Julie's Review: I'm Fine and Neither Are You

Author: Camille Pagan
Series: None
Publication Date: April 1, 2019
Publisher: Lake Union Publisher
Pages: 260
Obtained: Great Thoughts Great Readers Book Salon
Genre:  Contemporary Fiction
Rating: 4/5
Bottom Line: If we could all just be more honest, relationships would be better
Grab, Just get it at the library, or Remove from your TBR list? Grab

Summary: Honesty is the best policy…except maybe when it comes to marriage in this brilliant novel about the high price of perfection from bestselling author Camille Pagán. Wife. Mother. Breadwinner. Penelope Ruiz-Kar is doing it all—and barely keeping it together. Meanwhile, her best friend, Jenny Sweet, appears to be sailing through life. As close as the two women are, Jenny’s passionate marriage, pristine house, and ultra-polite child stand in stark contrast to Penelope’s underemployed husband, Sanjay, their unruly brood, and the daily grind she calls a career. Then a shocking tragedy reveals that Jenny’s life is far from perfect. Reeling, Penelope vows to stop keeping the peace and finally deal with the issues in her relationship. So she and Sanjay agree to a radical proposal: both will write a list of changes they want each other to make—then commit to complete and total honesty. What seems like a smart idea quickly spirals out of control, revealing new rifts and even deeper secrets. As Penelope stares down the possible implosion of her marriage, she must ask herself: When it comes to love, is honesty really the best policy? ~amazon.com  

Review: What would you do if you found out your best friend was struggling but never confided in you before she died? How would that affect your marriage and your life? Would you make changes to how you viewed and loved your life?

After Penelope finds out her best friend died and of an overdose she looks at her life and wonders how she can make it better. So she decides that between her and Sanjay need to be completely honest with each other. So they make lists on the things they want to change about the other one. What happens though when her husband tackles his list with gusto and she can't even think about working on the list he gave her? 

Sometimes you need to look at yourself and make yourself happy before you can make others around you happy.

These are the issues that Ms. Pagan tackles in this well written and thoughtful novel. A novel about friendship, marriage and what it takes to make both work.


Google+