Alice's Review: The Book of Someday

Author: Dianne Dixon
Series: None
Publication Date: September 3, 2013
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
Pages: 335
Obtained:  Borrowed
Genre:  Women's Fiction
Rating: 4/5
Bottom Line: Wonderful character driven novel with a surprising ending.
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Summary:  Three women. One stranger in a shimmering silver dress. Whatever binds them together has already destroyed one life. It just might consume them all. Someday, Livvi Gray will break free from her past. Someday, she will escape her recurring nightmare about that stranger in a shimmering silver dress. Someday, she will have a family of her own. Now she's found Andrew, and someday seems to be right around the corner. But there's so much Livvi doesn't know. Shortly before her thirtieth birthday, she will come face-to-face with the stranger from her dream-an encounter that will alter Livvi's future and crack open everything she knew about her past. Livvi is swiftly moving toward the ultimate turning point in her life-and she's not the only one. Linked by an unforgettable mystery, photographer Micah and young mother AnnaLee are also being rapidly drawn into a web of devastating secrets about the unexpected ways in which we choose to protect-and betray-the people we love. ~amazon.com

Review:  I am a lover of short stories. This novel reads very much like a short story. In fact, you could probably read each character’s story as a standalone as one is not needed to benefit the others. Yet, as they are told in alternating chapters, they are forever entwined, linked in a way I never expected. The only common factor is a woman wearing a pearl button shoe. I thoroughly enjoyed how this novel came together. I couldn't have guessed it and I was quite surprised.

The Book of Someday is the stories of three women. Livvi is a literary sensation, Micah a world famous photographer, and AnnaLee a young mother trying to hold her family together. Thinking about it now, I believe these women have something else in common besides the woman in the pearl button shoe. Each woman is beautifully damaged, broken in spirit and soul. As we get to know them, they reveal the depths of that damage. It’s difficult to describe them without revealing too much of the novel.

I like Livvi initially. She came from a broken home, had a father who was there but not engaged. She had a stepmother who was a monster to her. She carried her experience deep within her, hiding her truth from all who know her. It is only with the love a man that she begins to acknowledge her past. Towards the end of her arc, I didn’t particularly care for her. The decisions she made tarnished her character and turned her selfish and greedy. At least that is how I saw her.

Micah was a wonderful character. She was the opposite of Livvi: a horrible woman in search of absolution. I didn’t like her at all, with her black soul and narcissistic ways. As her story is exposed and we learn her truth, we can see why she’s that way. It wasn’t pretty, but it made sense. I didn’t like her any more in the end than I did in the beginning of the novel, but I appreciated her darkness.

I can’t quite figure out how I feel about AnnaLee. Sometimes I really liked her and how caring she was for her daughter and husband. Other times I saw her as this judgemental, bitter woman who was never happy. I covered both extremes on the spectrum.

Overall, I think this is a great novel. I love that it was told in alternating chapters. I love that I didn’t figure out the ending. I love that it truly made me gasp in shock. It was pretty darn awesome. I didn’t feel any connection to the characters but I was still invested in their story. I kept reading because of morbid curiosity. I had to know what was up with the woman in the pearl button shoe. The only flaw I found was the disenchantment I felt towards Livvi in the end. I expected more from her and was a bit disappointed at the outcome. I think I would have been happier with a real resolution.

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