A good beach read, with enough to discuss for a book club looking for lighter fare.
Jilted the night before her wedding, Kate learns her fiance, Max, is in love with her co-worker and close friend, Courtney, and wishes she had seen the signs in time.
Liam and Jules have been Kate’s best friends since college, and they stand by her after her aborted wedding. Jittery and confused, Kate can’t resist checking her Facebook page, where dozens of congratulatory messages await her. She posts in her status, “I wish I could do the past month over.” When she wakes up the next morning, it’s a month earlier, Max is still with her, and she realizes she’s been given the power to wish for whatever she wants. Can she keep Max and Courtney from falling for each other? Can she also help Jules, whose long marriage has grown stale, and Liam, who has bounced from girlfriend to girlfriend, none of them quite right? Can she help her mother let go of her bitterness over her parents’ long-ago divorce? As she tries to ensure Max will be hers forever and those she loves will be happy, Kate begins to realize that nothing is really perfect and that life is ultimately beyond her control, even when she knows how things might turn out ahead of time. Fenton and Steinke (Your Perfect Life, 2014, etc.) veer into typecasting with some of the minor characters, such as Kate and Courtney’s superskinny, fashion-forward, demanding boss and Liam’s starlet girlfriend fresh from rehab and primed for a new scandal. The lessons Kate learns are nothing new, either. But the friendships at the heart of the story are realistic, the descriptions of affluent Southern California are deliciously escapist, and the be-careful-what-you-wish-for message is not overbearing.
A good beach read, with enough to discuss for a book club looking for lighter fare.Pub Date: June 2, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4767-6341-5
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Washington Square/Pocket
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an...
True love flares between two people, but they find that circumstances always impede it.
On a winter day in London, Laurie spots Jack from her bus home and he sparks a feeling in her so deep that she spends the next year searching for him. Her roommate and best friend, Sarah, is the perfect wing-woman but ultimately—and unknowingly—ends the search by finding Jack and falling for him herself. Laurie’s hasty decision not to tell Sarah is the second painful missed opportunity (after not getting off the bus), but Sarah’s happiness is so important to Laurie that she dedicates ample energy into retraining her heart not to love Jack. Laurie is misguided, but her effort and loyalty spring from a true heart, and she considers her project mostly successful. Perhaps she would have total success, but the fact of the matter is that Jack feels the same deep connection to Laurie. His reasons for not acting on them are less admirable: He likes Sarah and she’s the total package; why would he give that up just because every time he and Laurie have enough time together (and just enough alcohol) they nearly fall into each other’s arms? Laurie finally begins to move on, creating a mostly satisfying life for herself, whereas Jack’s inability to be genuine tortures him and turns him into an ever bigger jerk. Patriarchy—it hurts men, too! There’s no question where the book is going, but the pacing is just right, the tone warm, and the characters sympathetic, even when making dumb decisions.
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an emotional, satisfying read.Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-525-57468-2
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.
Eleven years ago, he broke her heart. But he doesn’t know why she never forgave him.
Toggling between past and present, two love stories unfold simultaneously. In the first, Macy Sorensen meets and falls in love with the boy next door, Elliot Petropoulos, in the closet of her dad’s vacation home, where they hide out to discuss their favorite books. In the second, Macy is working as a doctor and engaged to a single father, and she hasn’t spoken to Elliot since their breakup. But a chance encounter forces her to confront the truth: what happened to make Macy stop speaking to Elliot? Ultimately, they’re separated not by time or physical remoteness but by emotional distance—Elliot and Macy always kept their relationship casual because they went to different schools. And as a teen, Macy has more to worry about than which girl Elliot is taking to the prom. After losing her mother at a young age, Macy is navigating her teenage years without a female role model, relying on the time-stamped notes her mother left in her father’s care for guidance. In the present day, Macy’s father is dead as well. She throws herself into her work and rarely comes up for air, not even to plan her upcoming wedding. Since Macy is still living with her fiance while grappling with her feelings for Elliot, the flashbacks offer steamy moments, tender revelations, and sweetly awkward confessions while Macy makes peace with her past and decides her future.
With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5011-2801-1
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018
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