About California Girls
- Hardcover: 432 pages
- Publisher: MIRA; Original edition (February 26, 2019)
The California sunshine’s not quite so bright for three sisters who get dumped in the same week…
Finola, a popular LA morning show host, is famously upbeat until she’s blindsided on live TV by news that her husband is sleeping with a young pop sensation who has set their affair to music. While avoiding the tabloids and pretending she’s just fine, she’s crumbling inside, desperate for him to come to his senses and for life to go back to normal.
Zennie’s breakup is no big loss. Although the world insists she pair up, she’d rather be surfing. So agreeing to be the surrogate for her best friend is a no-brainer—after all, she has an available womb and no other attachments to worry about. Except…when everyone else, including her big sister, thinks she’s making a huge mistake, being pregnant is a lot lonelier—and more complicated—than she imagined.
Never the tallest, thinnest or prettiest sister, Ali is used to being overlooked, but when her fiancé sends his disapproving brother to call off the wedding, it’s a new low. And yet Daniel continues to turn up “for support,” making Ali wonder if maybe—for once—someone sees her in a way no one ever has.
But side by side by side, these sisters will start over and rebuild their lives with all the affection, charm and laugh-out-loud humor that is classic Susan Mallery.
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Review: I love Susan Mallery's books. They are light fluffy reads that make me feel good. I wish this one was as good as some of the others I've read. That's not to say that I didn't enjoy it, because I absolutely love books about sisters. However there were two characters I just couldn't like, Finola and the mother. OMG, these two women needed slapped upside their heads. Finola was so self absorbed and the mother, all she cared about was getting grandchildren. She didn't seem to really care about any of her daughter's happiness or unhappiness. I think because my mother was such a wonderful, caring woman, I can't deal with mother figures like this. She absolutely brings out the feminist in me.
All three women are very different and dealing with issues in their life, most of them being the end of a relationship. That's where this book kind of lost me, because I couldn't wrap my head around a whole family of women having their relationships go south at the same time. (Well except for Zennie, her breakup wasn't really an earth shattering one). That said, I loved Zennie and her selflessness, even when having the baby for her friend was becoming burdensome. I wouldn't mind revisiting her life to see how Bernie handles still being friends with her, as their baby grows up. That could be a very interesting story indeed.
I can't pick which sister I most identified with, but I loved Ali, because her breakup just sucked. Plus..well...Daniel was so lovely. I think of all the characters Ali grew more as a person as the story went on. Finola, became more accepting of her responsibility in the breakup of her marriage, but other than that, she wasn't much different. I wanted to hate Nigel for being an ass, in the way he dealt with things, but in some ways, I wanted to see if these two people could make a go of their relationship after a betrayal, though I did appreciate that Finola didn't quite get the romance novel happily ever after.
This was an enjoyable read...definitely one for the beach.
Rating: 4 flowers
About Susan Mallery
#1 NYT bestselling author Susan Mallery writes heartwarming, humorous novels about the relationships that define our lives-family, friendship, romance. She’s known for putting nuanced characters in emotional situations that surprise readers to laughter. Beloved by millions, her books have been translated into 28 languages.Susan lives in Washington with her husband, two cats, and a small poodle with delusions of grandeur. Visit her at SusanMallery.com.
1 comments:
Susan Mallery is a favorite of mine and I agree, they are a light and fluffy read but always entertaining. Thanks for being on this tour!
Sara @ TLC Book Tours
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