‘And that was how they found Over and Above. It stood there, in splendid isolation, a large Edwardian heap in an overgrown garden, blinds down, empty and forlorn.’

The Golden Oldies Guesthouse by Dee MacDonald

Couple Tess and Simon live in London and they are on their belated honeymoon, in Cornwall, when they come upon a house, which they fall in love with. They plan to make it into a guesthouse. The story follows their initial forays into finding tradesmen, who can fix up their new property into somewhere habitable for guests to want to stay. They stumble across problems along the way, such as a sports car tends to be an unsuitable vehicle for tight country lanes and doesn’t offer much room for all the bits and pieces you will need when renovating. Tess and Simon do not seem to be able to communicate very well as a pair and have their differences along the way too. This first part of The Golden Oldies Guesthouse was fine, but it did read like a checklist of fairly standard incidences that happen when you move and are in a new area, trying to get your bearings. The second part I preferred because that is when the guests began to arrive, and we learn more about their characters. The guests are arriving for their own myriad reasons, with one or two keeping those reasons to themselves. Dominic’s arrived in Cornwall to write, and falls in love, which was a tale that was touching. And The Golden Oldies Guesthouse did feel like Dominic’s story at this point. With one of the guests, Celia, making off at the end of the book like Marion in the Hitchcock film Psycho.

The Golden Oldies Guesthouse was an entertaining and fun read.

contains affiliate links. Doesn’t cost you anything, helps me out if you click on ‘em. Thank you!