I just loved this book!

Not sure why it resonated so much, but I just adored it. It tells the story of Alice Hirsh, whose husband leaves her for a famous movie actress. Alice is alone, raising their 5 year old daughter Gaby, amongst the L.A. Valley. Along the way, she meets other mom's in the area, takes care of her mom who is sick from Alzheimer's, and is just trying not to fall apart.

I could easily see this novel transferred into a movie. ( )

A thoughtful book regarding mother and daughter relationships.

http://girlsjustreading.blogspot.com/2010/08/julies-review-pieces-of-happily-eve... ( )

This book was okay. I actually read it awhile ago and thought I had reviewed it, but see that there is nothing up here! Sorry Library Thing. I didn't feel that I could really connect with the characters, but the story line was good. This is probably awful to say, but I didn't not like the character of the young daughter. This would be a good beach book. ( )

The characters of a book need to touch you on a deeply emotional level. You will either love them or hate them and hopefully begin to understand them by the end of the book. Alice is jilted by her philandering, social-climbing, money-hungry husband and is left to pick up the pieces. Sadly, her initial attempts fell shallow with me. She seemed weak and self-absorbed while placing a huge negative foot print on her daughter.

The people she meets on her journey along with helping her mother through the final stages of her life help to give depth and interest to the story, and at times comic relief. Her mother's new propensity for cursing like a sailor was unexpected and funny. The other additional characters were interesting but not terribly original. Alice does redeem herself in the end although I spent much of the book wishing she would get her big girl pant on. A day at the beach book, maybe, but not a book that exemplifies depth of character or feeds the soul. ( )

Pieces of Happily Ever After, Irene Zutell’s latest novel, isn’t a fairy tale. It’s about real life, where you can be banished to the far-off land of Suburbia to occasionally play the role of wicked (step)mother to your own daughter, while the evil (and beautiful) Queen of Hollywood steals your husband instead of simply sending you a poisoned apple.

Alice Hirsh is the newest star of this anti–fairy tale. Alice’s husband, Alex, shatters their simple but lovely life together when he’s swept off his feet by Hollywood’s latest “It” girl. Once Alice realizes that it is now just her and Gabby, her daughter who is obsessed with all things princesses and happy endings, she finds herself in relationships she never would have dreamed of before her husband left her in Suburbia for another woman.

Zutell creates a compelling supporting cast of characters who feel like they could be found in any woman’s circle of acquaintances, friends, and relatives. An uptight neighborhood chairwoman obsesses over the neighborhood’s annual Christmas lighting display. A former adult film star tries to literally erase her past. The domineering head of an adult care home evicts Alice’s mother, who recently started cursing like a sailor. Round it out with an ogre of a paparazzo, a charming ex-boyfriend who reconnects with Alice via email, and a group of mothers who look like they have it all together on the surface and Pieces of Happily Ever After easily balances out Alice’s heavy loss with these eccentric characters who help Alice take care of herself as she struggles to take care of everyone else.

Pieces of Happily Ever After is about more than just the husband/wife relationship. It’s a charming read about the relationships women form—as mothers, daughters, friends, spouses—that help get them through both good times and bad. More importantly, it’s about the relationship women have with themselves. It’s about what they expect for and from themselves in relationships, what they’ll put up with and what’s worth leaving behind. Because when you finally determine what you are worth to yourself, you can appreciate the random moments in life—being your daughter’s knight in shining armor, spending one final moment with a loved one, learning to take a chance on yourself—that are the true pieces of happily ever after. ( )