great read

I received this book from Netgalley for an honest review. It was a fun read and not at all what I had expected. Fun characters caught in unexpected situations at a B&B that's not quite open for business.
Quite a bit of humor and a nice surprise at the end. I enjoyed the book.

This was an adorably, cute read. It had depth to it, but the characters kept what may have been rather intense situations, fun. The ensemble of characters made this book. Their relationships, the way they all were intertwined...Stuck In Manistique was just a GOOD read.

This book is just quirky and fun. I loved the characters. I loved the vulnerability and the way they shared their lives with one another. This is just a feel good story.

I grew up in Michigan and am always attracted to books about my home state. Choosing a book based on location is probably not the best way to pick a book and I have read some pretty bad books set in Michigan and some fantastic ones. Luckily, this book is one of the good ones. The descriptions of the UP of Michigan are so well done that you feel like you're there driving down the highway with nothing to see but trees and more trees. The plot is well done with lots of surprises and the book is full of quirky characters that will keep you laughing.

Mark goes to Manistique from Chicago to close his aunt's estate and sell her house. He had no idea that her house was really a bed and breakfast until Emily rings the door bell and asks to stay there while her car is being fixed. She was on her way to Chicago for her medical residency when she hit a deer that broke her windshield. After Mark agrees, several more guests show up and even though he planned to leave in a few days, he stays longer to help out the funny bunch of people who stay in the b&b.

This wonderful book is about the often unseen connections between people and its about family and love. This enduring debut novel has me looking forward to future books by this author.

Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.

The new debut novel by Daniel Cuesta was a delight to read. It’s written with a bit of slapstick and plenty of references to the British sitcom, Fawlty Towers. I’ve never watched that myself, but it did not take away from Cuesta’s story, other than I may not have gotten a joke or two.

When Aunt Vivian dies, her nephew Mark must go to Manistique to settle her affairs. As a child, Mark had been close to his Aunt Vivian, but as he grew older they had lost touch, so Mark enters into the details of her estate with limited information about her life in recent years.

Meanwhile, Emily, a young doctor, has a collision with a deer and ends up in Manistique needing to get her car repaired and needing a place to stay for the night.
As luck would have it, she ends up at the Victorian Manistique, which is the bed and breakfast Mark’s Aunt Vivian owned. He allows her to stay the night out of sympathy, even though he has no plans to run the bed and breakfast and wants to sell it as quickly as possible.

Through the course of a few days, various people come and go and the situation for Mark and Emily undergoes a drastic change. A bit predictable, but also a bit of a surprise, this was one I enjoyed reading.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Celestial Eyes Press for allowing me to read an advance copy and give my honest review.

Stuck in Manistique by Dennis Cuesta is an upcoming novel that I had the pleasure of receiving an advanced readers copy of from NetGalley. Mark has just discovered that his aunt has passed and she has left her entire estate in his hands. He travels far north to the Upper Peninsula in Michigan to get his Aunt Vivian’s affairs in order and learns she has been operating a bed and breakfast. A woman named Emily arrives to the B&B asking for a room and Mark doesn’t understand why he finds himself agreeing to let her stay. A medley of colorful guests start arriving much to Mark’s dismay, unaware that Vivian has passed away. As Mark tries to wrap up his time in Manistique, he finds himself drawn to both Emily and the town. As they spend more time in Manistique, both learn they may have greater purpose in the town after all.

This was a delightful light read that made my heart smile. I really liked this book and would recommend it to anyone looking for an upbeat, enchanting read. You’ll fall in love with Mark, Emily and all of the other vibrant local townspeople. In a small remote town where everyone knows everyone, Manistique will feel familiar to fans of Gilmore Girls’ Stars Hollow. I finished this in almost one sitting and would recommend this to anyone looking for a “feel-good” story to get lost in for awhile. Stuck in Manistique will be released on October 29, 2018.

Summary:

          Mark Never meant to stay long in Manistique.  All he needed was to set his aunt's affairs in order and return home.  He didn't know her well, as she was always in far away areas working for Doctors Without Boarders, but how much could she have amassed?  Should be an easy job, a few days tops.  Fate has other ideas.  Aunt Vivian was using her old Victorian (that she left to Mark) as a bed and breakfast.  

          Despite all attempts to cancel reservations and tidy up affairs, rooms keep filling.  A young doctor with a broken windshield and wounded soul, an escapee from a senior's casino tour and an electric car enthusiast.  Add the mysteries of Vivian's life and the eccentricities of the locals, and you've got yourself a bit of splendid chaos.

My thoughts:

    I am a huge fan of books with interesting, well developed characters.  Bonus points if you've got some witty dialogue and play between characters.  Combine all of that with a great plot and engaging story?  You have Stuck in Manistique.  It has a lot of emotions, pain, grief and guilt- but it balances it well with humor, warmth and acceptance.   I absolutely adored this book.  It really did have everything I look for in a literary fiction novel.  The characters are well developed, delightfully odd, and fantastically balanced.  You don't want to let them go, and seeing the end of the novel broke my heart.  I could have stayed in Manistique with these characters for ages!  For me, this is a five star book with an extra one for creativity.  

       On the adult content scale, there's some drinking, mild language and some heavy issues on the doctor's side.... nothing that would keep me from handing this book to a teen if they wanted to read it.  I give it a three.

     I was lucky enough to receive an eARC of this book from Netgalley and Celestial Eyes Press in exchange for an honest review.  My thanks!

I really enjoyed Stuck in Manistique by Dennis Cuesta.

The stories of Mark and Emily were very interesting and they were great characters. I found myself liking them right away and was quickly drawn into the story.

I learned many things about the Upper Peninsula of Michigan that I hadn't known before and so that was fun also. This is a sweet story, one that will tug at your heartstrings and make you wish you were there.

I guess I do not share the same sense of humor or definition of quirky and light-hearted fun that everyone giving this five stars has... I found it more depressing than funny. The little bit of humor was like "ba-dum-ching!" jokes that brought maybe a chuckle. And it was more like you gotta laugh cause otherwise this would be miserable. Light-hearted and fun is the last phrase I'd use to describe this book.
Maybe it would be funnier as a stage play? But I just kept thinking, other than the occasional chuckle or slap-stick kind of repetition joke, these people are sad. You had some people dealing with some deep-down guilt and sadness thrown together with a couple quirky characters and a couple others that also had very sad issues, and some depressing stuff happened, and they joked about things to keep themselves afloat. I liked the ending, it was a decent story, I just feel like it was not at all as-promised.

Book Info
Hardcover
Expected publication: October 29th 2018 by Celestial Eyes Press
ISBN 139781732410909
Edition Language English
Other Editions None found
Source:Netgalley EARC


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BOOK BLURB


Near the midpoint of the Upper Peninsula, along a Lake Michigan bend of shore, is the town of Manistique, Michigan. Mark had never heard of Manistique before the death of his estranged aunt, but as sole beneficiary of Vivian’s estate, he travels there to settle her affairs. As Mark tours his aunt’s house for the first time, the doorbell rings.

Days after graduating medical school, Dr. Emily Davis drives north, struggling with her illicit rendezvous on Mackinac Island. She never makes it—on the highway near Manistique, her car collides with a deer, shattering the car’s windshield. Stranded for the night, Emily is directed to a nearby bed and breakfast.

Maybe it’s a heady reaction, the revelation that his aunt, an international aid doctor, ran a bed and breakfast in retirement. Or perhaps he plainly feels pity for the young, helpless doctor. Regardless, Mark decides to play host for one night, telling Emily that he’s merely stepping in temporarily while his aunt is away.

As a one-night stay turns into another and more guests arrive, the ersatz innkeeper steadily loses control of his story. And though Emily opens up to Mark, she has trouble explaining the middle-aged man who unexpectedly arrives at the doorstep looking for her.

Will these two strangers, holding on to unraveling secrets, remain in town long enough to discover the connection between them?

My Thoughts


Manistique, Michigan seems to be almost akin to the end of the road as far as destinations go. For some it has always been their hometown and for others it becomes the hometown they never really looked to find.

As one delves into the book to follow along with how each new character fits into the story a pattern emerges that draws you in until it becomes necessary to keep going and see how seemingly random choices elicit different outcomes.

What may seem fairly dull to some readers is instead for others just the kind of easy-going atmosphere that appeals to their imagination.

As the story unfolds and the twists are unraveled there are new secrets that add up to a satisfying outcome but also leave more questions as to what comes next when the book ends.

Stuck in Manistique as a debut reading experience was interesting, full of surprises (in a good way) and filled with revelations for the characters as well as the reader themselves.

I found myself rooting for Mark more than once as he found himself out of his depth over and over. However, by the end, the man who started out not really wanting to run a B&B may just have found his calling after all.

I would like to find out more about how things turned out in Manistique if given the chance.

[EArc from Netgalley]

On every book read as soon as it is done and written up for review it is posted on Goodreads and Netgalley, once released then posted on Amazon, Barnes and Nobles as well.

This was a solid effort from a new writer. This is a solid 3.5 stars out of 5. There was some really good twists in this book and some fun, witty moments but there were also places to for improvement, places that seemed pretty predictable. I think that Dennis Cuesta has some really good potential as a writer.

So I really enjoyed the beginning of the book. I like the alternating chapters with the two main characters, Mark and Emily. I really liked seeing their similar but very different journeys to Manistique. Their reasons for being in Manistique were entirely opposite but the scenes where they shared similarities in their travels was really well done and gave Mark and Emily a nice commonality. There were times when I thought the book was predictable and I felt like I had the whole story figured out but Cuesta brought some really nice twists to the story and I couldn't put the book down through the whole middle section of the book.

By the last third of the book I felt like a lot of twists had been revealed and I had the two major plot points of the book figured out (which I had figured out early on in the book). This part of the book tended to drag a little and had me wondering when the book was going to wrap up. The final plot points for the main characters were very different and both left me unsatisfied. I thought Emily's arc was unnecessary. I thought it was a nice wrap up for her but I thought her story could have gone a different way. Mark's arc was way too rushed for me. For something that should have been a major point in the final part of the book I felt like the lead-up took long and then the pay-off was rushed. It should have been flushed out more.

The ending of the book was a little disappointing. It wasn't a bad ending but it didn't feel like an ending. I feel like an epilogue would have wrapped things up nicely. I know that not all books need an epilogue and many books have endings such as this but this one left me so flat. I needed to know more or hear more about what happens with these characters. It doesn't have to give them a nice bow but a little more of something would have been nice. I don't know if Cuesta is looking to write a sequel or something but I felt like there was still a little more story to tell with these characters. It wasn't a horrible ending, please don't mistake that, but I just wanted more.

Despite needing more from the ending, the book was a good first novel. I enjoyed the two main characters and really liked their relationship and chemistry throughout the book. I enjoyed many of the other characters that weave in and out of the book and enjoyed the way Cuesta framed Manistique. Looking forward to seeing what Cuesta brings next.

I loved the characters, the story, and the dry wit! I could see this being a comedy show on TV, similar to Fawlty Towers. The cornucopia of quirky personalities and situations makes the story flow pleasantly. Easy, thoughtful and engaging read.