A familiar author, if not one I avidly follow - I've reviewed two of Katherine Center's books already and I've been meaning to read the third ever since. But it was one of those got it out, had to return it, Chava had it out, she had to return it, I forgot about it... but when I remembered, it was very easy to get ahold of. I thought this was her newest book, but it turns out that it's her first (I think), and, maybe a little surprisingly, I think it made a difference. I like KC's books despite their plots - overworked Mommy or jobless and manless doesn't really do it for me. Though surrogate pregnancy isn't a bad twist at all. But in any case, the books were much more fun to read than their jackets would suggest, since KC has a way of lulling you into calm enjoyment of ordinary life.
But The Bright Side of Disaster (debut or not) was just a little bit less about ordinary life. It was a Mommy tale again... but a very new, and newly singled Mommy tale. And it was *all about* just how hard that life is. So hard it actually made me dread having a baby a little bit... except that it all sounds utterly exaggerated. Yes, it's tiring to have a new baby, and definitely, it's really hard to do it without a husband. But seven months in and still doing nothing but taking care of the baby? Pu-leeze, stop complaining. And in general, stop complaining. Yes, Jenny's situation is not a pretty one, but seriously, she just makes such bad decisions. Well of course, allowing Dean back in to her life was a bad decision, but that's clear from the book. It's more just her ridiculous overprotectiveness of Maxie and her constant background whiny tone that just makes it hard for me to feel that sympathetic. I ended up feeling like she just needed to man up and take better care of herself.
In the end, it all works out of course, but it wasn't all that exciting. I don't blame KC for that, she doesn't do romance all that well - Get Lucky I found unexpectedly romantic, but it was just a nice bonus. These books aren't about romance... what they are supposed to be about is women we can get along with. Women we like, and we want to succeed. Not that I didn't want Jenny to succeed, but I have to say, I wasn't surprised she had a hard time with. Wow, I'm being mean :) But the point is, it's not like Jenny was having fun and I certainly had no interest in hangin' with her as she traversed the path of new motherhood. All I can say is, it BETTER not be that bad - and I'm pretty sure it's not :) So Jenny, glad you ended up with your man, gladder still I'm not you, and not unglad to be finished with the book.
Verdict: 2.75/5
PS - I feel I must note that the cover picture is not of the edition I read but I couldn't find a working link to that one... oh well :)
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