4.5 stars. The Good Woman by Jane Porter is a captivating novel about the complexities of sibling and marital relationships. To read my review in its entirety, please click HERE. ( )

This was a book that sat on my bed stand forever and I kept passing it by. Finally I had The Good Sister with it and picked it up! It was very good, and went through a real drama and some typical family life. I hope the second is as good as the first! ( )

Meg Brennan is the oldest of the Brennan sisters and as the firstborn from an Irish Catholic family (and multi-generational firefighting family), Meg holds herself and others to high standards. Married to an architect with several tween/teen kids and working full-time for a small winery keeps Meg overly busy with kid activities and managing the family. Though she is overly stressed and feels distant from her underinvolved husband, Meg keeps her feelings of dissatisfaction to herself. While on an international busy trip, Meg begins a passionate affair with one of the winery's owners, which challenges her view of what she needs in her life. Unfortunately for good girl Meg (or as she is frequently called by her scoffing sisters, "Sister Mary Margaret"), her secret life leads to the expected outcomes and Meg finds herself an emotional mess, trying to fix the damage she has caused while paying cursory attention to what would be ultimately best for her.

I was ambivalent about this novel, though I have loved all of Jane Porter's books to date. I think my issue with this novel is that Meg's character seemed to be inconsistent. In the first part of the novel, she is strong, confident and able to manage her life and those of others without hesitation. Throw a hot male and a little attention into the mix, however, and she completely loses her sense of self and her confidence, like Bella from Twilight or some dramatic teen girl. I didn't like this weak Meg at all. She questions herself constantly and completely falls apart for many chapters. Even when she decides how she is going to resolve her problem, she is kind of pathetic, begging forgiveness, losing all of her self-worth and dignity along the way. This didn't seem to gel with the person she was before. So although I will probably read the other novels in this series, I was not completely in love with this Brennan sister's debut. However, I seem to be in the minority here so take my opinion for what it's worth. ( )

This story attracted me most because it is about a woman in her early 40's who acts like her life is in control when, in reality, most of the time it isn't. She is also one of 4 sisters, and as one of 3 sisters, I am usually drawn to sister stories. This story is set in Napa Valley and so I found myself craving wine while reading this book as the descriptions of the settings and wines in this novel were reminding me of my trip to California with my girlfriends and the delicious wines we found there.

I related to Meg right away as she was the one daughter who took care of everyone and was the rule follower. She worked hard, achieved success and made everyone proud. She handled all the day-to-day managing in her family and made her children her priority. Meg feels like her husband doesn't understand the pressure she is under and is too focused on his career rather than his family and his marriage. Suddenly, life overwhelms her and she makes a choice that will alter her and her family's life forever. I think any woman reading this story will be able to identify with Meg or her sisters at some point in their life and Porter's portrayal of them and their emotions were spot-on. Porter has a witty and fresh way of delivering her characters and making you relate and care about each one of them

This story reads quickly and flows easily with its first person storytelling. You are able to get into Meg's head and understand her reasoning and her emotions and feel them along with her. You join her in her struggles and pain and wish that she hadn't taken the wrong path. The ripple effects of Meg's mistakes were huge and I liked how the author took liberty in not having everyone be happy or okay with Meg's choices.

One part of the novel that I had a hard time with was Meg's relationship with her mother. After finding out that her mother's cancer is back and it is terminal, I expected Meg, as the devoted daughter, to be more present with her mom. Her mom wasn't mentioned much more in the novel and Meg seemed to focus instead on her life rather than wanting to be with her mom. I don't think that matched well with Meg's character and was disappointed when this part of the story wasn't really finished when the novel ended. I was also curious about Meg's relationship with her sister, Sarah at the end of the novel. Did Sarah ever forgive Meg?

I do realize this is the first book in the Brennan Sisters series, with THE GOOD DAUGHTER, about Kit, and THE GOOD WIFE, about Sarah, coming up next. But, I feel like these were important characters in this story to have some closure with. I do hope it will be addressed in the coming novels.

Overall, I enjoyed this book, the characters, and the setting. I look forward to learning more about Kit in the next novel, THE GOOD DAUGHTER and following along in her and her sisters' lives.

THE GOOD WOMAN would make an excellent book club choice, even one with both male and female members. With topics such as marriage, infidelity, parenting, family dynamics, forgiveness, and trust, you are sure to have an excellent discussion.

I'm sad to admit, this is my first Jane Porter novel. As the author of numerous Classic Romance and Modern Lit books, I guess I am a little late to the party. I look forward to reading the rest of the Brennan Sisters stories and looking into Porter's other novels. ( )

The Good Woman by Jane Porter
This book is mostly about Meg. She's married to Jack and they have 3 kids. She works at the vineyard and devotes a lot of her time to family things: kids after school events and parties.
After traveling to the summer house where she meets her mother and other sisters and spends time listening to their problems with their relationships she starts to question her own. Then she travels overseas to the London exhibit for the wine they produce and she is dreaming of another man, not her husband.
Things heat up a bit but she knows she has the best of all worlds with her family and husband. Health issues arise with others and other break up with their significant others and others are having babies-all a natural part of life these days.
Love the interactions she has with her sisters because I know they each will get their own book and it's going to be nice that I already know a bit about the characters.
Hot steamy sex really spice up this book.
Love anything to do with trees and the vineyard business. Love the detailed travel and the summer house. Love Jack's job and how it's described in the book-what a trade!
Just sitting back really taking my time to finish this and thinking of the decisions and the obvious choices she has and the ramifications each holds...
Comes with an excerpt from the next book in the series and that's another emotional one for me to read, can't wait. ( )