Lanie Coates’s life is spinning out of control. She’s piled everything she owns into a U-Haul and driven with her husband, Peter, and their three little boys from their cozy Texas home to a multiflight walkup in the Northeast. She’s left behind family, friends, and a comfortable life–all so her husband can realize his dream of becoming a professional musician. But somewhere in the eye of her personal hurricane, it hits Lanie that she once had dreams too. If only she could remember what they were.
These days, Lanie always seems to rank herself dead last–and when another mom accidentally criticizes her appearance, it’s the final straw. Fifteen years, three babies, and more pounds than she’s willing to count since the day she said “I do,” Lanie longs desperately to feel like her old self again. It’s time to rise up, fish her moxie out of the diaper pail, and find the woman she was before motherhood capsized her entire existence.
Lanie sets change in motion–joining a gym, signing up for photography classes, and finding a new best friend. But she also creates waves that come to threaten her whole life. In the end, Lanie must figure out once and for all how to find herself without losing everything else in the process.
Katherine Center’s Everyone Is Beautiful is a hugely entertaining, poignant, and charming new novel about what happens after happily ever after: how a woman learns to fall in love with her husband–and her entire life–all over again.
My Thoughts:
Eh, I had higher hopes for this one because of the premise. Is there any mom out there who hasn't, at one time or another, felt frumpy, overwhelmed, and lonely? I pretty much feel that way at least a few times a day. And while I'm not in the same situation as Lanie, I definitely empathize with her on several points.
And yet, the overall story fell flat on its face. The writing was okay, but every so often Center would stick in a "but little did I know, THIS WAS ABOUT TO HAPPEN!" paragraph, and those make me very, very cranky.
I guess for a novel that worked on the premise that Lanie was about to improve a whole lot, I never actually saw any improvement. Not even in her new, gym-going body. Also, her husband was a selfish tool. Also, none of the characters really made any sense. The more I think about this book the more I start to hate it.
I want my $8 back.
1/5 Stars
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