Then Came You

For those of you who despise ChickLit? Close this window and check back in about a week. For those of you that adore those fluffy, feel good novels that sometimes touch on more difficult subject matter? This novel is for you.

In Then Came You, Jennifer Weiner ties together (using a surrogate pregnancy) four women who's lives couldn't be more different. India is a forty something semi successful woman who has reinvented herself for the sole purpose of attracting an extremely rich husband. Jules is a Princeton senior looking for a way to save her addict Father from himself. Annie is a housewife struggling with finances in her otherwise happy family. And lastly, Bettina is the daughter of an exceedingly successful and wealthy business man with her own set of familial issues.

This book isn't going to go down in history as an incredible book, but I rather enjoyed it. Discovering the backstories of these four woman will pull on your heartstrings just a bit as they each struggle to find their place, really. Unexpected emotions (on the part of the characters, perhaps not so much as a reader) unfurl and complicate matters more than you would initially guess in what I would consider a beach read.

My mother lent me this book months ago, during a visit (since I had either finished what I was reading, or forgotten to bring a book at all; which would be entirely unlike me, but still possible), and I forgot to take it home with me to finish. That being said? Once I finished my previous read, I was through the remaining couple of hundred pages in a flash. Weiner's characters are well written, and what I would deem 'real'. You can picture all of these women easily in their different walks of life. Their problems and pasts, though while very different, shape them into the strong woman they all are, in their own way.

I found myself feeling different things throughout this novel, as you relate (on some level) to each of the characters. We have all known someone who suffered addiction that we prayed would recover. We all know (or have heard about) a woman who is seemingly with a man simply for his wealth. We all have family politics we have had to deal with at one time or another. Most of us have felt imbalance in our relationships, and struggled to make things right. The way they were.

If you are looking for something quick and easy during this not so quick and easy time? Give this one a try. It's not chock full of romance (for those of you that are on the fence about such novels), and there are certainly some parts that are fairly mirthful. Go in with no expectations. Let's be honest. It's still ChickLit.

Once again, dear reader. Stay safe.