Sign up for our newsletters to receive our Best of 2024 ezine!

Read advance reader review of The Mostly True Story of Tanner & Louise by Colleen Oakley, page 7 of 11

Summary | Reviews | More Information | More Books

The Mostly True Story of Tanner & Louise by Colleen Oakley

The Mostly True Story of Tanner & Louise

by Colleen Oakley

  • Critics' Consensus (15):
  • Published:
  • Mar 2023, 352 pages
  • Rate this book

About this book

Reviews


Page 7 of 11
There are currently 73 member reviews
for The Mostly True Story of Tanner & Louise
Order Reviews by:
  • Louise E. (Ocean View, DE)
    Lighthearted Romp!
    The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise was an enjoyable book. Pairing up an older woman with a younger woman for a car trip makes for an interesting intergenerational story. Then you add in a hunky young man. What's not to like? There are some unexpected twists to the story. The characters were believable and Louise's back story was interesting. A lighthearted romp!
  • Alison K. (Hamilton, NJ)
    Spend time with someone from another generation to learn more about yourself
    Despite a slow start with two unlikable characters, I found myself drawn into this book and loving both Tanner and Louise by the end. I liked the way each of their stories unraveled, especially learning the truth about what Louise left behind. I also liked how Tanner grew and came to appreciate her mother more during the journey as well as her new career aspirations.

    About the supporting characters, it was a hoot to finally meet George, and I would have loved to hang out with George and Louise in their younger days. The August subplot seemed a little superfluous (was he there to have a 'Brad Pitt' type?), but it was fun anyway.

    This book is a good choice for anyone who likes girl-powered comedy road trips and surprise twist endings!
  • Becky S. (Springfield, MO)
    A light hearted escapade
    This was a cute book about an unlikely pair that become friends and play out an adventure together. I thought it was fun and lighthearted, but also had some heavier topics interlaced into the story line. The characters were interesting and although the story seemed a big unlikely, when read in the way that it was intended, it made for a pleasurable read with plenty of twists and turns!
  • Lucy
    Characters working through relationship
    Two unlikely characters coming together and trying to mesh very different issues. Sometimes frustrating, sad, and happy, watching the characters develop and try to work together to bridge distances.
  • Shelby K. (Salem, OR)
    Fun and layered story of friendship
    Fun and engaging read. I really enjoyed getting to know the characters as their guards were slowly chipped away and we got a chance to see them more fully. This deals with some heavy and important subjects, but does so with humor and an air of mystery that keep it from feeling too heavy.
  • Jamie K. (Berkeley, CA)
    Never underestimate the power of a well-coiffed octogenarian with a lumpy mattress
    This modern-day Thelma and Louise —minus the violence but plus the hunk—buddy story of a college dropout with a grudge and an 84-year-old woman with a gun— on the run from a decades-long cold case has a lot of things going for it—well-developed characters, plot twists, witty dialog, and a lot of heart. I was really enjoying the read until I came to a plot element/explanation that for spoiler reasons, I cannot reveal. But suffice it to say, it was too similar to the one used in a well-known jewel heist book written for younger readers for me to ignore. It made it hard for me to enjoy the rest of the book, although I did care about the characters, and I thought the backstory and reveals tied things up nicely. The ending was a nice surprise, too which makes me wonder if there is a sequel in the works. Oh and one more thing I wondered about—Does anybody know the statute of limitations on grand theft in Georgia?
  • Laurie W. (Sunnyvale, CA)
    Intergenerational duo on a road trip
    I expected this book to follow what seems to be a standard plot in a number of books I've read lately - an older person meets a younger person and both of them learn and grow from the experience. While I was correct about this underlying theme, the storyline was more like a road trip movie. Driving cross country, running from the FBI, dealing with gangsters – all these were unexpected and kept me entertained. The twist at the end was a pleasant surprise, too, as we finally learned the whole story that set off this adventure in the first place. Overall, an enjoyable light read.

Read-Alikes

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: Small Rain
    Small Rain
    by Garth Greenwell
    At the beginning of Garth Greenwell's novel Small Rain, the protagonist, an unnamed poet in his ...
  • Book Jacket: Daughters of Shandong
    Daughters of Shandong
    by Eve J. Chung
    Daughters of Shandong is the debut novel of Eve J. Chung, a human rights lawyer living in New York. ...
  • Book Jacket: The Women
    The Women
    by Kristin Hannah
    Kristin Hannah's latest historical epic, The Women, is a story of how a war shaped a generation ...
  • Book Jacket: The Wide Wide Sea
    The Wide Wide Sea
    by Hampton Sides
    By 1775, 48-year-old Captain James Cook had completed two highly successful voyages of discovery and...

BookBrowse Book Club

Book Jacket
In Our Midst
by Nancy Jensen
In Our Midst follows a German immigrant family’s fight for freedom after their internment post–Pearl Harbor.
Who Said...

To make a library it takes two volumes and a fire. Two volumes and a fire, and interest. The interest alone will ...

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Big Holiday Wordplay 2024

Enter Now

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.