The Sunshine Potluck Society by Lilly Mirren

Four women. One monthly potluck brunch. And the friendships that become family.

Lifelong friends Joanna, Debbie and Gwen, grew up on Bribie Island together, in the quaint little hamlet of Sunshine. Now that they’re on the cusp of retirement, they hold a regular potluck brunch to catch up.
Joanna is a retired chef who married a restauranteur in her twenties. Now she’s a sixty-year-old widow, she finds it hard to leave the house. The world is so big and overwhelming at times, she decides to hire full-time live-in carer, Emily Miller, to help her navigate it. She pays the bills by writing cookbooks, and spends her days testing out recipes with Emily pitching in.
Debbie is a glamorous sixty, and can’t bring herself to fully retire. The successful law firm she spent her life building, requires her constant attention and she struggles to pull herself away to embrace a more relaxed pace of life with her friends in Sunshine. Her husband is a workaholic as well, and the two of them never had children. They hardly see each other most weeks, and she’s beginning to wonder if he’s intentionally isolating himself.
Gwen was a stay at home mother for over two decades, but now her husband and children act entitled and spoiled. They don’t have the kind of respect for her she’d hoped. When her husband’s dirty laundry comes home smelling of a perfume she doesn’t recognise, she worries her perfectly manicured life may well fall apart.
Joanna’s grandson, Aaron, moves back to the island, looking for a place to live. She lets him stay with her until he gets on his feet. But that forces Emily to face the boy who ghosted her after high school graduation.
Aaron Gilston was her brother’s best friend, the high school bad boy, and captain of the hockey team.
Her first childhood crush, he stole her first kiss and then broke her heart. And now he’s back in town living in the bedroom beside hers.