Enjoyable story about three married fortysomething women who get together on Friday mornings to discuss what's going on in their lives. One morning their discussion leaves them wondering whether or not they married the right man, or if there is someone else who got away that they were meant to be with. I enjoyed following Tamara, Bridget, and Jennifer on each of their journeys to discovering what it is that they really want in their lives and if the choices they made along the way were the right ones.

I loved the inclusion of many songs from the '70s throughout the story, since I absolutely love the music from that decade. ( )

I needed a light read for the summer so I suggested this book as a possible title for book group. It had been sitting on my bookshelf unread for so long that it was about time. I received this book a couple years ago through the Early Readers program at Library Thing. Was really excited to get it back then, having just read Brant's debut novel, According to Jane and really enjoying it. I blame the new babe for making me so late in reading and reviewing it. :)

Anyway, I was glad my book group decided to go with this book despite their inability to find it at the library. Anyone know how to go about requesting copies not in a library's collection?

This may be the fastest I have finished a book for book group so far. I was really intrigued by these three ladies contemplating cheating on their husbands. Each one had a different reason, different problems at home that contributed to their thoughts of infidelity. I found it interesting how the choices they made early on in their relationships affected their behaviors twenty years later. I couldn't help trying to figure out who of the three or if any would go through with it while reading.

The ladies and their familial dilemmas were very interesting and entertaining but their friendship left something to be desired. Their relationships with each other lacked intimacy, candor and believable friendship. They felt more like acquaintances, which made it hard for me to understand why the three of them, with very little in common besides troubled marriages, would get together every week for coffee. It seemed more a chore and something they dreaded rather than something they looked forward to.

Thankfully, this issue seemed to resolve itself before the end of the book. As their problems at home were rectified, so to was their friendship. They seemed to become closer once they were able to open up and share and get each others support.

Good book. Would recommend to any other book group looking for a light read but with some good topics to discuss with friends and good wine. ( )

Jennifer is married to Michael, mother to twin girls, and works as freelance web designer.

Bridget is married to Graham, mother of three and had just recently started work again.

Tamara, married to Jon, has one son and is stay-at-home mom.

These three middle-aged women meet each Friday at the Indigo Moon Cafe, to share their lives with each other.

Tamara’s husband is a lawyer who’s never home. Keeping company with her neighbor, a very handsome writer seems a thing to do. As their only son is off to college, she’s left all alone. Lonely and bored she makes her home and especially her garden a sanctuary of sorts.

When Jennifer receives an unexpected message from her ex-boyfriend arrives, she has a choice to make. See him with telling her hubby, or not see him and not tell her hubby?!

Bridget gets a job at Dr. Luke’s dental office, and both are happy to discover that they share their love for cooking…

The suspense of this tale is in trying to figure out which one of these women will succumb to infidelity. To be honest, I didn’t see it coming, and hope you won’t either.

Marilyn Brant went out on a limb with this story, calling it romance, and while some will no doubt not see it as such, once you get into the story, vest yourself in these complicated, sometimes frivolous yet very human characters, you’ll see the romance of it. What drew me to this story at first was the subject matter, but what grabbed me and held me captive was the humanity of the story.

You’ll appreciate this author’s serious thought and consideration to this topic which I’m sure wasn’t an easy thing to do when writing romance. She went all out in making sure we, the readers, would have the full story and in the end we were left to accept the decisions of these women without any prejudices and judgments. Now, that I call some crafty writing!

This was one book I wasn’t looking forward to reading and after I was done with it, I had a hard time penning a review of it. This story needed digesting and coming to terms with. Stories of these three women were just hitting too close to home. I identified with all three of them. I saw bits and pieces of myself in them, and like them, had at one time or another come with that same dilemma, so in the end I did…well, this is not about me, is it?

If you like well written contemporary stories, with lots of humor and plenty of reality, this one’s for you. I’d say if it comes to ‘Fifty Shades of Gray’ and this one, skip the ‘Shades’. You’ll be glad you did!

Melanie for b2b ( )

I have mixed feelings about this book. There is one part of me that really, really loved it. I was instantly drawn in by the rhetoric and writing style, so much so that I began reading it during finals week! (That's a big no-no for a lit major who is already swamped with required reading.) I also enjoyed the honesty and candor that Brant's characters displayed throughout the book. I could understand and connect with what they were thinking and feeling even though their lives are nothing like mine.

That said, there was an angle to it that I didn't enjoy, and that was mostly the way that the story reached a happy ending. Without being too spoilery, the book ends happily, but I did not always enjoy the twists and turns that Brant took in order to get to that ending. These elements make it very difficult for me to recommend the book to people I know personally. However, it is an excellent book overall and well worth spending some time reading it. ( )

An old boyfriend from Jennifer's college days reconnects with her by email. It's been over 18 years since she last saw or spoke to him and now she is a happily married mom. Or is she?

Every Friday morning at nine Jennifer meets at a local cafe with two of her friends to talk about their lives and share the latest gossip. This time Jennifer tells them about the emails and wonders aloud if maybe she married the wrong man. A 'what-if' discussion follows and the girls agree they would think about who they would have an affair with if they would ever consider having an affair. Not that they ever would or so they tell themselves.

The book is written in alternating chapters from the point of view of each of the three women. We get to know each of them and their stories. They are three very different types of women and at times I wondered what made them come together as friends.

This is not my usual type of fiction but I found it enjoyable, entertaining and a quick read. I read this as part of LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program. When I choose this book I thought it would have a little more depth and also I thought I would enjoy the setting in Chicago, my home town. ( )