Curb Appeal: Forty Years of Falling for Houses and Finding Home

Lisa A Watts

Book cover for Curb Appeal: Forty Years of Falling for Houses and Finding Home
Image for variant 9798218801250
Book cover for Curb Appeal: Forty Years of Falling for Houses and Finding Home
Image for variant 9798218801250

Curb Appeal: Forty Years of Falling for Houses and Finding Home

Curb Appeal: Forty Years of Falling for Houses and Finding Home

Lisa A Watts

Member Benefits

  • 30% Off All Books - Savings that support storytellers, not stock prices.
  • Fight Book Bans - Every membership sends a book to LGBTQ+ youth in affected states.
Member Book Price
$15.99 $11.19
Non-Member Book Price $15.99

An annual membership will be billed at $48/year.

Discount applies to first-time members only. Already a member? Log in here.

View full details

Description

Buying fifteen houses over forty years isn't normal; Lisa Watts knows this. Sure, some of her moves were for jobs, but others were about pure infatuation. In this candid, often funny memoir, Watts revisits her relationships with bungalows, Colonials, two getaway houses, and an American Foursquare she adored with inexplicable passion. From newlywed life in Boston to raising kids in college towns, she invites us along on a tour to meet the places she made home and the longing behind a life on the move.

Curb Appeal: Forty Years of Falling for Houses and Finding Home is more than a real estate memoir. It's a love story about houses, a long marriage, the pull of fresh starts, and how the journey becomes its own kind of home.

Critical Reviews

"Anyone who's ever gone down a Zillow rabbit hole or daydreamed about a dream town will be captivated by Lisa A. Watts's whirlwind tour of houses and communities she's loved, left, and sometimes returned to. Curb Appeal is a warm, witty meditation on the beauty of starting over and the relationships and routines that sustain us amid change. Watts shows us how reinvention at any age can be as simple (and thrilling) as a new front door. You won't just read it-you'll want to pack a box and start fresh."

--Melody Warnick, author, This Is Where You Belong: Finding Home Wherever You Are and If You Could Live Anywhere: The Surprising Importance of Place in a Work-from-Anywhere World

"Here is a story of fresh beginnings, the mystery and promise of a new self in a new space, the 'sweet sadness' of goodbyes and the renewable thrill of empty rooms filled with cardboard boxes and the screech of packing tape. The many houses Lisa Watts collects throughout the years aren't interchangeable sets: they're puzzles, escape pods, theatrical backgrounds, teachers, lovers, overlords, spurs, goads, nets, and nurseries. They reveal her as they shelter her. They know what's next. Curb Appeal will stir your wanderlust."

--John Cotter, author, Losing Music: A Memoir

Publishing Information

Publisher: River House Press
Pub date: 2025-09-01
Length: 142 pages

The Allstora Membership

Membership Perks:

  • Save 30% on all online store purchases
  • Exclusive access to author's content
  • You pay less, but authors still earn double

Membership Terms:

First Month: $0.00
Monthly price: $5.00
  • To access membership discount simply log in and add to cart, discount applied automatically.
  • One month free trial, cancel anytime. Membership renews on the 15th of each month.