Nesting

by Renee MacKenzie

Macy Stokes, a divorced mother who is struggling with her sexual identity, jumps at a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to help her friends. She doesn't foresee it will put her in jeopardy of losing her son, Jeremiah. Fresh out of high school, Cam Webber travels to Augusta, Georgia, to reconcile with her aunt. When she learns that's impossible, she determines to gain acceptance from her aunt's partner, Sharon. Meanwhile, Cam sets her sights on Macy, but Macy has other ideas. Kenny Brewer is a good old boy who loves his wife, Dorianne, even when he thinks she's gone totally off her rocker. Dorianne gets it in her head that a local woman is her long-lost half-sister. But soon, her obsession with that is eclipsed by medical problems that involve them all. Set in Augusta, Georgia, Nesting explores the age-old issues of guilt, regret, and redemption, and the part they play in driving people to create and protect family-at any cost.

218 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

As a Navy brat, Renee lived on three continents before her family settled in Virginia. She currently resides in Southwest Florida with her partner, Pam, and their poodle, Sabrina. Renee works and plays in the swamp, where she enjoys wildlife photography, kayaking, and hiking. Even though Renee has been paid to do all sorts of jobs, ranging from dental assistant to bartender, data entry clerk to maintenance worker, and field sampler to pet-sitter, she insists she’s only had one job—writer—and all the rest has just been research.

Reviews

[Terry Baker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Macy Stokes is divorced and is the mother of six year old Jeremiah. She’s also struggling with her feelings towards other women.

When one of Macy’s friends needs help, she doesn’t for one moment think that helping them out may cause her ex husband, Jack, to challenge her custody of their son.

Nineteen year old Cam Webber, not long out of high school, sets out to reconnect with her Aunt Jess and arrives in Augusta, Georgia unannounced hoping to stay with her aunt. Unfortunately for Cam, this is not possible. But Cam is desperate to hang around and gain the approval of her aunt’s partner, Sharon.

Along the way, Cam becomes enamored with Macy. But, Macy doesn’t want to know. She’s set her sights elsewhere.

Kenny Brewer loves his eccentric wife, Dorianne. Even though her behavior is getting more bizarre by the day. Dorianne becomes obsessed with a local woman and believes she is her half sister, causing all sorts of mayhem.

Unfortunately, it transpires that Dorianne has a medical problem that will impact on her, Kenny and their friends.

I’ve enjoyed Renee MacKenzie’s other books, so I wasn’t at all surprised that this book was enjoyable also. It’s certainly different from her other writings. The book is well written and edited and although I felt the beginning was a little slow, it soon picked up pace and continued along at a nice steady clip. The story itself is full of ups and downs, twists and turns and has surprises, drama, love and intrigue along the way. Just when I thought I had everything figured out, so the story would veer off in another exciting direction.

I love the characters, although, I must say it took a while for me to warm up to Macy. But, she grew on me. The characters are all well developed and are essential to the story. The things I particularly liked about this story, is the diversity of the characters, the scenic settings and the fact that the events in this book could actually happen. These are ordinary characters we could be interacting with everyday as part of our lives, characters with every day problems we can relate to.

So, if you are looking for a read that is different and refreshing, look no further, you’ve found it.

[Kit Carrington · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the minute I opened this book, I couldn't put it down. The characters draw you in and I found myself constantly wanting to know what was going to happen next. This book has a little bit of everything, suspense, romance, drama. The story flows well, and I didn't find myself getting bored with a lot of rambling or unnecessary information. The Author gives just enough information about each character to really help you form a connection with them. If you like reading about romance, friendship, family, and unconditional love then this is a must read.

[Senor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I laughed and cried. Very beautiful story that kept me wanting more.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good read from Renee.