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Book Reviews, Contemporary

The Optimist’s Guide to Letting Go by Amy E. Reichert

THE OPTIMIST’S GUIDE TO LETTING GO
AMY E. REICHERT
ISBN #: 9781501154942/9781501154959
May 2018
Gallery Books
Simonandschuster.com
Trade Paperback/ E Book
$16.00/$11.99
330 Pages
Contemporary
Rating: 4 Cups

Lorraine is a perfectionist, constantly finding fault with her eldest daughter and granddaughter. She made some very difficult choices in the past and is keeping some pretty huge secrets.

Gina is a widow and mother of a teenage daughter. She has her own business, a food truck selling gourmet grilled cheese. She struggles but tries to make the best of things.

May is a girl trying to come to grips with the loss of her father. She was always closer to him than her mother and has isolated herself in her grief.

When Gina’s mother Lorraine has a stroke and is hospitalized, family secrets come to light, and she finds that she has more in common with her finicky mother than she ever dreamed. Dealing with the hospitalization, rehab, her sister’s failing marriage, and her daughter’s rebellion tests Gina and shows her that she is stronger that anyone thought.

This is an intense and totally absorbing story. Gina and May are very sympathetic characters grieving the loss of their husband and father. Lorraine is less likable; she is very exacting and unbending towards her family. The reader will come to understand her through her best friend Roza and the descriptive flashbacks throughout the story. This is a wonderful tale with realistic characters and an interesting plot. I read it from cover to cover in one sitting.

Maura
Reviewer for Coffee Time Romance & More

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