Granny With Benefits - Marilyn Bennett

When I saw an email in my inbox with the subject Granny with Benefits I almost deleted it thinking that it was a dodgy email, you know the type! I'm glad I didn't though as I would have missed out on this cracking debut novel by Marilyn Bennett.

Grace is going through her late grandmother's things at the sheltered accommodation where she lived  when Dale walks through the door to view the room for his dad. He's Grace's ideal man and she instantly nicknames him Heaven on Legs, the only problem is he thinks she's a resident as she's been playing dress up and is wearing her grandmother's clothes, right down to one of her wigs and a pair of glasses!

Instead of laughing at the situation she'd been caught up in and confessing all she decides to introduce herself as Louise. The pair sit down and chat and as Louise she finds out things about Dale that she wouldn't have if she was herself.

Using her granny alter-ego Grace charms her way into various social situations as a means to find out more about Dale, not knowing that Dale is inviting her along as a prospective date for his widowed father. At other times Louise would send her niece along to these events in her place and that's how the pair officially meet.

But juggling Grace and Louise isn't always easy and she has a couple of close encounters before she's rumbled by friends and family. Will they understand and more importantly will they keep quiet?

Granny with Benefits is a refreshingly delightful read full of laugh out loud moments cleverly combined with the reality of being single later on in life when all of those around you have settled down. I loved the interaction between Grace and her little group of close friends so much so that I wanted to be invited to Angela's 40th birthday trip to New York. All of the characters were so well developed and interacted so smoothly it was easy to imagine them as real people.

Ms Bennett has a wonderfully engaging writing style that hooked me in right from the very beginning and with a great twist on the usual boy meets girl story. Aside from the humour this is also a book about family relationships, the importance of having good friends around you and handling difficult situations in the work place.

I didn't want this book to end (for reasons which will be obvious if you read it) so I was pleased to find out that there's a sequel coming later this year.

 If you're looking for a contemporary story with a new twist then Granny with Benefits could be just the book you're looking for!


To find out more about Marilyn Bennett you can use the links below:

Website
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With kind thanks to Debbie Elliott at Cameron Publicity and Marketing for the review copy.