A Girl's Guide to Moving On by Debbie MacomberMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
As a librarian, I am tasked to familiarize myself with a variety of authors. Sometimes the books of a particular author are not to my personal taste, but it is to my benefit to be familiar with what our patrons enjoy and request. I have always known about Debbie Macomber, but A Girl's Guide to Moving On is the first actual title of hers I have read. Unfortunately, this will remain an author that is not to my taste.
A Girl's Guide to Moving On is the story of Nichole and Leanne, daughter-in-law and mother-in-law. Jake, Nichole's husband and Leanne's son, has been cheating on Nichole and his current girl is pregnant. Nichole determine's to leave Jake, who she believes has been unfaithful for some time.
Leanne has lived with her husband, Sean, for 35 years, but determines she will follow in Nichole's footsteps, as she has suffered from her husbands infidelity for just too many years. In addition, he cruelly undermines her self-image by telling her she is no longer attractive to him.
Both women file for divorce, with Leanne completing hers quickly, but Nichole must fight Jake every step of the way as he is not interested in splitting up. The two women become each others greatest supporters, and share their love for Nichole and Jake's young son. They set out to move on with their lives, and they start by writing down a guide to assist them. The guide contains ideas such as making new friends, staying positive, focusing on others to prevent themselves from falling into despair, etc.
Nichole starts work in a charity shop that dresses women who are starting back into the work world. She befriends Shantelle who encourages her to pursue a new relationship with Rocco, the owner of a towing company that Nichole met when she backed into a ditch. Meanwhile, Leanne begins teaching English as a second language classes in a local school. Here she meets Nikolai, a Ukrainian baker who brings her marvelous home made bread that he bakes for her alone.
The concept of the story is certainly of interest. However, a divorced woman moving on with her life is not the most unique of concepts. In addition, I found the first couple of chapters to be written in a jarringly pedestrian manner. I found myself bored very quickly. After reading a dozen chapters or so, I had had enough. I determined my theories as to how the story would proceed and moved to read the last two chapters and epilogue. Each of my theories was accurate. There were very few unique aspects to the story. Formulaic is the word that comes to mind.
Debbie Macomber is an exceedingly popular and successful author. Her many fans enjoy her formula and find comfort in the predictability of her stories. To these fans, I can recommend A Girl's Guide to Moving On. The characters are engaging, and the story is a comfortable one of women overcoming their life obstacles and moving forward to find love, fulfillment, and contentment.
However, many readers are looking for something new and original when reading. I fall into that category in most instances. I cannot recommend this title to those readers as the story is just too predictable, and in my mind, a bit dated in the ideas of today's women and their lives.
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