Brianna Wolfson

Brianna Wolfson's first novel, Rosie Colored Glasses, is about a mother-daughter relationship. Her second novel, That Summer In Maine, tells the stories of two mothers and daughters and the one thing that binds them together.

Hazel is 16 years old, and her mom Jane raised Hazel all on her own. Hazel never knew her father and she and her mom were inseperable, sharing everything, including bowls of ice cream in bed at night.

Now Jane is married, and with her husband Cam has twin baby boys who take up all her time and energy. The relationship Hazel and Jane had has changed, and Hazel feels left out, never more so than when she sees her mother sharing ice cream in bed with Cam instead of her.

Hazel receives a message from a 16 year-old girl named Eve who looks like her and tells her that she thinks they are sisters. Eve tells Hazel that she is going to visit their biological father in Maine and asks Hazel to come with her.

Jane is shocked. She had no idea that Hazel's father Silas had another child, let alone one who was born so close to Hazel. Jane, Cam and Hazel meet with Eve's parents, and after Hazel insists she is going whether Jane approves or not, Jane relents and allows Hazel to go to Maine.

Eve's mother Susie gives Jane a notebook that she wrote to Eve, explaining everything that happened during that summer in Maine when she met Silas and returned home pregnant with Eve. As Jane reads the notebook, she decides to write her own story of how she met Silas that same summer in Maine, became pregnant, and left to have Hazel on her own.

We get to read both woman's notebooks, and follow Eve and Hazel's summer trip to Maine to stay with Silas, their artist father who lives in a cabin on a beautiful lake. Eve has already spent part of last summer with Silas, so she has established a relationship with him. Hazel has some catching up to do, but she enjoys having a sister and a father, something new to her.

Wolfson writes the mother-daughter relationship so well, and she captures the teenage voices of Eve and Hazel so beautifully and realistically. Eve has underlying anger issues, and she vacillates between wanting to be a fun party girl and being angry at her parents and the world. Hazel wants to fill the void left by her changing relationship with her mom, but is uncertain if Silas and Eve can do that.

I liked that the character of Silas is so layered. He's not just some guy who left two women pregnant, he has something in his past that he cannot seem to get over, a deep hurt. I didn't like that he gave teenage girls beer, though. Bad judgement there, Silas.

That Summer in Maine is a novel that will appeal to adult women and teenage young women. I think many young women can relate to the feelings that Eve and Hazel have, as older women will to Jane and Susie's stories.

Thanks to Harlequin for putting me on their Summer Reads 2020 Tour.… (más)

3.5 stars

Rosie Colored Glasses by Brianna Wolfson is a poignant novel about a family's disintegration that results from wife and mother Rosie Thorpe's undiagnosed (and self-medicated) bipolar disorder.

Twelve years ago, straight as an arrow and self-disciplined Rex Thorpe meets free-spirited and impulsive Rosie Collins. Despite the VAST differences in their personalities, Rex is swept away by the quixotic, fun-loving young woman and they embark on an unexpected romance. They move in together in the quirky apartment that Rex selects not because it fits his personality, but because it so perfectly embodies Rosie. Following their marriage and birth of oldest daughter Willow, Rex moves the family from the eclectic apartment to a house that is in Rosie's opinion, bland and sterile. Despite her disappointment in their new abode, Rosie is a happy wife and mom but with the birth of youngest son, Asher, she sinks into a deep depression. This is beginning of an endless cycle of the highest of highs to the lowest of lows but it is Rosie's attempts to self-medicate that lead Rex to end their marriage.

Now the dust has settled, it is poor Willow who is feeling the worst effects of her parents' divorce. She and Asher are shuttled back and forth between their mother and father's homes. Even worse, she desperately misses her warm and loving mother's attention since her father is much more regimented and parents his kids with rules and schedules instead of compassion or affection. Willow is struggling to make sense of her new life amid teasing and bullying by her classmates. She is also dismayed by the slow downward spiral of her fun-loving mom as Rosie falls once again in depression and turns to very unhealthy means to try to cope.

The chapters alternate between Rex, Rosie and Willow's points of view and weave back and forth in time. Willow's chapters are the most poignant while Rex and Rosie's detail the course of their relationship from dating through their divorce. Willow is an incredibly sympathetic child whose parents do not seem to recognize that she is more than unhappy over their divorce; she is in desperate need of counseling to help her navigate her new "normal". It is also quite troubling that no one at school attempts to try to intervene or address Willow's schoolmates' shabby treatment of the poor young girl. Equally shocking is the fact that Rex does not seem to be aware that the very things that make Rosie so unique are symptoms of undiagnosed mental problem that is crying out to be addressed. And how on earth could Rex allow his kids to spend time with Rosie without any supervision since he DIVORCED her because of her behavior in the first place???

Rosie Colored Glasses is an interesting novel but it is not a light or happy read. Willow is a very relatable character and it is quite easy to understand why Rosie is the parent she gravitates toward since she is not close to Rex. Brianna Wolfson's debut is based on her own personal experience which makes it all the more poignant to read. The novel ends on an uplifting note but the rest of the story is far from happy.… (más)