Review - The Life You've Imagined

The Life You've Imagined by Kristina Riggle

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the first book that I have read by this author.  It is a story of four women who are each at a cross roads in their life. 

It took about 30 pages for me to get into this book.  Once I did, I enjoyed it very much and couldn't put it down.

Have you ever looked at your life and thought about whether it was what you had always dreamed of or not?  This story does that with the four main characters, Anna, Cami, Maeve and Amy, who are all living in Haven, Michigan, their hometown.

Anna and Cami were best friends when they were growing up.  Both left their hometown as soon as they could and now both are back.  They both have issues they need to work through as they decide where they want to go from here.

Anna is about to be up for partnership in her law firm, but she has just lost her mentor.  She is having a hard time dealing with this loss although she insists that she is fine.  Her boss insists that she take bereavement leave so that she get work this out before she ruins her chances at partnership.  When she comes home, she finds that her father, who walked out on her and her mother twenty years ago, is writing to her mother.  This hurts because she loved her father and then he left without a word.  She also finds out that her ex-boyfriend's family business is evicting her mother from the only home and source of income that she has.

Cami has returned to her childhood home with her abusive father since she was kicked out by her boyfriend.  She "borrowed" money from him to try to win back money that she had lost gambling.  Cami needs to figure out how to get her life back on track and pay her, now ex, boyfriend back.

Amy, a friend of Anna and Cami's, lost a lot of weight after she graduated from high school and now is marrying the guy of her dreams, but is this really what she wants?  She and Paul seem to be drifting apart as their wedding day approaches.  Also, she isn't certain that she approves of the way that he is handling the closing of Nee Nance Store.

Maeve is Anna's mother and the owner of the Nee Nance Store, the convenience store that she and her husband, Robert, opened soon after Anna was born.  Since her husband left them, she raised Anna by herself and is starting to take care of Robert's sister, Sally, who is starting to suffer from dementia.  Before Anna returned to town, Maeve received the news that she was being evicted from the building where she has her store and her apartment.  She is taking a long look at where she is and what she is going to do with her life.

Each story and how they all weave together is very well written.  Ms. Riggle did a great job of narrating their stories and bringing these women back together after so long apart.  I really liked how these four women examined their lived and decided where they wanted to go from here.

I haven't read her first book, Real Life and Liars, but will be looking for it in my local library.

I obtained this book from the publisher, Avon (A), an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.