A funny new novel from international bestselling author Marian Keyes about Irish beautician Stella Sweeney who falls ill, falls in love, then falls into a glamorous new life in New York City. When her dream life is threatened, will she rally to reclaim love and happiness?In her own words, Stella Sweeney is just “an ordinary woman living an ordinary life with her husband and two teenage kids,” … teenage kids,” working for her sister in their neighborhood beauty salon. Until one day she is struck by a serious illness, landing her in the hospital for months.
After recovering, Stella finds out that her neurologist, Dr. Mannix Taylor, has compiled and self-published a memoir about her illness. Her discovery comes when she spots a photo of the finished copy in an American tabloid—and it’s in the hands of the vice president’s wife! As her relationship with Dr. Taylor gets more complicated, Stella struggles to figure out who she was before her illness, who she is now, and who she wants to be while relocating to New York City to pursue a career as a newly minted self-help memoirist.
Funny, fast-paced, and honest, Keyes’s latest novel is full of her trademark charm and wisdom and is sure to delight her many fans.
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I love Marian Keyes and all her characters. This book is my most recent read–all new characters. These people are not so wacky as some of the Walsh family . Set in Ireland, our heroine contracts a rare disease and thereby meets a mysterious and enthralling doctor. This book winds and twists through so much territory, it’s hard to describe. It is thrilling and up and down from one chapter to another. Totally unable to predict what on earth is going to happen. And I really cared about the people!
One of my favorite Marian Keye’s books now.
This is not a small book, but I read it cover to cover over the course of three days! It’s an amazing weekend read with a truly fascinating storyline, excellent characters, and some wonderful Irish wit. I highly recommend it.
So, you know how it is, right? You’re about to read a book that’s popped into your “if you like (blank) you’re SURE to love (blank.2). And you go into it not expecting much. Just more of the same sad lady stories about cheatin’ husbands, perky and sassy BFFs, perhaps the odd sexy “oh no I shouldn’t have” hook up, with an ending that’s…about what you expected.
Yeah, that is NOT what this book is about.
And yet, it is, at the same time.
Let me start by saying, I adore Marian Keyes’ style. While it’s classic chick-lit, it somehow manages to be something else, something with a bit more…there, there, if I can coin an overused phrase. I’ve been reading a ton of this sort of book lately for my own research and enjoyment (and sometimes not-so-much but they can’t all be winners!) but I have to say that this book, with it’s funny/sassy/sad heroine, her werido ex-husband, perky BFF and new-found love is the most original thing in this genre I’ve ever read.
I mean, it hits all the targets that we expect while wrapping it up in a plot that seems almost impossible to fathom. A woman gets a rare, temporary, neurodegenerative disease and is, quite literally, left paralyzed from head to toe. The specialist who’s assigned to her while she’s hooked up to tubes at both ends falls in love. Her artist husband gives away all his (many) belongings in a fit of karmic transcendence (or a social media stunt gone wrong, you pick). Her plucky, divorced, unhappy, borderline alcoholic friend never gives up on her. Her teenaged kids hate her by the time she recovers and realizes that the handsome (married but then he’s not) doc is smitten with her.
Oh! Oh and did I mention that he helped her write a book about her condition by translating her eye blinks?
Yeah. So, surrender your chick-lit/women’s fiction lite expectations at the door of this fabulous book, kids. You are gonna love it!
P.S. I’ve also read The Brightest Star in the Sky (adorable/cute with a dose of magical realism 4 stars) and The Perfect Man (horrifyingly realistic tale about an abusive guy and his trail of victims who band together, also 4 stars) and enjoyed them both. But this book? This one is the one I’d recommend for anyone who’s new to Ms. Keyes’ style and talent.
A depressing slog of a book from a writer I used to adore. Why does your main character have to be such a door mat?
Fantastic read – Ms. Keyes is one of my favorite authors!