Karen Dukess

I have complicated thoughts about this book that I'm pretty sure will only apply to me and not most readers. Parts of the book I wanted to give a solid 5 stars, but other parts I wanted to give 3. It was riveting - and I read it in less than 24 hours - but it felt bland in the end. I loved Eve's personal writing journey and professional career struggles, I loved how the author wrote about her struggles and doubts and insecurities, but...I found the "romance" portions of the book weirdly predictable and flat. I really felt like all of the characters were well developed and likable in very different ways, and I wanted to spend more time with all of them...it really was just the romance portions of all of their lives that I felt secondary when I wanted to know more about their creative stories and their other relationships not involving Eve.

This one was tricky to rate. A very enjoyable read for sure, but my personal taste varied greatly throughout.… (meer)

Many mispronunciations - ugh. Kind of a terrible narrator.

Another coming-of-age type novel that really showcases that you don’t know what you don’t know and the folly of youth. I was a 25-year-old woman once and remember how thinking that youth was the end-all-be-all and trumped everything. That my youth and vigor could overwhelm and dominate any sort of situation. The inherent self-centeredness of being young, it's cute if maddening in how much she doesn't see/understand/notice. Eve thinks her affair with Henry should obliterate everything else in his life and her realization that it hardly touched him was cringe-worthy to watch (could I get any more hyphenated phrases in this review?).

Overall though, not much happens except that Eve comes to realize that she was fooling herself all along and that there’s no fool like an old fool - this is pointed at Henry who is left adrift in his life after decades of being the center of attention. At least Eve wasn’t as timid and afraid as the last young fictional woman I read about.… (meer)