I really enjoyed this book. It was a bit slow at times but I really identified with Lillian. Although I don't have two small children or a cheating husband. I really envied Stephen and Jane when they had their baby. I can't wait for my fiance and I to have those same emotions with our first child in the hospital. The author wrote each character so well. While reading this I felt like I was looking into a family that lived next door. I never wanted this book to end. Ginny and William are empty nesters or so they thought. But then suddenly Lillian, who has left her husband after infidelity arrives on the scene with her two young children. Then Stephen and his pregnant and ambitious wife Jane arrive for what starts out to be a short visit and ends up so much more and then the youngest Rachel arrives. This is a novel about marriage and family dynamics. It does raise a lot of issues about parenting, grand parenting, marriage and attitudes of society. The character I identified most strongly with in this novel was Ginny and thought the adult children were all essentially selfish with little regard for anything or anyone but their own problems. It made me glad I do not have a family like this.Personally I could have done without the blasphemy but it may not worry other people. I thought a lot of the problems in this family could have been solved with some honest conversations earlier in the piece and I did question the structure of a marriage where the husband gives a sizable amount of money to one daughter without his wife’s knowledge. But again. Maybe that’s the way some other marriages work. So while I found it an enjoyable read, it was one where I got frustrated at times with the characters and people’s inability to say ‘No’ when needed.
I really enjoyed this book. A quick read which was fun!
—williamwalle
Enjoyed this book about changing family dynamics!
—jon5007
Light read but good!
—Jen2k
