3 Star
Dani, Meg, and Charlotte have bonded over babies, barbeques, and backyards, but when they escape for a girls weekend away, they can t bring themselves to return to lives that don t seem to fit anymore.Harried Dani can t explain why she feels so discontented until she meets a young gallery owner who inspires her to rediscover the art that once made her happy.
Dependable Meg faces up to a grief that threatens to swallow her whole and confronts a marriage built on expectations.
Flamboyant Charlotte, frustrated with her stagnated life and marriage, pursues a playboy Irish singer and beachside business opportunities.
All three of these women thought they would be different. None of them thought they d be facing down forty and still wondering when life starts. What they do when they realize where they re headed is both inspiring and wildly entertaining.
Kathryn - 3 Star
This novel had so much potential from an emotional standpoint that I was eager to get sunk into reading Girls' Weekend. Unfortunately I struggled to identify with any of the main characters (except Meg's grief-which was palpable) and their bond wasn't very clear to me. They behaved like acquaintances from church or the school pick-up and it seemed to take them ages to open up to each other, by which point I was a bit ho-hum about the plot. Because I didn't get a good sense of warmth between them before they left on their "holiday" -I'm not sure I ever really got out of this book what I could have done. (I believe though that I may be in the minority about these feelings.)
What I did like about Girls’ Weekend was the realistic marital issues that were the impetus for three women to ditch their real lives and look inwards at their happiness. I loved that they were coming from such different places and that their marriages all had obstacles but that their challenges were all different. I was also pleased with the way each of them dealt differently with their issues- it was very true that they would all have questioned their lives in different ways to come to their own conclusions about moving forward.
I was frustrated by the two men brought in to distract the women. I can't possibly refer to them as love interests because I don't think that Girls' Weekend is about romance. One of the men was so obviously a bad guy that I was turned off immediately and the other was soon shown to be just as untrustworthy. Neither of them was good enough to really force a choice from my perspective but they did serve a purpose for the women- to really examine their marriages and contemplate the "grass is greener" concept.
I was hoping for better resolution I suppose and more camaraderie between the women. I did like the concept though and there were many moments that I enjoyed.
Thank you to the author for our review copy. All opinions are our own.
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