This book came to me via an ARC program, and I chose it because the preview was great, and as a women’s fiction writer myself who employs similar themes, I was really excited to dive in.

The Premise

Nudged by an unexpected pregnancy, Kimberly married her high school sweetheart and the love of her life Jay. Now in her late 30s with their daughter approaching adulthood, she expects their relationship to blossom as they enter the “empty nest” phase — only to learn that the nest is about to get even emptier than planned, when Jay says he’s leaving her. As she navigates divorce and strikes out on her own in the game of love, Jay remains in the background, their history intrinsically intertwined. But as she falls for her new love interest(s) and rediscovers herself as an independent and self-sufficient woman, what role will a man play in her life — and which should she choose: the throes of new love, or Jay’s desperate attempts to get her back?

The Pros

This was a well-written women’s fiction novel that deals with the fallout from a “good marriage” that causes shock waves in their community.

There are three main relationships in the book, and I appreciated that we got a good picture of the highs and lows of each — it is well balanced throughout, allowing the reader to fall in love with the new men she meets for different reasons as she explores the new phase of her life, and also slipping in bits and pieces of the relationship with her husband both from past experiences/memories and in the present time.

I also liked the depiction of female relationships, as we saw the mother-daughter bond as well as her close friends and even “frenemies” — all of these felt very genuine and real. There were many women’s fiction gems in terms of describing her steps towards getting a new lease on life, how she felt and experienced sex, and the emotional exhaustion of recreating yourself from the embers of all the baggage of a longstanding-and-now-broken marriage.

Finally, I loved the interweaving with humour that had its unexpected moments — from her under-the-influence first meeting with one of the main characters, to macho stand-offs, and literally falling head-over-heels, there was a lot here that had both dark and light humour, tying together nicely for the reader’s amusement and enjoyment.

The Cons

I enjoyed this book, but I must admit that I really struggled to like Jay. The thing is, I LOVE difficult-to-love characters and I actually WRITE women’s fiction with difficult-to-love characters (esp. husbands/wives, infidelity/marriages crumbling as partners evolve, etc), so I am definitely the right target market here. With divisive characters it comes down to (1) understanding their motives, even if you don’t agree with them (2) falling in love with some sweet aspect of their past actions (3) admiring their heroic present actions.

…But: his motives were weak, their past seemed rose-tinted and muddled at best, and he did not do anything in the present worth admiring. I felt like he wanted to sow his seeds, and then backtracked. It was realistic, yes, because I’m sure many people have done the same, but I felt like he needed a few more scenes (both past and present) where he showed he was worthy of her love. Each of the other two guys had a few scenes where it felt like their “moment” but Jay just didn’t have one (to me, at least — there were glimmers, but no shine!). I kept waiting for the “moment”, and it was a huge let-down, because at the novel’s end, I still felt like drop-kicking him! And like I said, I usually LOVE these kinds of characters!

Conclusion

Despite my own personal feelings about the characters, this is a really good women’s fiction with a lot of great messages here that will resonate with many women. Though there are several romances, at its heart it is really about Kimberly’s self-discovery and personal growth as a woman to gain independence from her marriage and become her own person. As she stumbles through her post-divorce mid-life crisis, she eventually figures out what she wants in her career, in her lifestyle, and finally in her love life. It felt very “real” as I could imagine this situation happening to many of my female friends, especially in this day and age where a lasting marriage seems to be the exception rather than the rule. I would recommend this book to other readers, and I look forward to reading more by this author.

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