The Year We Turned Forty by Liz Fenton, Lisa Steinke Published by Washington Square Press Publication Date: April 26th 2016
Pages: 336
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If you could repeat one year of your life, what would you do differently? This heartwarming and hilarious novel from the authors of The Status of All Things and Your Perfect Life features three best friends who get the chance to return to the year they turned forty—the year that altered all of their lives, in ways big and small—and also get the opportunity to change their future.
Jessie loves her son Lucas more than anything, but it tears her up inside that he was conceived in an affair that ended her marriage to a man she still loves, a man who just told her he's getting remarried. This time around, she’s determined to bury the secret of Lucas’ paternity, and to repair the fissures that sent her wandering the first time.
Gabriela regrets that she wasted her most fertile years in hot pursuit of a publishing career. Yes, she’s one of the biggest authors in the world, but maybe what she really wanted to create was a family. With a chance to do it again, she’s focused on convincing her husband, Colin, to give her the baby she desires.
Claire is the only one who has made peace with her past: her twenty-two year old daughter, Emily, is finally on track after the turmoil of adolescence, and she's recently gotten engaged, with the two carat diamond on her finger to prove it. But if she’s being honest, Claire still fantasizes about her own missed opportunities: a chance to bond with her mother before it was too late, and the possibility of preventing her daughter from years of anguish. Plus, there’s the man who got away—the man who may have been her one true love.
But it doesn’t take long for all three women to learn that re-living a life and making different decisions only leads to new problems and consequences—and that the mistakes they made may, in fact, have been the best choices of all…
Cocktails and Books received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect our opinion of the book or the content of our review.
If given the opportunity to go back in time and change the things in your life, would you do it?
Well in When We Turned 40 three friends are given just that chance. They are not happy. It seems that when they turned 40 ten years earlier they all had something drastic happen to them that left them with their life falling apart at 50. So when they turn fifty and go to this crazy magic show where the magician gives them a chance to go back ten years and change the events that made them who they are today. But there is a catch. Isn’t there always.
Jesse who is having a baby at forty. But the baby’s father is not her husband.
Gabriela is a strong successful happily married woman who has always put her career first. But now, after seeing one of best friends having a baby at 40 she thinks it is time. Too bad her husband thinks the time has come and gone.
Then there is Claire. Struggling to get her life in order and making amends with her mom and daughter.
In the ten years since all of these events happened you see that they are not happy with their lives. Divorces, failing marriages and true love lost, the friends think that this is a perfect way to go back and change the things for the better. The magician gives them one year exactly to see if they are happy with the outcome. If they are not, then they can go back and live their lives as is.
I really enjoyed this book. Being in the 40’s myself I would have to ask myself would I go back and change anything? I don’t know if I could. But I can live vicariously through these three friends. And that is exactly what I did.
What I really enjoyed was that when they woke up forty again, they all knew exactly what was going on. There were funny moments when they realized their electronics such as smart phones were not so smart ten years earlier. There was no GPS and iPads were not even invented yet.
We even get little pov’s of their significant others. That was really a nice touch.
So in closing I think that this was one of those reads where you don’t know what to expect and when it’s a surprise it’s a really pleasant one. . Something different with a little It’s a wonderful life twist to it.
