Monday, 18 March 2024

Book ~ "The Bright Side of Disaster" (2021) Katherine Center

From Goodreads ~ Very pregnant and not quite married Jenny Harris doesn't mind that she and her live-in fiancé, Dean, accidentally started their family a little earlier than planned. But Dean is acting distant and the night he runs out for cigarettes and doesn't come back, he demotes himself from future husband to sperm donor. And the very next day, Jenny goes into labor. 

In the months that follow, Jenny plunges into a life she never single motherhood. At least with the sleep deprivation, sore boobs, and fits of crying (both hers and the baby's), there's not much time to dwell on her broken heart. And things are looking Jenny learns how to do everything one-handed, makes friends in a mommy group and even gets to know a handsome, helpful neighbor. But Dean is never far from Jenny's thoughts or, it turns out, her doorstep, and in the end she must choose between the old life she thought she wanted and the new life she's been lucky to find.

Jenny and Dean have been together for a couple years. They are living together and engaged and their wedding is scheduled in a month's time. Jenny is also pregnant and ready to give birth at any time. Dean has started acting cold and one night heads out for cigarettes and doesn't come back. He's left a note saying he's not feeling it anymore and is outta there for good. Jenny goes into labour the next day and so begins her life as a single parent.

Luckily Jenny has the support of her parents and a mommy group and she gets to know Gardner, her handy man next door neighbour. When her baby is eight months old, Dean reappears in their lives wanting her to take him back.

I've read a few books by this author and I wasn't crazy about this story. There was far too much detail about giving birth, breastfeeding and the hour by hour routine of having a baby who is hungry and cries all the time. The story really went downhill for me when Dean came back and she let him move in with her. He was a loser when they met, he was a loser when they were together and he continued to be a loser when he came back ... and she allowed it. It's written in third person perspective in Jenny's voice. As a head's up, there is swearing.

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