A review by marilynw
Forever Hold Your Peace by Liz Fenton, Lisa Steinke

4.0

Forever Hold Your Peace
by Liz Fenton; Lisa Steinke
Narrated by Nan McNamara

It's nice to listen to a story where I have no horse in the race, where I can just sit back and watch the shenanigans, laugh at the jokes, shake my head at the snark and shady behind the scenes manipulations. Even the two people (actually three people) who have the most anger and regret from the past don't seem to really have their heart in the fight.

Oliva and Zach meet while overseas, fall in love quickly, and come back to the states to tell their parents that they are getting married, soon. It is at the meet the parents and fiancés brunch that the parents, especially the mothers, find out they know each other very well, and one of the mothers had never planned to see the other again after their "break up" about twenty five years ago. Now the kids of these mothers are getting married! Let the "mother of the bride and mother of the groom" war games begin!

None of these people are over the top weirdos, what happened long ago could really happen, the story isn't too wild and crazy and it doesn't go too nutty with the revenge and one-upmanship. The story is sweet, kind of silly at times, not too stressful for this reader, and a nice change of pace in a relaxing (for me) way. Everyone is a grown up even if some of the grownups can have their snobby, rude moments. I'll certainly be reading this author duo again. The audiobook narration is very good and made listening to the story a breeze.

Publication July 11, 2023

Thank you to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for this ARC.