Story for the Week
Everyone loves pizza, right? I mean, it’s possible there are people out in the world who don’t. But on a worldwide scale, according to Yahoo Finance, pizza ranks at the top for global preference.
Having grown up in the near south suburbs of Chicago, I have access to a lot of good pizza. I do not plan to argue in this post that Chicago makes the best pizza. Most people, in my opinion, seem to love the pizza they grew up with the best.
I do not claim to either love deep dish as a Chicago specialty or to hate it as “just for tourists.” A Giordano’s deep dish on occasion, while tasty, takes a long time. And the debate between Giordano’s or Lou Malnati’s? Frankly, neither of them holds a candle to Pizzeria Uno (or Due) or Pequod’s and I’m sure many others in the city.
I don’t get into the city enough to eat at either of the latter two. If I do have to choose between Giordano’s or Lou’s, I’m going Giordano’s. I prefer their sauce. That said, I typically order from a local family place which is, sadly, closing after this summer. Otherwise, I’ll go with the very quick and easy Domino’s or Pizza Hut depending on who has the best deal that day.
This post isn’t about who has the best pizza though. It’s about the convenience…how pizza turns into the go-to when I’m not in the mood to cook.
Recently, I had planned to prepare some pasta with meatballs the night before we went on vacation. We were still having book club (Do We Need a Name for Our New Book Club?) since I expected to be finished packing and just wanted a relaxing evening. About 30 minutes before our last two book clubbers arrived, I texted and asked if they minded pizza instead.
It had been a good day. I took the day off of work so I could run some last-minute errands. Packing doesn’t typically take long, so I expected to have plenty of time to spare before dinner. I ran to the store for a few last-minute items. When I passed through the allergy aisle looking for Benadryl, it occurred to me to ask Corinne when her EpiPen expires. With allergies to peanuts, tree nuts, and coconuts, an EpiPen would be essential on a cruise to the Caribbean. 🤷♀️
She texted back that her EpiPen actually expired in November. 😯😯😯
So I sent a message to our doctor, who thankfully saw the message quickly and sent over the prescription. (Thanks Dr. Shah!) I called the pharmacy to ensure we would be able to pick it up that day. They didn’t have it in stock, but they were able to call another pharmacy to make sure they had it. Then I had to call that pharmacy to ensure we would be able to pick it up that day. Thankfully, they would have it ready in an hour, but I had to get home and eat lunch and pack.
I texted Corinne and informed her that she would be going out later to pick up the EpiPen. It was just before 2:00, and yes, the time is important.
I picked up a late lunch on the way home, we ate, and Corinne went to pick up her prescription. In the meantime, I went out to the garage to pull out one of the suitcases that I knew was in the garage. It wasn’t there. I checked the closet in the office. I looked in Corinne’s room. Back to the garage. To my room. I asked Corinne if she knew where it was. Went back to the garage. Corinne went to the garage.
Nothing…I could not find the suitcase
A little after 4:00, I texted our friend Aly. Despite knowing we hadn’t loaned out the suitcase, I asked her if we had loaned her the suitcase. I called Jakub, who was going on vacation with us. I called my friend Stephanie, who was also leaving with us the next morning. She asked if I had asked St. Anthony. I didn’t grow up Catholic, but my mother was raised Catholic. I was baptized Catholic and made my First Communion, and then we converted, but I still respect the saints.
When we were in college, Stephanie taught me “Tony, Tony, look around. Something’s lost and can’t be found.” I have asked St. Anthony many times to help me find something that was lost, including a ring I dropped into the sand on the beach one year. He has never failed me.
I went back out the garage. I moved the kiddie pool we bought for the dogs a couple of summers ago. And there, under the kiddie pool, behind the ping pong table, hidden by the bins of Christmas decorations, was the suitcase. (Thank you, St. Anthony!)
By then, it was 4:30, and I hadn’t started packing yet. I had planned to start dinner by 5:30, and everyone was coming over by 7:00. I pack quickly, but not that quickly. So pasta and meatballs became a pizza delivery because I still wanted to be able to relax the night before we left. And I ordered enough that Rodolfo had leftovers for a couple of days because I knew he would be busy with school and work, which was also a goal with the pasta.
Sometimes you just have to change your plans because the best plan is pizza.
The male main character in the book reviewed below would seem to agree. In a conversation with the female main character, he talks about something that isn’t common knowledge. When she asks him where the book of common knowledge exists, he tells her he memorized it before he burned it so as not to make himself redundant. He continues, “…I can tell you it is common knowledge that, when you bravely go for something and it doesn’t work out like you hoped, the best remedy is pizza.”
I can’t say that I disagree. 😉
Book Review
⭐⭐
2 Stars for Lost and Found by Tarah DeWitt
352 pages
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Publication Date: August 4, 2026
I received an advance copy of this title from NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press.
Publisher’s Description
Bea always wanted to be a mom. But she never expected she’d have to lose her best friend to do it. Armed with nothing but her best friend’s eggs and a bucket list to complete, Bea’s world is a sea of changes.
When she needs a place to stay, her longtime friend Silas steps in to help. A firefighter grappling with the aftermath of an accident, Silas has his own challenges to work through that have left him cautious and vulnerable.
At first, they expect nothing. But as these two former sunshines knit together in a love that has been unfulfilled until now, a new beginning comes out of the ashes of the past—one that will lead to a love that can withstand all the slings and arrows, joys and triumphs, that life can throw.
************
Main Characters:
- Bea Marshall – just turned 30, works as a hair stylist on the edge of the small town of Spunes in Oregon, met her best friend Merritt in 5th grade, has always had a thing for Silas but avoided pursuing him because Merritt really liked him, Merritt recently passed away from breast cancer
- Leslie Marshall – Bea’s mom, was the valedictorian of her high school class and attended Arizona State on a soccer scholarship, a virtuoso pianist, dropped out of college after three years and returned to Spunes single and pregnant with Bea
- Silas Byrd – 31 years old, the second oldest of the Byrd siblings, their parents died when the children were young and Ellis raised them, works as a firefighter
- Ellis Byrd – the oldest of the Byrd siblings, recently remarried to Wren, had their son Sam when they were 17, got back together after they dropped him off at college the previous summer, Wren runs the bakery in town called Savvy’s which had previously belonged to Ellis’s mother Savannah
- Micah Byrd – almost 30, wanted to play professional baseball, currently works for the fire department and working toward his EMT certification, Ellis doesn’t want him to default to being a firefighter just because he and Silas are firefighters
- Sage Byrd – the youngest of the Byrd siblings, engaged to Fisher who adopted his niece Indy, Fisher works as a chef, Sage runs a floral business out of her home garden
Trigger warning: cancer death, grief, IVF, body image issues due to scarring
A lot of people talked about this book, the third in a series about the Byrd siblings set in Spunes, Oregon. I saw so many mentions on social media, and I discover a lot of new authors on NetGalley by requesting books that other readers anticipate. I am sorry to say that I will not be reading this author again.
Even though this book comes as part of a series, it is clearly a stand-alone story about Bea Marshall and Silas Byrd. The author does a great job of weaving in the stories about Silas’s siblings, two of whom have been featured in previous books. I imagine there will be a fourth book featuring the last sibling Micah. They are a tight-knit, supportive family. This differs immensely from Bea’s upbringing as an only child raised by her mom and stepfather, having no idea who her biological father is.
When we meet Bea, she is on her way to see Merritt’s estate lawyer. Merritt just recently passed away. Bea is not dealing well with her grief, and now she has a huge decision to make. Merritt chose to freeze her eggs prior to starting cancer treatment. She then willed those eggs to Bea. The kicker is that Merritt never told Bea she stored her eggs to begin with, let alone that she was going to will them to Bea. Instead, she writes a letter to Bea to explain her rationale.
So now Bea only has two years to decide what to do with the eggs, since the cryopreservation center will only store them for two years post mortem. Bea has to cover the storage fee until she decides what to do. And if she chooses to use the eggs, she has to pay for IVF, which is expensive even on a double income. In Merritt’s letter to Bea, she says she knows Bea will make the right decision and that Bea is her soulmate…always. Talk about manipulation from the grave! 😬
I honestly thought that Bea and Merritt had been together as a couple previously. What I realized from reading the letter Merritt left as well as learning about their friendship through high school and college is that Merritt was ridiculously selfish. Bea sacrificed every opportunity for a relationship with Silas while Merritt was alive…all in deference to Merritt. And Merritt never did anything for Bea that warranted that sacrifice that we see as readers.
Bea also has kind of a toxic relationship with her mom. While Bea loves her stepdad, their relationship could have been fostered more by Bea’s mom Leslie. Bea decides to move home to save money once she thinks that she might use Merritt’s eggs. When she tells her mom, however, Leslie gives Bea two weeks to move out because she doesn’t approve.
Then there’s Silas, who has always had a thing for Bea. While he dated around, he never settled, constantly waiting for Bea to come around. He has sweet nicknames for her, all playing off of her name. He goes out of his way to be kind and generous to her. Bea even moves in with him when her mother kicks her out. That said, once they start to act on their mutual attraction (not a spoiler since it’s a romance), it was almost like they were entirely different characters.
This book is on the spicier side, which I don’t have an issue with at all. But when characters start off sweetly flirtatious with a couple of innuendos thrown in, I don’t expect them to go full-on possessive claiming “you’re mine.” It really just felt…off.
There are also some statements that just sound so cliche and they aren’t things people would say in real life. Silas thinks, “I want her to want me. I need her to need me.” (OK, Cheap Trick.) And at one point, Bea’s mom tells her, “Love is always having pieces of your heart walking around outside your body.” While I wholeheartedly believe that about a child and would expect to see it in a greeting card, I would not ever expect anyone to say those words out loud.
***SPOILERS*** SPOILERS***SPOILERS***
There are definitely plot lines that I couldn’t reconcile. Romances inevitably have a falling out during the relationship. For Bea and Silas, it comes really late in the story and seems out of the blue. Both Bea and Silas start to second guess the other, which didn’t make much sense to me. One day, Silas comes home from work already showered, which Bea questions. He’s a firefighter. I would think it’s pretty normal for him to shower at the station. She assumes in her head that it’s because he’s not excited to rush home.
In the same conversation, she suggests they can sit down to dinner and talk because she has something to talk to him about. He assumes she’s going to break things off. The last few times he’s been home, he’s noticed boxes in her car and assumes she’s gradually moving things out of the house. She’s actually been moving things from her place to bring them to Silas’s house. So he notices everything about this woman and has for years. When he spots boxes in her car, however, he assumes the worst and doesn’t notice new artwork on HIS walls, an ottoman in HIS living room, or a candle and a bread box in HIS kitchen?
Then there’s Bea’s relationship with her mother and stepfather. While Bea knows that her stepfather loves her, they’ve never been particularly close. Turns out that Bea’s mom has intentionally tried to keep Bea distant from him because she didn’t want Bea to be hurt like she was by not knowing her biological father. They got together when Bea was five. Why on earth would she not want Bea to have a close relationship with the man who ended up raising her? That made absolutely no sense to me.
Finally, we get to the Epilogue, which authors typically use to give the reader the future state of the relationship that developed in the romance. DeWitt uses this chapter to show us the time when Silas visited Merritt in the hospital. Merritt sends Bea to get a sandwich so she can talk to Silas and ask her to watch out for Bea and take care of her after Merritt dies.
This would have been so much better as a part of the story. It would have been nice to know earlier on that Merritt knew that Bea and Silas belonged together rather than Bea always feeling guilty about having feelings for Silas. And I don’t read Epilogues to understand the past that should have been included in the main part of the story.
DeWitt clearly has her fan base. I am not it.
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