Book Review: Renovating the Richardsons by Virginia Smith

Renovating the Richardsons
Tales from the Goose Creek B&B #2
Virginia Smith
Harvest House Publishers, February 2016
ISBN 978-0-7369-6479-1
Trade Paperback

From the publisher—

Things are finally starting to fall into a steady rhythm in the small town of Goose Creek, Kentucky. Millie Richardson is hard at work renovating a drafty Victorian house into a B&B. Her husband, Al, is busy writing checks for the renovations. And the new vet, Susan, has finally found acceptance from the town–not to mention a hunky new boyfriend, Justin.

But things never stay quiet for long in Goose Creek. The inner-county softball game is coming up, and Millie volunteers Al as team manager. But the softball team is a disaster. If they’re not going to embarrass themselves in front of the whole of Franklin County, Al needs Justin to play. But Justin lives just outside the city limits, and the rules say that players must live in town.

As if that weren’t enough to keep the town gossips busy, a massage therapist has come to town and opened up shop. Imagine–a massage parlor!–in Goose Creek! No decent Creeker will stand for it.

It’s up to Al and Millie–again–to save the day.

Although it’s the second book, Renovating the Richardsons turned out to be a delightful introduction to a really appealing comfort fiction series, a favorite genre of mine. It’s also Southern fiction so, to my way of thinking, I couldn’t have found a better way to spend a few hours.

The town of Goose Creek, Kentucky, is filled with folks who are quirky and kind in addition to aggravating and sometimes meanspirited. In other words, they’re exactly the kind of people you might expect to find in a small town including their devotion to local causes and their ability to find great entertainment in ways that cityfolk might think a tad boring.

Right now, the focus is on the upcoming softball game against the neighboring rival town of Morleyville and Al is horrified to find himself volunteered by Millie to be the team manager. Meanwhile, some of the snoopier townsfolk are caught up in wondering what the water tower will look like once the painting behind tarps is done and the veterinarian’s father has come to town apparently with the sole intent of meddling in her life.

I love the people of Goose Creek from the friendly and “normal” Millie and Al to the supremely annoying Franklin Thacker with his dedication to statistics to Susan, the vet who has to defend her boyfriend, Justin, to her dad, Thomas . They’re all lovely and charming in their own ways and I could happily live among them if they would just come to life for real 😉

Reviewed by Lelia Taylor, July 2016.