After 20 years of marriage, Charlotte Crawford’s husband drops a bombshell – he doesn’t want to be married to her any longer. There isn’t another woman; he is just done being married to her. Faced with starting her life over at the age of 42, Charlotte begins to navigate the dating world and all that entails (read: losers). I had high hopes for this novel, but was relieved to be finally done with it by the end. I found the characters to be superficial and unlikable and the plot to be lacking any substance at all. It reminded me more of the first draft of a novel rather than the finished product, before the author goes back and adds in all of the depth and plot. (LEK)
Jenna McCarthy has written her debut adult novel, Pretty Much Screwed, which is about picking yourself up out of the gutter when life kicks you to the curb. The summary says: "'I don't love you anymore.' For Charlotte Crawford, the worst part about being dumped after twenty years of marriage is that her husband, Jack, doesn't want another woman; he just doesn't want her. Forty-two and clueless, Charlotte is a fish out of water in a dating pool teeming with losers. Just when she thinks she's finally put her failed marriage behind her, it comes back to bite her in the ass ... hard. Without warning, Charlotte finds herself staring down the barrel of a future she wouldn't (she would totally) wish on her worst enemy. Pretty Much Screwed is a story of love, loss, friendship, forgiveness, turtledoves, taxidermy, and one hilariously ill-placed tick." McCarthy has previously written two memoirs memoirs I've Still Got It ... I Just Can't Remember Where I Put It and If It Was Easy, They'd Call the Whole Damn Thing a Honeymoon as well as some children's stories. Pretty Much Screwed is out in July 2015.