The Perfectly Simple Complicated Life of Maggie Halloran

Book excerpt: USA TODAY bestselling author Trish Morey brings readers a multi-generational, laugh-out-loud romantic comedy about second chances, the importance of family, and later-in-life romance. Maggie Halloran’s life is finally perfect. For recently retired Maggie Halloran, life in her renovated two-bedroom St. Ives fisherman’s cottage is picture perfect. With her daughter in London and her mother in Penzance, Maggie is free to enjoy the odd sleepover with her boyfriend, Nigel, visit galleries, or do her beloved sudoku. When Maggie’s reserved mother falls giddily in love, Maggie takes it in stride. At the wedding, Maggie’s daughter, Alice, announces she’s pregnant and needs somewhere to live. Oh, and she has a new puppy, too… Alice and Maggie have never been close, and Nigel’s allergic to dogs, but blood is thicker than your average Saturday night sleepover. Suddenly Maggie’s humouring her demanding daughter, fielding visits from her nostalgic ex-husband, and accommodating Alice’s baby daddy. And then Maggie’s mother arrives on the doorstep in tears, suitcase in hand, because she’s left her new husband. The only one keeping Maggie sane is Mitch, the builder converting the loft into another bedroom. Maggie’s three-level terrace is now home to three generations—soon to be four—and her perfectly quiet, drama-free life is gone. The question is…does she want it back?