Jada Marlone’s life appears to be perfect on social media. She has a loving husband, a beautiful child, and a successful career. What she doesn’t post about is the disconnect she feels in her marriage, the difficulties of motherhood, and her strained relationship with her mother.Resigned to never being truly happy, Jada runs into an ex-boyfriend. While trying to decide whether the coincidence is … coincidence is her second chance at happiness, Jada begins having dreams that feature her dead cousin Gina.
With Gina’s help, Jada starts to uncover the real reasons behind her life decisions. As Jada tries to figure out her future, uncontrollable events threaten her resolve. Will she be able to draw from all she learned from Gina, or will she risk making the same mistakes twice?
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Better Believe It by Fern Ronay
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Jada Ann Santanelli Marlone is a corporate lawyer who has it all – a husband, a great home, a cute three-year-old boy, and a promotion to boot. With everything going on so well in her life, why is she not happy? She may portray a different façade outside, but what happens “behind closed doors” is another.
Better Believe It immediately grabbed me and led me down a rabbit hole into Jada’s world. The beginning chapter shared so much that it was impossible to put down! There was so much angst and dissatisfaction that my curiosity piqued, and I had to read on. I think this is because the story jumps immediately in the middle of Jada’s revelation that was “meaty” from the get-go. The tone is brilliant and catchy. The book reminds me a bit of A Christmas Carol as Jada goes back into her past and “peeking into the future” as she tries to dissect her life – in finding what she ultimately wants for herself, but all at present.
I liked a few elements of the book, and these are:-
The discussion on life, its meaning, and happiness was a memorable topic. It is one thing to be married and has everything but still be unhappy while seeing the flip side of seeing others find their happiness in their situation. Take, for example, motherhood is a beautiful experience, but it may not be for all. There is also talk about marriage – while some have perfect partners (or so they say), others love their singleton.
Bottom line: it is all about finding and pursuing one’s happiness. The author gives readers a glimpse of the various relationship dynamics that made me think of Jada’s situation and compare what is missing in her life to make her dissatisfied.
Because this book is from Jada’s POV only, readers will sympathize with her, and the impact of her actions is heightened. Jada discovers herself, then grows and matures into a new person – very different from how she started in the book. The internal discussions of Jada with her subconsciousness (i.e., talk to her dead relatives) are my favorite parts. There were many “eye-openers” for Jada; simultaneously, they were revelations for me too – regarding inner conflict and outer turmoil. A few were evident to what she wants to achieve but is afraid of, but the startling ones are the wisdom shared by her dead cousin, Gina. I felt like Jada, surprised and stunned all at once, especially the prediction of her ex-boyfriend coming into her life and not how I expected it to be. It is a nice touch that in reconciling (internally) Jada’s lessons, Gina is also helping Jada wrap her head around what happened to her. Gina helps Jada find the inner peace that Jada did not know was missing that helps her move on and be better – spiritually and mentally.
Although based on the blurb, readers might not realize how gut-wrenching Jada’s situation is. The story deals with more gritty issues on what happens when the marriage and family structure, initially thought stable, comes down like a stack of cards. Jada had to deal with a lot in and outside her home that will overwhelm her. She hits rock bottom, but balancing out the “still-doing-okay” façade on the outside was the most challenging part when all Jada wants to do is scream in frustration. Jada was so unhappy yet realized later that she would have to ensure much pain and sorrow before finding her redemption, a second chance to the life she deserves. The book will make readers think and empathize with Jada and the rest of the book’s characters.
NOTE: Everything will explode just when readers think Jada’s life decisions couldn’t get her any worst. All of those “lessons” collide and implode at some point in the story, like Fourth of July fireworks! Be ready for the waterworks to happen. Yes, this book made me cry-ugly and disturbed (in a good way) but made me realize so many amazing people – do not underestimate the power of gratitude, forgiveness, and compassion.
In summary, Better Believe It is a witty yet poignant story about approaching life. Readers can expect witty storytelling, clever comebacks from Jada and the supporting characters, well-intentioned but crazy family members (as expected) as Jada navigates and reassesses how she can improve her life and find a better meaning to her situation.
Several elements made the book a worthy read and insight into further self-reflection to Jada’s lessons. The author touches on many lessons as we journey through Jada’s life – love, relationship, happiness, and second chances. I cannot wait to see more from this promising author.
I enjoyed reading this book. It was slow at first, but then I couldn’t put it down.
Jada is very unhappy with her life. She has a husband, a child, and a great job. And she likes to post about her perfect like on social media. But the reality is that she doesn’t like her husband anymore, she finds motherhood very demanding and on top of that, her relationship with her mother is very strained. Instead of doing something about it, she rather escapes into her phone.
In her dreams, she spends time with her dead grandparents. With how her life is going, they feel like it’s time to bring in the big guns, her dead cousin Gina. She is straightforward and doesn’t mince words. She pushed Jade to take charge of her life before it’s too late.
Jade doesn’t remember the dreams when she wakes but gets a strong gut feeling to do something.
It a very familiar story, very fitting of our times. It’s so much easier to get lost on the phone, to live your life through social media than to actually live it IRL. I found the story very eye-opening and moving.
Jade was a hard character to like, but Gina on the other hand is my favorite in the entire story. 🙂
received from author
I love Fern’s writing and this one didn’t disappoint!
Let’s start with the bottom line: this is a charming, clever, wonderfully well written sparkling book with a lot of insight. It’s fun to read and it has depth.
In the story, protagonist Jada lets the readers into her life, her head, her dreams. Jada is not happy. She is trapped in the perfect, successful American life—a smart, handsome, neat husband named Mark (and a lawyer to boot), an adorable three-year son named Ethan, close-knit family, and Ralph Lauren matching dinnerware. Life is good—at least in a social media kind of way. Yet, she is still not happy.
Jada, a lawyer who just got a promotion, keeps up a snappy inner dialog in the book which is tart, insightful, and often bitingly funny. The opening sentence is “I hate my husband.” Then in contrast, she describes pretty much the ideal husband. She describes her son as “a wailing, flailing animal, and I was his captor.” Yet the son too is in many ways the idea child (at least in a social media way!)
But the wonderful twist in this tale of suburban life is the wickedly charming ghost visits from her Grandpa Tony and Grandma Rose and Cousin Gina Rose. The grandparents visit Jada in her sleep and they can all eat, drink red wine and sing, yet are blessed with insight and perhaps foresight from their vantage point in the other world. When Jada confesses to her dead grandparents she wants a divorce and feels stuck in her life, they call in the “big guns.” The big gun is Gina Rose, Jada’s dead cousin.
Gina appears in Jada’s dream as “all spiky black hair and Converse sneakers. Her tiny diamond nose ring flickered…” Gina, even dead, has great force of character and readers know at once an adventure is sure to happen.
That’s the set up for a charming, astute, fun story that follows. Fern Ronay is a wonderful writer who perfectly captures the yin and yang of modern married life, with wry humor and a great skill for storytelling. The sharp repartee between characters and from inside Jada’s head is cleverly perception even while being entertaining. The sentences flow and snap and sparkle in a well-paced balance. This book is a gem
First and foremost, I would like to thank Fern Ronay for my copy of Better Believe It. Fern is a new to me author and upon reading the premise, I was already drawn in. It seemed to be a very relevant book for current times. How often are we on social media and we see everyone’s perfect lives? Only posting the best and most filtered. That’s your life, right? So wrong.
Jada seems to be going through what I like to call a “pre-mid life crisis”. This is why the book appealed to me. A mother and wife with a child and not feeling fully appreciated and fully loved, therefore feels unhappy with her current life. But she still posts on social media all the good things so her life still looks good from the outside. But what’s on the outside may not even be close to reality. This called to me and made me think of my life. This is why the book is so relevant.
“Get quiet. Get off your phone. Get out of your head. Listen to what’s around you. Really listen. The answer will come.”
The main characters weren’t all exactly likable. From Jada and her husband and even the “friends” she meets up with at Play for her child’s playdates. It all just seemed to be surface likability. I didn’t get into the characters, but for the time Jada was sleeping and ‘met’ up with her cousin Gina. I LOVED the dreams sequences, but also was at first confused by them because there was no real break directing to me that that was what was happening. Perhaps if it was written in italics or some different way introducing me to that fact. I got used to it after the first couple chapters, but like I said having something to separate that from the real life story would’ve been helpful.
Jada listens to her family in her dreams, but real life is different. She does take control of her life and there will be changes, but everything seemed a little abrupt and could’ve flowed better. Toward the end after listening to her ‘dreams’, we are introduced to a Jada that I liked much better. I would’ve liked to see more of her in the story. It took her hitting rock bottom to come to her senses, but then again, that’s what happens to all of us.
Overall this book was ok. It reminded me a little of Sophie Kinsella and was light and funny, but it had a serious undertone. The combination worked, but the flow of the story could’ve been better. The premise and idea I really liked. It was relatable and easy to understand Jada as I’m a woman experiencing changes in life too. I didn’t exactly like her and didn’t want to take her side until much later in the book, but at least the characters had an arc and changed and grew as the story progressed.
I would definitely try more books by Fern Ronay if I’m looking for lighter chick lit reads, but sometimes I want something I can just bite into. Didn’t exactly find that here.
On social media, she was living the perfect life. In reality, she is struggling with just about everything in her life- marriage, motherhood, family, friends, and her job. She wasn’t happy, she wasn’t living for herself, and following her true path. Fern Ronay created a sharp witted, complex, unhappy main character who could be anyone we know. I was entertained by this character and her antics. An entertaining read.
Fern Ronay is a new to me author and the blurb of this story really grabbed my attention. I was intrigued by it and wanted to know more. This story was different from what I normally read, but it was such a fun and great change. I loved every single moment of this book.
Jada had the perfect life on social media, however, we all know that many people don’t put the bad and the ugly or the struggles all over their social media pages. Jada’s life was anything from perfect. She was struggling, she felt alone. She runs into an ex and she really starts to think about her life decisions. Her road through life changes is not an easy one and full of struggles.
I loved how real Jada was. As a character she was extremely relatable. Everyone is struggling with something in their lives whether it be family, friends, relationships, or a career. In some way you can connect with Jada and how she is feeling. I loved the added aspect of Gina throughout this story. The insight she provided not only got Jada to think, but it got you to think as a reader.
This was such a fun book to read. I loved every single moment of this story.