Review: Wellesley Wives

June is a big travel month here in the US and I thought it might be fun to feature books that will take you to new destinations even if you aren't leaving home this summer.

First up is a trip to Ireland with Wellesley Wives by Suzy Duffy. You may remember Suzy's visit to Girl Who Reads back in October. You will find a few similarities between Suzy and the main character Popsy.

Wellesley Wives reminded me a lot of when I read Monarch Beach by Anita Hughes. If you read my review of Monarch Beach last summer, you may remember I had some difficulty getting into the story. I had the same problem with Wellesly Wives. I don't think I like reading stories about the rich. Or at least those in the Women's Fiction genre.

I couldn't connect with the characters or feel much sympathy for their troubles. I think I had the most sympathy for Popsy's husband and he's not in the story long. I cared a little bit about Popsy as she didn't really have much control of the events occurring in her life.  However, I wouldn't be friends with her. She would get on my nerves. Does she care about anything but the superficial? Sure, there was some references to her love for her children, but she didn't seem to take the time to have more than a surface relationship with them.

Speaking of her children... Rosie needs to learn to speak up for herself with her husband and Lily needs to grow up. Rosie seems to be a bit down to earth and I might have liked her, if she hadn't just went along with her husbands stupid idea and then make an even stupider decision to become emotionally involved with another man.

I thought the story started too slowly. I really didn't get into it until they reached Ireland. For the first time, the ladies are doing menial tasks - cleaning and cooking and serving. They also seem to develop some real relationships. If it hadn't been for the trip, I probably wouldn't have finished the novel.

Characters are a big part for whether I like a story or not and the characters just didn't do it for me.

There were some cute moments and in some ways reminded me of Mona Lisa Smile (I really liked the movie). If you can get past the fakeness and self-involvement of the rich, it is a good story about finding yourself while your world is falling down around your ears.

Buy the book Amazon!

Book Info: ebook, published September 2012 by The Writer's Coffee Shop, ISBN13: 9781612131092
Source: publicist
Read: April 2013

Girl Who Reads is an Amazon advertising affiliate; a small fee is earned when purchases are made at Amazon through the link above. A free book was provided by the source mentioned in exchange for an honest review.

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• Meet the Author: Suzy Duffy (girl-who-reads.com)
• Good Summer Read: Monarch Beach (girl-who-reads.com)

Meet the Author: Suzy Duffy

Zack, Cody & making God laugh…

Hi, Girl Who Reads.

Lovely to meet you. I’m Suzy Duffy, author of Wellesley Wives. I’m Irish and moved to the USA with my five kids, dog and husband, Michael in 2009. His work was beginning to involve more time spent in the US than in Europe and one day he suggested trying to live on this side of the Atlantic. I was pretty surprised and a little terrified about moving because most of my family lives in Ireland and it’s been my lifelong home. My kids heard us ‘discussing’ it however, and they thought it was a great idea. (Personally I think they wanted to move because they were obsessed with The Sweet Life of Zack & Cody, back then.) Finally we agreed to put our home in Dublin on the rental market. If we got a nice tenant, wouldn’t an adventure in the USA be amazing? The first family to view the house was American and they wanted to relocate to Ireland for three years. Was it coincidence or destiny?

The preparations were insane. My youngest was only ten months and there were schools to contact, doctors to meet, even the dog had to get a passport! It was really busy but we got it all done and moved in August 2009. Those three years have passed and we’re still here. I wonder is that how a great many people end up moving countries? They come thinking it’s only for a couple of years but that turns into decades and ends up being a lifetime.

Everyday, I feel I’m becoming more American and less Irish. Who knows what the future holds, if somebody had told me five years ago that I’d be living in America I would have laughed but now I understand that nothing is definite. At this point I’d be happy to live in the States or Europe but we have an expression in Ireland - “If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans!”

So now I don’t make plans. I write fiction. It’s the one place I can actually be sure of the outcome. We live in Wellesley so writing Wellesley Wives came naturally. It’s a romantic comedy about very rich women who lose everything but still come up smelling of roses and laughing at life. Since the publicity started, I think the oddest thing has been the reaction to Wellesley Wives from certain quarters. So many journalists are expecting a big Exposé on what goes on out here in Super-suburbia … Do you know suburbia? It’s all about kids, school lunches, PTOs for the Moms who don’t work and manic carpooling for those who do. I had to write fiction because real life would be far too quiet!

Women the world over are pretty much the same and the women I’ve met since moving here have been charming, intelligent, friendly, and very generous with their time and love. For those who were looking for scandal, sorry to disappoint. This is better than that. It’s a funny, heartwarming, life affirming story about how wonderful we women are.

I may not quite have The Sweet Live of Zack & Cody but it’s sweet enough for me!

Lots of love,

Suzy, the Wellesley Wife

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Suzy Duffy is an international and #1 bestselling author. A former national radio DJ and TV presenter in her native Ireland, she moved to Boston with her husband, five children and one dog in 2009 in light of Europe’s economic downturn. Duffy’s colorful background has taken her from working in the United Nations’ Geneva headquarters to being a water-ski instructor in Greece to laboring as a corn cutter in the south of France.

Wellesley Wives, Duffy’s debut U.S. book release, is the first in a New England based trilogy of novels. She is currently working on the second installment, Newton Neighbors.

Wellesley Wives is currently available at Amazon. 

 

Find Suzy Duffy on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, Pinterest, her website and on The Writer’s Coffee Shop Publishing House site.

Meet the Author Mondays is a weekly feature on Girl Who Reads to introduce authors. The views, beliefs, and opinions expressed by guest post authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views, beliefs, or opinions of Girl Who Reads. Girl Who Reads is an advertising affiliate with Amazon and IndieBound; a small fee is earned when purchases are made using the above links.