Maryann's Reviews > Gaga

Since I like to celebrate strong women in my writing, I was attracted to the story line for this book when first approached to do a review. Monty is a strong woman, and there is much to like as you share her foray into a new life after her husband dumps her.

Monty takes a giant leap out of her comfort zone to pursue the story about the rock band and maybe pursue something else in her life, and the uncertainly of that leap is handled well in the story. Monty alternates between being self-assured, as any successful professional would be, and totally questioning her every move, as every just-dumped person would do.

In addition to the main plot of taking a chance, I appreciated the deeper underlying themes of forgiveness, family and love, as well as the relationship between Monty and her daughter, Rachel. The family interaction was endearing, with the natural push/pull between parent and child very real on the pages.

For the most part the writing was excellent with good descriptions that didn’t bog down the story and dialogue that was crisp and natural. In some places the story dragged just a bit because of minutia that didn’t seem necessary, and I tired of the constant references to the poster and the closet and the teenage Monty who was in love with Donny Digits.

Even before reading the author’s bio, I knew she had play-writing or scriptwriting experience because instead of naming two characters in a scene, she referred to them as Girl #1 and Girl #2. That works in a script, but I found it distracting in a novel. Tripped me up and pulled me right out of the scene.

Still, this was a fun read, and I would recommend the book to anyone who likes a quick summer read.