Now Or Never [Mass Market Paperback]

Penny Jordan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 2003

Maggie, Nicki, Alice and Stella . . .

For four close friends, it's the bonds of friendship that have seen them through life's ups and downs. Nothing can shake their support of each other -- until one of them drops a bombshell that will change their relationships forever.

Maggie, a successful businesswoman is surprised when her decision to have a baby at age fifty-two threatens to divide the group. Family and financial problems plague Nicki, causing her to slip further into depression sparked by her troubled past. Alice begins to question whether marrying young was a mistake, and decides to change her life, as she fears her husband is having an affair. And practical Stella is shocked to find that she's allowed herself to be tempted by a man other than her husband.

Suddenly it's time to take stock. What has happened to their once-golden hopes and dreams? Are they destined to remain unfulfilled forever, or will the strength of their friendship help those dreams come true?

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Post-menopausal Maggie Rockford, deliriously happy at the thought of becoming a new mother via in vitro fertilization, receives little support from her three life-long pals, Nicki, Stella and Alice, in this soap operatic offering from Jordan (For Love or Money). Nicki, the most vehement objector, proclaims that the pregnancy is unnatural and accuses Maggie of using the baby as a means of holding onto her young lover, Oliver. Stella and Alice, meanwhile, have too much on their plate to pay Maggie much attention. Stella must deal with her son’s pregnant teenage girlfriend, Julie, who ends up on Stella’s doorstep after her parents toss her out, and Alice fears that her husband is having an affair and that her daughter is an alcoholic. The plot grows even murkier with the addition of poison pen letters, extramarital affairs and a heinous crime. Sorting through the huge population of characters may challenge readers’ patience and have them backpedaling to keep track of who’s who, but there’s enough drama here to keep Jordan’s many fans titillated.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Jordan's record is phenomenal." -- The Bookseller

"Women everywhere will find pieces of themselves in Jordan's characters." -- Publishers Weekly

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Mira (December 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1551666715
• ISBN-13: 978-1551666716
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,265,349 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars fine relationship drama, November 26, 2003

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Now Or Never (Mass Market Paperback)

In their early fifties, the four women have met for lunch once a month since they left their school days behind. Maggie stuns her friends when she announces that she is pregnant through artificial insemination from semen donated by her lover Oliver. Nicki is shockingly belligerent over the news. Perhaps that is caused by her terrible relationship with her adult stepdaughter Laura who just returned to the roost and her belief that her spouse Kit favors his daughter over their son Joey. Alice thinks her husband since high school Stuart is having an affair, but is happy yet worried about Maggie. Feeling left out, Stella takes in a pregnant teen, but cannot balance between her General Officer personality giving orders and just providing a helping hand, a trait that her husband Richard understands all too well.

With all four pals in mid life crisis, their relationships that have survived marriage and children seem in jeopardy. Especially adding tension is a letter campaign that calls Maggie a "baby thief" and threatens to hurt her and her unborn. Relationships are changing, but not necessarily for the good.

Though the angst is at the highest levels of the Richter scale, fans of relationship dramas will take pleasure from NOW OR NEVER. The story line is excellent when the four women go introspective and when they wear the shoes of others in their sphere. When the tale spins a bit of intrigue that centers on the threat to Maggie and her child, the increased suspense takes away from the prime theme of middle age friends struggling with what they want out of life.

Harriet Klausner