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obsidian_blue's reviews
3095 reviews
London Transports by Maeve Binchy
5.0
I love Maeve Binchy. I honestly really did cry when I head that she had passed away. I have been reading her novels and short stories for so many years I was just used to her books. No matter what she was always an automatic buy for me. I have not had a chance to read all of her books so decided to go back and read the ones I have not up until now.
I really did enjoy London Transports. I do think that she was a very fine teller of short stories and wish that more authors out there would do short story collections these days.
All of the stories take place in London and each story had what I would consider a realistic ending. For those that have read Maeve Binchy before she has stories that deal with adultery, betrayal, abortion, love, unrequited love, race relations. I think my favorite stories in this collection were actually:
"Holland Park" when a woman comes to a realization about who she really loves and owes it all to two people she really can't stand.
"Lancaster Gate" when a woman comes to the end of a relationship.
"Marble Arch" when a woman who has sacrificed for her boyfriend realizes that not everything is as it seems.
"Holborn" a married woman meets up with her ex and his new wife and is shocked by how changed he is.
And my hand's down favorite story "King's Cross" where a woman comes along and helps her female boss in becoming noticed and promoted at her job.
I definitely recommend to long-time and new readers of Maeve Binchy's work.
I really did enjoy London Transports. I do think that she was a very fine teller of short stories and wish that more authors out there would do short story collections these days.
All of the stories take place in London and each story had what I would consider a realistic ending. For those that have read Maeve Binchy before she has stories that deal with adultery, betrayal, abortion, love, unrequited love, race relations. I think my favorite stories in this collection were actually:
"Holland Park" when a woman comes to a realization about who she really loves and owes it all to two people she really can't stand.
"Lancaster Gate" when a woman comes to the end of a relationship.
"Marble Arch" when a woman who has sacrificed for her boyfriend realizes that not everything is as it seems.
"Holborn" a married woman meets up with her ex and his new wife and is shocked by how changed he is.
And my hand's down favorite story "King's Cross" where a woman comes along and helps her female boss in becoming noticed and promoted at her job.
I definitely recommend to long-time and new readers of Maeve Binchy's work.
Barefoot Season by Susan Mallery
5.0
I tend to do things backwards. I may find out about a new author or read one of their series books out of order and fall in love with it. I did the same thing with Susan Mallery's "Blackberry Island" series. I read "Three Sisters" and absolutely adored that book. From there I read "Evening Star" and finally last weekend started and finished "Barefoot Season".
This novel is about two ex-best friends Michelle Sanderson and Carly Williams who have not spoken in ten years since an incident drove them apart. Michelle left Blackberry Island to join the military and Carly stayed behind to be a wife to her husband. Ten years later they are forced to work together again at Michelle's family's inn.
I have to say I loved both Michelle and Carly. I have no idea what I would have done in similar circumstances. Two friends who were driven apart by their own families and in both cases a need to be loved was heartbreaking at times but very well done. Ms. Mallery must have also talked to someone who is former vet or read up on PTSD. She was able to write Michelle's reactions to stress and noise very well.
Also most romance books out there have a right and true formula for the heroines or heroes to get to their HEA. I was happily surprised to see though that the HEA relationship was between Michelle and Carly and not any men that came along. This whole book was about them finding their way back to each other.
I honestly don't have anything to critique about this novel except to say that if you have a chance read this and then the other books in this series.
This novel is about two ex-best friends Michelle Sanderson and Carly Williams who have not spoken in ten years since an incident drove them apart. Michelle left Blackberry Island to join the military and Carly stayed behind to be a wife to her husband. Ten years later they are forced to work together again at Michelle's family's inn.
I have to say I loved both Michelle and Carly. I have no idea what I would have done in similar circumstances. Two friends who were driven apart by their own families and in both cases a need to be loved was heartbreaking at times but very well done. Ms. Mallery must have also talked to someone who is former vet or read up on PTSD. She was able to write Michelle's reactions to stress and noise very well.
Also most romance books out there have a right and true formula for the heroines or heroes to get to their HEA. I was happily surprised to see though that the HEA relationship was between Michelle and Carly and not any men that came along. This whole book was about them finding their way back to each other.
I honestly don't have anything to critique about this novel except to say that if you have a chance read this and then the other books in this series.
Just This Once by Rosalind James
5.0
So this series was recommended to me by a friend who told me that she felt this was a good call-back to the romance novels we used to sneak out from under our mom's beds when we were kids. You all know what I am talking about. The books with the hero and heroine gazing into each other eyes looking overcome just be touching each other. Not really understanding why your mom/aunt/sister had flagged certain pages until you read them and then you understood.
The first book in Rosalind James Escape to New Zealand series, "Just This Once" is the first book in the series and I thought was a really steamy romance novel that evoked the older romance genre books that many still love.
Our heroine, Hannah Montgomery, goes to New Zealand for three weeks to figure out what she wants to do next. While there, she meets a professional rugby player, Drew Callahan. Hannah and Drew just fit together to me and their love scenes (when they happened) made me blush...a lot. I thought it was very realistic and quite open about two people who were deeply attracted to one another and their relationship trajectory made a lot of sense to me. Nothing was magically fixed, everything took work. What really made me love this book was that it took place in a country and city I have never been to and would have not thought a romance taking place there would work, but it did. I thought Ms. James did an excellent job describing the history of the New Zealand, the intricacies of rugby, and the Maori culture.
All in all a wonderful romance read! Cannot wait to read book two in this series!
Please note that I received this novel for free via the Amazon Kindle Lending Library.
The first book in Rosalind James Escape to New Zealand series, "Just This Once" is the first book in the series and I thought was a really steamy romance novel that evoked the older romance genre books that many still love.
Our heroine, Hannah Montgomery, goes to New Zealand for three weeks to figure out what she wants to do next. While there, she meets a professional rugby player, Drew Callahan. Hannah and Drew just fit together to me and their love scenes (when they happened) made me blush...a lot. I thought it was very realistic and quite open about two people who were deeply attracted to one another and their relationship trajectory made a lot of sense to me. Nothing was magically fixed, everything took work. What really made me love this book was that it took place in a country and city I have never been to and would have not thought a romance taking place there would work, but it did. I thought Ms. James did an excellent job describing the history of the New Zealand, the intricacies of rugby, and the Maori culture.
All in all a wonderful romance read! Cannot wait to read book two in this series!
Please note that I received this novel for free via the Amazon Kindle Lending Library.
Männerfrei by Gemma Burgess
4.0
I have been missing old-school Jane Green, Sophie Kinsella, and others who used to write what I considered some of the best British chick-lit. I love chick-lit novels but they have seemed to fall out of favor over the past couple of years. More and more we have writers either for straight romance or it becomes a women's fiction book.
I really love the tale of one woman taking a detox from dating after having six disastrous break-ups in a row. The main character, Sass, still recovering over her fifth break-up that temporarily scrambled her brains and then dealing with her sixth boyfriend dumping her too has made her call a time-out from dating for at least three months. I could definitely feel the main character as I was reading this since heaven knows I and millions of other women would probably do very well with declaring a dating detox ourselves.
Taking place in London and New York we have Sass trying to be assertive at work as well as in her personal life. With three best friends (Kate, Bloomie,and Mitch) there are several laugh out loud moments that I really enjoyed (I loved the idea of every Mitch party involving a signature drink with blenders).
Having Sass provide readers with details about what went wrong with each guy who has broken up with her and having all of these same guys pop up throughout the entire novel I thought was really good.
I really love the tale of one woman taking a detox from dating after having six disastrous break-ups in a row. The main character, Sass, still recovering over her fifth break-up that temporarily scrambled her brains and then dealing with her sixth boyfriend dumping her too has made her call a time-out from dating for at least three months. I could definitely feel the main character as I was reading this since heaven knows I and millions of other women would probably do very well with declaring a dating detox ourselves.
Taking place in London and New York we have Sass trying to be assertive at work as well as in her personal life. With three best friends (Kate, Bloomie,and Mitch) there are several laugh out loud moments that I really enjoyed (I loved the idea of every Mitch party involving a signature drink with blenders).
Having Sass provide readers with details about what went wrong with each guy who has broken up with her and having all of these same guys pop up throughout the entire novel I thought was really good.
Christmas Kismet by Jemma Grey
2.0
I really love romance novels that center around Christmas. Just reading about people enjoying family and friends around the tree with snow falling and the man/woman you love being near always brings a smile to my face.
The two main characters Kate and Herni both have reasons for wanting to get away from their homes for the Christmas holidays. Kate still reeling from an emotional betrayal decides to hide away from her family during the Christmas season. She rents a cabin for the holidays. Henri, still dealing with the death of his wife and not being able to spend time with his children during the holidays goes away to spend time at his cabin and due to a mix-up with reservations ends up sharing the cabin with Kate.
I only gave this novel 2 stars because in the end I really did not like it. The plot worked but the I had problems with the two leads separately and then the "heat" between them was not really there.
First, Kate's betrayal was so big I was shocked in the end when everything seemed to be fine with her and the persons behind it since she found love again. Added to that is the fact that when I read about the "why" behind Kate was betrayed (not that it was a good reason) seeing how fast she moves in her relationship with Henri just strained my credibility meter.
Second, Henri just seemed quite dull to me. You find out about his wife, his children, and the issues with his in-laws but it was brought up as this type of side-plot that really did not go anywhere.
Third, once Kate and Henri get together I just did not buy it. I didn't see the "love" between the two characters which is always a problem when you have the two characters get together literally a couple of days after meeting one another. It can work in some situations but I have to feel the lust/pull for the two people right away. All I saw was a lot of "like" and as I said since we find out about Kate's unique situation I had problems buying that she all of a sudden felt lust for a total stranger like she did. The ending was too pat and unbelievable to me. I think if the storyline had been more than a few days with the lead-up to meeting each other and falling in love more realistic I would have liked the novel more.
The two main characters Kate and Herni both have reasons for wanting to get away from their homes for the Christmas holidays. Kate still reeling from an emotional betrayal decides to hide away from her family during the Christmas season. She rents a cabin for the holidays. Henri, still dealing with the death of his wife and not being able to spend time with his children during the holidays goes away to spend time at his cabin and due to a mix-up with reservations ends up sharing the cabin with Kate.
I only gave this novel 2 stars because in the end I really did not like it. The plot worked but the I had problems with the two leads separately and then the "heat" between them was not really there.
First, Kate's betrayal was so big I was shocked in the end when everything seemed to be fine with her and the persons behind it since she found love again. Added to that is the fact that when I read about the "why" behind Kate was betrayed (not that it was a good reason) seeing how fast she moves in her relationship with Henri just strained my credibility meter.
Second, Henri just seemed quite dull to me. You find out about his wife, his children, and the issues with his in-laws but it was brought up as this type of side-plot that really did not go anywhere.
Third, once Kate and Henri get together I just did not buy it. I didn't see the "love" between the two characters which is always a problem when you have the two characters get together literally a couple of days after meeting one another. It can work in some situations but I have to feel the lust/pull for the two people right away. All I saw was a lot of "like" and as I said since we find out about Kate's unique situation I had problems buying that she all of a sudden felt lust for a total stranger like she did. The ending was too pat and unbelievable to me. I think if the storyline had been more than a few days with the lead-up to meeting each other and falling in love more realistic I would have liked the novel more.
Doctor Sleep by Stephen King
4.0
It took me a long time to start Doctor Sleep. I remember reading "The Shining" when I was a pre-teen and being scared to go to sleep for weeks without my handy flashlight next to me. I felt for Danny Torrance and his family as they were trapped in the Overlook hotel where people that were dead did not stay dead. I always wondered what happened to Danny and his mother after they survived the Overlook. Doctor Sleep allows us to see what kind of man has Danny (Dan) become since "The Shining."
When the novel begins we have Danny and his mother still recovering from the events at the Overlook. We a visit from Dick Hallorann thrown in we readers quickly find out that Danny is still dealing with the events at the Overlook and we find out an interesting side effect to the shining. Stephen King then throws the novel forward into Danny's (now known as Dan) early to mid twenties who we come to find out has become a drunk who drinks to forget his past. The novel zig-zags through Dan's life and we also have incorporated into the novel some asides to characters called "The True Knot" who apparently know what "The Shining" is and want it for themselves. Additionally we have the characters of Lucy, David, and their daughter Abra.
I have to say that I was very taken by the characterization of Dan in this novel. After everything he has been through who would not have some scarring left from that. However, I felt disappointed that we do not get to get into his life with his mom growing up except for a few short sentences referencing her and Dick. To have Dan just falling and hitting rock bottom was believable except for the part that I doubt that Dick would have ever let Dan fall that hard without a little tough love and getting back in touch. I felt as a reader that Stephen King left off some important information for me to just get into why Dan just slid as far down as he did in the world.
Regarding the characters who made up "The True Knot", I really did not find them scary at all. Definitely horrible villains but they did not make me feel as fearful or scared as I did while reading Stephen King's "Full Dark, No Stars" or the character of It in "It" (involuntary shudder) compared to those villains these people were just lightweights. I really wish that they had not taken up as much of the novel as they did or we had been able to understand exactly what moved them besides just staying alive.
I found the character of Abra interesting along with her parents and I would love to see this character followed-up on in a subsequent novel but find that once the connection to Dan was finally explained by King that I just felt disappointed. It really didn't make a lot of sense and I felt that the explanations of how everything tied together actually made the novel lose its steam at that point so when we go into the last couple of chapters I found myself not as engaged as I should have been.
All in all this was a very nice sequel to "The Shining" but I think it would have been better if we just didn't have the whole "True Knot" characters in the novel or if we did they really should have been scarier or at least I should have been scared for our heroes.
When the novel begins we have Danny and his mother still recovering from the events at the Overlook. We a visit from Dick Hallorann thrown in we readers quickly find out that Danny is still dealing with the events at the Overlook and we find out an interesting side effect to the shining. Stephen King then throws the novel forward into Danny's (now known as Dan) early to mid twenties who we come to find out has become a drunk who drinks to forget his past. The novel zig-zags through Dan's life and we also have incorporated into the novel some asides to characters called "The True Knot" who apparently know what "The Shining" is and want it for themselves. Additionally we have the characters of Lucy, David, and their daughter Abra.
I have to say that I was very taken by the characterization of Dan in this novel. After everything he has been through who would not have some scarring left from that. However, I felt disappointed that we do not get to get into his life with his mom growing up except for a few short sentences referencing her and Dick. To have Dan just falling and hitting rock bottom was believable except for the part that I doubt that Dick would have ever let Dan fall that hard without a little tough love and getting back in touch. I felt as a reader that Stephen King left off some important information for me to just get into why Dan just slid as far down as he did in the world.
Regarding the characters who made up "The True Knot", I really did not find them scary at all. Definitely horrible villains but they did not make me feel as fearful or scared as I did while reading Stephen King's "Full Dark, No Stars" or the character of It in "It" (involuntary shudder) compared to those villains these people were just lightweights. I really wish that they had not taken up as much of the novel as they did or we had been able to understand exactly what moved them besides just staying alive.
I found the character of Abra interesting along with her parents and I would love to see this character followed-up on in a subsequent novel but find that once the connection to Dan was finally explained by King that I just felt disappointed. It really didn't make a lot of sense and I felt that the explanations of how everything tied together actually made the novel lose its steam at that point so when we go into the last couple of chapters I found myself not as engaged as I should have been.
All in all this was a very nice sequel to "The Shining" but I think it would have been better if we just didn't have the whole "True Knot" characters in the novel or if we did they really should have been scarier or at least I should have been scared for our heroes.
A Girl Like You by Gemma Burgess
2.0
I finished reading Gemma Burgess's "The Dating Detox" and promptly bought the next book in her 'London Girls' series. This novel and "The Dating Detox" could be read as standalone novels.
In "A Girl Like You" we have Abigail dealing with being single for the first time in years. Abigail broke up with her long-time boyfriend and quickly moved in with Robert (best friend of her sister's fiancee). With Robert's expertise on how to be single and enjoy it Abigail starts to date and eventually even begins to relish her singleness until she meets "the one."
I really did love the character of Abigail in this novel. To me she was a delightful mess. I can only imagine how weird it would feel to go from a long-term relationship to being single in London. Ms. Burgess is able to delightfully capture all of the characters like Abigail, Robert, Abigail's sister and close friends.
However, I could only give this novel two stars. This was due to a lot of errors I found in this novel and a plot shift that changed the dynamic of the first half of the novel. With regards to the errors I found, several times I would just find a character speaking and all I would see is "," or a character would be "kissging". I don't know if this was because of my Kindle version or not but thought I would let other customers know that it was in my version of this book.
Second, the plot shift was a major issue for me. We have Abigail being happy to be single and free and when the plot shifts she becomes an entirely different character. I struggled to finish the novel once this happened. When the plot re-shifted again I was pretty fed up with Abigail. At this point I was all out of sympathy for the character and was happy when the novel came to a close. I really did love "The Dating Detox" but just did not care for "A Girl Like You" at all.
In "A Girl Like You" we have Abigail dealing with being single for the first time in years. Abigail broke up with her long-time boyfriend and quickly moved in with Robert (best friend of her sister's fiancee). With Robert's expertise on how to be single and enjoy it Abigail starts to date and eventually even begins to relish her singleness until she meets "the one."
I really did love the character of Abigail in this novel. To me she was a delightful mess. I can only imagine how weird it would feel to go from a long-term relationship to being single in London. Ms. Burgess is able to delightfully capture all of the characters like Abigail, Robert, Abigail's sister and close friends.
However, I could only give this novel two stars. This was due to a lot of errors I found in this novel and a plot shift that changed the dynamic of the first half of the novel. With regards to the errors I found, several times I would just find a character speaking and all I would see is "," or a character would be "kissging". I don't know if this was because of my Kindle version or not but thought I would let other customers know that it was in my version of this book.
Second, the plot shift was a major issue for me. We have Abigail being happy to be single and free and when the plot shifts she becomes an entirely different character. I struggled to finish the novel once this happened. When the plot re-shifted again I was pretty fed up with Abigail. At this point I was all out of sympathy for the character and was happy when the novel came to a close. I really did love "The Dating Detox" but just did not care for "A Girl Like You" at all.
Chasing Perfect by Susan Mallery
2.0
The first novel in Susan Mallery's "Fool's Gold" series focuses on Charity Jones and Josh Golden.
Charity is recently hired as city planner in Fool's Gold. Charity is orphaned and is happy to be putting down roots in Fool's Gold and hopes that she can finally find a nice guy to settle down with after so many dating disasters. Josh is a world renowned cyclist who has moved back to Fool's Gold to recover from a bicycling accident that continues to haunt him.
The initial plot intrigued me but in the end I have to say that I found this entire novel to be a two star book. It really pains me to give this novel two stars. I mean seriously this does. I love Susan Mallery's Blackberry Island series and I am a bit perplexed that the author who wrote those novels wrote the "Fool's Gold" series as well. I purposely chose the first two books in this series for my To Be Read (TBR) 2014 pile because I loved the Blackberry Island books so much.
All in all I felt as if Charity and Josh were very flat, that the plot was patently absurd, and that the romantic chemistry was just not there. However, if only these things were present in the novel I would have still given it 3 stars. However, what really caused me to drop this novel down to two stars was the fact that several times throughout this novel it was shown that being a single woman with a good job was not enough. I several times had to put this book away because of that sentiment that kept being expressed by every single character that came into contact with Charity. She is told at one point to not purchase a home because she may meet a man and if they marry what is the point in having her own home. Several characters keep rhapsodizing about how hot Josh is, how perfect his body is, etc. and these are grown women with careers. I am not saying that women don't gossip (please) but each character was pretty much turned into a drooling imbecile around Josh and it became off putting after a while.
I am going to read book #2 since it is on my TBR 2014 pile and I hope that the series rebounds since in my mind it has to improve from book #1.
Charity is recently hired as city planner in Fool's Gold. Charity is orphaned and is happy to be putting down roots in Fool's Gold and hopes that she can finally find a nice guy to settle down with after so many dating disasters. Josh is a world renowned cyclist who has moved back to Fool's Gold to recover from a bicycling accident that continues to haunt him.
The initial plot intrigued me but in the end I have to say that I found this entire novel to be a two star book. It really pains me to give this novel two stars. I mean seriously this does. I love Susan Mallery's Blackberry Island series and I am a bit perplexed that the author who wrote those novels wrote the "Fool's Gold" series as well. I purposely chose the first two books in this series for my To Be Read (TBR) 2014 pile because I loved the Blackberry Island books so much.
All in all I felt as if Charity and Josh were very flat, that the plot was patently absurd, and that the romantic chemistry was just not there. However, if only these things were present in the novel I would have still given it 3 stars. However, what really caused me to drop this novel down to two stars was the fact that several times throughout this novel it was shown that being a single woman with a good job was not enough. I several times had to put this book away because of that sentiment that kept being expressed by every single character that came into contact with Charity. She is told at one point to not purchase a home because she may meet a man and if they marry what is the point in having her own home. Several characters keep rhapsodizing about how hot Josh is, how perfect his body is, etc. and these are grown women with careers. I am not saying that women don't gossip (please) but each character was pretty much turned into a drooling imbecile around Josh and it became off putting after a while.
I am going to read book #2 since it is on my TBR 2014 pile and I hope that the series rebounds since in my mind it has to improve from book #1.
Hush Little Baby by Suzanne Redfearn
5.0
The main protagonist of this novel is Jillian Kane. A well respected architect and a mother of two children with a handsome husband Jillian appears to have it all to the outside world. However, Jillian is keeping a secret that her picture perfect life is nothing but a fraud. With a husband who works in the police force Jillian has no one to turn to when her perfect husband starts abusing her.
Just a word of warning to potential readers. This is a very tight thriller centering around domestic abuse. At times the story made me physically cringe and at times I got felt ill reading about the ways in which Jillian was mistreated by her husband Gordon. I think it is because the author, Suzanne Redfearn, manages to write so well that you feel as if you are a silent witness to everything that Jillian is going through. Ms. Redfearn rights this character so well I honestly felt as if a real live friend was going through this and I was afraid that she would eventually be killed by her husband. I gave this novel five starts because I thought it perfectly encapsulated what a woman goes through while she is being abused and what happens to her afterwards even when she manages to get away. I now that this a reality that many women have gone through in their lives and reading about how Jillian does her best to protect her children--Addie and Drew--from Gordon and doing her best to not antagonize and at times to antagonize Gordon just so that either way she would have some peace manages to allow readers to feel just as helpless as Jillian.
Just a word of warning to potential readers. This is a very tight thriller centering around domestic abuse. At times the story made me physically cringe and at times I got felt ill reading about the ways in which Jillian was mistreated by her husband Gordon. I think it is because the author, Suzanne Redfearn, manages to write so well that you feel as if you are a silent witness to everything that Jillian is going through. Ms. Redfearn rights this character so well I honestly felt as if a real live friend was going through this and I was afraid that she would eventually be killed by her husband. I gave this novel five starts because I thought it perfectly encapsulated what a woman goes through while she is being abused and what happens to her afterwards even when she manages to get away. I now that this a reality that many women have gone through in their lives and reading about how Jillian does her best to protect her children--Addie and Drew--from Gordon and doing her best to not antagonize and at times to antagonize Gordon just so that either way she would have some peace manages to allow readers to feel just as helpless as Jillian.
The Vintage Teacup Club by Vanessa Greene
5.0
Three women and one teacup service is the start of a beautiful friendship in The Vintage Teacup Club. When Jenny Davis comes across a teacup service at a market she thinks she has finally found the service that she can use at her wedding themed vintage teacup party. However, two other women also want the service--Maggie and Alison--and the three women together come up with a solution to share the service while also hunting down more vintage teacups to use.
I know that this book was released in November 2013 but since I did not have a chance to open this book until 2014 I am still counting it as one of my favorite reads of 2014.
I think that the author Vanessa Greene managed to make write this novel very well with three distinct female characters and juggle their story-lines and not manage to make it feel overcrowded. That is a very hard thing to do I think and she manages to do so deftly without making it look hard at all. Usually when I read a novel with multiple characters I end up really loving one and just kind of ignoring the other ones I don't identify with at all. However, this time I really did identify with Jenny, Maggie, and Alison. All three women were so distinct and at different phases of their lives (about to be married, married for a long time, and divorced) so you could definitely see where they were coming from with their experiences. I also thought it was a very smart way to set up these women like female archetypes maiden, mother, and crone.
I would love to read a follow-up novel with these characters some day or at least a subsequent novel with all new characters with some sneak peeks at these three.
I would definitely recommend picking this up to read!
I know that this book was released in November 2013 but since I did not have a chance to open this book until 2014 I am still counting it as one of my favorite reads of 2014.
I think that the author Vanessa Greene managed to make write this novel very well with three distinct female characters and juggle their story-lines and not manage to make it feel overcrowded. That is a very hard thing to do I think and she manages to do so deftly without making it look hard at all. Usually when I read a novel with multiple characters I end up really loving one and just kind of ignoring the other ones I don't identify with at all. However, this time I really did identify with Jenny, Maggie, and Alison. All three women were so distinct and at different phases of their lives (about to be married, married for a long time, and divorced) so you could definitely see where they were coming from with their experiences. I also thought it was a very smart way to set up these women like female archetypes maiden, mother, and crone.
I would love to read a follow-up novel with these characters some day or at least a subsequent novel with all new characters with some sneak peeks at these three.
I would definitely recommend picking this up to read!