Life is changing, there's a divorce and a surprise move to New York.
There's hope for those moving onto different stages in life, even though family isn't always appreciative. There's adventure and fun to be gained.

Sister's Making Mischief brings wonderful escapism and light as we age. I am not quite middle-aged at time of writing this but I sure am enjoying the storytelling that depicts middle-aged people. Maddie Please's writing is in a style that is easy to relax into and lose yourself in the story of other people's lives.

In this particular book, there's humour and charm that is uplifting.
It's a book I recommend to ease the weight of the day.

Cute story of family, friends, new adventures. Funny and heartwarming. Loved the setting and the characters. A story to warm your heart on a cold Winter day.

A nice read…a divorced woman breaking out of her life and finding herself with her sister in France. Realizing it’s not all about the kids, and how to move forward to make herself happy.

An easy read. A little unbelievable in time frame at times but a good storyline for the mid aged generation.

Sisters Making Mischief by Maddie Please is a heartwarming and humorous tale about rediscovering yourself and embracing life's unexpected twists. Joy, the overwhelmed mother and wife, is frustrated by the lack of appreciation from her family during what was supposed to be a perfect Christmas. When her children announce their life changes and she realizes no one is offering her the care she needs, Joy decides to leave it all behind and head to France to visit her younger sister, Isobel.

In the rustic charm of Isobel’s potato farm, Joy hopes for some peace and a little time to reflect, but what she finds is an adventure that reignites her mischievous spirit. The relationship between the two sisters is a joy to read as they navigate the chaos of life together. With Isobel’s loud, boisterous personality and their playful interactions, Joy begins to rediscover the woman she used to be—and even finds a second chance at love and purpose.

3.5 stars

Whilst I did enjoy this book I also thought it was quite slow paced and didn’t really live up to the title. The also thought there wasn’t a lot of romance between Joy and Luca and I would’ve liked more. Overall it was an easy read but wasn’t my favourite of the authors unfortunately

Book Review: Sisters Making Mischief by Maddie Please

Maddie Please’s Sisters Making Mischief is a delightful and heartwarming novel that promises laughter, a touch of chaos, and plenty of feel-good moments. In this vibrant and humorous story, Joy Chandler, a woman who’s tired of being the caretaker and afterthought in her family, decides to take a break from her hectic life and find herself again. A dysfunctional Christmas leads to a trip to France, where Joy is welcomed by her mischievous younger sister, Isobel, and a rustic potato farm that brings out the fun and adventurous side of Joy that’s been buried for too long.

The premise of the book is light and breezy, yet the underlying theme is about reclaiming joy and rediscovering life. Joy’s character is relatable—she’s the unsung hero of her family, always taking care of everyone else while neglecting her own needs. Her frustration with her family is completely understandable, especially when her Christmas plans are ruined by family drama. Her decision to visit Isobel in France is a much-needed escape, and it’s the perfect opportunity for her to rediscover herself, have some fun, and perhaps find a little romance along the way.

Isobel, her fun-loving, free-spirited sister, adds an extra layer of charm to the story. The dynamic between the two sisters is dynamic and entertaining, with plenty of mischievous antics that will keep you grinning. France itself adds an extra layer of allure, and the rustic setting of the potato farm, combined with Isobel’s personality, gives Joy the freedom to explore new possibilities, from a new job to a potential romance.

Sisters Making Mischief is the perfect mix of humor, heart, and hope. Maddie Please’s writing style is warm and easy to read, making it a perfect companion for readers who want something uplifting and lighthearted. The humor is genuine and the characters feel like old friends you can’t wait to spend time with. The story is filled with endearing moments, unexpected twists, and an empowering message about rediscovering your spark at any age.

This novel is a great choice for readers who enjoy stories about self-discovery, family dynamics, and second chances. Fans of authors like Judy Leigh and Dee Macdonald will feel right at home with this heartwarming and delightful read.

Rating: 4.5/5

Maddie Please has once again delivered a refreshing, fun, and uplifting story that will leave you smiling. Sisters Making Mischief is a joyful celebration of life, love, and laughter—proof that it’s never too late to find happiness and take life by the reins. Highly recommended!

A fun read that made me smile repeatedly! Heartwarming and wonderful prose, this was the perfect read to relax and enjoy to brighten your day.

In this funny novel about family and sisterhood, readers join Joy, her daughter Sara and her two children, and her son and daughter-in-law John and Vanessa (and their kids) at Christmas dinner which quickly devolves when Sara announces her divorce and John and Vanessa are moving to New York. With every single hosting duty on her shoulders and exhausted by the family drama, Joy decides to go to France and visit her younger sister Isobel to take a break on her rustic and charming potato farm. In searching for her happiness and her old self, the time with her sister will bring out their shared mischievousness and perhaps give Joy a second chance at a job, love, and living. With two fantastic sisters starring in this novel, readers will sympathize with Joy’s struggles with her family and laugh at her adventures with Isobel in France, and the narrative and location shifts in the novel do a great job characterizing Joy’s character development. The characters, particularly Joy and Isobel and their relationship, and their emotions are the star of this novel, and Maddie Please does an excellent job bringing them to life in incredible and realistic detail in this emotional, charming, and heartwarming new release.

A wonderful story about finding yourself and putting your needs first. Not selfish but essential. Going to visit her sister in France after a horrible Christmas.. finding friendship fun and enjoyment in life again.

Funny and heartwarming. A novel to read if you want to relax
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

All she wanted was a lovely family Christmas with perfect turkey and luxury crackers. Instead, daughter Sara announces she’s getting divorced...and where is the fizz? And son, John and perfect wife Vanessa announce they are leaving for New York… and are the vegetables organic? And not one of them has made her a cup of tea!

So Joy decides she’s going to leave them all to it and head to France to visit her younger sister Isobel - a break from it all is just what she needs!

Isabel’s potato farm in France might be rustic, but Joy is hoping to find a bit of the old her again. Do her family really only think she's their dogs body? Where has Joy’s joy gone?

Being with Isobel is loud and chaotic and being together brings out both sisters’ mischievous side! And being in France adds a welcome touch of ooh la la to Joy’s life again. Soon, she has a new job, a new man and maybe even, a second chance at living!

Loved it. Will recommend to others

Joy can't believe what's happening. Her daughter Sara turns up at Christmas and says she's getting a divorce. Her son John says he's moving to New York. She's fed up with doing everytji9ng for everybody and nobody noticing. She decides to go to France where her sister Isabel and husband Felix live. She meets their next door neighbour Luc. Good laugh out loud moments

Wow, I could really relate to the feelings that Joy had at the beginning of this book! The lack of appreciation by her family and things not going quite to plan when you have spent so much time, money and effort to make things enjoyable for others...... I guess this is even more so at this time of the year, when both positive and negative emotions are heightened.

Anyway, Joy decides to just leave her family to it and she heads to France, to spend a bit of time with her sister Isobel. Isobel's home is the opposite of Joy's, in that it is loud and untidy but there is a lot of charm in just "being", the way that Isobel lives her life, and slowly Joy finds herself relaxing.

I am not going to spoil the plot here, but this book is more about women of a certain age finding their voices again rather than an older lady finding romance, if that makes sense.

I really loved it. The characters were charming and the setting of the book added to the charm.

5 stars from me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books.

A delightful read! I love the fact this book features an older character who realizes a few years after a divorce that it’s never too late to change the future. When Christmas doesn’t quite go the way that Joy had planned, she packs her bags and heads to France to stay with her sister. What follows is chaos, fun and laughter and a chance for Joy to get more out of life.

As I get older myself, I enjoy reading books that feature an older protagonist, so I was very interested to read the new book by Maddie Please starring 63-year-old Joy trying to rediscover her lust for life.

Even though I am a decade younger than Joy, I found a lot of her experiences in this book very relatable. It starts out at Christmas time when, as usual, the family matriarch is in charge of doing absolutely everything for everyone else and no one gives a seconds thought to what she might want or need. Why do adult children regress to behaving like teenagers when they return to the family home? At what point does the time come when parents can stop being parents and start putting themselves first again? This is what Joy finds herself trying to work out.

I loved the idea of Joy just taking off to visit her sister in France and letting everyone get on with it. It’s the first step in her realising that her children are now adults and can fend for themselves and it is okay for her to try and work out what she wants for herself. I am heading to this point in life myself and it is a hard period to navigate, especially for someone who has built their life and identity around being a wife and mother for so many decades. It’s easy to lose yourself in caring for other people and lose sight of who you are as an individual. Watching Joy realise this things was revelatory and made me think about certain aspects of my own life, which is not what I expected from a light romance novel.

I am hoping that I haven’t made this book sound too heavy because it really isn’t, in fact it is laugh out loud funny in places peopled with lots of warm and amusing characters. I particularly enjoyed Isabel’s mother-in-law and her outlook on life and her octogenarian romance. A number of the scenarios Joy finds herself in are hilarious – straining muscles, spilling stuff down herself, clothing mishaps – and totally relatable, but the book also contains moments of tenderness and wisdom. All in all this book has something to offer readers of all ages and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

This was such a fun story! I've read Maddie Please books before in the past and Sisters making mischief did not disappoint, I laughed so hard I cried at one point!

Thank you for the opportunity to read this book.

The story follows Joy, who’s completely over being taken for granted by her family. She was hoping for a nice, drama-free Christmas, but instead, her daughter announces a divorce, her son decides to move to New York, and everyone expects her to handle everything without a single thank-you. Fed up, she decides to escape to France to visit her sister, Isabel—and that’s when the fun begins.

I loved watching Joy’s transformation. She starts out overwhelmed and stuck but slowly begins to rediscover herself in the most charming and hilarious way. Her time in France is full of misadventures, witty banter with Isabel, and laugh-out-loud moments that made me wish I could join them. And while the title suggests the sisters are causing mischief, it’s more like they stumble into one funny situation after another.

What really stuck with me was how relatable Joy’s journey felt. It’s such a feel-good reminder that it’s never too late to make a change and put yourself first. The story had so many little nuggets of wisdom woven into all the humor and chaos—it left me smiling and even a little inspired.

If you’re in the mood for a warm, funny, and uplifting read, this one is definitely worth picking up. I’ll be keeping an eye out for more from Maddie Please!

Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books.

EXCERPT: It was the day before Christmas Eve, and I was ready for my guests to arrive. The beds were all made up, I'd put flowers in the rooms and plenty of towels. I'd decorated the Christmas tree and in a spurt of unexpected enthusiasm got out all the other decorations, hoarded over the years, to cover every surface with little light up houses, candles and ornaments. Stephen hadn't approved of a lot of them, he said it made the place look tacky, and it probably did but I didn't have to worry about his opinion any longer.
I'd put a small Christmas tree in the attic bedroom for the girls and decorated the staircase, which looked marvelous with a swag of artificial greenery, some fairy lights, and festive ribbons and under the tree, an exciting pile of presents beautifully wrapped and decorated. Even Marty, who had voiced the opinion that sticky tape was not needed on a properly wrapped gift, couldn't fail to be impressed.
I went to open the fridge door, to have a last look at all the things in there. A very pleasing collection of lidded boxes neatly stacked up. I had even bought a pineapple, some goat's cheese, and fresh figs and I can't stand any of those things. Then I went on to the pantry to admire the stocks of emergency gin and Baileys, and the monstrous turkey that had been soaking in brine and spices for two days.
I took a deep breath. Everything was ready and, courtesy of the big bowl of potpourri on the hall table, the house smelled of Yuletide cheer. I felt a little bubble of happiness and hope well up inside me. I'd been through some dark times over the last few years, but now perhaps I had got a grip of my life again, and I was ready to sow it to my family.

ABOUT 'SISTERS MAKING MISCHIEF': Joy Chandler has had enough!

All she wanted was a lovely family Christmas with perfect turkey and luxury crackers. Instead, daughter Sara announces she’s getting divorced...and where is the fizz? And son, John and perfect wife Vanessa announce they are leaving for New York… and are the vegetables organic? And not one of them has made her a cup of tea!

So Joy decides she’s going to leave them all to it and head to France to visit her younger sister Isobel - a break from it all is just what she needs!

Isabel’s potato farm in France might be rustic, but Joy is hoping to find a bit of the old her again. Do her family really only think she's their dogs body? Where has Joy’s joy gone?

Being with Isobel is loud and chaotic and being together brings out both sisters’ mischievous side! And being in France adds a welcome touch of ooh la la to Joy’s life again. Soon, she has a new job, a new man and maybe even, a second chance at living!

MY THOUGHTS: I love this uplifting book from Maddie Please best of all the books I have read by her.

Maddie writes with realism and humor. Both characters and the situations they find themselves in are relatable.

Maddie has always loved Christmas - the joy of bringing all her loved ones together under one roof has meant a lot to her. But since Stephen left, the wheels seem to have rather fallen off the wagon, and this Christmas was worse than ever! Dejected, she heads off to visit her sister Isobel in France.

Isobel and her mother-in-law Eugenie would warm any heart. Eugenie plays on her age, but she is a wily old bird. Isobel is the antithesis of Joy - a fly by the seat of her pants kind of person. She and husband Felix fight like cat and dog yet clearly adore each other. The villagers are all welcoming, but seem to know everyone's business, including Joy's. And what they don't know, they will make up!

I loved Joy's gradual awakening and acknowledgement of all that was wrong in her life. Her bucket list of goals/changes she wants to make to her life is brilliant. I could take it and make it my own.

This is a fun, warmhearted and poignant story. I read it with a smile on my face, and that smile has stayed there ever since I finished.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

#SistersMakingMischief #NetGalley

MEET THE AUTHOR: Maddie Please was born in Dorset, brought up in Worcestershire and went to University in Cardiff.

After a career as a dentist Maddie now lives in Devon with her exceptionally handsome and supportive husband. They have 4 adult-ish children all of whom have left home and are probably rather surprised by all this. She did warn them.

Maddie is a voracious reader, and would enjoy hoovering, defrosting the fridge and cleaning the windows but unfortunately she doesn't really have time. She is very disciplined and sensible about her writing and she likes to write every day because it gets her out of doing the ironing.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Boldwood Books via NetGalley for providing a digital ARC of Sisters Making Mischief by Maddie Please for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

This book is predominantly the story of Joy Chandler's life. To begin with, it's so relatable it's almost depressing. It's Christmas time and the first Christmas Joy is going to spend in her own home since her ex-husband Stephen left her 4 years ago. For the last 3 years Joy has spent the festive period with her family at their houses. This year, it's Joy's turn to host and she's determined to make the most of it. Unfortunately, things don't quite turn out how Joy planned. Her daughter is morose, her grandchildren constantly bicker and her daughter in law is difficult. On top of this, Joy's eagerness to make sure everyone has a good time ends up with her waiting on everybody hand and foot. Would it hurt them to even offer to help? Feeling exhausted and unappreciated after Christmas dinner, she decides enough is enough and make plans to go and visit her younger sister, Isobel in France. This is where the tone of the book kicks up a gear. Her sister has a carefree attitude to life, almost the polar opposite to Joy, but this is a good thing. Together they are hilarious. Life isn't taken too seriously, mishaps get laughed at rather than bringing on tears and most importantly, the sisters have lots of fun.