Surprised by how much I enjoyed this novel in verse about motherhood and marriage. Not my usual fare, but it was a light, enjoyable read. ( )

Have read one other Sones book and preferred that one : What my Mother doesn´t know, But I do plan on reading 3 others by her. She is so enjoyable and says out front what we normally keep deep inside. ( )

Sonya Sones frightens me.

She says what I am thinking which makes me woder if she has been visitig my head. She is covering all those quirky and not-so-enjoyable moments of being middle age. What she missed however, is that the jutting chin and hunched back provide hours of pain in the thoracic area. Besides this omission, she hits everything on the mark.

Not that I would know, of course. The ends of producing fruit of my womb was a personal and medical choice. Yeah. Tha...moreSonya Sones frightens me.

She says what I am thinking which makes me woder if she has been visitig my head. She is covering all those quirky and not-so-enjoyable moments of being middle age. What she missed however, is that the jutting chin and hunched back provide hours of pain in the thoracic area. Besides this omission, she hits everything on the mark.

Not that I would know, of course. The ends of producing fruit of my womb was a personal and medical choice. Yeah. That's it. That's my story and I'm holding to it.

But in all seriousness, the poetry and play with words on the page to simulate waiting or providing a different design spoke volumes. Along with the blessings of becoming middle age - and she is brutally honest which only endeared me further. Most women in this age enjoy denial. Not that I would know anything about that - she writes about being in the "sandwhich" stage; caring for an elderly parent while parenting her own child who suddenly graduates from high school and goes to college. Dealing with doctors of the parent, the lonely silence of home, the questions...

I assume the protagonist in the book is a thinly veiled Sonya. Except of course, Sonya would only be 30 years old.

Some of hold our denial near and dear to our hearts, you know. ( )

Holly is a 50-year-old mother and wife facing the crisis of her only child heading to college, not to mention her fear that her husband is having an affair and her manuscript is seriously overdue. Her fears coalesce during a shopping trip, where she spots a elderly hunchbacked woman she fears becoming, and pours everything into a series of poems written in blank verse. The story's structure is unusual, to be sure, but ultimately offers a hackneyed story a fresh viewpoint. ( )

What a fun story to read! I received this book from the publisher (Harper Collins) as an advance review copy. When I requested it, I have to admit it was purely based on the name and the cover. I hadn't looked into what it was about or anything like that. I hadn't even looked into the other books the author, Sonya Sones, has written.

I thought the cover looked playful and summery and the name intrigued me. I had the vague idea that maybe it was a chick-lit type of mystery or something.

What I found instead was this delightful departure from the norm. The story is written in poetry format, making it a quick read and very easy on the eyes. Because of this, I managed to devour the book in about two days.

It's a book that many married women can relate to, even if they don't have a daughter going off to college. (Heck, my kids aren't even in elementary school yet, but I felt completely in sync with the main character and her worries and problems.)

While there isn't a whole lot of depth to the book, I found it refreshing and a nice change of pace from the books I usually read.

This is great beach or pool-side reading and I recommend it for a light change of pace. It's still chick-lit, just not the kind I was expecting.

3.5 out of 5 stars ( )