After reading, and enjoying all of Emily Giffin’s books: Something Borrowed, Something Blue, Baby Proof and Love the One Your With, I was dying to read her new book, Heart of the Matter. However, to say the least, I was extremely disappointed. It was not engaging at all, and the story line was so predictable, yet I read all 380 pages to know what happened in the end (and it was exactly as I predicted). I could have flipped from chapter 3 to the last 2 pages of the book, and I wouldn’t have missed anything. Some of the other people who read this book claimed it was amazing, and that it was better than her other books, but unlike her other books, this one wasn’t engaging.
The characters all seemed like they came from Fifth Avenue, and just reminded me of the upper-class ladies from the Nanny Diaries. I couldn’t create a person in my head that had personality, the characters were very under-developed, except for Valerie’s boy, of whom you began to empathize with. I think she should have spent some more time creating depth with the characters rather than just dropping random characters from the sky.
Also, the novel moved so slowwwww, and the plot took an extremely long time to develop, and once it developed, you were left there thinking, is that all.
Do I recommend it? Not at all.
Here’s the back of the book, which gives a short summary of the book if you care to read it:
“ Tessa Russo is the mother of two young children and the wife of a renowned pediatric surgeon. Despite her mother’s warnings, Tessa has recently given up her career to focus on her family and the pursuit of domestic happiness. From the outside, she seems destined to live a charmed life.
Valerie Anderson is an attorney and single mother to six-year-old Charlie—a boy who has never known his father. After too many disappointments, she has given up on romance—and even, to some degree, friendships—believing that it is always safer not to expect too much.
Although both women live in the same Boston suburb, the two have relatively little in common aside from a fierce love for their children. But one night, a tragic accident causes their lives to converge in ways no one could have imagined.”
Tags: Cafe, Heart of the Matter
