Allison Winn Scotch

I decided to read this because I'm embarking on my own trip down memory lane with friends as we turn 40 years old this year. Luckily, we are not as dysfunctional as the six-pointed star of friends in this book. I enjoyed getting to know each character as the author has them each take a part in narrating the story. The author did a good job of describing their relationships together and apart over the preceding 20 years. You end up getting to know B and missing her through her friends. Part of me wanted to know more about how the characters ended up, but part of me likes the open ending to make my own conclusions.… (more)

This is a book I got as part of the Jen Hatmaker Bookclub.

I thought this book was really fun. I appreciated how driven Cleo is, and yet how real she was. She's a Senator, but she makes mistakes, she spills food on her clothes, she loses track of what she's got going on... I found the idea of her making amends for some of her errors in life (some simple, some more complex) interesting. I don't know that I would have the courage or the drive or even the interest to do something like that, but she and I are not working towards the same goal. It was intriguing to read a bit about the life of a female politician--how she *always* has to be mindful of her actions and her reactions to things, so as not to be thought of as weak or shrill or unstable, etc.

Fun read.… (more)

I feel like I am drawn to the middle-aged women’s fictional books that touch on complex yet easy-to-poke fun at topics; Cleo McDougal did not disappoint.

Set in Washington D.C. and Seattle, Senator McDougal is a single mom raising an appropriately moody teenage boy. The senator, through no real desire of her own, finds herself traveling down a path to correct her list of regrets; one of which was her ex-best friend, another the man who is unknowingly her son’s father. Through the usual twists and turns that make a novel good, Cleo McDougal was a smooth read and quite enjoyable. Nothing was of real surprise, but the writing style made up for any potential shortcomings.



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