Maddie Meadows adores her family and loves her work. But she has good reason to keep them separate.
For single mum Maddie, home is a flat on a run-down estate. And family consists of an excitable toddler, a lonely Dad and a younger brother mired in a love triangle.
Meanwhile, professional Madeleine balances a tricky day job, made worse by a jealous colleague. No one at work knows about her other life, and she needs to keep it this way: one of the bosses has made his feelings very clear about single parents and the people on her estate.
Thank goodness for her fun-loving and loyal friends – although Maddie wishes they’d believe her when she insists she has no time for love. Or so she tells herself as she fights to quell her hidden feelings for her gorgeous colleague, Oliver, who comes from the posh part of town.
When her friends line up their ideal man for her – Sean, more beanstalk than Bean – Maddie wishes she’d told them the truth.
It’s hard enough juggling two lives. But, with all the added complications, how long will be it be before Maddie’s carefully created world comes crashing down?
Light, Easy, Enjoyable Read! 
A very touching novel involving family, career and romance all in a very realistic setting.
Maddie Meadows is moving on from her sales job; she’s going to work for her local council as a manager, liaising with the people who pay for the running of the local authority and those who decide how the cash is spent. She wants to appear more professional so adopts her full name of Madeleine at work, keeping Maddie when she is Mum to Josh, daughter to Alan, sister to Will and friend to Rachel and Leah who despair of her ever finding love. How long can she keep the two halves of her life apart?
It’s refreshing to read a novel reflecting everyday life, and not a couple of weeks’ holiday in the sun. This isn’t the first book I’ve read by Sharley Scott, but it is different to her previous ones. She certainly understands the needs and wants of society, and pens a very believable tale of life for a young, single, working mum. The arising issues both at work and home are completely believable and I did puzzle over how things were going to pan out. Well written and smoothly flowing whilst including a healthy dollop of fun this is a light, easy read and one I thoroughly enjoyed. I’ll certainly be on the lookout for the author’s next novel and am happy to give this one four stars.
My thanks to the author for my arc copy and to Rachel’s Random Resources for my spot on this tour; this is – as always – my honest, original and unbiased review.
Tags: family life, humour
- Format: ebook, paperback
- Size: 302 pages
- Publication Date: 16 June 2020
- Links: Goodreads
- amazon uk
- amazon us
Author Bio
Sharley Scott is the author of the ‘Devon Seaside Guesthouse’ novels – Bedlam & Breakfast and B&Bers Behaving Madly.
Her latest book ‘The Two Lives of Maddie Meadows’ is being published in early July 2020. The second in the series ‘The Gift of a Rose’ will be available in the autumn.
Sharley is a guesthouse owner in South Devon. She is thankful to have been blessed with lots of amazing and kind-hearted guests, who are nothing like some of the characters featured in the Devon Seaside Guesthouse series.
The Two Lives of Maddie Meadows is a fictional account, but Sharley has never forgotten how interesting life can be with a toddler. Some of the mischief Josh gets up to will be familiar to all parents. Sharley has carried out the threats she made to her son decades ago and now embarrasses him by telling tales to his girlfriend, although he gets her back by recounting stories about his mum.
Social Media
Twitter: @SharleyScott
Facebook: @SharleyScott3
Grace J Reviewerlady 