Hatchards

(Hardback)

by Regina Mastrogiacomo

At the beginning of the story, I found Polly a little judgmental about what was actually happening around her, but when unexpected events makes her face the human condition, she becomes more open-minded about flaws in herself and others. I found as she moves through the story she has a definite idea about who everyone is and how they see themselves, and she has no idea how wrong she is about them. One character that Polly thinks she knows and understands is her mother. Polly see her as very strict and regimented and not really caring about her husband who has Alzheimer's, but as Polly gets to know her mother in the book, she finds her mother definitely cares for her husband and only wants the best for him. Then there Sarah, who's one of the Polly's closest friends, and is dying of cancer, but instead of moaning about it she does everything she can to make Polly's life and everyone else she knows better off and doesn't tell a soul, and Polly has no idea that Sarah has given her so much. And finally, there is Polly's husband Mark, who loves Polly very much and has stood by her side through all of the trials she has been going through, like IVF, Losing her best friend, and finding out she has more family than she knew, and she finally realizes how much he loves her, and how wonderful he is. I want to thank Random House and NetGalley for an advanced copy of a story about seeing and appreciating the people around you.

This reviewer received a free of charge product for review.

(Hardback)

by Robin

This is my second Quindlen book, and I'm happy to discover after this outing that she's definitely one to add to my "watch for" author list. This book centers around Polly, a 43-year-old woman and her life's tribulations. Her fertility issues, her mom issues, her dad's dementia issues, her students' issues, her friend issues...to be honest that would probably be the only caveat that I have about this book...it tries to tackle too many issues and sometimes becomes a bit distracting/tedious for it. As I've found in one of this author's previous books, her writing is beautiful, her insights meaningful and her characters both sympathetic and flawed. Her plots are real-life messy with her protagonists' growth obvious and cheering. This particular story has lots of interesting side characters that add different perspectives/nuances to Polly's life as she struggles through some pretty challenging events in her life. I enjoyed this book as it brought all of the emotions...sympathy, tears (for both ends of the spectrum), joy, anger, laughter. And while in some instances the outcomes were predictable, the getting there was both insightful and a pleasure to behold. And just as a personal aside, the title of the book fits the story perfectly in more ways than one. I love when that happens. My sincere thanks to the author, NetGalley and Random House for providing the free early arc of More Than Enough for review. The opinions are strictly my own.

(Hardback)

by Judy Odom

More than Enough is a heartwarming and captivating read that will have you feeling all the emotions that come with that. We meet Polly who other than not being able to have children has a good life. She loves her husband, her friends and her Book Club, not to mention her large family. When her Book Club gives Polly a DNA kit from an ancestral company the results are both surprising and shocking. Polly dives into her family history and the story that follow is engaging with well written wonderful characters that you will hate the book to end. Its a short book and you wont want to put it down. I predict that many a Book Club will have this on their reading list in 2026.