The Year We Turned Forty: A Novel
Apr 2016 · Simon and Schuster
3.7star
6 reviewsreport
Ebook
336
Pages
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About this ebook
This heartwarming and hilarious novel from the authors of The Status of All Things and Your Perfect Life features three best friends who get the chance to return to the year they turned forty—the year that altered all of their lives, in ways big and small—and also get the opportunity to change their future.
Jessie loves her son Lucas more than anything, but it tears her up inside that he was conceived in an affair that ended her marriage to a man she still loves, a man who just told her he's getting remarried. This time around, she’s determined to bury the secret of Lucas’ paternity, and to repair the fissures that sent her wandering the first time.
Gabriela regrets that she wasted her most fertile years in hot pursuit of a publishing career. Yes, she’s one of the biggest authors in the world, but maybe what she really wanted to create was a family. With a chance to do it again, she’s focused on convincing her husband, Colin, to give her the baby she desires.
Claire is the only one who has made peace with her past: her twenty-two year old daughter, Emily, is finally on track after the turmoil of adolescence, and she's recently gotten engaged, with the two carat diamond on her finger to prove it. But if she’s being honest, Claire still fantasizes about her own missed opportunities: a chance to bond with her mother before it was too late, and the possibility of preventing her daughter from years of anguish. Plus, there’s the man who got away—the man who may have been her one true love.
But it doesn’t take long for all three women to learn that re-living a life and making different decisions only leads to new problems and consequences—and that the mistakes they made may, in fact, have been the best choices of all…
Jessie loves her son Lucas more than anything, but it tears her up inside that he was conceived in an affair that ended her marriage to a man she still loves, a man who just told her he's getting remarried. This time around, she’s determined to bury the secret of Lucas’ paternity, and to repair the fissures that sent her wandering the first time.
Gabriela regrets that she wasted her most fertile years in hot pursuit of a publishing career. Yes, she’s one of the biggest authors in the world, but maybe what she really wanted to create was a family. With a chance to do it again, she’s focused on convincing her husband, Colin, to give her the baby she desires.
Claire is the only one who has made peace with her past: her twenty-two year old daughter, Emily, is finally on track after the turmoil of adolescence, and she's recently gotten engaged, with the two carat diamond on her finger to prove it. But if she’s being honest, Claire still fantasizes about her own missed opportunities: a chance to bond with her mother before it was too late, and the possibility of preventing her daughter from years of anguish. Plus, there’s the man who got away—the man who may have been her one true love.
But it doesn’t take long for all three women to learn that re-living a life and making different decisions only leads to new problems and consequences—and that the mistakes they made may, in fact, have been the best choices of all…
Ratings and reviews
3.7
6 reviews
Kristina Anderson
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June 5, 2016
The Year We Turned Forty by Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke is a novel about three women who get a chance to relieve the year they turned forty. Claire, Jessica, and Gabriella are getting ready to turn fifty and have gone to Vegas to celebrate. They meet the celebrity magician, Blair Wainright who gives them a wonderful opportunity. He offers to let the three of them go back exactly ten years and relieve that year again. The three of them have to agree on the choice (it is all for one and one for all). At the end of the year they have to decide to stay there or go back to the future (I couldn’t resist). There are some conditions (of course). Can they make the right choices this time? Join Claire, Jessica, and Gabriella on their journey. Is it possible to change the past to improve your future? The Year We Turned Forty started out pretty good, but then it started slowing down. It got bogged down in should I or shouldn’t I thoughts and discussions (they went on for pages). I found Gabriella to be the most annoying (though it was hard to like any of the characters). The one thing I liked in the book was the Gilmore Girls reference. The Year We Turned Forty had an interesting concept. What would you do if you could change your life? Would you really be able to change it? Sometimes you can try too hard. I give The Year We Turned Forty 3 out of 5 stars. It was an adequate book (it could have been more). I was hoping for something unpredictable or different instead of cliché. I received a complimentary copy of The Year We Turned Forty from NetGalley (and the publisher) in exchange for an honest evaluation of the novel.
1 person found this review helpful
A Google user
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January 17, 2023
very good
About the author
Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke have been best friends for twenty-five years and survived high school and college together. Liz lives in San Diego with her husband and two children. Lisa, a former talk show producer, now lives in Chicago with her husband, daughter, and two bonus children.
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