Then Came You (edition 2011)

Another great book by Jennifer Weiner. I found it hard to put this book down as I was quickly immersed into the lives of the very different mothers and their behaviors. How a decision can affect everyone's life in different ways.
Look forward to reading more of her books ( )

Thanks to Tara who asked me why not read a good chick lit again. Good tip. If you read too many depressing books it is not good for you. You need to change it up some times. Well I do.
I enjoyed reading this book. I've always loved books that is about the lives of various women so this one was right up my alley. It did not disappoint. So far only 1 book of Jennifer Weiner did just that but that was because after I had bought it I discovered it was mystery not a chick lit and I do not like mystery. It is about 4 women and how their lives intertwine because of a baby. ( )

For at least the first half of this book, I wondered if maybe this was the last Jennifer Weiner book I would read, not because it was bad, but I felt I recognized several of the characters from past books and I thought it might be predictable. Then I got involved as the action picked up, and now I wish I'd read the book with my bookclub to talk about it. Perhaps it's because the novel starts out as typical chick lit, and turns becomes something different - a way for four isolated women to find ways to connect and find happiness, and a book that shows that modern families come in all shapes and sizes. ( )

This story centers around a baby and four women. India is married to a very wealthy business mogul in NYC. She is his 'trophy wife'. Marcus is in his late 50's and she is in her early 40's, though she only admits to late 30's. Bettina is her stepdaughter, who regards India as a gold-digger and still has hopes of her mother and father getting back together and restoring her family. (Her mother left her father to join and ashram in Arizona). India decides she wants to have a baby with Marcus, and after artificial insemination and several miscarriages, they decide to go with a surrogate. Jules, the egg donor, is a smart, beautiful, recent Princeton grad who needs money for her dad in rehab. Annie, the surrogate, is the mother of 2 young boys who lives with her husband in a money pit of a farm house outside of Philadelphia, who is hoping to improve the life of her family with the money she will receive.

One thing I really liked about this book is how each chapter centered on a different woman. The women are complex and this was an excellent way to develop their characters while furthering the story. At the beginning some of the women, Bettina and India in particular, were not very likeable, but as the story developed, I liked them both. One thing I didn't like so much is that I felt the story ended a little abruptly. The epilogue tied things up nicely, and it read almost like a fairy tale, with allusions to 'Sleeping Beauty'. But I still would have liked to have seen a bit more of how the relationship developed between the women at the end of the last chapter.

This was a quick, easy read; light and entertaining. I'm giving this one 3-1/2 stars. I like it...a lot! But I don't really love it. ( )

Then Came You is the story of 4 women, brought together by the circumstance of infertility. Each chapter is told from their various POVs, something I'm actually not too fond of. I am a reader who loves the 1st-person, but only when it's done correctly. Multiple 1st-person POVs make it difficult to keep up with whose head you're in and that's a little pet peeve of mine. I think it would have been better executed in the 3rd-person. But I digress.

The plot is genuinely unique. Not many others have the balls (ovaries?) to write a fictional piece on such as sensitive a subject as infertility, especially when her core demographic are women in their 20's through 40's. I enjoyed the progression of a child through all of their lives, and how neatly it comes together. But then, therein lies the problem, too.

It's too neat, nothing (short of one incident) surprises me. Affluent woman-child in her 20's who hates her new stepmother? Check. Hard-up-for-cash mother (also in her 20's)? Check. College student trying to earn money? Check. 40-something who wants a baby? Check. Check check and check. Then Came You is told well; Weiner is good at what she does: investing you in her characters. But the story felt dry and formulaic. It simply was not the page-turner I thought it would be. I want a book that's going to grab me and make me want to stay up at night, just so I can devour the story. Then Came You was thoughtful, it was unique, it was (a little) heart-wrenching. But it was not riveting and I wish it had been. ( )