Review: Plan Bea by Hilary Grossman

Genre:
Chick Lit, Women’s Fiction

Format:
E-ARC

Publisher:
Booktrope Editions

Release Date:
October 2015







Synopsis from Goodreads…

Could falling in love allow a cold, stubborn, and selfish women to open her heart back up to her family?

Beatrice Buchanan has spent more years than she can remember distancing herself from everyone close to her. She has no relationship with her grandchildren and the only time she speaks to her daughter is during her weekly fifteen-minute commute to the nail salon. When Bea meets Walter on a cruise she realizes there may be more to life than designer clothes and impressing the ladies at her country club.

We live our entire lives thinking we know those closest to us. But do we ever really?

On the outside, Annabel O’Conner has it all – the perfect husband, two adorable children, and an amazing job. The only thing missing is her mother’s love. When Bea begs her daughter to help plan her wedding, Annabel reluctantly agrees. Little does she know the impact of her decision or the surprise that is in store for her!

This emotional and honest women’s contemporary fiction novel will tug at your heartstrings and the twist ending will shock you.

My Review

Life is good for Annabel O’Conner. She has a wonderful, loving husband and two beautiful children. She even has a great career. What would make her even happier? A loving relationship with her mother. For some reason, Annabel’s mother Beatrice wants nothing to do with Annabel or her children. It breaks Annabel’s heart, but her mother is a cold, selfish woman.

Then, out of the blue, Beatrice calls and tells Annabel she’s getting married.  She pleads with Annabel to help make this the best wedding ever. She wants to impress her friends and give them something to talk about for years to come. Annabel doesn’t want to do it, but her mother is not someone you can easily say no to. So, Annabel gives her all the support she wants, but nothing Annabel chooses ever seems to please Beatrice. She wonders if she just made their relationship worse by agreeing to this, but she can't get out of it now.

This is a pretty amazing book. This is more than a simple chick lit book. It’s a complex story with complex characters. Readers can actually experience the character’s growth from page one to the very end. It’s jam-packed with emotions and situations readers can identify with. These characters are very realistic and portrayed to perfection.

To my surprise there are family secrets sprinkled throughout the book with an ending that I, for one, did not see coming. I loved every minute of Annabel and Beatrice’s journey. I am delighted to see there is another book coming. This one paved the way for the next book. There is no cliffhanger, just a lead into the next set of characters to get their very own story. I’m looking forward to it. Hilary Grossman has a hit on her hands!



For reading challenges:
Alphabet Soup Reading Challenge 2016
2016 Women’s Fiction Reading Challenge
2016 Blogger Shame Reading Challenge

Disclosure: The author provided me with a copy of this book to review. This did not influence my thoughts and opinions in any way. All opinions expressed are my own.