Book 13 of 200 ~ 2023

This was such a fun read! You feel like you are part of the story and part of their ride.

It engaged me and definitely gonna be on my re-read, something I am rather selective about due to my ever-growing TBR!

It gives you all kinds of feels and I think Maddie Please has the most apt surname... this book will please many readers:)

Thank you Rachel's Random resources for this opportunity!!

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

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A highly relatable later in life journey that was at times laugh out loud fun and at others simply heartbreaking. The title drew me to the book and I was a little disappointed the Silver Surfers didn’t play a bigger role in Elin’s journey. I felt it was a bit misleading but still a very good book.

The Blurb :
Newly single at sixty, Elin Anderson decides it’s finally time for an adventure of her own. With her marriage to tedious Tom now officially over, Elin plans to visit the family she hasn’t seen in years. First stop: Australia!
But going home is harder than Elin thought. Everywhere she turns Elin sees brightness and colour, which only makes her own life seem even more drab and beige. How has she let herself fade away?
Determined to have some fun, Elin reluctantly agrees to join The Silver Surfers – a group of seniors who travel the coast, only caring about their next big adventure. Because life’s too short to watch the ocean when you could be making waves…
There’s only one catch – her road trip companion, Kit Pascoe. Kit is a man who doesn’t know the meaning of the word fun and makes it clear to Elin that this adventure will be subject to his own strict rules.
But with every new day, Elin slowly begins to rediscover who she really is. And she’s certain that rules are meant to be broken…aren’t they?

My Thoughts :
I am always excited to hear Maddie Please has a new book out as she is one of my go to Authors.
Sunrise with the Silver Surfers didnt disappoint.
We meet Elin Anderson, having just divorced from her husband Tom and her only son Dan living away from home, Elin doesnt really know what to do with herself. She is approaching her 60s and feels its time to go back home to Austraila for a trip to see her family and friends.
Elin soon learns that her Aunt and Uncle belong to a Silver Surfers club and decides to tag along for the ride so to speak.
As Elin soon travels around Australia with the group of friends, family and younger surfers, she soon feels and sees what she has been missing out on. Finally she can laugh and have lots of fun.
I loved following Elin’s journey of self discovery.
As always Maddie Please gives up such vivid descriptions of where we are. You can just hear the birds and ocean throughout the story and all of the beautiful surroundings as we get lost in Austraila.
This is such an uplifting story, with some fun, laughs and drama. There is also a little romance thrown in for good measure.
Looking forward to the next book from this Author.

This time, Maddie Please transported me to Australia and the sights that I have only seen in magazines or on the TV. We are introduced to Elin who left the Australian shores and married decades before. She has never been back to visit her home and family. Her insipid husband had started a new life with a much younger model and was again experiencing the joys of fatherhood. Sadly, he was failing to find the joys and Elin firmly believed that it wasn’t her problem. She’s now sixty and single and is determined to recapture the feelings of her life in Australia.
I just adored Elin and had multiple laugh-out-loud moments. She was hilarious with the right mixture of self-deprecation and a genuine lack of guile. Her relationship with her sister has remained strong as a result of virtual and physical visits to the UK. As I mentioned, this was Elin’s first trip back to Oz and her first time meeting her sister’s partner, Shane. He was the epitome of what I would imagine as a ‘beach bum’; laid back with a lackadaisical attitude to work and commitment. Conversely, we meet Shane’s brother, Kit. Initially, he is charm personified, but then Elin sees another side to him which is somewhat less attractive
So, if you’ve read the synopsis, you’ll know that Elin and Kit are thrown together as they set out to recover a motorhome that Elin’s aunt and uncle cannot drive home. This is where the greater story evolves, and we get to know Elin and Kit more deeply.
I was completely captivated by Elin and Kit’s adventure. The descriptions of beauty spots, tourist attractions, and sunsets were a love letter to anyone dreaming of an Antipodean adventure. I could almost hear the surf breaking on the sand and imagine the joys of an extended road trip with someone who makes you laugh.
This is a joyful book that I absolutely adored. Another win for the more mature woman and a gorgeous helping of sun, fun, and sexy adventures. What a wonderful escape this was, I would love to go back!

Please is up there with Judy Leigh as one of my go-to authors for 'older lady' fiction and kind of reassure me that 'life begins at fifty' and I'm not on the shelf just yet!

Summer in Australia, is there anything more perfect than that?

It's uplifting, feel-good fiction, written with humour and was an absolute joy to immerse my in and transport myself off to sunnier climes for several hours.

I loved all of the characters, they're realistic, relatable and boy, do they know how to have fun.

I did expect the Silver Surfers to be a more integral part in the story (hence the title) and my comic book brain just kept throwing me back to Marvel characters.

Enjoyable, entertaining and definitely worth a read!

Many thanks to Rachel's Random Resources for my tour spot.

Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I've never reviewed anything by Maddy Please before.

I requested this book because I thought the synopsis sounded great and I wasn't disappointed. The characters in the book are fun and interesting.

I was really interested in the backstory.

I've never been to Australia and the attention to detail for the setting is amazing.

I want to read more bye Maddie Please.Thanks to Maddie Please, Boldwood Books and Rachel's Random Resources for my eARC in exchange for an honest and voluntary review.

4 stars

What a delightful book! I loved the setting and descriptions of Australia, a place I hope to visit one day.
I love how Elin is taking charge of her life and heading down under to see her family after too long.
I thought her ex should have been chucked off the nearest precipice with all the nervy and audacious stunts and things he said.
I cheered during the scene where he gets his just desserts.
I cackled how Elin was disheveled every time Kit saw her. Mr. Airport turns into something else.
I loved the meandering in the motor coach and the bonds Elin and Kit created.
I loved all the characters except for Tom.

A brilliant story about rediscovering yourself once more
After starting again, divorce and daring to explore.
Stopping looking back with regret and forward with fear
Instead fully living in the present with those you hold dear.

Flying back to Australia is what Elin Anderson decides to do
Not anticipating how it will change her all the way through!
A chance meeting in the airport with a handsome stranger,
Will their initial connection be a danger?

Coming to the rescue of her uncle and aunt, too,
Involves an extended road trip, a possible dream come true?
Or will it be a nightmare when she learns who will join her there
Will they argue and fight or learn to really care?

What a heartwarming story, filled with dramas and romance
With people daring to make the most of every chance!
With older protagonists making a fresh start
And on the way rekindling love in their heart.

For my complementary copy, I say thank you,
As I share with you this, my honest review.

Thank you for letting me read this ARC, I really enjoyed this book. It's well written, funny and has some inspiring moments. Elin is a divorcee and is getting her second wind in life. Tom her ex, left her for a younger woman which is turning out to be a disaster of his own making. Their son Dan lives with is girlfriend and Elin decides to do something for herself that she has never done before. She books herself on an all frills flight to Australia, the place she used to live. There is a level of emancipati0n and self discovery and many chuckles. The interactions and dynamics are wonderful, Thanks for the laughs.

Lots of laughs in this book set in Australia. Feeling free now to travel back to her homeland since her divorce, Elin can’t wait to see her family in Australia. Meeting a handsome man on the plane is just the start of her adventure. Determined to live a different way of life, Elin learns to surf, goes on a road trip, changes her whole wardrobe, meets new friends and finds herself falling in love at fifty-eight. A delight to read!

What a fun way to celebrate an 80th birthday, wow, some pensioners know how to live their lives to the full. Set inb Australia and what a lot there is to do. You must read this fantastic novel and enjoy it as I have done. 5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and publisher for this ARC

Sunrise with the Silver Surfers by Maddie Please

I received an advance review copy for free thanks to Rachel's Random Resources and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Blurb

Newly single at sixty, Elin Anderson decides it’s finally time for an adventure of her own. With her marriage to tedious Tom now officially over, Elin plans to visit the family she hasn’t seen in years. First stop: Australia!

But going home is harder than Elin thought. Everywhere she turns Elin sees brightness and colour, which only makes her own life seem even more drab and beige. How has she let herself fade away?

Determined to have some fun, Elin reluctantly agrees to join The Silver Surfers – a group of seniors who travel the coast, only caring about their next big adventure. Because life’s too short to watch the ocean when you could be making waves…

There’s only one catch – her road trip companion, Kit Pascoe. Kit is a man who doesn’t know the meaning of the word fun and makes it clear to Elin that this adventure will be subject to his own strict rules.

But with every new day, Elin slowly begins to rediscover who she really is. And she’s certain that rules are meant to be broken…aren’t they?

My Opinion

I have read a few books by Maddie Please so I knew this was going to be a great book before I started. It is refreshing to read a book with older characters.

Following her divorce and the death of an elderly neighbour, Elin is returning to Australia for the first time in years. This is such a wonderful book as we follow Elin learn who she is without Tom holding her back.

A delightful, well-written book that is well worth a read.

Rating: 4/5

You’re never too old to have some fun in the sun with sea and sand in this book that will appeal to both the retired and younger readers alike. It gives hope, elements of surprise and intrigue, whilst being uplifting and adventurous in the exciting travel plans.

This is perfect for sweeping winter away and escaping to the sun. This is the first book I have read by Maddie Please and I rather enjoyed it. All that promise of fun travel on holidays that beckons and companionship makes this great to sit back and for awhile, let the sea within the book wash all your cares away and bring inspiration and a warm feeling like the sun beaming down on you.

Elin was living in what sounds like a kindly neighbourhood. Her marriage hasn’t survived intact, as some don’t when life changes into a new phase. There are also changes where she lives. We meet her at Heathrow Airport waiting for her flight to Australia, where she was born. Most of us people watch and that’s what she does, she’s also a bit introspective as she looks around at her fellow passengers. She also likes some of the more lavish lifestyle and goes to town in treating herself. You can feel the relief of the divorce and see she is ready for a new adventure. She isn’t alone when she touches down in Australia, she has Rowan, Maggie and Shane to meet up with.
Then she has Kit Pascoe to meet and contend with… her main travel companion. Will they warm to each other? Will he get into the spirit of things? Where will their explorations lead them? 

As her new big adventure begins, in many ways, she gets more than she and the group get more than they bargained for. Not everything is plain-sailing. There are just a few unexpected challenges to face to say the least. Some more complicated for Elin to work out than others, including her emotions and how she’s going to be in this phase of her life, what paths, personally, to take. Then there’s home in the UK, that one way or another, isn’t ever too far away, even when she is physically thousands of miles away. There are elements here and there that are reminiscent of Shirley Valentine, in a good way. There’s part of story within this that could go either way. There are elements of the book being a page turner as curiosity as to how it all turn out firmly bites.

It’s an adventure of a lifetime and one worth joining The Silver Surfers on. I certainly wasn’t disappointed.

Thanks to Boldwood Books for the review e-book copy to review from.

This was a delightful book. I really enjoyed reading it. Elin Anderson, newly divorced, goes back to Australia from her home in England to visit her sister, aunt and uncle. She's been gone from Australia for many years, and while there , she discovers that she has missed out on many things due to the fact that her ex-husband, Tom, liked to control everything in her life. She also finds romance with Kit, her sister's boyfriend's brother. This book was very engaging and had personable characters. I highly recommend it to other women's fiction readers. I received an ARC of this book from Net Galley, and the opinion expressed is strictly my own.

This was a fun romp thru Australia with good character and a sweet story. I enjoyed it very much. The scenes were great!

Favorite Quotes:

I’m so hungry I could eat a horse and chase the jockey!

The Silver Surfers. They’re having an eightieth birthday party and it’s going to be a belter.

Well, we don’t go bungee jumping, or white-water rafting… Norm did that once and lost his false teeth. We’re not daft.

I then had a mental image of a field full of pensioners staggering around on Zimmer frames, listening to big-band music and comparing prescription regimes.

‘...and the Deadbeat Rockers are going to be playing this evening. I went to school with Vince. When he takes his false teeth out, he can put two snooker balls in his mouth at once.’ Well, that wasn’t a sentence I’d ever expected to hear.

‘All the blokes I meet online are fakes too,’ Lulu said taking a slug of her drink, ‘they say they are tall and fit and handsome and when they turn up, they aren’t any of those things. The last one I agreed to meet looked like a retired sumo wrestler who’d been smacked in the face with a frying pan. I’m beginning to think all men are liars.’


My Review:

This is good fun, I adore the witty and vivacious prose of Maddie Please, her clever humor always keeps me smirking and chirping with glee. The storylines were highly amusing and unfailingly entertaining while populated with a wide variety of endearing and cleverly depicted Aussie eccentrics, from right mongrels to proper Bettys. However, I confess to having to Google some of the slang. Strewth!

Sometimes Bad Things Happen For A Reason. Great Read ❣️

Following Elin on her newly single life, whilst being single again not what she’d expected, everything happens for a reason. From the very beginning this book is filled with humour and will have you hooked. Characters are great, her ex husbands communications in this book are particularly amusing (mainly because he seems quite pathetic looks out for himself first and foremost).

I’ve read a couple of Maddie Please books and this is definitely my favourite to date. Look forward to reading more. A definite should read.

Sunrise With The Silver Surfers by Maddie Please is a delightfully fun contemporary novel that will make you smile as you read of sun-filled days.
The novel is set in Australia. Maddie Please has some wonderfully descriptive passages enabling the reader to ‘see’ the landscape and ‘feel’ the heat. As with life, it is not always sunny. The storms come but after the rain, the sun comes out. The weather mirrors the action.
I loved all the characters. It is so refreshing to have the lead characters approaching sixty. Maddie Please shows that growing old does not have to mean slowing down and wearing beige! Life is for living. We can be just as colourful and enjoy life at sixty as at twenty. Life is not just for the young, life is for everyone.
We witness a character coming to life again after years of being squashed down. New horizons enable her to expand and become the girl she used to be.
There are some delightful verbal exchanges between characters.
Family is important. The love radiates even when there is silence.
Maddie Please has once more produced a most charming, fun-filled read which I devoured in just one sitting. I am now dreaming of sunny days ahead.
I received a free copy from Rachel’s Random Resources for a blog tour. A favourable review was not required. All opinions are my own.

My first novel by Maggie Please and what a wonderful, light hearted, summery one Sunrise with the Silver Surfers is! Elin had divorced her husband who she had been married to for 30 years. Her friend unfortunately died and left her some money on the condition that she went travelling. Originally from Australia, Elin decides she is going to visit her sister and books herself a business class seat - she had never been able to do this while she was married. Meeting a good looking man in the airport lounge, Elin starts to wonder about herself. At a welcome home party, a surprise visitor to get sisters boyfriend happened to not only be his brother but the gorgeous man she met on the plane; turns out he not as nice as she thought!

A fantastic read, highly recommend

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an early review copy.

Elin is going on a trip from England to Australia to see her sister Rowan and her other relatives.

When she arrives, she realises that apart from missing her family, her ex husband stopped her from enjoying her life and now that she’s no longer married to him, Elin can begin to live her life as she wants.

I loved reading this book, it was funny in places and the characters were relatable, I also loved the descriptions of places in Australia. The story portrayed that it’s never too late to begin living your life again, regardless of your age.

I recommend this book.