EricaO

I will start by saying there is nothing technically wrong with this book and people who enjoy this type of story will LOVE this one. I can understand its appeal...to others.

To me, this book...it's like rose-hip and chamomile tea with light cream served up in an antique bone china teacup atop a matching saucer. There's a dash of bourbon tossed in to give it a bit of bite but not enough to make you dizzy.

That is not my cup of tea.

My cup of tea is stoneware, large and sturdy, and filled with a strong, black tea, Celestial Seasonings Morning Thunder, in today's case.

I think the gossipy nature of this story will appeal to many readers; I can think of several whom I know in real life. The women/mothers will probably speak to other women/mothers. I'm not a woman like either of the two main women and I'm not a mother so I had nothing to connect to.

I think the only thing that may give readers pause is the changing point of view narration. We start with Sylvie whose story is told in 3rd person and everything skips back and forth between her and her daughter, Eve. Then when you're not expecting anyone else to talk because you think this is Eve and Sylvie's story, Maggie enters with her daughter, Grace. Their stories are in first person which makes NO sense at all; it was jarring to me because I wanted the whole thing to stay 3rd person. I didn't understand why I had to be pulled into the mind of Maggie when I wasn't in the mind of Sylvie whom I'd already been with longer. And then, just to trip a listener up even more, Buck takes a few chapters toward the end. I don't know why.

Unrelated but bothersome to me: I thought Eve and Grace should have been swapped. I felt it would have made more sense for Grace to be the anorexic bulimic. I also felt it would have made more sense to keep her in the story instead of replacing her with Buck.

So, once again, the story is not written poorly, there are characters who develop and there's forward motion; all the hallmarks of a good book are there. I just didn't like it.