The Jetsetters by Amanda Eyre Ward
Book Description:
When seventy-year-old Charlotte Perkins submits a sexy essay to the "Become a Jetsetter" contest, she dreams of reuniting her estranged children: Lee, an almost-famous actress; Cord, a handsome Manhattan venture capitalist who can't seem to find a bride; and Regan, a harried mother who took it all wrong when Charlotte bought her a Weight Watchers gift certificate for her birthday. Charlotte yearns for the years when her children were young and she was a single mother who meant everything to them. When she wins the cruise, the family packs all their baggage--literal and figurative--and spends ten days traveling from sun-drenched Athens through glorious Rome to tapas-laden Barcelona on an over-the-top cruise ship, the Splendido Marveloso. As lovers new and old join the adventure, long-buried secrets are revealed, and the Perkins family is forced to confront the defining choices in their lives. Can four lost adults find the peace they've been seeking by reconciling their childhood aches and coming back to each other?
In the vein of The Nest and The Vacationers, Ward has created a delicious and intelligent novel about the courage it takes to reveal our true selves, the pleasures and perils of family, and how we navigate the seas of adulthood to cruise--we can only hope--toward joy.
In the vein of The Nest and The Vacationers, Ward has created a delicious and intelligent novel about the courage it takes to reveal our true selves, the pleasures and perils of family, and how we navigate the seas of adulthood to cruise--we can only hope--toward joy.
My Review:
I found this book on Reese's Book Club forum on GoodReads so I thought that it must be good. Boy, it was not what I expected...it wasn't good but it certainly isn't the worst book that I have read this year. I just expected it to be at least pretty good to be on Reese's list.
Obviously we knew that there would be some family drama from the book description but I guess I can see why Charlotte's children were "estranged"...she was a terrible mother. So self-centered! So condescending and thank goodness she kept some of the most horrible thoughts to herself! Her main goal was to bond with her children and become closer which but that really didn't happen. And I guess to me estranged means something different because she did speak with her children and had interactions of some kind. I felt bad for her kids really but I really didn't like any of the characters...except maybe Giovanni. I really wish there was more happiness in the book. It was seriously a downer of a book. I found it to be a quick read but I am not sure if it was because I wanted to be out of the depressing book and into something more upbeat.
Definitely not what I expected and I did round up with my rating. Really it was a 2.5 star read for me.
My Rating:
⭐⭐⭐