Stacy Alesi's BookBitch.com™

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From the publisher:

Perfect for fans of Me Before You and One Day—a striking, powerful, and moving love story following an ambitious lawyer who experiences an astonishing vision that could change her life forever.

Where do you see yourself in five years?

When Type-A Manhattan lawyer Dannie Cohan is asked this question at the most important interview of her career, she has a meticulously crafted answer at the ready. Later, after nailing her interview and accepting her boyfriend’s marriage proposal, Dannie goes to sleep knowing she is right on track to achieve her five-year plan.

But when she wakes up, she’s suddenly in a different apartment, with a different ring on her finger, and beside a very different man. The television news is on in the background, and she can just make out the scrolling date. It’s the same night—December 15—but 2025, five years in the future.

After a very intense, shocking hour, Dannie wakes again, at the brink of midnight, back in 2020. She can’t shake what has happened. It certainly felt much more than merely a dream, but she isn’t the kind of person who believes in visions. That nonsense is only charming coming from free-spirited types, like her lifelong best friend, Bella. Determined to ignore the odd experience, she files it away in the back of her mind.

That is, until four-and-a-half years later, when by chance Dannie meets the very same man from her long-ago vision.

Brimming with joy and heartbreak, In Five Years is an unforgettable love story that reminds us of the power of loyalty, friendship, and the unpredictable nature of destiny.

I really loved the description of this book. It put me in mind of What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty, more than Me Before You. But after reading it, it is not really like either of those books, but wholly original. Can’t sell a book that way though, you have to have comparables. Preferably huge, bestselling comparables. I am not familiar with One Day, and there are stark differences between Me Before You and In Five Years, but I can see the same reader enjoying both. I did.

I tend to like anything with a whiff of time travel, and Dannie’s vision certainly seems to fit the bill. Was it a dream? I am too much of a pragmatist to think otherwise, until of course, she meets the man of her dream. While this book is being touted as a romance, it’s really not. It is women’s fiction about two best friends, and it is a tearjerker. To say more than that would spoil the book, I think, so I will leave it there.

On a more personal note, there is mention of a Catskills wedding and the Roxbury Inn. I almost dropped my Kindle when I read that – my son got married in June in Roxbury, NY! What a coincidence; Roxbury is a small town about an hour from Albany, and I mean small. Like drive twenty minutes to the next town to get to a supermarket or any other kind of store small. But completely charming and utterly gorgeous, especially in June. I would imagine fall to be quite spectacular as well. If you have a minute, scroll through some of the pictures on the Roxbury Inn website. Every room has a theme and no two are alike. But I digress.

I was almost envious of the friendship the two women had, it was quite special and I loved that about this book. The romance, not so much. I devoured this book in a day, but I was a tiny bit disappointed at the ending. It is certainly worth a read.

3/2020 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

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Zigman’s latest (Animal Husbandry, Her) features Judy, a 50-year-old mother going through some serious life changes. Her career as a successful children’s book writer has tanked, leaving her writing clickbait for a self-help website. Her parents have recently died, her best friend has terminal cancer, her 13-year-old son is growing up and away from her, and her anxiety-ridden husband has turned to cannabis to an extreme, all of which is debilitating to the marriage.

Judy has a two-fold approach to her problems; she tucks her Sheltie dog into an old baby carrier and wears the dog everywhere, all while she wallows in self-pity and whines about her life.

Anxiety is a serious issue, but here it is treated as comedic fodder, while the dog in the sling leaves the reader to ponder whether it is animal abuse or to just accept it as farce.

Verdict: Readers who enjoyed the far superior Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple, or Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes, may enjoy this, but it is not her best effort even though Zigman is a popular author.

©Library Journal, 2020

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From the publisher:

A hilarious novel full of Hollywood glitz, glamour, and scandal from New York Times bestselling author Gigi Levangie.

When he changes the locks, she changes the rules.

Agnes Murphy Nash is the perfect Hollywood wife – she has the right friends, the right clothes, and even a side career of her own as a writer. Her husband Trevor is a bigshot producer, and from the outside it looks like they’re living a picture-perfect celebrity life, complete with tennis tournaments and lavish parties.

But the job description of a Hollywood wife doesn’t cover divorce, which is the way Agnes’ life is headed after she comes home one day to find her credit cards cancelled and the security passwords to get into her enormous LA home changed. Oh, and there’s a guy there whose job it is to tase her if she tries to enter…which she does.

Needless to say, Agnes’ husband is dead set on making sure she loses big time, but Agnes isn’t the type to just lie down and take it. In a world of fremenies and hot nannies, personal psychics and “skinny” jello shots, Agnes may be losing her husband, but could that mean getting her own life back?

Been There, Married That is a drop-dead hilarious battle of wills that will make you laugh out loud, cringe, and keep turning the pages to see what crazy disaster will happen to Agnes next…and how she’ll rise from the ashes.

Agnes Murphy Nash comes from humble beginnings but has managed to turn herself into the perfect Hollywood wife; the world revolves around her husband, and every single decision she makes, from the sheets on the bed to who she lunches with, is in service to his ego.

The level of Hollywood narcissism shown here is astounding and makes it hard to empathize with or even believe the characters in this marital farce. Trevor Nash is the Oscar-winning producer who wants to divorce Agnes, because he is no longer happy, whatever that means. Together they have a daughter, and she is the unlikely pawn, also known as “leverage,” in this divorce.

Agnes is more self-aware than many of her contemporaries, realizes she is living in a bubble but likes it there. We get to read her every thought, and she has them at a dizzying pace making this a quick read, at times humorous, but mostly just exhausting.

Verdict: For fans of the Kardashians, the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, and the latest celebrity memoirs. Buy for demand only.

©Library Journal, 2020

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From the publisher:

The #1 Wall Street Journal bestseller that People Magazine calls “a poignant, addictive read.”

From #1 New York Times bestselling author of It Ends with Us comes a novel about family, first love, grief, and betrayal that will touch the hearts of both mothers and daughters.

Morgan Grant and her sixteen-year-old daughter, Clara, would like nothing more than to be nothing alike.

Morgan is determined to prevent her daughter from making the same mistakes she did. By getting pregnant and married way too young, Morgan put her own dreams on hold. Clara doesn’t want to follow in her mother’s footsteps. Her predictable mother doesn’t have a spontaneous bone in her body.

With warring personalities and conflicting goals, Morgan and Clara find it increasingly difficult to coexist. The only person who can bring peace to the household is Chris—Morgan’s husband, Clara’s father, and the family anchor. But that peace is shattered when Chris is involved in a tragic and questionable accident. The heartbreaking and long-lasting consequences will reach far beyond just Morgan and Clara.

While struggling to rebuild everything that crashed around them, Morgan finds comfort in the last person she expects to, and Clara turns to the one boy she’s been forbidden to see. With each passing day, new secrets, resentment, and misunderstandings make mother and daughter fall further apart. So far apart, it might be impossible for them to ever fall back together.

There is a lot to unpack in this book but it’s too good to ruin with spoilers. You get the gist of it from the publisher’s synopsis, but I will suffice it to say that there is so much more to this story. The characters come to life on the page, and the relationship between Morgan and Clara rings true. While there is a bit of romance, this is essentially a story about family, what brings them together and what can rip them apart. I read this in one day and was so sorry when I turned the last page.

My only criticism is that some of the details were not addressed, and the thing that could have resolved at least some of it was destroyed. I had a hard time believing that someone would do that. Other than that minor quibble, this is another excellent read from one of my favorite authors.

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The basic premise of this new telling of an old story reimagines Henry VIII morphed into a Rupert Murdoch type figure, without having learned a thing in the past 472 years.

Harry Rose is a British business tycoon whose media empire puts him near the top of every list of billionaires worldwide. This fast-paced, fun, yet engrossing read follows Harry’s marital trail of tears. Being married to one woman doesn’t work for Harry; he has one affair after another, and some of the mistresses even become wives. As a young man, he marries Katie, a devout Catholic with infertility issues. Eventually, she bears him a daughter, and not long afterward, Harry falls madly in love with wife number two, Ana, the “ice queen.” Harry’s blindly devoted secretary becomes his third wife, followed by a couple more, and he has children with several of them. But it is the burgeoning #metoo movement that creates a comeuppance for Harry, retribution for at least some of his wives, opportunities for his daughters, and a fitting end to this ultimately feminist tale.

Verdict: This story will resonate with readers, even ones those not familiar with British royal history. For readers who enjoyed the updated Jane Austen books like Unmarriageable by Soniah Kamal and Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld, and are ready to branch out.

©Library Journal, 2020