Scan barcode
A review by lazygal
The History of Us by Leah Stewart
2.0
There's a lot of discussion about "New Adult" books right now, and this is (I think) squarely in that genre but... I just didn't really care about the characters enough.
We open with 28-year-old Eloise, newly hired at Harvard, flush with the success of her first book and - wham! - her life changes when her sister and brother-in-law die, leaving her as guardian to their three children. That's the prologue, with the rest of the book taking place today. The three children have grown up... mostly. Claire is supposed to head to NYC to become a professional ballet dancer, Josh has given up his career as a musician in a moderately successful band, and Theo is working on her dissertation. Eloise sees this as an opportunity to finally sell the family house and move on with her life; the others are happy to stay at home, not really growing.
Is this the key to New Adult? Vaguely dissatisfied 20somethings who don't want to face the responsibilities adults face? Slightly more upscale and higher educated slackers? If so, no thanks. Maybe in another book, with people I cared about, but this wasn't that book.
ARC provided by publisher.
We open with 28-year-old Eloise, newly hired at Harvard, flush with the success of her first book and - wham! - her life changes when her sister and brother-in-law die, leaving her as guardian to their three children. That's the prologue, with the rest of the book taking place today. The three children have grown up... mostly. Claire is supposed to head to NYC to become a professional ballet dancer, Josh has given up his career as a musician in a moderately successful band, and Theo is working on her dissertation. Eloise sees this as an opportunity to finally sell the family house and move on with her life; the others are happy to stay at home, not really growing.
Is this the key to New Adult? Vaguely dissatisfied 20somethings who don't want to face the responsibilities adults face? Slightly more upscale and higher educated slackers? If so, no thanks. Maybe in another book, with people I cared about, but this wasn't that book.
ARC provided by publisher.