This book is a prime example of how a book can be both good and bad at the same time. It tells the story of Callie, a forty-something mother of two who has relocated to the country from the big city of New York. This is where the bad starts, where it speaks of her amazing life, her perfect husband and children etc, so that as a reader, you are just waiting for the 'but'. It tells the background stories of just about everyone in her life, from her mother and father, to her best friend, and an acquaintance of her sister's, to the extent that you do begin to wonder where the actual story is going to kick in.
And then it does. Surprisingly Callie doesn't have an affair, or a mid-life crisis. In fact, it becomes apparent that she had cancer in the past, and the vast majority of the latter half of the book deals with a relapse in her recovery, when it returns. It is not only heart-wrenching, but also very considerately written, to the extent that it did not surprise me at all when I learnt that the book was partly based on the author's experiences with her own best friend's struggle with cancer. The relationships in it and how the disease affects everyone around her are incredibly believable and very well written.
It is not all doom and gloom, however. There are also sub-plots throughout, such as a romance sideline for her sister, that take the edge off when it all seems a bit heavy for what I would originally have branded chick-lit. Although it is not a particularly happy ending, as a whole it has a certain feel-good factor to it that leave you smiling upon its finish.
Another part of the book that I really enjoyed was the inclusion of a recipe at the end of each chapter, due to Callie's sister Steffi being a chef. Some of them I would definitely be interested in making myself (for example Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle and Mushroom and Pecan Pate), and it is something I have not come across before in anything I have previously read. I would recommend this to anyone who wants something to read a couple of chapters of before bed; nothing too taxing, but will help you to drift off thinking, rather than sending you to sleep through boredom.
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