What Rose Forgot sounded like an interesting mystery, and it does start off that way. However, it soon turns into something unbelievable bordering on ridiculous. I realize this is fiction, and a certain amount of leeway can be given, but this one is almost fantasy, especially since nothing short of magic could make a woman in Rose's condition bounce back so quickly. And I don't just say that because of her age. I would find it hard to believe of a twenty-year-old, let alone someone in their sixties. It's a shame because Rose was such a feisty character, and I did have a few laughs along the way. But once things started happening, most of it was just eye-rollingly off the wall. I like quirky characters, and they tend to be some of my favorites, but this one takes quirky to a whole new level. The mystery had potential, but by the time I got through Rose's many adventures, I was just over it and really didn't care one way or the other about the whodunit. 

A fun romp involving a miss used elderly artist and her side kicks. Sweet, laugh out loud antics are balanced by drug abuse, lies and deceit. The sad reality is, this scenario could happen, without the happy outcome. An excellent story, add this to your TBR list. 

 

I Picked Up This Book Because: The author
The Characters:

Georgia Young:
Wanda, Violet, Estelle, Frankie, Stan

The Story:

This wasn’t a terrible book but the focus and insistence that Georgia's friends and family put on her being single and that she HAD TO find a man to make her life happy and complete annoyed me to no end. Don’t get me wrong, if you desire to share your life with someone that’s wonderful but this book makes it seems like your just nothing unless you are coupled up or at least screwing someone be he married/engaged/single. Yeah ,no not okay.

I liked Georgia. I liked her spirit and the fact that she was willing to make changes in her life when she found she was dissatisfied with the way it was going. She is a loyal and forgiving friend and a tireless and loving mother. She tried new things and yes not all of them worked out but she was willing to try when most people are not. I’m glad she found her happily ever after.

To be honest, this book went on too long and annoyed me to the point of almost DNFing. The writing is not bad and it’s really highly rated but just not for me.

The Random Thoughts:



The Score Card:



2 Stars

I appreciate a romance that is acerbically funny rather than cloying and this one gets bonus points for a main character and her romantic interests who are middle aged and dealing with all the life issues that go with it. The characters, their relationships, and the events felt real and not too improbable and the dialogue was snappy. I enjoyed it so much that it mostly overcame the usual fatal flaw of having been written in first person, present tense. Normally, I’ll DNF those immediately, but I was actually able to forget the style and fall into the story for the most part.

Audiobook, borrowed from my public library. Audiobooks read by the author tend to be pretty hit/miss, but MacMillan did a terrific reading, especially with the dialogue.