View source for Granny with Benefits by Marilyn Bennett

{{infobox1
|title=Granny with Benefits
|author=Marilyn Bennett
|reviewer=Sue Magee
|genre=Women's Fiction
|summary=Grace is 39 and not entirely happy with the way that life is going which is why she's prepared to take a rather unusual approach when she meets a man she fancies.  An original story which is more thought-provoking that you might expect. Marilyn Bennett popped into Bookbag Towers to [[The Interview: Bookbag Talks To Marilyn Bennett|chat to us]].
|rating=4
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|pages=352
|publisher=Matador
|date=November 2016
|isbn=978-1785898730
|cover=1785898736
|aznuk=1785898736
|aznus=1785898736
}}

Thirty nine is a difficult age for a woman, particularly if she's not married.  Has she given up on the idea of having a family?  Does her career mean everything to her?  On the other hand is she desperately looking for a man?  Grace found herself in a difficult situation when she first met Dale (or Heaven on Legs - HoL - as she thought of him).  She'd volunteered to sort out her late grandmother's home, but she couldn't resist the opportunity to do a little dressing up.  So, wearing her grandmother's clothes, wig resting just above her eyebrows and heavy-rimmed glasses perched on the end of her nose she met the man of her dreams.  Only, rather than laughing and explaining what she'd been doing, Grace carried on the pantomime - and called herself Louise.

And Louise (officially she was Grace's aunt) became quite involved with HoL's family.  There never seemed to be a family celebration to which Louise wasn't invited: there was even the ''merest'' hint that romance might be on the cards.  Sometimes Louise sent her niece along in her place and that was how Grace officially got to know HoL.  They were both carrying a bit of baggage around with them - Grace had been married before (the split hadn't been all that civilised) and HoL obviously had commitment problems.  ''He'' might have understood his distinction between 'seeing someone' and 'being together' but it would have confused most people.  To top it all off, Grace has problems at work.  Redundancy-sized problems.

I'll confess that to begin with I didn't particularly ''like'' Grace.  She lied far too easily for my taste, but Marilyn Bennett is exceptionally skillful at keeping her readers balanced on the edge of their seats as they wonder if this is going to be the moment when it all falls apart.  Mind you, I didn't go for HoL as much as Grace did, either.  He might have looked gorgeous but you wouldn't necessarily have classified him as 'steady' and 'reliable'.  Then something rather strange happened: I started to root for Grace.  She might not be ''entirely'' truthful but she had an underlying honesty to herself and her friends which was very clear-sighted.  I liked her friends too.  They work well as a group and they're the sort of people everyone needs around them; prepared to tell it as it is, but there when the chips are down.  I even started to understand HoL a little more.  Bennett develops the characters beautifully and they worm your way into your mind.

In the early part of the story I was convinced that I was going to be reading farce and I was slightly concerned as it's not something which usually appeals to me, but the slapstick comedy morphs into a story of some depth with difficult moral conundrums which set me thinking about what I'd do in a similar situation.  I enjoyed the book and the end came far too quickly.  I'd like to thank the publisher for sending a copy to the Bookbag.

The last time I enjoyed a book to this extent it was called [[The Secret Lives of the Amir Sisters by Nadiya Hussain]].

You can read more about Marilyn Bennett [[:Category:Marilyn Bennett|here]]

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