Book ~ "The Homewreckers" (2022) Mary Kay Andrews

From Goodreads ~ Hattie Kavanaugh went to work helping clean up restored homes for Kavanaugh & Son Restorations at 18; married the boss’s son at 20; and was only 25 when her husband, Hank, was killed in a motorcycle accident.

Broken hearted but determined to continue the business of their dreams, she takes the life insurance money, buys a small house in a gentrifying neighborhood, flips it, then puts the money into her next project. But that house is a disaster and a money-loser, which rocks her confidence for years to come. Then Hattie gets a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: star in a beach house renovation reality show called "The Homewreckers", cast against a male lead who may be a love interest or may be the ultimate antagonist. It's a question of who will flip, and who will flop, and will Hattie ever get her happily-ever-after.

Hattie is in her early thirties.  She was widowed about seven years ago and continues to work for her father-in-law (who is more like a father to her) restoring houses ... they buy them, fix them up and then flip them.  Hattie is approached to be part of a reality show called "The Homewreckers" ... the show will follow her as she restores a dilapidated house.  She will be accompanied by Trae, a handsome charming designer, who unbeknownst to her is supposed to pretend to woe her to get more ratings for the show.  She sinks all her money (plus money she's had to borrow) in a condemned beachhouse and they get to work.  Not surprisingly there are sparks between Hattie and Trae but because everything is on the line with the house, that's what she has to focus on.

While they are renovating, a wallet is found hidden in the house that belongs to a well-loved school teacher who had disappeared 17 years ago.  No one knows what had happened to her but speculation was that she had run off with her lover, leaving her husband and young daughter behind.

I thought the book was okay.  When I started reading it, it came across as a light fun read about the behind the scenes of a reality show.  Then when the wallet was found and the story included the disappearance and possible murder of the teacher, there was a disconnect for me ... it's like the author was trying to stick two stories together that didn't fit.  I think each on their own would have been a better way to do it.  It is written in third person perspective.  As a head's up, there is swearing.