Tanner is in her early 20s. She has recently moved back home after an accident that caused her to lose her soccer scholarship. Louise is in her 80s. Her daughter has decided she needs a caregiver after she broke her hip. When Louise finds out that a long lost friend from her past is in danger, she takes off in the middle of the night and brings Tanner along with her.

While I enjoyed a lot of this book, it felt very long to me and a little bit slow. I think I would’ve enjoyed it a lot more if like 50-60 pages had been edited out. I think there were definitely parts of the journey that could’ve been taken out without making any change to the major points of the story.

I definitely preferred Louise to Tanner. I don’t know if I would’ve liked her a little more if I had been reading this book when I was in my 20s, but she came off a little whiney and immature to me. I didn’t care much for the chapters that were from her point of view and wanted to shake her a little bit and tell her to get over herself.

I did enjoy that the chapters not only alternated with Louise and Tanner’s points of view, but with text exchanges between Louise’s kids, Tanner’s mom, and even the police. I liked the mystery of the story more than I liked the journey and there was a small twist I didn’t expect.

This wasn’t my favorite of Oakley’s novels. The story felt a little cliché and the characters a little boring. I think if it had been shorter I would’ve been much more entertained. I also think that novels with main characters where the focus of the relationship is geriatric and young adult it’s not for me. I think Oakley has some much better books than this one, and while I didn’t dislike it, I was a little disappointed.

I feel like I have read several books of the 'old person/young person go on a road trip and learn about life/relationships, etc" variety lately. I was pleasantly surprised that The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise kept me interested in this trope. Tanner and Louise grow on you as you read about them and once the girls hit the road, the story moves along nicely. I loved the twist towards the end of the book. This is not earth-shattering literature, but it is an enjoyable, feel good story that will put a smile on your face. Thank you to Netgalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Mostly True Story of Tanner & Louise by Colleen Oakley was a must-read for me because it contains two elements that I love and don’t come across often enough, an older protagonist and an unlikely friendship. Throw in a cross country road trip and this book was simply irresistible to me!

The older protagonist is Louise Wilt, a sassy octogenarian who, at her children’s insistence, finds herself in need of a full-time caregiver after falling and fracturing her hip. Louise hates being old, hates the way people treat her because she is old, and she has lots of other opinions that she isn’t afraid to share at any given moment. The irony is that while she doles out her honest opinion to anyone who will listen, it turns out she’s hiding a boatload of secrets and has lived a life wilder than anyone could possibly fathom. Oakley has created an incredibly rich, well drawn character with Louise and I really loved getting to know her and learning about her secrets and what motivated her to do what she does in this story.

Tanner is the other protagonist in the story and she’s a 21-year-old woman who has been forced to drop out of college because of a career-ending soccer injury that cost her a full-ride scholarship. Tanner feels like her life is over before it has even begun. She’s angry at the world and lashes out at her family to the point where they kick her out. Desperate for cash and a place to live, Tanner takes the caretaker job and moves in with Louise. Tanner is just as much a complicated character as Louise is, and it was interesting to peel back her layers and learn more about her as well.

My favorite part of the book was the unlikely friendship that develops between Tanner and Louise once they get past the initial awkwardness of a 21 year old and an 84 year old being roommates. An unexpected but urgent cross country road trip is actually the catalyst for their friendship to really blossom and it’s a wild ride. I don’t want to give anything away about the road trip, aside from to say that it’s directly tied to all those wild secrets Louise is keeping. What I will say about the road trip is that it really provides the opportunity for Tanner and Louise to bond. They have some moving heart-to-heart talks, and I loved that they were both able to learn from each other. The trip was a wonderful time to gain some perspective for each of them, particularly Tanner, so that she could forge a new path forward for herself.

With its sassy protagonists who shouldn’t be underestimated, unlikely friendships, epic road trip, and a mystery that will keep you guessing until the very end, The Mostly True Story of Tanner & Louise is a gem of a book that has a little something for everyone.

After a major loss, Tanner finds herself working as a live-in caregiver for elderly Louise. They mostly ignore each other until one night Louise insists they leave for a road trip immediately.

This book was just such a pleasure to read. I’ve read a few books where a young and elderly woman pair up for adventure and it never disappoints. This one was really something special. It has sentiment, it has humor, and it has excitement; you really can’t ask for much more in a story! I loved the siblings’ text messages to each other. They really exemplified the sibling relationship and were just funny! This is one where you will laugh and cry.

“People always said life was short, but it wasn’t. Not really. You could cram so many different lives into one. Be so many different people.”

The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise comes out 3/28.

Tanner and Louise form an unlikely friendship as they road trip across the county to right a wrong and save a friend of Louise's. Louise has a past that is hinted at but completely unexpected and shocking to Tanner.

My thoughts:
This story was not my usual type of read. I enjoyed the friendship that developed between these two women who are so very different. I appreciated all that Tanner learned from her time with Louise. There are several scenes between the two women as they discuss life and love that made me laugh out loud. The plot is somewhat outlandish but it was still fun and believable.

What a fun, intergenerational caper! The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise by Colleen Oakley is a delightful story about two very different people brought together by unfortunate circumstances. Tanner is a disillusioned Gen Z’er who had to give up her senior year of college due to a freak accident. She becomes the live-in caretaker of Louise, a feisty octogenarian who is hiding a decades old secret. When it bubbles to the surface, the duo go on a cross-country road trip that unearths old mysteries, new loves, and a realization that age doesn’t define friendships.

It’s perfect for fans of multi-generational stories of women who work together to better the world. If you were close to your grandmother (as I was to my own Grandma Louise!), this book will warm your heart. As a mom to teens myself, I also loved the various mother/daughter relationships. It’s a fun yet poignant tale of the true meaning of family and friendship.

This book will draw you in quickly!! I wanted to keep turning the pages quickly so I could find out what would happen next!!

Tanner is 21 years old and has had to drop out of college due to an unfortunate accident that will keep her from returning to the soccer field and her scholarship, Louise is 84 and has taken a fall and her children want someone to move in and provide care and assistance to their mother. Tanner moves in and the pair is trying to figure out how to exist with each other. There are so many funny moments between the 2 of them.

Tanner becomes suspicious of Louise but when Louise says they need to run. Tanner goes with her!! There will be many comical and touching moments that happen during the cross country drive.

There will be a lot of twists and turns that the author does a great job in revealing at the perfect times!!

This is my favorite Colleen Oakley book!! I loved the characters and the story!!

Loved this fun lighthearted story centering around a 21yo injured athlete, Tanner, and an 84yo free spirited lady that has lived to the fullest, Louise. I enjoyed every page of this adventure. It made me laugh out loud and filled my heart. The adventure begins when Louise is recovering from a broken hip and her children hire Tanner to watch after her. We learn that Louise is WAY more interesting that what the surface level portrays and as Tanner learns more about Louise, she learns to loosen up herself, find her true self, and live. The book is unique in presentation in that you get text strings from Louise's children, who are at varying levels of concern for their mother and also interspersed chapters about FBI antics. I so enjoyed the format. The relationship that develops between characters is just delightful. I will be gifting this book to many people, I think it appeals to all readers.

This is the book to read if you are looking for a fun, yet serious story that is full of adventure, spirit, heart, mystery and love! This will be such an easy book for me to recommend because it was just plain delightful.

We get the fun mix of the young Miss Tanner who is devastated that her soccer playing was ended abruptly and against her will, along with Louise, who is well past her prime, but has enough spunk to live life to the fullest. Louise broke her hip and is recuperating, so her children feel that she needs in home help. They hire Tanner to help their aging mother. The two strangers don't get along particularly well at the beginning, but by the end, they are the best of friends. I loved watching their antics, how they helped one another, stood up for each other and spoke truth plainly.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the advance e-copy of this book.

After losing her athletic scholarship, Tanner returns to Atlanta and tries to find a way to return to college. She accepts a job to help care for Louise, a sharp-tongued octogenarian recovering from hip surgery. Shortly after Tanner sees a news report about a decades-old jewelry heist with a primary suspect who looks suspiciously like Louise, Louise asks her to drive to California in exchange for enough money so that she can return to college. Will this be a path back to her old life or to jail as a fugitive’s accomplice?

As an homage to the film Thelma and Louise, Colleen Oakley’s novel celebrates female friendship. Complex characters deliver smart narrative and witty dialogue as they navigate a plot with filled with scenic views and unexpected detours. Pack this book for your next road trip!

This is a heartwarming story about two women at very different stages in life who embark on a wild adventure - and help each other along the way. Tanner, a student-athlete, is no longer an athlete or a student after an injury. Louise is getting older and needs help, but she doesn't want to leave her home or live with her children. She also has some secrets from her younger days that her children know nothing about. When Tanner and Louise go missing, her children understandably become concerned. I enjoyed the text message chains between Louise's adult children as they become increasingly worried about their mother. Colleen Oakley has done a fantastic job of creating relatable and unique characters who I found myself rooting for throughout the book.

"The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise" is an excellent novel that I would definitely recommend to anyone who wants to read a heartwarming story about two people who help each other find their way.

If you're not already a Colleen Oakley fan, I highly recommend all four of her other books. She has a talent for creating distinctive characters that stay with you long after you've finished the book.

I received an advance copy of the novel for review from NetGalley, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to read it.

I truly adored this book! It was such much fun to be on the run with this unlikely duo and to see their friendship blossom. Louise is an 84-year-old woman whose family insists that someone move in after she suffered a broken hip. Tanner is a 21-year-old former college soccer athlete who takes the job. When they leave their home on a cross-country journey, I didn't know what to expect and the air of mystery sounding Louise and her past makes this all the more enjoyable! Louise was really the star of the show and I adored reading about an 80-something woman doing her thing and living her life (and flirting with local singles!). She was a total badass and this story was a blast to read.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is the first novel I have read by Colleen Oakley and I adored it!! It was funny, adventurous and filled with a few surprise plot twists. The story is a 21st century version of the wildly popular movie Thelma and Louise and has themes of female relationships, unlikely friendships, a bit of romance, and second chances.

Twenty-one-year-old Tanner Quimby needs a place to live. Preferably one where she can continue sitting around in sweatpants and playing video games nineteen hours a day. Since she has no money, her options are limited, so when an opportunity to work as a live-in caregiver for an elderly woman falls into her lap, she takes it. Thus begins the story of a not-to-be-underestimated elderly woman and an aimless young woman who—if they can outrun the mistakes of their past—might just have the greatest adventure of their lives.

This book was filled with lovable characters to include, Louise, an 80 year old grandmother who in many ways reminded me of my late grandmother, feisty and tell you how it is kind of person who at the end of the day was a kind and caring person who enjoyed helping people.

Read this if you love:
Female friendships
Road trips
Multigenerational characters
Lighthearted stories
Plot twist

I received an electronic advanced reader (eARC) copy from @thoughtsfromapage Patreon Community. Thank you to Cindy Burnett, publisher Berkley and Netgalley. I appreciate the opportunity to preview this book.

This was a sorely-needed break from my doom-scrolling! While I don't typically think of books in terms of their elevator pitches, this charming story could be cast as "Thelma & Louise" meets "Driving Miss Daisy", and, truthfully, that's pretty accurate. The two prickly protagonists seem about as far apart—in age, experience and outlook—as you could imagine, but of course they come together in all of the expected, and sometimes unexpected, thoughtful, ways. The plot moves quickly with some mild tension and does broach some serious topics, but that tension is occasionally relieved with moments of pure delight in this quirky adventure. While I was reading, I couldn't help but think that with some thoughtful casting, this would make a terrific movie. And, like most "road movies," it's the journey, not the destination, that matters. Enjoy the ride.

*Pub date 3/28/23. Thanks to NetGalley, Penguin Random House, and Cindy Burnett at Thoughts from a Page for an advanced e-copy of this book.*

What a fun book! We find Tanner as a 21 year old who had to put her college and career goals on hold after an injury halts her soccer career resulting in losing her scholarship. Friction at home as she recovers results in her being kicked out of her house and into the house of a family friend - 80 year old Louise - as a caregiver. Louise is recovering from an injury as well. The unlikely pair transition from simply tolerating each other to being cordial when a Louise receives a letter that changes everything. A cross-country adventure follows while they may or may not be fleeing from the FBI. The antics and the friendship that develop are humorous and heartwarming as the two discover that you shouldn’t make assumptions about others as there is often much more to them than meets the eye.

I highly recommend this book!

Thank you so much to Berkley for the free book!

I was drawn to this book because of the bright and fun cover and then when I read the synopsis : a college dropout and a 80+ y/o old together on the run from the law, I knew it was right up my alley.

I'm a huge fan of unlikely friendships and Tanner and Louise will show readers that we all have more in common with each other than we originally thought 💓

This is the perfect book to read when you just need to relax and have a good laugh. While the plot was fun and the storyline interesting, there wasn't too much tension for me and I actually appreciated that in this case.

I do feel like there's a whole world of secrets and fun left to be explored with these two so I would LOVE a second book or even a series with these characters!

This was my first book by Colleen Oakley and now I plan to go back and check out all her other work as well! If they're all this much fun, I'll be flying through them!

This book will be available March 28th!

I absolutely adored this book. It was funny, touching, and suspenseful with so many twists and turns I didn't see coming. There was even a hint of romance. But my absolute favorite part was the "slow burn" friendship and bond between Gen Z Tanner and octogenarian Louise. The voice was pitch perfect. I wish I could read it again for the first time.

While it took me a bit to warm up to Tanner I loved this story. There are laughs, suspense, a budding romance, mystery about Louise, family issues - such a heartwarming story. I do hope the author thinks about making this into a movie. Looking forward to more from this author. A really good book club selection.

The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise ia an adorable tale, one which two completely different generations and two different personalities combine and set out on a great adventure, not just in where they go, what they do and the lessons they learn but in getting to know and appreciate one another, two people, if not for their circumstances, would have never had the chance in life to meet and change each others lives, forever.

Louise Wilt is a very old woman (mid-eighties) with some secrets in her life, well, many secrets, BIG secrets, from long ago. In her youth, it seems, she had some wild experiences with some “characters” that were a part of her life. Many of them proved to be quite dangerous, in the end, it turned out, so Louise left this fast and loose life and chose to live one very much like most of the population. She settled down with a man, moved to the suburbs where there was a house she still lives in, her children now grown and her husband now passed. At times, it seems, the only problems she really has are with her children who worry about her all alone in the home, now that their father has gone and she has become infirm with a bad hip, having had it replaced.

The laugh out loud parts for me were when the chapters switch to narrate the conversations Louise’s children have with one another, at times, and other people about their mother, many hilarious things shared and said. Especially when they learn that their mother had a life quite different, in her youth, than the one they expected their mother to have lived. The fact that two of the children paid very little attention to their mother (one knew more than the others), that she had some big items hidden on the property while they were growing up, is very telling of what most people think of their parents. They don’t expect them to have secrets and have no existence apart from the one they had lived with their children.

But, I can’t say that I would not be at fault for this as I too accepted what my family told me about their life, never asked any other questions even when information was left out, and filled in any blanks I might have had with hum-drum experiences that I thought very little about. Colleen Oakley doesn’t just give readers a delightful story to read but also brings to mind the fact that if we were to ask the question of ourselves, “do we really know our parents (or grandparents/ family) that we may be surprised to find out that, in fact, much of what we know we have filled in ourselves and rarely think that a loved one (especially if it happened before we came into the family) had a life filled with any kind of danger, excitement and/or adventure, before us.

Part two of the duo is the young addition of Tanner who cannot go back to Northwestern because she has had a sporting injury and, without her scholarship based on her being able to play, the tuition payments are out of the question. Since she is at home, her parents nag her to get a job, not that the caregiver salary she will make living in the home of Louise Wilt will pay her tuition. Depressed about everything, Tanner is set to move in and help the old lady out and when she isn't doing that, play video games. However, Louise does not like the idea of someone doing things for her and getting too close. In time, readers learn why. But, it is not that Tanner is the one that brings “the heat” on Lousie, that would have happened regardless. For Louise, it is just time to reconcile her past.

When the two move in together the interaction between the two generations make the book even better. Don’t get me wrong, all the characters, on their own, are quite unique and humorous for all their individual traits given. That Louise sets out for a fly fishing trip four days after her husband dies, after all, it had been paid in full and planned for months, that an 80 something year old woman is like that, is original all on its own. And, that Tanner participates in the shenanigans of Louise, when they are discovered, she is discovered, as long as she can extort enough money to pay her tuition at Northwestern for the year and say that, if they are caught, the old woman had kidnapped her, forcing her to go along with whatever illegal thing they are doing, well, let’s just say this young woman doesn't make the best decisions if confronted with the fact that, by doing them, she can get something she desperately wants regardless of the trouble she or they may get into. After all, someone should be the adult here, right?

The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise will touch your heart from the beginning and there will be no doubt that readers are going to want to stay along for the ride. It’s just that the touching moments in the book, so many of them, are born to make readers laugh till they cry. In the end, when I really did cry I didn't know if it was because I was tickled by the whole story and laughing, or touched by it. And you know what, I think it was both.

This was an incredibly moving intergenerational friendship and road trip story between Tanner, a young co-ed who's gotten kicked out of school and Louise, the older woman with Parkinson's she's been hired to help.

Gun-toting Louise is strong-minded though and ambushes Tanner in the middle of the night, coercing her into a cross-country road trip for reasons she won't share. Along the way Tanner comes to really respect Louise (and be mildly terrified of her give no f*cks ways).

I really enjoyed learning about Louise's back story which was incredible and not at all what I was expecting! There was a bit of everything in this book from historical fiction, feminism, jewel heists, you name it! Tanner even finds a bit of romance on the road to round things out!

Great on audio and highly recommended especially for fans of books like Flying solo by Linda Holmes or other intergenerational road trip books like She's up to no good by Sara Goodman Confino or A thousand miles to Graceland by Kristen Mei Chase.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy and @prhaudio for a complimentary ALC in exchange for my honest review!

CW: domestic abuse, kidnapping, gun violence (nothing graphic and all recounted from the past).