Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Too Close to Home

Title: Too Close to Home
Author: Susan Lewis
Expected Publication: December 15th 2015 by Ballantine Books
Format: ebook, Paperback, 512 pages
Genre: Women's Fiction
Source: NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine

When I began this book, I did not really care for it. No single character stood out and I found myself scanning the first quarter of it in hopes that something would grab me. I figured if I could keep the names straight that I would eventually get in a rhythm. I continually had the feeling that there was going to be more to the story. What I did not realize was that Susan Lewis was not sure what that more should be. Was it a women’s fiction novel centered on divorce and its daily discoveries or was it a young adult novel centered on bullying? Unfortunately, the two stories are somewhat interwoven with an unsatisfactory conclusion for both.

Jenna Moore and her husband Jack leave their London home when Jack loses his job and is unable to find another. He has the brilliant idea of starting his own online publishing business on the Welsh coast while Jenna is quietly in the background trying to write a follow up to a previously successful novel. Meanwhile, fifteen-year-old daughter Paige is immersed in her own battles at school. Apparently, the campus bully has decided to make Paige’s life hell and if it were not for a new anonymous online friend, things would have tumbled completely out of control.

Little did both mother and daughter realize that life would get worse before it could ever have a chance of getting better. As Jenna discovers lie upon lie falling out her husband’s mouth and Paige realizes that her new online friend may not but a friend after all, both Moore women have decisions and choices to make. With the inability of speaking to each other, both Jenna and Paige seem to be on their own course until they can emotionally make it back to their family.

I know that the author tried to give the book a nice little happily ever after bow at the end, but it did not work for me. After trying to throw everything possible into the plot, it still fell flat and I felt that the author was just as tired of writing as I was of reading.

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