Ulrike Rosser

I was so excited after Rachel's reboot...and while I was trepedatious to revisit Anna's story after her original book I couldn't wait. Starting the story was a little jarring; Anna's voice sounded different, her connection to her previous husband Aiden felt wooden, and the new partner Angelo felt different than pictured in the first book or subsequent mentions. However, we showed up in Anna's life right as perimenopause derails it, and not only does that explain her changes--I was thrilled. Not for Anna exactly, but because perimenopause is a midlife monster, and I was so grateful to Marian Keyes for creating a character struggling with a period of life that can be such a brutal time of transition. Was that enough for the novel? As much as I wanted to love this book, I couldn't. Anna's midlife crisis was mostly abandoned; her time of transition was magically aided by a number of circumstances; there was little introspection by the Walsh family; the retelling of moments featured from her first book didn't line up; the romantic interest was magically constructed, waiting, and fantastically aided by many others; and overall I felt like this book perhaps bridges us to another Walsh story where we'll see Anna in a more developed, sensitive way but does little else. Is it worth reading? Well, if you're a fan of this author and her Walsh series, of course! But if you adored/cried/stayed up all night reading the first book with Anna? Maybe lower your expectations considerably.