Scan barcode
A review by amym84
And One Last Thing ... by Molly Harper
5.0
This is the first book by Molly Harper that I've read. I really enjoyed this book. I thought it was a nice, light, fun read. I thought that it could've been longer. There were some characters that I didn't feel got enough time for us to learn more about them, like Lacey's parents. For me, they didn't really come off as sympathetic towards what happened to Lacey. Her father seemed like she was more of a burden than his daughter who needed her family to help her through this rough time in her life. I feel that there was a reason he acted this way, but we didn't really get a chance to find out why. Lacey does talk about the little things her dad does that speaks to how much he loves her mother, so we can presume he's a good guy, but why treat Lacey like she's an inconvenience when she has to stay with them for a little while after she's left her husband?
I thought that passage of time in the book was very fast too. I mean we start out in June I believe and by the end it seems like we should be entering November. It seemed like weeks had passed from one page to the next without any indication until a character brings up the cold weather, a holiday, or something along those lines. I can't really tell if this is a good thing, a bad thing, or if it really makes no difference, but I remember feeling like "if we are so far away from when the events initially happened, then why do the characters still feel like they are in the same place?"
I did like Lacey as a character. Sometimes it's difficult to like characters who have gone through a dramatic event because they almost become defined by that event, and usually it will shape what they say and do as a character. For example, Lacey, in becoming divorced, could have become bitter, angry, and revengful towards Mike which would have been fine for a little while, but would have gotten old pretty quickly in a book. And while Lacey was hurting and did have her moments of being angry and wanting revenge against Mike, Molly Harper wrote the character with so much snark and wit that those moments never once dragged the book down into desolation. It was nice to see a comedic exchange instead of pure anger and sadness and past events. Even though Lacey did take a little bit to move on, I wasn't bothered by it. I think that the right amount of time was spent (both in page length and in the fictional world) getting Lacey to the point where she was ready to move on.
Monroe's character was a good opposition to Lacey. A good character to wake Lacey up from her comfortable resting period for the past eight years and remind her that there is more out there for her in the world. Just because her marriage is over, doesn't mean her life is over. While we did learn a lot about him throughout the story, I still felt there was more I wanted to learn. I think that we learned all that Lacey learned and where we leave off is what they will come to know of each other as their relationship grows. I thought that their friendship started out a little awkward. I think it was never either of their intentions to be just friends yet they were both scared to start something serious so they began with friendship and let it propell them into a couple which is why it was so awkward to begin with because they never had just friendship feelings. They were interested in each other from the beginning.
Overall I thought this book was a good read. By the end I felt hopeful for our characters and the possibiliies ahead of them. I would read it again, and I do intend to read other books by Molly Harper. From everything I've heard, humor and lightness is a common factor in her stories and I think it's better than brooding.
I thought that passage of time in the book was very fast too. I mean we start out in June I believe and by the end it seems like we should be entering November. It seemed like weeks had passed from one page to the next without any indication until a character brings up the cold weather, a holiday, or something along those lines. I can't really tell if this is a good thing, a bad thing, or if it really makes no difference, but I remember feeling like "if we are so far away from when the events initially happened, then why do the characters still feel like they are in the same place?"
I did like Lacey as a character. Sometimes it's difficult to like characters who have gone through a dramatic event because they almost become defined by that event, and usually it will shape what they say and do as a character. For example, Lacey, in becoming divorced, could have become bitter, angry, and revengful towards Mike which would have been fine for a little while, but would have gotten old pretty quickly in a book. And while Lacey was hurting and did have her moments of being angry and wanting revenge against Mike, Molly Harper wrote the character with so much snark and wit that those moments never once dragged the book down into desolation. It was nice to see a comedic exchange instead of pure anger and sadness and past events. Even though Lacey did take a little bit to move on, I wasn't bothered by it. I think that the right amount of time was spent (both in page length and in the fictional world) getting Lacey to the point where she was ready to move on.
Monroe's character was a good opposition to Lacey. A good character to wake Lacey up from her comfortable resting period for the past eight years and remind her that there is more out there for her in the world. Just because her marriage is over, doesn't mean her life is over. While we did learn a lot about him throughout the story, I still felt there was more I wanted to learn. I think that we learned all that Lacey learned and where we leave off is what they will come to know of each other as their relationship grows. I thought that their friendship started out a little awkward. I think it was never either of their intentions to be just friends yet they were both scared to start something serious so they began with friendship and let it propell them into a couple which is why it was so awkward to begin with because they never had just friendship feelings. They were interested in each other from the beginning.
Overall I thought this book was a good read. By the end I felt hopeful for our characters and the possibiliies ahead of them. I would read it again, and I do intend to read other books by Molly Harper. From everything I've heard, humor and lightness is a common factor in her stories and I think it's better than brooding.