Customer Reviews

The Woman Most Likely To...

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Susan Sinclair became pregnant at 16. Her boyfriend, Jon Laker, wanted to marry her, but she refused. She had the baby, went to college, and got a great job with a very nice salary. All the while, Jon remained a part of their daughter's life.

Now, at 38, Susan's taken a month off work to spend time at the family home with her recently widowed mother, Lydia, and her daughter, Becca. Lydia, after a long marriage to a harsh man she never loved, is learning what it's like to enjoy some freedom. Becca, who has recently learned that she's pregnant, is trying to escape a bad relationship with a loser boyfriend. Susan and Jon join forces to help their daughter through this difficult time in her life and in the process rediscover their passion for each other.

The author is a good writer and I enjoyed the sub-plots with Lydia and Becca. However, even though I normally love `second chance' stories, I had some major complaints about the book. (1) From the first page to the last page the pace is incredibly slow. Because it was so slow, I often found my mind wandering and had to force myself to focus on the book. (2) I never really figured out exactly what was keeping Susan and Jon apart. I understood her reasons for not marrying him at 16, but they're in their late 30's now and nothing is standing in their way. The reader, or this reader at least, never believes the reasons given--which basically boils down to `he never loved her for who she was'--because Jon never did or said anything to indicate that it might be true. Because of this, I found all her internal anguish silly. In my opinion, her thoughts often seemed like those of a teen-ager rather than a grown woman. (which surprised me a great deal because she was such a strong character in every other aspect) As a result, I didn't truly care if she ended up with a `happily ever after' or not. I did, on the other hand, want Jon to find his `happily ever after' but frankly by the end of the book I was kind of hoping that he'd find it without Susan.

The Woman Most Likely To... is pure delight--and pure Jennifer Greene. It was everything I've come to expect from this author--and more. It's a story of love and healing, a story of second chances (and maybe third and fourth and fifth chances) and of finally getting it right. It shows three generations of women, all on the edge of change, and how they see the possibilities for the future based on learning from the mistakes of their combined pasts.

I loved all these women, I ached with them and rejoiced with them. I loved seeing a grandmother who broke out of her structured, rigid life to find the free spirit inside of her. I loved Susan, the book's heroine, working so hard to do the right thing for both her mother and daughter. And I loved Jon, Susan's hero even if she couldn't quite trust all the evidence. He was everything I've come to expect from a Jennifer Greene hero--strong and vulnerable at the same time. It warmed me to see these two come together for the sake of their daughter...and for themselves.

Don't hesitate on this book. It'll make you laugh and cry and just plain feel good. It's a keeper!

Workaholic Susan Sinclair is summoned to her hometown when her daughter calls in a panic because Grandma has gone through a metamorphis. She dreads going up there as she knows that the father of her child, Jon Laker, is a man she still cannot resist. A teenage love affair that resulted in pregnancy, his family did everything to ruin the relationship. Now 22 years later, they both still carry a torch for each other, though neither is willing to admit it. Daughter Becca has come home to deal with an unplanned pregnancy, following in Mom and Grandma's footsteps. When the three generations of Sinclair women start sharing close quarters, they realize that though they have all chosen separate paths, they still have a whole lot in common.

I wanted to love this book - I loved the premise of the parents never having a chance when they are young getting the chance to have a do over. Instead, I merely liked it and found the writing to be pretty average, primarily due to the atrocious dialogue. Susan is 38 and she talks like an 80 year old - with all the "tarnations," "Hell's bells," "Sam's hills," and "damnations," I was sort of taken aback when author Greene used more graphic language to describe the love scenes. I was not impressed with this one - liked her novel "Where is He Now" much more.

Becca Sinclair visits her grandmother in Copper Creek, Michigan for some solace and advice as she is pregnant and wary of repeating the mistake her mother made when she gave birth to her. Becca knows how hard Susan worked to raise her alone at the sacrifice of any happiness. However, Becca finds her staid widowed grandma Lydia acting like a teenage woman in love for the first time.

Becca asks her mom to return home to insure grandma is okay. Susan comes back to Copper Creek, the town she fled over two decades ago, only to see the one male she has always loved Jon Laker. Becca and Lydia believe that Jon and Susan still love one another and want the best for the sandwiched generation so they begin to intercede to propel this couple back together regardless of the consequences.

This is an insightful relationship drama that will provide gratification to fans that relish a complete family drama inside a strong romance. The story line enables the reader to see deeply inside the heads of the lead characters, especially Susan because her two female relatives add an extra beacon on her soul. Jennifer Greene displays her skills as an author most likely to receive audience appreciation for this warm second chance at love novel.

Harriet Klausner

This is only my second book by Jennifer Greene and it left me wanting to read more.
This is a deep tale about 3 generations of strong women making the same mistakes in life and love.
First you have Lydia, the Grandmother. In her role as a widow she is finally exploring the real her and stepping outside the tidy box her married life held her in.
Then you have Susan the mother. She is struggling with an issue at work and trying to help her daughter deal with an unplanned pregnancy and distructive relationship. You also have her facing her relationship with Jon, Beccas Dad.
Then you have Becca, the daughter. Trying to find her way and do the right thing with her unborn baby.
These three women move in together and you really enjoy their family and their relationships. I like the way they struggle to solve their problems. I found this book intriguing, so much so that I wrote the author asking when she was going to do a follow up story about Becca. I think you will like it.

While the story of these three generations of women, who are trying to learn and heal from their past mistakes, is very touching, Greene's delivery of it is awkward and filled with too much of what seems to be psychoanalysis. The conversations these women have with each other-about repeating past mistakes and verbally analyzing the root of their fears and insecurities-are too deliberate. Conversations sound more like therapy sessions than actual conversations between mother and daughter. It adds a dry, heavy tone to the book that doesn't go well with some of the characters' quirky antics. And I have never really understood why Susan was so hesitant about getting together with Jon and Lydia's rebellion against her previous life is a little fragmented, jumbled, and undeveloped.

I finished this book and "Where Is He Now?" book. This one very honest look at three generations of women. I liked the twists and turns. The grandmother character was real and very funny. Take a chance...

There comes a time in each person's life, when they have to confront their past in order to move forward. Susan Sinclair has just reached that point. A successful career woman suddenly facing a job crisis, Susan gets a phone call from her adult daughter asking her to come home to Copper Creek. She arrives to find her daughter in a fragile state, her mother fresh from a life makeover and her first love, Jon Laker, back in her life.

It soon becomes apparent that not only do the Sinclair women share the same bone structure and hair color, they also end up with unplanned pregnancies. The Sinclair matriarch, Lydia, had entered and endured an unhappy marriage to have Susan. When Susan became pregnant with Becca at 16, however, she chose to remain single. The Sinclair women now gather together to support a pregnant Becca, who must make the most important decision of her life. And after twenty-two years, Susan must confront her long denied feelings for the father of her child.

Jon Laker knew a long time ago that there would only be one woman for him. Unfortunately, the stars never seemed to align long enough for the two of them to get together. With their daughter needing her parents' support, Jon is determined not to miss this chance to finally reunite his family.

Truly more than just a love story, THE WOMAN MOST LIKELY TO... is about three generations of women, each finding the strength to break free of their past. Jennifer Greene has the admirable skill of allowing us inside the heart and head of each of the many lead characters without giving us whiplash. In the process, readers will be enthralled by this poignant tale of love, healing and acceptance. Start this book for the story of family and stay with it for the romance.

TheSchemer

I stuck with this book hoping that it would get better, but overall it was particularly disappointing. I agree with one of the other reviewers that many of the scenes between the three generations of women in the book seem contrived; it is schlocky, Lifetime-movie dialogue. Further, several of the scenes just rehash the same dialogue without actually advancing the plot or developing the characters, so it starts to seem like there's just a lot of whining going on. I found myself skimming some of these sections. The pace of the book is unbelievably slow, and when something does happen, there is an extended period of talking about what happened while nothing else does.

Greene's clumsy use of language was another problem in this book. The overuse of cutesy, very unbelievable language, like "tarnation," "dadblamed," and "wazoo" was distracting, as was the recurring use of "bosomy" to describe things like trees or flowers ("huge old bosomy oaks," for example).

I noticed that on the copyright page, numerous excerpts from books by other authors are cited. I'm not sure what to make of this. Did Greene just cobble together this book from snippets of other ones? Unfortunately, this question was the most intriguing thing about the book.

Very touching story and moving about a love that never died. I only hope that Ms.Greene will write a story about Becca next.