Author of
With warmth, humour, and a lot of deep breathing, this book examines motherhood, aging, second chances, and the ups and downs of middle-aged romance, with characters so true to life they’ll stay with you long after you’ve closed the book.
About the Author
Nicole MacPherson taught and practiced yoga in Calgary for many years. She holds a Master's degree in Economics and worked in natural gas option trading prior to becoming a parent. Nicole has been writing her own personal lifestyle blog since 2008 and has contributed to many other online publications.
She now lives in Kelowna with her husband, Rob, and dog, Rex.
To read more about Nicole, visit girlinaboyhouse.com
New Release
About the Book
Michelle’s life has stagnated. Her days are spent balancing the demands of running her yoga studio with parenting her teenage daughter, Livvy – all while contending with her workaholic ex-husband, Paul. Under pressure from her sister, and facing mounting loneliness, Michelle decides to re-enter the dating scene for the first time in thirty years. How different can it be?
As it turns out, very different. However, when Michelle meets Steve, a widower and a student at her yoga studio, sparks fly. Livvy, struggling with rejection from her father, is thrilled with her mother’s new boyfriend – but is he everything he appears to be? As doubts about Steve creep in, Paul drops a bombshell that jeopardizes the rosy future Michelle has begun to envision for herself. As complications arise from every corner, and her relationship with her daughter reaches a crisis point, Michelle is faced with a choice: is the only way forward to forgive the past, or will she have to relive it?
With warmth, humour, and a lot of deep breathing, Inhale Exhale examines motherhood, aging, second chances, and the ups and downs of middle-aged romance, with characters so true to life they’ll stay with you long after you’ve closed the book.
Coming Soon
About new beginnings and the warmth of family life, Inhale Exhale is an atmospheric, cozy romance novel.
A courageous divorced mother begins dating again in Nicole MacPherson’s emotive novel about midlife revival, Inhale
Exhale.
In her fifties, Michelle manages a yoga studio in Calgary. She has a teenage daughter, Livvy, and her ex-husband,
Paul, is remarried to Jessica, who is thirty years younger. They alternate weekends as part of their custody deal,
generating tension: Livvy feels that Paul is too absent in her life, and her disappointment over her parents’ divorce
resists resolution. Meanwhile, Michelle is prompted to address her fears of loneliness.
Its prose enlivened by lighthearted humor, the novel details Michelle’s mishaps as she finds new companionship while
keeping up with her commitments. She’s self-conscious about aging; her sister recommends Botox. She uses a dating
app without being aware of its poor reputation. Her early mishaps give way to revelations of deep pains, though, as
Michelle realizes that she’s changed since she last dated. She feels conflicted about having centered her life on
motherhood. When Steve, one of her new yoga students, expresses romantic interest in her, it shifts her story once
more.
Progressing in a steady but episodic manner, the book shifts between scenes set in Michelle’s home and those set at
her yoga studio. Her relationship with Livvy is warm, though she’s bewildered over Livvy’s moodiness; they also have
to navigate generational differences. And her initial connection to Steve is marked by sweet awkwardness; people
chime in with advice to smooth the new couple’s way.
Still, Michelle is an ebullient narrator who’s prone to pithy comments and sometimes overcritical self-reflection—she
worries about becoming a “sentient cliché,” for example. At her opposite, Steve is patient and self-aware. His
relationship with Michelle proceeds in careful stages as he meets her family. They contend with their issues with
gentle determination—flirty and growing in familiarity with one another. Personal complications result in some
ambiguity, though.
The book’s atmosphere is a cozy one. Christmas decorations are described, and there’s plentiful baking to flesh out
the seasonal backdrop. These details complement the book’s theme of new beginnings well. And the story is made
homier by the ordinary nature of Michelle’s problems: She juggles her yoga teachers’ schedules and handles Livvy’s
worries with skill, exemplifying quiet endurance and repeating “Inhale. Exhale” as a mantra.
In the musing novel Inhale Exhale, a woman mixes new love with family with unpredictable results.
─Clarion Reviews ★★★★
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