Bibliothèque Brett |
Trying to make reading cool again. Jury is still out. |
I don’t think I’ve ever really read a novel similar to this that actually does NOT have a villain. There is no bad guy, no character that you grow to hate, no woman you want to put in the role of the homewrecker. That alone I think is reason enough to give this book a chance…
The Stepmother is a story about two women and their relationship with one man- James. Bea is his ex-wife and Tessa King is his current flame. I expected Tessa to be some twenty-something blonde yoga teacher- you know the usual character that authors seems to create as the “other woman.” Instead she is an intelligent, older, career minded woman. Carrie Adams creates two separate but overlapping storylines in this book. Bea’s story begins with her revelation that she wants to get her family back together and that means getting James back. They have three daughters together and immediately, I began to root for Bea. Then enters Tessa- she is James’ new girlfriend; naturally I wanted to hate her. However, as both of their stories progressed, I found myself not taking either characters’ sides. In different ways, I could relate to both Bea and Tessa. Bea struggles to get over her husband and move on with her life while Tessa is struggling to accept that her Prince Charming isn’t perfect and comes with some baggage- oh yeah and three kids.
While this book wasn’t amazing, I did like that it had a little bit of a twist on the usual storyline. I liked quite a few of the characters that Adams created and I think that many women will find themselves also relating to Bea and Tessa in different ways. It’s a pretty easy read and not too long- good one for the summer!
Side Note: Turns out that The Stepmother is actually a sequel… didn’t know that until about 20 minutes ago. Apparently it’s not necessary to have read the previous novel by Carrie Adams (The Godmother) so that’s good. I quite easily followed the story without having read the other novel. But if you want the complete picture, I would probably recommend checking out The Godmother first!
