Thursday, Jan 15, 2009

Book Review: Love and Other Natural Disasters

Author:    Holly Shumas

Publisher:    5 Spot – Hachette Book Group

Website:     http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/books_9780446504775.htm

Type:     Fiction

Pages:    334 (Paperback)

ISBN:     978-0-446-50477-5

The Review

This novel is about marriage and self-discovery. It is also about taking the people who we love for granted and making assumptions that we know what it is that they desire. Most importantly, this book is about making the decision to love despite the difficulties that life bring which infiltrate into that love.

Eve is a soon-to-be mother of two with just a little over a month left of her pregnancy. She is married to Jon, lives in the Berkeley/San Francisco area in the suburbs with their son, Jacob. On Thanksgiving, her husband receives a call that detained him from returning to the family party. Eve assumes the worse… something with the baby has gone wrong and it was the doctor on the phone. She was right about one thing, something has gone terribly wrong, but it’s not the baby. Rather, it’s her husband’s “other baby” Laney, a hottie from Chicago who Jon has been having an “emotional affair” with for over a year. Of course, Laney is crying in the phone to Jon about her holiday loneliness and he attempts to soothe her. Eve overhears this conversation and eventually the “discussion” between Eve and Jon occurs while others wait at the dinner table. This leads to the abrupt termination of the Thanksgiving Family Feast and  Eve giving Jon the boot from the home. While Jon is away at a hotel, Eve cracks into his email account and commences her review of all of the emails between Jon and Laney.

There is a cast of accompanying characters: Tamara her best friend, yet who is connected to Jon via her soon-to-be fiancé; Lil her son’s friends mother who is fun, eccentric and sexy; Charlie, her brother; her mother; and her co-worker Dyan. They all play interesting parts in this story in being her sounding board for her relationship woes with her husband. Jon does everything in his power to reunite and correct the wrongs of the past. Eve sabotages him at every corner, including uninviting him to the birth of their daughter Olivia. Despite counseling and all efforts, it seems that nothing will bring this couple back together. I find myself blaming Eve for this more so than Jon.

This book raises questions about fidelity. Which is worse – physical or emotional cheating? It is also about forgiveness and the power that brings to love.

On Sher’s “Out of Ten Scale”:

This book I could put into the genre: fiction, chick-lit. Was it good? Well, it was an average book, in my opinion. However, it needs to be noted that for an “average” book, it was well written, developed and thought through. I did not get bored of the book or lose interest in the outcome. So, that means that Shumas did give me some nuggets to hold onto while reading the book. I can see how this topic would be hard for some women to read, especially married ones. But, I can say that Shumas is a good writer and I’m glad that I read this book. So, on my scale, I’m going to give this a 7 out of 10.

You can purchase this book at Amazon.com for $11.19 by clicking here.

There’s A Tour!

Be sure to check out the other great blogs also on this tour!

http://www.writeforareader.edublogs.org/

http://www.bermudaonion.wordpress.com/

http://booksamyreads.blogspot.com/

http://cafeofdreams.blogspot.com/

http://ablogofbooks.blogspot.com/

http://www.acircleofbooks.blogspot.com/

http://athomewithbooks.blogspot.com/

http://www.myfriendamysblog.com/

http://thetometraveller.blogspot.com/

http://bookingmama.blogspot.com/

http://2kidsandtiredbooks.blogspot.com/

http://www.skrishnasbooks.com/

http://enroutetolife.blogspot.com/

http://www.anovelmenagerie.com/

http://printedpage.us/

http://cindysloveofbooks.blogspot.com/

http://luanne-abookwormsworld.blogspot.com/

http://bookopolis.blogspot.com/

http://www.bookthoughtsbylisa.blogspot.com/

http://exlibrisbb.blogspot.com/

http://jennsbookshelf.blogspot.com/

http://www.marjoleinbookblog.blogspot.com/

http://linussblanket.com/

Thanks to Miriam at Hachette for including me on this tour!

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