The author of Nine Women, One Dress delivers a charming, unforgettable novel about four women, one little lie, and the big repercussions that unite them all. It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. When Eliza Hunt created The Hudson Valley Ladies’ Bulletin Board fifteen years ago she was happily entrenched in her picture-perfect suburban life with her husband and twin preschoolers. Now, with an … preschoolers. Now, with an empty nest and a crippling case of agoraphobia, the once-fun hobby has become her lifeline. So when a rival parenting forum threatens the site’s existence, she doesn’t think twice before fabricating a salacious rumor to spark things up a bit.
It doesn’t take long before that spark becomes a flame.
Across town, new mom and site devotee Olivia York is thrown into a tailspin by what she reads on the Bulletin Board. Allison Le is making cyber friends with a woman who isn’t quite who she says she is. And Amanda Cole, Eliza’s childhood friend, may just hold the key to unearthing why Eliza can’t step out of her front door.
In all this chaos, one thing is for sure…Hudson Valley will never be the same.
Funny, romantic, raw, and hopeful, this is a story about being a woman and of the healing power of sisterhood.
more
Jane L. Rosen is a sparkling, original voice. With hilarity and heart, she takes us into the intersecting lives of Eliza, Alison, Amanda, Jackie and Olivia in the picturesque Hudson Valley where life is anything but perfect. Secrets are revealed, grudges form, forgiveness is found, men come and go but through it all, divine friendship endures in this glorious read. A book club pick for sure, a must read for you! Spread this Rumor and fast!
I’m always down for a Real Housewives -esque story, and this one was perfect in that regard. Set in a Hudson Valley town, it’s about all the things that shape us: men, children, marriage…and the secrets of our past.
Warm and funny and utterly of this moment, Eliza Starts a Rumor delivers a heroine we can all relate to. The magic of Jane L. Rosen’s novels is that they reveal the cracks in women’s facades just enough to let their true strength shine through. I loved it.
A swift, satisfying page-turner that deftly employs a rumor to underscore the redemptive power of the truth. Rosen writes vibrant characters with her trademark humor and compassion. A perfect summer read.
A humorous look at serious real-life problems centered around a social media group. Definitely recommended, but there are surprises that are sprung.
This rumor took on a life of it’s own. Now, I think the popularity of this boo will too. This book is a keeper.
WOW this book has everything ~sincere women friendships, family drama, mom drama, and shocking confessions you never expected!!!!!! I loved this story and although I haven’t read her debut novel Nine Dresses I believe this author Jane L. Rosen has an amazing career ahead of her. I will definitely be impatiently awaiting her next book!!!!!!!! If you like women fiction with a little mom drama mixed in you will enjoy this one.
The friendship that binds and saves each is astounding. The underlying stories are ones that break your heart, feed your soul, and rebuild your spirits. It’s got all the feels. Highly recommended!
I can’t totally understand why everyone isn’t talking about this one. It’s such a perfect read–riding that line of suspenseful intrigue and charming women’s fiction as perfectly as Liane Moriarty or Laura Hankin’s novels. The writing itself is warm and clean, the atmosphere of small-town Hudson Valley is delightfully summery, and the characters are distinctive and interesting. I loved all of them, understood all of them. I’m eager to go back and read Rosen’s first book and eagerly awaiting her next. Highly recommend.
My Rating:
4.5
Favorite Quotes:
There was no way Eliza’s polished, stick-thin mother, with her shiny golden hair, would have admitted that her daughter, who did not receive her skinny gene or her shiny gene, had only inherited her crazy gene.
The only thing worse than being cheated on was being made a fool of, and if that was what was going on, she would take him down.
She assumed that those first accusations against Carson were only the tip of the iceberg. Her gut told her that her husband would be going down like the Titanic, and like on the Titanic, all women and children belonged in lifeboats.
I am a twenty-eight-year-old feminist woman intent on raising a feminist daughter. We are just starting out on this journey together. There are no circumstances that would make me suck it up.”
“Do you want a protein shake?” “If by protein you mean tequila, then yes.”
“Alison could defend me. Temporary insanity.” “One can only hope it’s temporary,”
My Review:
This was a highly amusing yet thoughtfully written, perennially relevant, timely, engaging, and cleverly paced tale with multiple story threads that tangled and converged into a smoothly woven unit. The large cast of characters was diverse, endearing, deeply flawed, and interestingly quirky while dealing with humorous and curious conundrums as well as common and uncommon issues. There were a few mysteries to solve and personal and professional snooping was required to mete out the appropriate justice to make most things right in the end. And it all started with an impulsively spread yet titillating and synergetic rumor that had been posted in haste in a desperate attempt to stay relevant.
This is my first time reading Jane L. Rosen and I was not disappointed. I was lucky to receive an early copy of this gem thanks to Berkley Publishing. This is just the distraction that I needed during this crazy time. I laughed, cried, and just over all felt good about this read. This is an absolute must read!
Jane L. Rosen, Author of “Eliza Starts A Rumor” has written an intriguing, captivating, emotional, memorable, and thought-provoking novel. The genres for this novel are Fiction and Women’s Fiction. The timeline for this story is in the present and goes to the past when it pertains to the characters or events in the story. This takes place in a small suburban town. The author describes her characters as complex and complicated. Each character has their own set of problems. The themes that run through this book are the importance of sisterhood, family, friendship, honesty, communication, love, and hope.
Eliza Hunt is a wife and an empty_ nest Mom. She created a bulletin that has served her community for quite a while. Poor Eliza also has the fear of leaving the house (agoraphobia) and finds out that her bulletin is losing viewers and popularity to a new kind of publication. To prevent that from happening Eliza is determined to modernize and update her bulletin. She does this by putting in a fake rumor to spice up the news.
Sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction, and Eliza’s “rumor” seems to be too close to home for some people, who question this in their lives. Other newer community members also now put questions and discussions on this board that make it more controversial. This bulletin has certainly changed, and it looks like there is going to be “changes” in this community. Will this community ever be the same? I highly recommend this thought-provoking and memorable novel.
This is an incredible story of 4 friends. 4 women with different lives, different secrets, and different circumstances, all come together to support and love each other. Eliza, Amanda, Olivia and Alison prove want can happen with true friendship and support. Eliza runs a bulletin board online and after finding out the younger crowd thinks it’s boring, Eliza starts a rumor on the board. As things blow up from there, the 4 women are entangled in each other’s lives. This book has it all: friendship, love, secrets, and betrayal. I loved this incredible book and its characters will stay with me forever. I received an advanced readers copy and all opinions are my own.
Perfect for fans of Katherine Center.
A smart, engaging treat for Big Little Lies fans. The perfect summer read!
A funny, poignant, very topical romp through some real life issues humans deal with every day. In every town. Throw this one in your summer beach bag, you’ll devour it in short order.
A compelling examination of the shared female experience. I couldn’t put it down.
Jane L. Rosen has done it again. She has created intriguing, likable characters and woven them into a story that will keep you guessing until the very end. Bravo!
Eliza Starts a Rumor by Jane L. Rosen is the story of a middle-aged wife and mom that is suffering from agoraphobia, but also intense boredom now that her kids have grown and moved on to college. When her children were younger she started a message board called The Hudson Valley Ladies’ Bulletin Board, but over the years the women have gotten older and the board has become a bit stale. Eliza overhears some younger women discussing a new ‘hipper’ message board and becomes intrigued. She checks out the board and desperately wants to start a trending topic, one that receives a lot of attention with tons of responses. Problem is that she lives a boring life. So what does one do in that situation, well if you’re Eliza, you make up a salacious story to go along with what you think you see going on at the house next door from out your window. This is a problem because what you think you see is actually pretty close to the truth and there are real people behind these actions that the rumors hurt and cause immense problems for all involved. Aside from the rumor, and the mess it causes, there are wonderful stories of friendship in this book, one a long deep one, others that are new. There are also deeply buried hurts that come to light and a lot of support from these friendships. Overall, this book held my attention and I genuinely liked the characters and cared for their situations. Also, I listened to the book and thought the narrator did a great job.
I have been seeing quite a few reviewers call Eliza Starts a Rumor by Jane L. Rosen a light read, but I didn’t find that to be the case at all. I did think there was a great amount of humor and a lot of you go girl moments, but Rosen also touches on so many hard and important topics as well. You’ll find a lot about motherhood in the novel as well as friendships, wonderfully strong female characters, and also a few characters that will infuriate you. I really enjoyed all of the different viewpoints and the structure, plus I really liked the way the cast of characters tied together. I definitely shed a few tears while reading it, and I thought that it was such a refreshingly different read.
The audiobook is narrated by Lisa Flanagan and she did a beautiful job being the voice of Eliza Starts a Rumor. I fell in love with her narration immediately and think she was the perfect choice to narrate this novel. I LOVED the relationships that Rosen created between the female characters and this is a great book for reaffirming what it is like when women come together and support each other. This was a heart-wrenching, timely read and I thought it was so well thought out and executed. I never read the author’s debut, Nine Women, One Dress, but I do remember hearing about it when it first came out. I am regretting never reading it now and you can be sure I will be remedying that ASAP!
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.