4 Star
Life seems "picture perfect" for Army veteran Pauline Parril--a solid career, a loving (though slightly absent) husband, two adorable young children. Perfect that is, until the usual Friday meeting at the office ends with a termination letter.As Pauline navigates the difficulties of unemployment, she finds the handles of her world turning upside down. Her estranged daughter, Serenity, returns home with shocking secrets. Her husband, Donald, is not at all who she knows him to be, and a handsome stranger opens her eyes to the complex worlds of poetry and temptation. In this uproarious female comedy of just how one event can change the course of...well everything. The Perils of Pauline follows an intrepid every-woman as she marches through the pressures of building the "perfect life," finding there's actually more to discover about yourself than you dreamed, and constantly answering the scariest question of adulthood: "What now?"
Kathryn - 4 Star
Something about the perils of Pauline really appealed to me. I didn’t find the writing style to be “typical” chick lit and yet the story definitely followed some aspects of the genre I love. I am always pleased to discover a new voice that I relate to and this author made me laugh with her characters and the writing style both.
Sometimes I felt as if I was Pauline and stuck in the chaotic thought pattern most mothers have, between the children and the house and marriage there are a lot of conflicting thought processes and she was often doing the wrong thing at the wrong time. I found her voice amusing and she made me make smiley faces.
On the flip side there was also a marital trial separation in this novel and while most of Pauline's internal thoughts made me laugh I wasn’t entirely convinced about her thoughts on Donald. He seemed to have been proven guilty without trial and though they were drifting apart I think Pauline needed an excuse to test her own thoughts and the waters of their marriage. I pass no judgement on this, sometimes a good relationship with mistakes in it is all the proof needed to ensure both parties know they have a good thing to hold on to.
The novel is peppered with interested characters- from the odd boy living next door who is always keeping a watchful eye on Pauline & family- to Pauline’s close friend in her hockey league. My only real issue was that I had a difficult time envisioning my surroundings. I wasn’t particularly bothered about this but when coming back to write my review I could only remember the people and not the places. Sometimes I take issue with novels that only describe the place and not the people- I prefer it this way around, when the people stand out in my memory.
The Perils of Pauline contained a number of tricky topics and issues and I really liked Collette Yvonne’s take on them.
Thank you to Astor and Blue for our review copy. All opinions are our own.
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