About 1/18th of the way into Redesigning Rose, I realized it was probably the best direct competitor on the market for my own novel, Fifty Ways to Leave Your Husband. So, of course, I made it my goal to find all the ways it was inferior.
Unfortunately, author Lydia Laceby didn’t make that possible.
I loved this book.
Skilled writer that she is, Lydia proved that it is possible to take a familiar concept - lying husband, smart wife finding her inner strength - and tell a tale that is fresh, unique, and utterly enjoyable through and through. Rose Parker discovers that her bank accounts are dwindling thanks to her husband’s fondness for the attention of professional dominatrixes, and from there, the lies he’s told to conceal his nocturnal activities unravel rapidly. Happily, Rose has Becky, an acquaintance who rapidly becomes her BFF - as well as her mother and her gardening - to help her through this upending of her world. And then (of course) there are the two hunky guys who enter the picture. Yeah. Cue the lip-licking.
To her credit, Lydia doesn’t use these hunky potential heroes to ease her heroine out of a very difficult situation. They’re the icing, not the cake. Rose remains determined to sort out her failed marriage and her new life on her own, something I (purveyor of stealth feminism, as I call it) absolutely love. Rose accepts responsibility for her own flaws and failings, and she sets out to become a better person. She allows her strife to deepen her relationships with those around her, perhaps most especially with her mother. She is the kind of woman I would like to have as a friend.
I love that this is Lydia Laceby’s debut novel. That she can work this magic in her first book leads me to believe she will do great things in her subsequent works.
Fans of chick lit, take note. There is a new, delightful voice rising to the top of the genre.
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