A Life That Fits

Jul 12, 2011 Kelli (I'd So Rather Be Reading) rated it 5 of 5 stars

Heather Wardell has the distinction of being the only author I've emailed to ask if she has any new books for me to read. And, wonder of wonders, she wrote me back! I've read and loved all of Heather's previous books, so I was thrilled to hear that A Life That Fits was ready for me to dive into.

Every time I sit down to read one of Heather's books, I am completely engrossed. Everything in my world stops when I start reading one of her books. That feeling of total immersion happens so rarely for...more

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Aug 29, 2012 Mariachiara rated it 3 of 5 stars

Trama: La ventottenne Andrea sta da quattordici anni, fin dall’adolescenza, con Alex, il suo primo e unico amore, finchè lui, cogliendola di sorpresa di ritorno da un viaggio, non la molla all’improvviso per un altra. La vita di Andrea è devastata, non sa più come esistere come single e deve reinventarsi una vita senza Alex. Rabbia, risentimento, dolore, tutte fasi per cui passa, ma ne esce rendendosi infine conto di tutte le piccole cose, i piccolo sogni a cui aveva rinunciato per il quieto viv...more Trama: La ventottenne Andrea sta da quattordici anni, fin dall’adolescenza, con Alex, il suo primo e unico amore, finchè lui, cogliendola di sorpresa di ritorno da un viaggio, non la molla all’improvviso per un altra. La vita di Andrea è devastata, non sa più come esistere come single e deve reinventarsi una vita senza Alex. Rabbia, risentimento, dolore, tutte fasi per cui passa, ma ne esce rendendosi infine conto di tutte le piccole cose, i piccolo sogni a cui aveva rinunciato per il quieto vivere e per Alex. Lo amava, ma per lui si era soffocata e solo ora lo capisce. Così sola può finalmente prendersi il gatto che aveva sempre voluto, riprendere a suonare, e giura a se stessa, quando possibile di fare tutto il contrario di ciò che avrebbe fatto di solito. Cambio di lavoro, di guardaroba, di hobbies, di tutto, persino forse un nuovo amore…. è piuttosto stressata, ma felice e poi Alex ritorna da lei. Una parte di lei vuole riprenderlo, un altra vuole cacciarlo a pedate, ma l’abitudine è forte….vincerà?

La mia opinione: Gran bel libro, immedesimarsi con la protagonista è facile e lei è amabilissima, parte fragile, ma piano piano cresce e diventa una persona autonoma e felice, ha dei dubbi, delle cadute e la rottura, due volte, con Alex la rende insicura nei rapporti, ora teme di perdere l’individualità acquisita e la libertà legandosi ad un nuovo uomo, ma poi capirà che l’amore non è sempre una gabbia. Un libro, carino, piacevole, divertente con tanti personaggi simpatici e vivi. Già solo per la scena del raffreddore collettivo dell’orchestra vale la pena comprarlo. Inoltre ha anche insegnamenti che potrebbero essere d0’aiuto ha molte donne, non è detto che per stare assieme uno debba soffocare se stesso, non è giusta che in ogni discussione sia sempre la stessa persona a cedere eppure è così facile e semplice, meno complicato accondiscendere che noi donne spesso cadiamo in questo baratro del quieto vivere anche quando non dovremmo. All’erta.
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Sep 20, 2011 Yanpaingmyint added it

hello friend
ငါခ်စ္သူတစ္ေယာက္အေၾကာင္းေျပာျခင္တယ္ သူကဟန္နီခ်ိဳ ငါကလီယြန္ တစ္ေယာက္ကိုတစ္ေယာက္သိပ္ခ်စ္ၾကတယ္
လို႔ထင္မိတယ္ ဒါေပမဲ့နီးစပ္မႈကေတာ့မေရရာတဲ့ဘ၀ႏွစ္ခုပါ ငါဘယ္လို႔လုပ္ရမလဲ ငါသူမကိုေနာက္ဆုပ္ေပးလို႔လဲမျဖစ္ဘူး ငါကိုသတိ
ေၾကာင္တဲ့သူလို႔ထင္သြားလိပ့္မယ္ ေရွ့တိုးျပန္ရင္လဲငါဆီမွာရွိသင့္တဲ့ေယာက်ာၤးမာနကိုရိုက္ခြဲလိုက္ရမယ္.....................
ဟူး........ငါဘာလုပ္သင့္လဲ............သူကိုေတာ့ငါအရမ္းခ်စ္တယ္....................ဟူူး...ဟူးးးးးးးးး.........

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Sep 20, 2011 Andrea Guy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011-reads, chicklit, quick-reads, ebook

If you haven't read a book by Heather Wardell yet, you need to. I absolutely adored A Life That Fits, and that's not only because the main character has the same name as I do.

Heather's characters are remarkably real, with normal problems and normal existences. When you read one of Heather's books you feel like the characters are your friends, and Andrea is no different in A Life That Fits.

Everything is falling apart for for her, when her boyfriend of 14 years decides he wants out. I think Andrea...more

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Aug 01, 2011 Christine rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: chick-lit

Twenty-eight year old Andrea returns home from a business trip fully expecting her live in boyfriend of 14 years, Alex, to propose to her. Instead, she comes home to find he has packed up all his belongings and is leaving her for a woman who he claims is Andrea's complete opposite. After spending a few weeks holed up alone in her apartment, Andrea devises a plan to get Alex back. If he wants someone completely different, than she will reverse everything about herself! But after completing her li...more Twenty-eight year old Andrea returns home from a business trip fully expecting her live in boyfriend of 14 years, Alex, to propose to her. Instead, she comes home to find he has packed up all his belongings and is leaving her for a woman who he claims is Andrea's complete opposite. After spending a few weeks holed up alone in her apartment, Andrea devises a plan to get Alex back. If he wants someone completely different, than she will reverse everything about herself! But after completing her life shake up Andrea will have to decide what it means to change everything in an attempt to get back to what life used to be.

I assumed that Heather Wardell's novel, A Life that Fits would be a simple tale of the reinvented woman who takes off her glasses and buys a push-up bra only to finally land her man (think She's All That and every other rom com that tells young woman that all they need is a makeover to snag a boyfriend). I was pleased to be wrong because instead of wadding in the (pun intended) shallow end, Wardell pulls the reader into the emotional depths of a shattered life plan and what it feels like to put it back together. Wardell's main character, Andrea, seems to make all her changes based on what her ex never supported her in before and therefore begins to discover the individual woman she. I easily related to Andrea as she cultivated who she was. I think that others would also relate as many of us have someone in our lives that we can never be our authentic self around.

I also think that A Life that Fits is about dealing with and becoming empowered to leave behind emotionally abusive relationships. There is very little redeeming about Andrea's ex, Alex, and as the story unfolds it is clear that he preys on women's insecurities and manipulates them to his desires. There were points in the novel that I was acutely fearful for Andrea. Alex's emotionally abusive behaviour is the most clear when placed in contrast to Andrea's co-worker and crush, Loren who is kind, supportive and encourages Andrea in all she does.

Wardell has a knack for making the reader emotionally invested. At times the amount of drama was overwhelming. On the one hand, I had to question how anyone in Andrea's office was able to get any work done as the Soap Opera-esque drama unfolded daily. But on the other hand, there is a healthy dose of romantic drama such as the rainy day kiss that steamed up my windows and left me gasping for air. To this I say, bravo!

I have to note how pleased I am that Wardell is a Canadian writer and that her story setting is in the city I adore, Toronto. By chance, I finished reading A Life that Fits while spending a few hours on the VIA train heading into the T-Dot. The mention of locations like Canada's Wonderland and the Eaton's Centre makes my little Ontarian heart burst! Maybe it is cheesy, but I like when stories are based in locations I have grown up in and it makes me glad to know that there is modern chick-lit/women's literature being written just down the 401 from me.

As a personal aside, A Life that Fits came at a perfect time in my life. I am in the middle of a life shake up and Andrea's advice of listening to one's gut has come in handy. If we listen very carefully to ourselves and block out the voices that berate us and cause doubt, than we can always find the path we need to be on.

I recommend A Life that Fits to everyone. It is wonderfully written, taking the reader on an emotional journey of a woman's self discovery and empowerment that you won't be able to put down!

Originally posted at http://bitchlitblog.wordpress.com (less)

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Jul 31, 2011 Ashley rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In Heather Wardell’s A Life That Fits, Andrea’s life is thrown into a tailspin when, at twenty-eight, the man she’s loved for half her life tells her he’s leaving her for another woman, a woman as opposite to Andrea as possible.

In the midst of her devastation, Andrea decides to become the “anti-Andrea” in order to win back Alex, her lost love.

So Andrea starts doing all kinds of things to break out of her rut and get Alex back- new clothes, new friends, new hobbies.

WARNING: Potentially spoilery s...more In Heather Wardell’s A Life That Fits, Andrea’s life is thrown into a tailspin when, at twenty-eight, the man she’s loved for half her life tells her he’s leaving her for another woman, a woman as opposite to Andrea as possible.

In the midst of her devastation, Andrea decides to become the “anti-Andrea” in order to win back Alex, her lost love.

So Andrea starts doing all kinds of things to break out of her rut and get Alex back- new clothes, new friends, new hobbies.

WARNING: Potentially spoilery stuff here. The things I want to say may give away some hints as to what happens, although I am not intentionally giving away any more than the Amazon summary.

As Andrea is creating this amazing new life for herself and learning who she is without Alex, she starts to realize that there may not be a place for Alex in her life, even if she changes enough to win him back. This is where I really got into the story. Andrea inspired me. Yes, I know she’s a character. But she was doing all these really cool things, and learning to be more open and authentic and do what felt right to her. I loved that. I found myself putting down the book to Google- and actually act on- things I’ve always wanted to do but never have.

I don’t know if Heather intended Andrea to be such an inspiration to readers, but all I kept thinking while I was reading was “Live with no regrets” and “You can sit there and let life pass you by, or you can LIVE it”. It almost became irrelevant whether or not Andrea and Alex got back together. Except that Wardell didn’t take that path and let the resolution become irrelevant.

Life’s often messy and complicated, even when we’re at our best and most honest self, and that’s no exception in this story. Heather throws in a couple of plot twists that put Andrea’s relationships to a true test, with no certainty of a happy ending. And while the ending is certainly satisfactory (and, I thought, quite appropriate) it is far from tied up in a neat package with a fancy bow, as so many tales are. That’s just one more piece of authenticity in the book.

I don’t know if Heather intended this much thought in the story, but I’m intrigued when something that could have been formulaic and could have been “just another book” makes me stop and take a look at my own life and contemplate change.(less)

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Jul 29, 2011 Book Binge Blog rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: self-published, for-review, contemporary

This is the third book by Heather Wardell I have read and reviewed and once again she has "hit the ball out of the park!" Once again she has created a character who most readers will recognize--either because we have known people like Andrea or because at some point in our lives we have lived in somewhat the same circumstance. Andrea is a young woman who has lived as society and the prevailing cultural perception of women has dictated: getting an education, working at a nice job, and subjugating...more This is the third book by Heather Wardell I have read and reviewed and once again she has "hit the ball out of the park!" Once again she has created a character who most readers will recognize--either because we have known people like Andrea or because at some point in our lives we have lived in somewhat the same circumstance. Andrea is a young woman who has lived as society and the prevailing cultural perception of women has dictated: getting an education, working at a nice job, and subjugating her entire life to the whims and dictates to her man. That may seem to be an extreme statement, but our contemporary culture has long viewed women as extensions of men and taught so many of our young women that they are best served when they allow the dominant concerns of their spouses, fathers, brothers, etc. to guide them in their life choices. So it was with this young woman.

Andrea's relationship with Alex has endured for 14 years--half her life. Every bit of talent, joy, enthusiasm for one activity or another has become acceptable or rejected according to Alex's likes or dislikes. Her entire life revolved around this man whether she realized it or not. It was not until she was dumped for a woman who Alex claimed to be his "soul mate" and her complete opposite, that Andrea was forced to look at herself, her life, the people she did or did not have in her life, and her need to change. At first all the changes were for the purpose of wooing Alex back into her life. But as is often the case, the changes she made in her life were really taking her back to what she was in years past before Alex smothered all the life out of her. Funny how he really didn't like his "production" when he was finished with her, did he? In truth, she began to come alive for the first time in 14 years and even to the point that she was willing to repaint the living room of her apartment, removing the dull color that Alex preferred, so that her living space began to reflect her and not him.

This novel is an in-depth look at a life that was nearly snuffed out emotionally by one man's selfish needs to be the center of another's life. But when he moved on, Andrea was given a new opportunity to become what she was capable of being--the life she really needed to live because it would reflect her and not anyone else. Even when she discovered a memory box among some items stored by her family, she realized that she had been a sassy, enthusiastic, inquisitive and lively young woman when she graduated from high school. The years with Alex had turned her into a woman without an opinion about much of anything, one who had become dull and malleable, and one who was no longer attractive to anyone, much less herself.

I was absolutely enthralled as I read about Andrea's evolving life, about the way she began to re-discover the heart and soul of herself, the courage to act and think differently, the ability she had always possessed and set aside to be creative and to express herself through music, home arts, and dance. She truly became a new person. This novel chronicles that evolution as Andrea moves in and out of friendships, learns to trust her instincts, and as a new friend counselled: listen to her gut. It is a book that would be wonderful for all women to read, even those of us who have been blessed in our relationships and who have been impacted by powerful thinkers. Young women, especially, would do well to read this book--what a picture of what not to let happen to oneself all in the name of "love."

There are some wonderful supporting characters in this novel and people who I came to think of as metaphors for the kinds of people we all hope to meet and have in our friendship circles. There are some that represent those who are self-motivated, who think only of their own ambitions and advancement, and who are only happy when their ideas and opinions are being foisted on others. Kudos to Andrea for learning and figuring out how to live in a world where those kinds of people can do damage if allowed.

Most of all, I had the sense all through this book that there was an underlying energy and life-force that was trying to express itself through Andrea. And as she continued to fill her life with joy, creativity, music, friends of sterling character, and even some possible men of interest down the road, she stands as a testimony to the fact that everyone should and must live the life that "fits" them . . . the life that is building them up as individuals but which is also an expression to the world of their true nature and worth.

This novel is truly a romantic piece with the emphasis on the true nature of love and friendship, of a life that reads like a finely woven garment, with the flare and verve that comes when nothing is allowed to rob one of that which gives true joy. I think Ms Wardell has written a wonderful novel and even just in the style and literary skill with which the novel is written she has demonstrated that she can hold her head high among those who have gifted us with their writing talents. I can't recommend this novel enough.

I give it a rating of 5 out of 5.

This review was originally posted on Book Binge by Judith.(less)

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Jun 26, 2011 Lily Edwards rated it 3 of 5 stars

Review initially posted at It's Not All Vanity, Darling.

I have to admit that in my younger years I was somewhat addicted to romance novels, reading as many as I could whilst away from the judgemental eyes of my classmates. I guess in those years I overdosed on them a little, as it has been quite some time since I read a title such as this.

The one thing that came immediately to mind when I began reading A Life That Fits was the writing. There were numerous times when I thought could have been tig...more Review initially posted at It's Not All Vanity, Darling.

I have to admit that in my younger years I was somewhat addicted to romance novels, reading as many as I could whilst away from the judgemental eyes of my classmates. I guess in those years I overdosed on them a little, as it has been quite some time since I read a title such as this.

The one thing that came immediately to mind when I began reading A Life That Fits was the writing. There were numerous times when I thought could have been tightened up in some way or other. We are occasionally given too much information, some completely unnecessary to the story, which interrupts the flow and slows the pace of the story. There are certain times where words or phrases don't fit, or they are repeated within a short period of time. I also came across a couple of sentences that seemed to run on forever due to the choices of words and grammar.

That aside I enjoyed the way Wardell created certain images in my mind, for example the way in which she built the idea of fighting for sleep after such a crushing rejection. Throughout the book she portrayed the very real emotions that tread so carelessly across ones mind after the break-down of a relationship. She did this so well that at several points the feelings struck a little too close to home. Wardell often managed to make me forget about the shortfalls noted in my previous paragraph.

I liked how Andrea was forced to deal with the modern take on romance involving the dreaded 'Facebook breakup'. At the same time though, it kind of grated against me and my aversion popular culture references in fiction as I mentioned in my previous review.

I liked the way in which Andrea went about rebuilding herself, even if it was initially for her scum-bag ex. I enjoyed following her as she discovered all the things that she had missed in the time she was with Alex and how she finally learned that she didn't need his permission or acceptance to try something new.

*Spoiler warning*

The relationship that Andrea builds with Loren is absolutely adorable. It created a sense of juxtaposition in my mind because it just seems so innocent and young, almost as though she was fifteen with her first kiss, but she's a professional woman of twenty-eight.

I severely disliked Andrea's indecisiveness especially about her job, first she wants it, then she doesn't, then she does, doesn't does... Later about her men, I almost stopped reading after Andrea went back to Alex. I know it's part of the story but I absolutely HATE reading about women who go back to men who cheat on them.

*End spoilers*

All in all I did rather enjoyed this book. I give it three stars out of five, it would probably have been four were it not for that last point. I look forward to reading Heather's next book (of which there is a sample at the end of the e-book version).(less)

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Jun 23, 2011 Judith rated it 5 of 5 stars

Another fabulous book from an author that has certainly captured my imagination and one I hope to continue to enjoy. She chooses subjects and heroines that speak to the contemporary consciousness and which resonate as so real with problems and connections that are real. Andrea is such a heroine--a woman who has been in a relationship with one man for fourteen years, nearly half of her life, and who has now been soundly "dumped." Trying to move on was nearly impossible but as she worked through h...more

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Oct 08, 2011 Marc rated it 4 of 5 stars

A Life That Fits wasn't what I expected. It mostly dealt with Andrea, learning how to grow up and be an adult. I loved that fact about this book. Maybe it's because the last book I felt dealt a little too much with the love interest and she was bitchy about it. Of course, her husband did die.

Another thing I loved was that I found myself relating not to the main protagonist, which I normally do and still did here, but I related to Alex. A long time ago in my past relationship, I saw what I was do...more

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Jul 13, 2011 BecksBookPicks rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was a new style for me when it came to Heather Wardell's work. Usually I meet the character where they are in their present life. Then she takes me back on a journey through time to show me everything they had gone through. I would then get to return to the present and finish up with what decision this character had to make. So, when I sat down with A Life That Fits, I met Andrea and had expected a story on how her and Alex had gotten to the point of him breaking up with her. Instead, I got...more

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Sep 08, 2011 Kelly rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2011

I got this book for $.99 for my Kindle, and I'm glad it only cost $.99. It wasn't bad, just lacking heart and the main character Andrea was a bit whiney for my taste.
The book starts out with her being dumped by her boyfriend and then for many chapters she proceeds to cry, and even when things begin to look up in her life, she's still crying about something or another.
Andrea decides to change her life by creating a "reversing project" where she does the opposite of what the old Andrea would have...more

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Nov 29, 2011 Donna rated it 4 of 5 stars

I have read most of Heather Wardell's book and enjoy her writing style. The Characters are ones that the readers can identify with. Can't wait to read her newest book.

Twenty-eight-year-old Andrea returns home from a business trip to find Alex, her boyfriend of fourteen years, nervously waiting for her. Assuming he's finally going to propose, Andrea's instead horrified to learn he's been cheating on her and is leaving to be with the other woman, who he calls Andrea's opposite.

At first Andrea's pa...more

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Oct 19, 2011 Prangon rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary, chik-lit, review-copy, read-in-2011, i-own

When I read the synopsis, I knew there can only be one scenarios when I finish. I would love it or hate it. I am thrilled to say it's the former. I love it.

It's not easy letting go of someone, that you love no matter what period of time you have spent with them. It's harder if it's almost half of your life. So when Andrea takes it upon herself to change herself in order to get back her ex, and I completely get it.

I loved how Andrea grows into an adult due to actions to revers things. She was br...more

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Nov 06, 2011 Yvonne rated it 4 of 5 stars

When twenty-eight year old Andrea returns from a business trip, she’s stunned when her boyfriend of fourteen years promptly dumps her for another woman. Her entire world is turned upside down. She can’t even go to work.

Finally, she pulls herself out of her depression with a life plan. She’s going to change her life totally around and be the exact opposite of what she is now. In the back of her mind, Andrea is convinced this will win Alex back. She changes her wardrobe to include more colorful cl...more

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Jan 07, 2012 Leslie rated it 2 of 5 stars

I read A Life that Fits and Stir Until Thoroughly Confused back to back. While I think Ms. Wardell is a good writer, and her stories are light and delightful, I was disappointed in the following:
1. Both books were exactly the same - girl and guy break up, girl gets backbone, girl gets everything she wants, and it all comes too easily.
2. Ms. Wardell has great intentions, but I feel like she "chickens out" - in both books, the villain of the story could have done so much more to thwart the progres...more

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Jun 22, 2011 Jennie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: e-book, fiction, i-own, to-review, read-in-june, read-in-2011

This is a story about growth and self discovery, reminding the reader that teens aren’t the only ones figuring out who they are. When Andrea’s long-time boyfriend leaves she is suddenly alone…and lost. She wallows in her heartbreak and along the way realizes that she doesn’t know who she is anymore. She sets out on a plan to win her boyfriend back by becoming the opposite of who she was with him.

Along the way she truly discovers herself and this is such a wonderful transformation to witness. It...more

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Jan 01, 2012 Jenny Winters rated it 4 of 5 stars

A beautiful tale that delves into the deeper feelings of the protagonist without being preachy or analytical. I was waiting cynically for the main character to act inconsistently (as has been the case with many of the self-published Amazon $0.99 authors) but Andrea delightfully stayed herself while changing in ways true to the plotline. I am about to begin Wardell's first novel, Life, Love and a Polar Bear Tattoo, in the hopes that she won't duplicate the characterization. Will let you know.

Mean...more

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Aug 12, 2012 Shelly rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Heather Wardell is my "go to" author when I need a light, chick-lit read that isn't overly sappy and has some substance to it.

The main character, Andrea, has been with Alex for 14 years...half of her 28 years and all of her adult life. When Alex dumps her without forewarning, Andrea's life is turned upside down. She soon realizes that she based her entire life on what Alex likes and wants and never really developed an identity of her own, despite being well educated. While this often made me wan...more

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Nov 01, 2011 Samantha Robey rated it 5 of 5 stars

When Andrea returns home from a business trip, she is sure her boyfriend of fourteen years, Alex, is about to propose. Imagine her surprise when instead of diamond ring she gets her heartbroken. Alex has found someone else, and promptly moves out of their shared home. Andrea is devastated, in shock, and can only think of ways to get Alex back. She doesn’t care that he cheated––she just wants her first love back.

A Life That Fits is another superb novel from Heather Wardell. I didn’t want to give...more

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Apr 12, 2012 Shelleyrae at Book'd Out rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: blog-reviews

A Life That Fits features Andrea who is struggling to rebuild her life after her childhood sweetheart dumps her. The end of her fourteen year relationship with Alex leaves her floundering, her identity has been so tightly bound with his that on her own she is not sure about who she is or what she wants. After a period of mourning, Andrea sets out on a journey to win Alex back but what she finds is herself.

A Life That Fits has a strong, positive message for women facing a relationship breakdown....more A Life That Fits features Andrea who is struggling to rebuild her life after her childhood sweetheart dumps her. The end of her fourteen year relationship with Alex leaves her floundering, her identity has been so tightly bound with his that on her own she is not sure about who she is or what she wants. After a period of mourning, Andrea sets out on a journey to win Alex back but what she finds is herself.

A Life That Fits has a strong, positive message for women facing a relationship breakdown. Andrea is naturally crushed at being dumped by the man she had expected to spend her life with and mourns the relationship, entertaining fantasies of reconciliation. After so many years as 'AndreaandAlex' she can barely imagine her life without the relationship. For Andrea, it's not a matter of resuming her life after the break up but reinventing it. The 'reversal project' is a great idea even if initially her motivation is skewed. Forcing herself into new experiences allows Andrea to develop her individual identity and builds her self esteem. I admired Andrea taking chances, facing her fear and trying different activities. I liked that she learnt to listen to her 'gut' and made mistakes but didn't let them hold her back, essentially Andrea grew up.
I didn't feel there was enough momentum in the plot to sustain the novel though. Andrea spends a lot of time grieving her relationship and her career which is realistic but does not make for an interesting narrative. Andrea's career issues offers a subplot to the relationship focus but I don't think Wardell exploited it quite enough (I never really got a sense of what Andrea's job really entailed either other than conference trips and paperwork). I do think that Wardell handles the relationships in the novel authentically though coincidences abound.
For me, the issues with the plot affects the pacing, it does tend to drag in places. There are a few instances of repetitive phrasing and clumsy sentence structure and overall I do think the novel needs just a touch more polish.

I am sure many readers will be able to relate to Andrea's heartbreak and recovery. A Life That Fits is a pleasant read with an inspirational message that encourages women to find inner strength and individual identity. (less)

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Jan 16, 2012 Nenette rated it 5 of 5 stars

Where would a woman be and how would she feel after the man she hoped to marry and who she's been with for half of her life (she's 28) leaves her for another woman? Her name is Andrea, and her reaction and the things she did are what this book is all about. It details her struggle from the pit of loneliness back to the world, living for the first time alone as an adult. The story drives home a lot of points: Nothing is permanent; there are nice people, and there are the other ones; when you're d...more

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Jun 22, 2012 Linda rated it 5 of 5 stars

Good book. Perfect for post-breakup which is when I read it so maybe it wasn't as good as I thought...it only seemed that way because I was going through the same thing the main character was! I was rooting for her the whole time. My only problem with her is that she didn't have any friends at all before the breakup which is very, very strange. I'm glad she made friends after but I didn't think that was realistic. Other than that, good read. Easy read. Anybody who has been through a breakup can...more

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Nov 20, 2011 Autumn Review rated it 5 of 5 stars

I really enjoy Heather Wardell's writing style. Every book that I've read of hers has had a different concept. It's so refreshing! What I liked and identified with in this book was the journey of self discovery. It was fun to watch Andrea learn about herself. I was so proud of her when she realized that she really needed to be comfortable in her own skin before she could truly let someone else into her life. This book will make you feel good, because it's real.

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Sep 25, 2011 Jill rated it 4 of 5 stars

What a great book! The protagonist navigates tricky relationships in unique ways. She takes leaps where the rest of us would stand on the edge biting our nails. But she takes these leaps with all the fear we would have which makes her real and easy to identify with.

All the characters are intriguing and necessary. I cared very much what happened next. I was on the edge of my seat the whole book and satisfied at the end. I’ll definitely read this again.

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Jul 19, 2011 Melissa rated it 2 of 5 stars

This book was not good, but was so ridiculous I just had to finish it. The writing was bad - lots of run-on sentences, unnecessary information and very monotone. The author tried to include some humorous comments that just fell flat.
The concept was actually cute and in the right hands it could have been a good book. But the main character was too indecisive and needy, the ex was an ass and the supporting characters were just too stereotypical. Then there were just insane plots - the jerky guys s...more

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May 19, 2012 Maryellen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: highly-recommend, kindle-read

This book is chock full of romance novel 'ideas' - but every single one of them rises well above a cliche. Together, the ideas weave themselves into an amazing novel that reminds me why I enjoy the romance genre.

I particularly enjoyed the resolution - the author gets five stars for resolving the conflicts without falling into the chick lit "boy fixes my life" pitfall that has made me hurl so many books across a room.

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Apr 20, 2012 Susan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-lendable

Oftentimes we'll read these chick-lit books and find ourselves identifying w/ the female lead and coveting the male lead. What I really liked about this book is that in the case of all the main and sub characters (Andrea, Loren, Wendy, Mark, George), I find myself just wanting to be their friends! Nothing mind-blowing or especially memorable about the book...but a sweet, quick read and great time-passer.

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Nov 16, 2011 Sarah Paul Garcia rated it 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed the storyline of this book and it made for a very fun few days of just relaxed reading. the main character is charming and her drive to change is certainly commendable. I wish the character of her ex-boyfriend was more balanced because once he showed up, he was downright hateful and I didn't understand her drive to want to make things work for so long. Other than that, the story was fun and I enjoyed it.

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Aug 31, 2011 Jencey/ rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: chick-lit

Heather Wardell is dropping by Writer’s Corner for her latest book A Life That Fits.

Synopsis:

Andrea returns from a business trip to shocking news. Her boyfriend of fourteen years Alex breaks up with her rather than proposing. Andrea goes into a deep depression wondering what she will do without Alex. She is unable to work and unaware of the recent events at the office. Andrea realizes that she needs to do something for herself. The reversal project becomes her goal. What changes will she make?...more

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title link	preview: A Life That Fits
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A Life That Fits

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