30B430 Book 21: Then Came You

I have been reading up a storm lately! Just can't put those books down. I put a bunch of books on hold at the library and was very excited when a bunch came in.

My latest read was Then Came You: A Novel by Jennifer Weiner. She is the author of a bunch of great books, including In Her Shoes, Good in Bed, Fly Away Home, and Best Friends Forever. In her shoes was definitely one of my favorite books, although I liked Fly Away Home a lot too.

Then Came You intertwines the stories of a number of women, who are all brought together through a fertility clinic. Jules donates her eggs to the clinic, hoping the cash will change her father's life. Annie signs up to be a surrogate, wanting to provide a better life for her family. India, unable to get pregnant on her own at her age, turns to the clinic to help her get a baby. Bettina, India's adult stepdaughter, thinks that his father has married a gold digger, who is hoping to "seal the deal" through a baby.  

I am sort of torn about how I feel about the book. I liked the premise of the story, and enjoyed getting to know the characters, who were much more complex then my short description above. If there is one thing that the author is good at, it is character development. Even the characters that I expected to dislike, I found myself drawn to, as I learned more of their stories. However, I was challenged by the fact that the story built to a climax, slow and steady, and then it felt like it just ended. Like Weiner just didn't feel like writing any more, so she threw an ending together. I needed a little more. It seemed like it should have been messier. Everything just seemed to resolve itself too quickly, without the amount of detail that I was getting about each of the four characters at the beginning.

Jennifer Weiner has another book coming out this summer, The Next Best Thing: A Novel. It has gotten great reviews so far, and I will definitely pick it up.

Up next though, I am trying to finish Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter before the movie comes out, and our book club picked The Great Gatsby (which I am also excited to read before the movie comes out...love, love, love Leo). Only 9 books to go before #1 is complete!

Happy Summer Reading!