Nancy’s Review of Pushover by Laurel Mayer

Dani Wilder is about to open her first restaurant in the same Los Angeles location where a murder occurred. As if that doesn’t add enough stress to her life, she also learns that her seemingly perfect boyfriend, Jack, was engaged to Rebecca, the woman who was accused of the murder. When Rebecca returns to town, everything changes. Her conniving behavior threatens Dani’s new restaurant and ruins Dani’s relationship with Jack. Will Dani stand up for herself and take matters into her own hands or be a pushover?

Pushover is an intriguing novel with enough mystery to keep readers guessing throughout. Mayer does a great job of developing the characters as the story progresses. However, the backstory and flashbacks are overwhelming at times and really take away from the present story. Mayer’s descriptions are wonderfully detailed, but there are also sections that are overly descriptive with unnecessary background information that could have been cut. More dialogue would allow readers to experience the action unfolding rather than being told about it. Aside from these issues, Mayer is a gifted writer with tremendous potential. Pushover will appeal to readers looking for women’s fiction with mystery, suspense, drama, and romance.

Laurel Mayer has been in the field of marketing communications for more than a decade. She loves the craft of writing whether it is fiction or marketing copy. Laurel studied English literature and journalism at Boston University. Now she lives outside of Boston with her husband and three sons. Pushover is her self-published debut novel. She is currently working on her next novel. To learn more, you can visit her website and connect with her on Facebook and Twitter.