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Verdict: A tender, sensual second-chance romance between two women in their sixties, set among a lifelong circle of friends grieving one of their own — rare, moving and well liked by readers who found it, though its rating is inflated by a late wave of generic five-star reviews.
Best for: Readers who want older heroines, grief handled with honesty, deep female friendships and a romance with some heat.
Heat level: Open door (the cover calls it a spicy lesbian romance; no romance.io steam rating yet)
Rating: ★★★★☆ (3.9/5 — a 4.43 Goodreads average across 63 ratings and 4.6 stars across 58 Amazon ratings, discounted for a thin and partly generic review base)
Tropes: Second chance, old flame, both leads 60+, grief, found family (“the Tribe”), beach setting, dual POV, standalone.
The Third Act is Kathleen Brehony’s 2024 contemporary lesbian romance. Shannon O’Connell is sixty-five: her partner of thirty years has left her for a mutual friend, her mother is disappearing into dementia, and her best friend Linda has just died of cancer. When Linda’s lifelong friends gather at Shannon’s family’s beachside resort, one of them is Elizabeth Matthews — an old flame.
It holds a 4.43 average across 63 Goodreads ratings, with 82% of them four or five stars, and 4.6 stars across 58 Amazon ratings.
What Is The Third Act About?
“The Tribe,” Linda’s group of friends, has gathered for every celebration for decades. Now they come together at Shannon’s family inn on Long Beach Island, New Jersey, to mark Linda’s life. Shannon finds comfort in them, and something she had forgotten in Elizabeth.
The story alternates between Shannon and Elizabeth as both women decide whether they are brave enough to begin again — and whether the emotional walls they have built can come down.
What Works in This Later-in-Life Romance
- Older heroines: Readers repeatedly say it is rare to find a romance — let alone a spicy one — where nearly everyone is in their sixties and seventies.
- Friendship: The Tribe is the book’s heart; one reader calls it a love letter to close friendships between women.
- Grief: The opening deathbed scene is described as wrenching, and readers say the healing is not rushed.
- Setting: The beachside inn gives the heavy material room to breathe.
- Audio: Abby Craden’s narration is praised.
Book Synopsis
Shannon O’Connell is broken. At sixty-five, her long relationship is over, her mother is fading and her best friend is gone. In what feels like a season of endings, she cannot imagine a beginning.
Then Linda’s friends arrive at the family resort to celebrate her life, and among them is Elizabeth Matthews — beautiful, sexy and part of Shannon’s past. Falling in love again would mean getting past the obstacles both women keep putting in their own way.
My Review
The substantive reviews agree on what Brehony does well: grief written with specificity, older women written as vital and sexual, and a friend group that feels like it really has shared thirty years. Dual perspectives give Shannon and Elizabeth equal weight, and several readers note the romance lingers rather than rushes. One reader was exasperated with one of the leads for a stretch; another found the middle dragged and the ending rushed, though good.
A caution on the numbers. The book has only 63 Goodreads ratings, and a run of its most recent reviews are short, generic five-star notes that repeat the blurb’s themes without specifics. The detailed early reviews are genuinely warm, so the book deserves attention, but the headline average is higher than the independent evidence supports. There is also a marketing split: the cover says “spicy lesbian romance,” while the Amazon subtitle sells it as a novel of grief and friendship. Readers get both.
My honest note: If you want romance for women over sixty, this is one of the few that takes both grief and desire seriously.
| Element | In The Third Act |
|---|---|
| Central relationship | Shannon O’Connell (65, grieving writer) & Elizabeth Matthews (old flame) |
| Core tropes | Second chance, old flame, both 60+, found family |
| Setting | A family beachside inn on Long Beach Island, New Jersey |
| Heat level | Open door — sensual rather than heat-driven |
| Length | 239 pages; audiobook just over 6 hours |
| Series | Standalone — hopeful, happy ending |
| Content notes | Death of a friend from cancer, dementia, a partner’s infidelity and breakup, grief |
How Spicy Is The Third Act?
Readers mention “sexy times” and a rekindled romance that is sensual as well as soulful, and the cover bills it as spicy. There is no romance.io steam rating and no StoryGraph content data yet, so treat it as open door without being heat-driven.
The heavy content is emotional rather than graphic: the death of a friend from metastatic breast cancer, a parent with dementia and the end of a thirty-year relationship.
Who Should Read This Book?
You’ll likely love it if: you want romance for and about women in their sixties and seventies. It is on our mature lesbian romance and women over 40 lists.
You may want to skip it if: recent loss or a parent’s dementia is too close to home, or you want a light romance.
In short: A moving, grown-up romance about starting again — with ratings to read carefully.
What Readers Are Actually Saying (September 2026)
On Goodreads the split is 65% five stars, 17% four, 14% three and 1% each for two and one. Self-Publishing Review and Reader Views both covered it; StoryGraph and romance.io have almost no data. The audiobook is narrated by Abby Craden.
Why readers love it (according to the discourse): The older characters first. Second, the friendships. Third, the treatment of grief. Fourth, the second-chance romance.
What readers argue about and complain about: Pacing — a dragging middle and a rushed ending — from one reader; frustration with one lead from another. Beyond that, very little criticism, which given the review profile is itself worth noting.
The comparison worth making first: For another romance with older women, try Golden Years and Silver Linings or Paper Daffodils.
Frequently Asked Questions
How old are the characters in The Third Act?
Shannon is sixty-five, and readers describe the whole friend group, including Elizabeth, as women in their sixties and seventies.
Is The Third Act spicy?
Yes, more than its sad premise suggests. The cover calls it a spicy lesbian romance and readers mention sensual, sexy scenes, but there is no romance.io steam rating yet.
Is The Third Act sad?
It opens with the death of Shannon’s best friend from cancer, and her mother has dementia. Readers call it an emotional rollercoaster that ends in hope.
Is The Third Act on Kindle Unlimited?
Not at the time of writing — the Kindle edition was listed at $5.99. The audiobook, narrated by Abby Craden, runs just over six hours on Audible; we did not find it on Libro.fm.
Is The Third Act a second-chance romance?
Yes. Elizabeth is an old flame from thirty years earlier, and one reader describes the two as having been in love throughout their long friendship.
If You Loved The Third Act, Read These Next
Try Golden Years and Silver Linings, Paper Daffodils or In the Twilight Hours for more later-in-life love. For more, browse our mature lesbian romance list or the full Book Reviews archive.
The Bottom Line
The Third Act sets out to show that love and desire do not end at sixty, and the readers who engaged with it closely say it does exactly that. What holds our score back is how little independent evidence there is yet. It is worth it for anyone looking for older heroines. Check The Third Act on Amazon →
The Eikna Overall Ranking
On the Eikna scale, The Third Act ranks as a strong mature romance — heartfelt, with a thin evidence base.
The Evidence Scorecard
Overall ★★★★☆ 3.9/5
- ✓ 4.43 average across 63 Goodreads ratings
- ✓ 82% of Goodreads ratings are four or five stars
- ✓ Generic late reviews discounted
- ✓ 4.6 stars across 58 Amazon ratings
Romance ★★★★☆ 3.9/5
- ✓ Second chance with an old flame
- ✓ Lingering, not rushed
- ✓ Sensual
- ✓ One lead exasperating for a while
Characters ★★★★☆ 4.2/5
- ✓ Women in their 60s and 70s
- ✓ The Tribe
- ✓ Realistic dynamics
- ✓ Dual POV
Writing ★★★★☆ 3.9/5
- ✓ Evocative grief
- ✓ Vivid detail
- ✓ Dragging middle for one
- ✓ Rushed ending for one
Emotional Impact ★★★★☆ 4.3/5
- ✓ Wrenching opening
- ✓ Healing not rushed
- ✓ An emotional rollercoaster
- ✓ Hopeful
Heat Level ★★★☆☆ 3/5
- ✓ Billed as spicy
- ✓ Sensual scenes
- ✓ No romance.io rating
- ✓ Not heat-driven
Ending ★★★★☆ 3.7/5
- ✓ Hopeful, happy ending
- ✓ Rushed for one
- ✓ Earned for others
- ✓ Standalone
Re-read Value ★★★★☆ 3.5/5
- ✓ Short audiobook
- ✓ Not on Kindle Unlimited
- ✓ $5.99 Kindle price
- ✓ Niche shelf
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