Jenn is a home organizer in her fifties. Divorced for many years, she dutifully goes on first dates but seldom makes it to a second date. There’s always something—sometimes several somethings—about the men that just doesn’t appeal.
When widower Mark’s grown daughters hire her to organize their dad’s home—including dealing with their late mom’s accumulation of stuff—Jenn sees something in Mark that was missing in the other men.
Pickled in Love—the title is a reference to Jenn and Mark taking up pickleball together—follows the classic traditions of romantic comedy novels. But because Gina N. Brown approaches the genre with deft writing, humour that is often sly but never mean, insightfulness, and likeable main characters, the novel has a freshness that completely avoids tired tropes. The reader will have no trouble rooting for the characters and feeling compassion for the obstacles they face in committing to love.
This is Brown’s third novel, and it’s her best one yet. Her plotting, character development, and writing—and Jenn and Mark themselves—make this a charming book to curl up with on a chilly winter weekend.