A Girl's Guide to Moving On by Debbie Macomber
As you can see by the titles I review for this blog, I read many different genres by many different authors. It's part of my study of the craft of writing. Knowing that Debbie Macomber is a best selling author, I snapped up a free advance reading copy of her latest, A Girl's Guide to Moving On.
Leanne has suffered through 35 years of marriage to a man who didn't love her and constantly cheated on her. Her indifference in order to live the country club lifestyle, passed down the behavior to her son, Jake. When Jake's wife, Nichole calls it quits after 5 years of marriage, Leanne also decides to file for divorce. The women move into apartments across the hall from one another and try to live by the new rules set down in their guide to moving on.
I typically like to read stories with more depth. I liked the characters of Leanne and Nichole and I detested their no good ex-husbands. But the constant repetition of the backstory such as how long they'd been married, how big the houses were they had lived in, the parade of other women, got tiring. And the transformations of the character of the men involved in the story was far too abrupt for my taste. Jake went from bad guy to really nice guy in the blink of an eye.
To some readers, I may find that I'm not too popular with this review of Debbie Macomber's work. She has a very large and loyal following. I'm just not a fan of the way she tells a story. It's not my cup of tea. I have to admit however, I sprouted a little tear in my eye while reading the epilogue and the very happy ending. So my quest for knowledge about how to write a novel is better off for reading The Girl's Guide to Moving On and that's what I was looking to do from the start.
As you can see by the titles I review for this blog, I read many different genres by many different authors. It's part of my study of the craft of writing. Knowing that Debbie Macomber is a best selling author, I snapped up a free advance reading copy of her latest, A Girl's Guide to Moving On.
Leanne has suffered through 35 years of marriage to a man who didn't love her and constantly cheated on her. Her indifference in order to live the country club lifestyle, passed down the behavior to her son, Jake. When Jake's wife, Nichole calls it quits after 5 years of marriage, Leanne also decides to file for divorce. The women move into apartments across the hall from one another and try to live by the new rules set down in their guide to moving on.
I typically like to read stories with more depth. I liked the characters of Leanne and Nichole and I detested their no good ex-husbands. But the constant repetition of the backstory such as how long they'd been married, how big the houses were they had lived in, the parade of other women, got tiring. And the transformations of the character of the men involved in the story was far too abrupt for my taste. Jake went from bad guy to really nice guy in the blink of an eye.
To some readers, I may find that I'm not too popular with this review of Debbie Macomber's work. She has a very large and loyal following. I'm just not a fan of the way she tells a story. It's not my cup of tea. I have to admit however, I sprouted a little tear in my eye while reading the epilogue and the very happy ending. So my quest for knowledge about how to write a novel is better off for reading The Girl's Guide to Moving On and that's what I was looking to do from the start.
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