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More Like Her

by Liza Palmer (Goodreads Author)

3.52 of 5 stars 3.52 · rating details · 770 ratings · 172 reviews

What really goes on behind those perfect white picket fences?

In Frances’s mind, beautiful, successful, ecstatically married Emma Dunham is the height of female perfection. Frances, recently dumped with spectacular drama by her boyfriend, aspires to be just like Emma. So do her close friends and fellow teachers, Lisa and Jill. But Lisa’s too career-focused to find time for...more

Paperback, 309 pages

Published April 17th 2012 by HarperCollins (first published May 1st 2011)

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May 26, 2013 Courtney rated it 1 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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May 25, 2012 Becky rated it 4 of 5 stars

How much do you really know about those around you? What secrets lie behind their public facades?

Frannie believes Emma Dunham, the new head of Markham, has it all together. Great job, great looks, great relationship... everything Frannie wishes she had in her own life. But when Emma's husband murders her at a school function, Frannie and her friends are faced not only with the truth about Emma's life, but the aftermath of surviving such a terrible tragedy.

Not at all what I'd expected! Liza Pal...more

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May 13, 2013 Christa Sgobba rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: chick-lit

This book seemed like it had a little more going on than what's expected in "chick lit." It seemed deeper than the other books by Liza Palmer I've read, though I think they all shared a tiny flaw of being unrealistically--and at times, annoyingly--romantic.

First of all, I really struggled getting into this. The first couple chapters didn't grab me, and I found myself sneering a bit at Frannie and her friend Jill. But soon, with the introduction of Emma, it started to suck me in. I guess I didn'...more

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Apr 24, 2013 Michelle rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013, contemp

How does Liza Palmer keep writing these amazing books that just blow me away? Seriously she is all kinds of amazing and I just can't get enough of her humor and dry wit and well, intensity. Love it all.

UPDATED: She's got it all. At least that's what it seems like to speech therapist Frances Reid upon meeting her lovely, talented and successful new boss, Emma Dunham (who happens to be the first ever female headmistress at the posh Markham Prep School. Ahem, she's that perfect.). Perfect job, husb...more How does Liza Palmer keep writing these amazing books that just blow me away? Seriously she is all kinds of amazing and I just can't get enough of her humor and dry wit and well, intensity. Love it all.

UPDATED: She's got it all. At least that's what it seems like to speech therapist Frances Reid upon meeting her lovely, talented and successful new boss, Emma Dunham (who happens to be the first ever female headmistress at the posh Markham Prep School. Ahem, she's that perfect.). Perfect job, husband, house and life and to top it off, Frannie discovers she's actually a really nice person. While in comparison, Frannie's life could nicely be described as a train-wreck. But what do we really know about our friends lives, if anything at all? That's the question Frannie and her friends must ask themselves when tragedy strikes Markham School and Emma Dunham in particular.

I honestly do not know how Liza Palmer keeps doing it. Really. This latest novel*, More Like Her, contains one of the touchiest subjects out there -- bullying, abuse, and hello...death and she just pushes it all upfront and forces you to deal with it straight on -- all the time feeling like you're right there. Especially in all those moments when the characters are dealing with messy aftermath of hurt and guilt for trying to get on with their lives. Because that's really where this book excels. You'd think reading a novel where every couple of pages someone is falling apart would be annoying at best or even slightly embarrassing, but no. Not remotely so. Frannie and company's grief is so real and honest and open that it becomes impossible for you to even think of addressing the circumstances any other way.

What I especially loved was that Liza Palmer gave each of her characters room to deal with such a horrible event in their own way. Be it healthy or not. Frannie wants to 'taaaalk' about it all, Jill doesn't want to ever speak of it again and Lisa, well, Lisa finds the silver lining through it all. And then there's Sam. Sam about broke my heart numerous times with his quick Southern boy charm and manners and his definite un-okayness with it all. But it was just so understandable, warts and all. Every single reaction felt real and while utterly sad in theory it was thoroughly suffused with Liza Palmer's trademark dry wit to keep everyone moving along.

One thing I really like about Liza Palmer's books is that she doesn't dumb down to her audience. She doesn't explain every reference or give her readers time to catch up, she simply drops these little or big nothings along the way and expects you to be with her 100%. Can I say how much I love that about her books? It's like mental gymnastics in the best way possible. This is never more apparent in Frannie's case as she often leaves much unsaid (or halfway said) and expects the reader to follow along. And can I just say: I'm totally with you, Ms. Palmer, totally.(less)

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Nov 24, 2012 Lara rated it 4 of 5 stars

I liked it a lot more than I expected to, after reading the back cover. In fact, I think the back cover isn't very accurate about the basis of the story and the personalities of the main characters. I never felt like Liza and her friends wanted to be like Emma. Lisa wasn't described as too career-focused. I also felt like it revealed WAY too much like Jill being pregnant (which didn't happen until the end anyways...and had no purpose.

I think that Jill's character seemed inconsistent. In genera...more

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Aug 08, 2012 Angie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: good-uns

Originally reviewed here.

My introduction to Liza Palmer's books came via the excellent Seeing Me Naked, a book that held so much more for me than the title (or cover) seemed to imply. I've reread it and handed it to so many people since then, and I've been looking forward to the release of MORE LIKE HER for some time now. I purchased my copy back when it was released and then just . . . held onto it (as I often do) for the right night. And though I went in expecting it this time, Ms. Palmer surp...more Originally reviewed here.

My introduction to Liza Palmer's books came via the excellent Seeing Me Naked, a book that held so much more for me than the title (or cover) seemed to imply. I've reread it and handed it to so many people since then, and I've been looking forward to the release of MORE LIKE HER for some time now. I purchased my copy back when it was released and then just . . . held onto it (as I often do) for the right night. And though I went in expecting it this time, Ms. Palmer surprised me with the level of ambition with which she approached this novel. Once again, I think the cover (which I quite like) is quietly deceptive as to its contents, though those red shoes do seem more ominous than they did when I originally picked it up. I kind of love that. The title I find perfectly fitting as well. So.

Frances and her best friend Jill are guidance counselors at the prestigious Markham School--a prep academy in San Francisco. Having recently and unwillingly become single again after yet another ill-fated voyage with one of the male teachers at the school, Frances is thrown for an additional loop by Emma Dunham. Emma is the new headmistress at Markham. Poised, witty, and clearly successful, Emma is everything Frances would like to hate but can't because she's just so nice, so genuine. As time passes, she admires Emma from afar until a bullying situation brings them closer together. On the cusp of becoming real friends, the two women are torn apart by the unthinkable. In the aftermath, Frances and Jill, their new friend and colleague Lisa, and their respective husbands and/or significant others struggle to make sense of the tragedy and their individual roles in it.

Palmer opens with the following epigraph:

One can't build little white picket fences to keep nightmares out. --Anne Sexton

And that pretty much sums up the tone of this novel. The epigraph is followed by a truly harrowing two-page prologue and then by chapter one, entitled "Lipstick and Palpable Fear." So, yeah. I pretty much loved it. Like her characters, Palmer's writing always has more going on under the surface than at first meets the eye. You think you're going into your standard tale of down-on-her-luck girl has romantic woes and makes good with her feisty personality and killer shoes. But beyond the setup you are treated to a thoughtful exploration of what it means to know someone. Really know someone. And how impossible it is to ever know just what's going on behind the superficial. Also, because it's Liza Palmer, you get wonderfully nuanced family relationships and tentative romance. One of my favorite early passages in which Frances describes her best friend Jill:

Amid all of her more shallow inclinations and superficial dress-downs of other women, Jill has always seen me as beautiful. Beautiful in a way I have yet to see myself. Beautiful in a way I don't even think she sees herself as, despite all evidence to the contrary. The night Ryan left I sobbed to Jill that my brown hair was too drab. It's mysterious, she said. I think I should take off a few pounds. You've got great tits, she said in a particularly uncomfortable moment. I have no style. Let's face it, I wailed, it boils down to me wearing a lot of beaded cardigans. You're rocking a hearth-wear-meets-vintage thing! It's effortlessly perfect, she said. I may believe I'm not up to snuff, but Jill? Jill thinks I can date the Great Gatsby.

Win. I love this description of the way our best friends see us. It certainly rang true for me. And that certainty of theirs that you can date the Great Gastby is what sees you through so many of the curve balls life throws you. This is a tough book to read. The tragedy is truly horrific. And timely, unfortunately. But Ms. Palmer tempers it with emotionally resonant scenes and moments of levity that left me turning the pages eagerly. I like how she hits you with the big scene fairly early on, but doesn't ever blow her wad too soon. She takes all her pages to get the job done and I was happy with where she left things. MORE LIKE HER is warm and exploratory novel, filled with big questions and true friends. Recommended.(less)

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Jul 27, 2012 Nicole rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, contemporary

If you have read this book's description, then you definitely will not be spoiled by my review.

I am a huge fan of Ms. Palmer's books, so when I saw that this was in a local library, I ILL-ed the hell out of it and devoured it the day I got it. I was so sure that I wanted to read whatever the heck this novel was that I didn't even bother to read the description until after I'd finished. First, I don't think that the two paragraphs on the back do a good job of capturing the essence of this novel....more

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Jun 07, 2012 Tracy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: chick-lit

This was a notch above chick lit, but probably not a full four stars. In any event, the book follows three friends who teach at a private school in California. The main character is envious of the new head of school who seems to have it all together. After tragedy strikes, they see how flawed the head of school really was.

There were some real problems with this book - specifically, that the friendships between the three teachers didn't weren't really fully developed and were portrayed as deeper...more

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Jun 02, 2012 Victoria rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is a strange book for me to read at 61. It is probably "chick lit" a genre invented since I stopped studying genres. The book intrigues me. It is about young women, women around the ages of my daughters and their feelings about themselves, men, authenticity, relationships. It is set in a private school, and its climax is the murder of the young, beautiful, proper, too good to be true head mistress by her (in the past secretly) abusive husband. The main characters are teachers and speech th...more

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May 04, 2012 Star (The Bibliophilic Book Blog) rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviewed

"Not everything that glitters is gold." This is readily apparent in More Like Her. Emma Dunham is everyone's dream - men want her and women want to be her. Yet what lies beneath the calm surface is something no one expected. When Emma's abusive husband murders her in front of a number of people, they must not only deal with the trauma and survivor's guilt. They must look inside themselves for the truths of their own secrets. While the 3 friends, Frances, Lisa, and Jill are dealing with shock and...more

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May 03, 2012 Leeswammes rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was an enjoyable, quick read. Frances is a believable single, whose live-in boyfriend left the relationship not so long ago and she is wondering with every man she encounters whether this will be the new ‘him’. She comes across a builder, Sam, who is working on an extension of the school that she works at. She likes him (a lot) but is she just an interlude for him?

However, the main story is the story of Emma, the headmistress. She’s new and Frances at first thinks she’s too cool and impers...more

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Apr 17, 2012 Luanne Ollivier rated it 3 of 5 stars

reviewed Liza Palmer's previous book A Field Guide to Burying Your Parents a few years ago and really enjoyed it.

From the cover, I was expecting a 'chick lit' type of read, but the opening prologue is a 911 call detailing a shooting at the Markham School. We then meet Frannie in the opening chapter. She's a teacher at the Markham School. She's also just come through a nasty breakup with her boyfriend, also a teacher at the school. We're introduced to Jill and Lisa, Frannie's sidekicks. Palmer p...more

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Apr 12, 2012 Nancy rated it 4 of 5 stars

I realize I write odd reviews at times. This will be one of them.

My friend Hallie had just returned from visiting her parents when she phoned me. She told me it had been a rough couple of weeks. "You know my parents live in Littleton, Colorado, didn't you?" she asked. It was April, 1999. Hallie was visiting her parents on April 20, 1999 while her youngest sister was at school. For four horrifying hours, she and her parents did not know if her sister was dead or alive. At last the news crews caug...more I realize I write odd reviews at times. This will be one of them.

My friend Hallie had just returned from visiting her parents when she phoned me. She told me it had been a rough couple of weeks. "You know my parents live in Littleton, Colorado, didn't you?" she asked. It was April, 1999. Hallie was visiting her parents on April 20, 1999 while her youngest sister was at school. For four horrifying hours, she and her parents did not know if her sister was dead or alive. At last the news crews caught footage of the last survivors exiting the school with their hands on their heads. Hallie's sister was the last one to leave, stepping past her best friend's body.

Hallie's sister eventually healed, graduated from high school, left her small town and went to college in another state and married. For the first couple of years, loud noises made her dive under tables and cower. She wore dark clothes, trying to not stand out in a crowd. She has healed by adjusting to the world around her yet she is indelibly changed.

With my own prologue, the book begins with a prologue. It's a 911 call. There is a shooter at a private school. Emma is dead. Possibly the shooter. Maybe he got Frannie.

The story explores multiple relevant issues. More than a school shooting, the story provides a perspective of before, a trauma, then after. The book is told by Frannie's point of view. She is a speech therapist at an elite school. Frannie's best friend is Jill and we soon meet Lisa. It is the beginning of the school year and Frannie is to start the year as a newly single woman. She'd been living with another teacher, Ryan, who had dumped her. Also, we meet the new Head of School, Emma and her creepy husband.

The book explores the different faces of bullying and repercussions along with the social tendency to turn a blind eye to bad behavior. The way society often blames the victim or the victim blames him or herself. How we don't know anybody completely and we certainly don't know their secrets.

Another big topic that I really appreciated is the way women see themselves - very often carrying their insecurities from their self esteem of junior high. In order to be fully loved or appreciated, we must never be completely ourselves. We are appreciated only for what we can offer our significant others - beauty, slender body, great sex, support of the other, etc. We are never free to simply be ourselves for fear of being rejected. This is both Frannie's and Jill's issue, along with others that pop up. In the meantime, we meet Lisa, the Jersey girl who is true to herself.

Returning to the trauma of the school shooting, the reader and the characters never completely understand the senselessness of the violence or the people involved, much like the Columbine tragedy. On the other hand, the story continues after the violence. Each character handles it differently. There is a lot of processing, nightmares, regret, and blaming of self. The story covers much of that.

At the same time, there is a lot of dialogue I struggled to get through. Jill and Frannie have their own language and understanding of one another. They don't always finish their sentences, leaving the reader to fill in the blanks. I didn't feel like I knew them well enough to finish their thoughts. They also have a lot of dirty jokes. It's also a little slow at times and transitions were not clear for me.

Those issues aside, the book provides a good starting point for discussion of bullying, dealing with extreme trauma along with women self esteem issues.(less)

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Apr 12, 2012 N. rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is such a strange book. The cover is classic chick lit, but the prologue is a 911 call about a school shooting. So, as you're reading the first 100 pages or so -- which are very much written in a chick lit vein, about dating angst and friendship -- you know tragedy is coming and can't help but wonder which of the characters will survive. Once the shooting occurs, the heroine's angst grows. Now, she not only has to deal with her messed-up love life and poor self-image but nightmares, as well...more

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Mar 07, 2012 Maryann rated it 5 of 5 stars

I don't know how to write a review of this book without sounding like I'm a gushing fan. Probably because I am. I love Liza Palmer's writing. She writes with gut-wrenching honesty, intense passion and hilarious wit. The emotion in More Like Her is brutal at times, but there's a grace about it that isn't found in a lot of chick lit, or popular literature at all for that matter. The characters experience life as life is experienced- there's a feeling of reality and genuineness, like I could meet F...more

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Mar 06, 2012 Judy & Marianne from Long and Short Reviews rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary, non-erotic

Originally posted at: http://www.longandshortreviews.blogsp...

The grass is always greener on the other side, or so the old adage goes. We look at others and automatically assume what they have is so much better. The thing we often forget is even the most seemingly perfect lives can be hiding dark – and even deadly – secrets. Frances Reid is about to discover this for herself in a horrifying and life-altering way.

Frannie is a fun and engaging character. She has a heart the size of a watermelon an...more Originally posted at: http://www.longandshortreviews.blogsp...

The grass is always greener on the other side, or so the old adage goes. We look at others and automatically assume what they have is so much better. The thing we often forget is even the most seemingly perfect lives can be hiding dark – and even deadly – secrets. Frances Reid is about to discover this for herself in a horrifying and life-altering way.

Frannie is a fun and engaging character. She has a heart the size of a watermelon and will do anything for a friend in need. Her one flaw is her lack of confidence in herself and her ability to maintain a healthy relationship with a man. However, this is the thing that drives her throughout the course of the novel. Despite her penchant for ‘poor me’ moments, she’s pretty quick to pull herself back to reality. Frannie really is her own worst enemy and stands in her own way more often than anyone or anything else. The only thing that will ever change her mind is a positive experience with the perfect man. That man is Sam.

Sam Earley, architect and southern gentleman, is looking for a new start. Attempting to get out from under his father’s shadow, he’s left his home in Tennessee and moved halfway across the country. Sam is my dream guy: he’s sweet, he’s charming, and he’s goodhearted. When you toss in the fact he’s both successful and hot, how can you go wrong? Frannie feels the same way. His natural goodheartedness is a sure draw for any insecure, loving woman. He's exactly what Frannie needs – a solid and secure man, devoted to nothing but her and her happiness. Together, they are an enjoyable and entertaining couple, the kind of people you’d love to spend your Friday nights with.

More Like Her is a tale of self-discovery, love lost and found, and the harsh truth that what you see isn’t always what is real. The author weaves a story full of laugh-out-loud humor and mixes it with healthy doses of down-to-earth reality sure to break your heart. As in life, the story reflects the idea that while you can’t always have what you want, there might be something just as good lurking in the shadows, waiting for the right time to show itself. More Like Her is a wonderful story that hits all your emotional buttons and leaves you smiling.(less)

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Jul 12, 2012 Holly rated it 2 of 5 stars

As I was writing a review of a book one day on Goodreads, I saw this book advertised on the side of the screen and so I decided to read it. I have to admit that I didn't like it as much as most of the reviewers on this site. It's basically a chick-lit book that has potential but I wasn't enamored with the way in which the author unfolded the plot or the characters. The plot line shows opportunities to become a really good story...women questioning who they are and what they want out of life with...more

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Jun 27, 2012 Jessica rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 5-star

Frannie Reid was an outcast as a kid and still feels like she doesn't fit in. She works as a speech therapist at an elite private school and still compares herself to other women and wishes her life was different. When Emma Dunham becomes the new headmistress at Frannie's school she can't help but be envious of Emma's perfect life - good looks, successful and attractive husband, and incredible job. But, behind Emma's perfect exterior is a very dark secret which comes to light in a horrific way w...more

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Jul 30, 2012 Jacqueline rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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May 20, 2013 Bethany rated it 5 of 5 stars

Talk about a book that made me gasp out loud! I can't remember ever being as shocked as I was while I was reading this book. I thought I knew what this book was going to be about, and in an instant it took a different direction all together. I am in love with the message in this book: you don't really know who people are or what they are going through in their personal lives. Just people someone looks one way on the outside, doesn't mean you can assume what is going on in the inside. Someone who...more

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Apr 20, 2012 Alice Bola rated it 4 of 5 stars

Look at the cover of More Like Her…three friends, legs crossed, high heels. Total chick-lit. Summary? Girl loses boy, gets new boss, girl meets other boy. Total chick-lit. I read one novel by Liza Palmer before this one, Conversations with a Fat Girl. Great book. Great writer. Total chick-lit. What’s my point? Oh, Liza Palmer pulled a fast one on us.

This starts as a classic novel about a few girlfriends and failed romance and turns into one of the best contemporary works of fiction I have read i...more Look at the cover of More Like Her…three friends, legs crossed, high heels. Total chick-lit. Summary? Girl loses boy, gets new boss, girl meets other boy. Total chick-lit. I read one novel by Liza Palmer before this one, Conversations with a Fat Girl. Great book. Great writer. Total chick-lit. What’s my point? Oh, Liza Palmer pulled a fast one on us.

This starts as a classic novel about a few girlfriends and failed romance and turns into one of the best contemporary works of fiction I have read in a while. This novel is anything but typical. Ms. Palmer took a boy meets girl story and laced it with shock and tragedy. I knew from the summary there would be death. What I didn’t know was how it would come to fruition. It wasn’t what I expected. I was as stunned to experience it as the characters in the novel. It caught me off guard, I was genuinely shocked. I love that in a novel.

Frannie, our protagonist, shares her story with us in a voice that is refreshing and honest. A key plot point is her breakup with the perfect Ryan and subsequent blooming romance with architect Sam. This has the perfect funny debacles of romance characteristic of chick-lit. Frannie thinks too much, at times analyzing things to an exasperating level. She relies on her friends for guidance and support, and they give both with wisdom and with comedy. I was especially drawn to Jill, she reminded me of my BFF Roe. Ms. Palmer gives the reader multi-faceted characters. There was more to Frannie than her love life. And it’s this other part of her that gets tested, what shines in the face of this disaster. One would think romance and tragedy couldn’t coexist in the same story, but they do. And that’s the beauty of More Like Her, Ms. Palmer weaves them together organically.

There are two blemishes in this otherwise perfect novel. The first is that the ending was just a bit too conventional. I loved it, but for some reason it felt off. The second is the synopsis of this novel does not do it justice. Lisa does not come across as too career-focused, if anything she is the one whose heart is most opened to finding, giving and receiving love. Jill’s recent unexpected pregnancy isn’t revealed until the last 50 or so pages of the novel. This knowledge robs the reader of the surprise and makes us think it is a major plot point when in reality it is relatively insignificant.

Those two things aside, this novel is a page turning powerhouse. I was riveted to the end.
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May 06, 2012 Sierra rated it 5 of 5 stars

I loved this book. Loved. Narrator Frannie is possessed by the poor self-esteem of all of us (or is it just me?) and she perfectly captures the doubt, confusion, and irritation women who've always longed for their Jake Ryan have. We're great, we really are! For the right guy! Where is that guy!?

I loved the Pasadena setting (at one point the characters drive on streets right past my aunt's real life house) and I loved the twist of the story where you think you're getting a good story about friend...more

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Mar 06, 2012 Alicia rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-books-read, 2012-reviews

This book was nothing like expected! I expected a light-hearted, fun book and I got a book that was kind of serious and made me cry. This isn’t a bad thing but I really wasn’t expecting it!

It was interesting to see how each women’s life seemed perfect, but had little cracks in it. Those cracks were exposed after the school shooting. Frances, Lisa and Jill all handled the situation in different ways, as is expected, but it was interesting and frustrating all at the same time!

I do wish that Emma w...more

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Jan 29, 2012 Rea Sinfield rated it 3 of 5 stars

I have to say I am not a fan of the cover of this book in my opinion it is a little bland, it wouldn’t be one that would catch my eye whilst searching the shelves for my next book. I found the storyline had a very slow start and I struggled to keep reading, it did reach a point where I was ready to give up but luckily it was just after this point where there was a shocking twist in the book which finally managed to grab my attention.

My favourite character in this book has to be Sam, I found tha...more

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Jun 21, 2012 Kat rated it 3 of 5 stars

After reading some of Palmer's previous work, I had expected to almost be blown away by More Like Her. While I felt myself sympathizing and caring about the characters, I found several loose ends in the plot that actually bothered me in an almost nit-pick way. Certain aspects of conversations or character descriptions would be mentioned, but then they were never brought up again.

The conflicts in More Like Her were strongly catastrophic in nature, but the solutions were unfortunately down and out...more

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Dec 14, 2011 Brooke Moss rated it 5 of 5 stars

I'm still reeling. I finished this book late last night and had to fight the urge to get online right then and there to write the review. It took me longer than usual to finish this book, because I was working on edits/rewrites and also because I was really laid out with the crud, but I found myself DREAMING about this book and the characters within, while I was in a Nyquil induced coma.

First off, you should all know that this is not the kind of book you want to pick up because you want a quick,...more I'm still reeling. I finished this book late last night and had to fight the urge to get online right then and there to write the review. It took me longer than usual to finish this book, because I was working on edits/rewrites and also because I was really laid out with the crud, but I found myself DREAMING about this book and the characters within, while I was in a Nyquil induced coma.

First off, you should all know that this is not the kind of book you want to pick up because you want a quick, mindless read that will make you giggle and sigh. Though this book will make you do that, I promise. This book will also make you gasp in horror and pace the floor to get your mind straight. There is one chapter in particular (chapter 9, I think) that will literally rip your chest open, tear out your heart, kick it around on the floor, then cram it back into your chest all dusty, battered, and bruised. You'll feel hollow and sort of broken after reading it, and you'll replay it all in your head over and over again.

The characters in More Like Her are (as always) like the people you know right now. As I was reading this book, I found myself picturing faces of women I have in my life in the roles of Lisa, Jill, Emma, and Francie. They are heartbreakingly human and flawed. They are imperfect and have incredibly human responses to the circumstances of the story. This is why I dreamt about them at night. They were so unbearably real. I felt like I couldn't escape them when I put the book down. (Which I love)

Every woman wants the life of another woman, whether she admits it or not. Sometimes it's because the other woman has more money or success. Maybe it's because the other woman has less pressure on her shoulders. Maybe it's because the other woman has children...or NO children. Regardless, we all do it. Liza Palmer takes a deeper look into the secret lives of women. What we DON'T share with each other, and why we wind up in those life circumstances. Ms. Palmer's story made me look at my own upbringing, and realize why I wound up in a terrible first marriage in my early twenties. She made me rethink what I've taught my own daughter about choosing a spouse carefully and chasing my dreams instead of forfeiting them to comply with what is expected of me. She took a story that could have been incredibly light hearted and funny..and added a surprising dash of harsh reality, and I literally consumed every page like a platter of cheese.

This book will move you. If it doesn't, you don't have a heart. It will make you laugh (because all of Liza Palmer's books do) and it will make you cry. But most of all, it will make you look at the woman in the grocery store who appears to have her entire life together with nary a problem in the world...and you will want to see beneath the facade. I am forever changed by this book, and I will remain a loyal Liza Palmer disciple henceforth.

Buy this book now. And buy a copy for your best friend. You'll want to read them together, so that you can cry and gab together.

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Jun 20, 2012 Samantha rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

This was a really fun, amusing book! But besides being really good chick-lit it had deeper themes and it made you think. First off, I'd like to say that the synopsis on the back of More Like Her was misleading and really bad. It downright misrepresented some of the characters in the novel, spoiled things that were revealed towards the end of the book, and made the book seem like something it's not. So I'd recommend if you haven't already read the synopsis to avoid reading it until after you've r...more This was a really fun, amusing book! But besides being really good chick-lit it had deeper themes and it made you think. First off, I'd like to say that the synopsis on the back of More Like Her was misleading and really bad. It downright misrepresented some of the characters in the novel, spoiled things that were revealed towards the end of the book, and made the book seem like something it's not. So I'd recommend if you haven't already read the synopsis to avoid reading it until after you've read the book. Read this review instead!

More Like Her is narrated by thirty-six-year-old Frannie Reid, a speech therapist at a private elementary school in southern California. Her first day back to work for a new school year is challenging to say the least. There's a new headmistress, Emma Dunham, who is annoyingly perfect and has a new set of ideas as to how the school should be run. There's the fact that Emma has to face Ryan, her coworker and the ex-boyfriend who cruelly dumped her for another woman. But at least Frannie has her best friend, Jill, to get her through it and a prospective new friend in Lisa, the ballsy new science teacher.

When a school shooting results in one of the women in Frannie's life being murdered by her husband, it causes Frannie to re-evaluate her life. She's kept parts of her personality hidden from boyfriends and the people around her for years and has it been worth it? Sam, a new love interest in her life, might just like her for who she is.

Liza Palmer has a great voice. Her writing style was utterly unique and the narration really seemed like Frannie's inner voice, with all the second-guessing and musing that goes on beneath the surface. Frannie was an awesome character and she was perfectly flawed. I wanted to shake her every time she doubted herself or thought she wasn't good enough so that she'd know she was wrong! Some of the dialogue felt a little stilted/unrealistic but for the most part Palmer did a great job conveying the relationships, especially the female ones. The book was funny at times, thought-provoking at others, and had a nice romance. (Sam was definitely swoon-worthy!) The speed at which certain events unfolded seemed impossible at times but that was part of what made it an escapist, enjoyable novel.

I definitely recommend More Like Her! It's a great summer read. Reading it made me look forward to reading more of Liza Palmer's novels.(less)

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Jan 13, 2013 Zafirah Ab Rahim rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I liked the book..enough? The characters are believable and the narration was funny, endearing and honest.

The description for the book definitely does not do the novel justice. The actual novel is not what you'd probably assume the central plot is about.

However, I had a slight problem with the slight obsession with details. I didn't need to know how many ladies flushed and left a bathroom while Frannie, Jill and Lisa were talking in the line, honestly. I also thought that the ending with Sam w...more

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Jun 22, 2012 Chanpreet rated it 5 of 5 stars

The blurb on the back of this book is completely wrong! When I first heard Liza Palmer had a new book coming out, I was stoked! Then the blurb was released and I thought, "Meh! But it's written by Liza Palmer, so I'm sure she'll do something interesting with this." And then I got the book...

The book is really, really good. It deals with what we perceive as perfection and the dark truths that can sometimes lie behind them, as well as the fall out after a traumatic event. The book kept me in tethe...more

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Jun 28, 2012 Dianne rated it 4 of 5 stars

When a book promises great female relationships mixed with a bit of mystery and challenges to stereotypes, I'm intrigued, so I probably would have picked up this book even if I hadn't won it through a goodreads giveaway. The prologue was intense and I loved the opening of Chapter 1, but was then put off by what I felt was over-the-top personality building in the beginning and likely would have left it for another book if I hadn't agreed to finish it. However, I'm glad I stayed with it because th...more

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About Liza Palmer

Liza Palmer is the internationally bestselling author of Conversations with the Fat Girl , which has been optioned for series by HBO.

Library Journal said Palmer’s “blend of humor and sadness is realistic and gripping,..”

After earning two Emmy nominations writing for the first season of VH1’s Pop Up Video, she now knows far too much about Fergie.

Palmer’s fifth novel, Nowhere but Home, is about a f...more

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Quotes from More Like Her

“I'm not the girl men chose.
I'm the girl who's charming and funny and then drives home wondering what she did wrong. I'm the girl who meets someone halfway decent and then fills in the gaps in his character with my own imagination, only to be shocked when he's not the man I thought he was.
I'm the girl who hides who she really is for fear I'll fall short. ” — 7 people liked it

“I have that old sinking feeling. I've been overly available, sickeningly sweet and forever enabling all in the name of being 'liked.' I've compromised myself. I've suffered fools, idiots and dullards. I've gone on far too many dates with men because I felt guilty that they liked me more than I liked them. I've fallen deeply and madly I'm love with men I've never met just because I thought they looked 'deep.' I've built whole futures with men I hardly knew; I've planned weddings and named invisible children based on a side glance. I've made chemistry where there was none. I've forced intimacy while building higher Walls. I've been alone in a two year relationship. I've faked more orgasms than I can count while being comfortable with no affection at all.
I realise I have to make a decision right here and now. Do I go back to the sliver of a person I was before or do I, despite whatever bullshit happened tonight, hold on to this... This authenticity? If I go back to the the way I was before tonight, I'll have to compromise myself, follow rules with men who have none, hold my tongue, be quiet and laugh at shitty jokes. I have to never be challenged, yet be called challenging when I have an opinion or, really, speak at all. I'll never be torched by someone and get goosebumps again. I'll never be outside of myself. I'll never let go. I'll never lose myself. I'll never know what real love is - both for someone else and for me. I'll look back on this life and wish I could do it all over again. I finally see the consequences of that life. The path more travelled only led to someone else's life: an idealised, saturated world of White picket fences and gingham tablecloths. A life where the real me is locked away. Sure i had a plus-one but at what price? No. No matter how awkward and painful this gets, I can't go back.” — 7 people liked it

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