This book had my.interest as soon as I realized the main characters where my.age q and not some twenty something. It was a slow burning love story of two individuals who meet in college and some fifty years get reacquainted.in an assisted living facility.

They decide to leave the facilitate when it is apparent that it is being upgraded but with the dining room in disarray. Noah suggest that he and Cassandra travel.to his rough cottage on Cape Cod. They are such a.mismatched couple but some.how their relationship blooms.

It gives hope to all.older readers who wish to find love. ( )

I loved that the protagonists were old in a very believable way. Despite their age, they didn't feel old - which is how elderly people often feel inside. Noah and Cassandra knew each other back in college. Now they are in the same retirement community and both feeling less than satisfied with their situations. Cassandra has a car and Noah has a summer cabin - it's a spontaneous plan that gets them out of the rule bound community and back into adult life with all its choices and compromises. I liked the romance aspect - it is a hopeful take on the idea that you are never too old to not want connection and love. ( )

Noah and Cassandra knew each other when they were 19 and in college as she was dating Noah's roommate. Now they are 72 and have reconnected at the Clarion Court Retirement Home. Both are widowed. Cassandra recently sold her home and moved in with her huge dog. Since Noah's son can not drive him to his Cape Cod cottage, Cassandra offers.
These two are so opposite. Noah is stodgy and set in his ways while Cassandra is spontaneous. This is a great summer read. And I loved that the two main characters are older. Highly recommend. ( )

He hears laughter. Laughter that he remembers. Laughter that he hasn’t heard for a long time.

Her name is Cassandra Joyce.
She was an entomologist.
His name is Noah Shilling.
He was an English professor emeritus.
Residents of Clarion Court, an independent living community.
She has a dog named Melville.
He has a cat without a name, in other words, simply Cat.
He loves music.
She does not.
They both love the pool.

They could escape the renovations that will close “The Terrace” dining room and pool if Cassandra accepts Noah’s invitation to stay with him as friends at his cottage on Cape Cod. Can 2 independent individuals, different yet the same, forge ahead together?

I loved this novel, from the meaningful epigraph to the last sentence. It captures the essence of aging in a heartwarming way, from the differences in how each person has moved forward in their lives after experiencing love and loss, after retirement, after downsizing a family home to reactions to rules in a community, and when long-held emotional baggage is noted and called out by another. The writing is intelligent, witty, and oh-so-real. It showers the reader with the beauty of love at a certain age, miraculously breathtaking from discovery to the unknown time it will be shared.

Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the opportunity to read an eARC of this novel. ( )