Eloise's life as a Personal Chef is as close to perfect as it can be. She has two clients, the wealthy family that welcomes her as a member of their family. And there is the single retiree who loves to throw the kind of parties that people talk about for years. At the funeral of a beloved teacher from high school Eloise reconnects with her two best friends. As they are closing in on forty the three of them set goals for each other, things they want to accomplish before they hit forty. For Teresa, it is things like expanding her family's culinary horizons and become more involved in the family's finances. For Lynne, it is to see a matchmaker and get a dog. For Eloise, it is to start dating again. Eloise goes on a few dates before she meets Shawn at a Halloween party. Shawn is a doctor who makes her laugh and treats her like a queen. He is everything that Eloise could ever hope to find in a mate. Then one night Shawn and Eloise are out for dinner when they run into someone that could shake their relationship to their core. Will the fledgling relationship survive this trial or will Eloise find herself single again?
What I loved about How to Change A Life was that Stacey Ballis took a bit of a risk - and it paid off. You see, Shawn is African American and Eloise is a white Jewish girl. I have read a lot of Chick Lit in my days (a lot!!) and I don't remember ever having the main characters be interracial. Ever. The author navigates some of the situations (like meeting each other's families) with such casual grace that I wanted to applaud. I was so happy for Eloise because her happiness was palpable. Not that she was unhappy when the book started, but you could see the shift in her behaviors. Her friendship with Lynne and Teresa was complicated. And that made How to Change A Life even more authentic. Friendships, especially friendships that span decades are not perfect. There are ups and downs just like any other relationships. Except you don't ever read about those struggles in most Chick Lit novels. In the end, How to Change A Life got your typical Chick Lit kind of ending, but I was okay with the way it ended. In fact, the end made me happy.
Bottom line - We live in a world where interracial relationships are more common than ever, but it rarely crosses over into the books that I tend to read. I was pleasantly surprised to see a familiar author write about Shawn and Eloise with such ease and comfort. Other than the diversity, How to Change A Life is just like books we have all read before - and that is okay because sometimes we need that familiarity.
DETAILS:
- How to Change A Life by Stacey Ballis
- On Facebook
- Pages: 400
- Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
- Publication Date: 8/15/2017
- Buy it Here!
Post a Comment