Maria has a wonderful life. Together with her daughters, Lucy and Clara, she runs a successful estate agency, priding herself in matching the right properties to the right people – even if she has yet to find the ideal home for herself.

But behind the happy exterior, Maria is anxious about her fiftieth birthday coming up. She’s feeling, well, less excited and more than a little terrified about how life is running away from her.

For a birthday treat, Lucy and Clara have planned five ‘nostalgic’ dates for her and their dad, to remind them of when they first fell in love. But Maria barely has time for the here and now, never mind a cringeworthy wistful jump back to the past. All she wants is to find that perfect nest to settle down in, no matter how many moves it takes.

The Wilshaw women are a close-knit family, so when tragedy strikes at the heart of the home, Maria is shocked at how easy the potential to lose everything becomes.

Will Maria realise that perhaps it’s better to accept herself as she is rather than move house again? And in doing so, can she change her outlook on life for good?

Moving On

by Marcie Steele

My review

Moving On is just the cutest read. I loved it!

I love feel-good stories about families, the ups and downs of life, and the complexity of human relationships.

This book is so full of love. The love between a husband and wife. The love between a mother and her daughters. The love between sisters….

There are some lovely characters throughout this story. Maria is very likeable and will likely be very relatable to many. I can understand her anxiety about turning 50. I’m less than 5 years away from that age myself. Life flies by far too quickly and it’s scary! Every birthday should be celebrated though. Some people don’t get many.

I loved the idea of nostalgic dates for her and her husband as a way of celebrating her birthday and spending precious quality time together. Some of these moments are quite amusing! I didn’t really understand Maria’s reluctance to participate. I did feel a bit sorry for her husband at times. I imagine it’s quite difficult to switch off though when you own busy businesses and have fallen into the habit of prioritising work over each other. We’re all guilty of taking each other for granted sometimes.

This story highlights the fragility of life and how quickly things can change.

Some things have a way of putting a new perspective on life, making us realise what we already have rather than always wanting the next best thing whether that be houses or otherwise.

Gorgeous book! I can’t recommend highly enough.

**Many thanks to Marcie/Mel for my review copy**