I picked this book up after I finished Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married. Like Lucy Sullivan, I enjoyed Marian Keyes chatty style. Reading this book feels like a chat with a friend and I found that I got to know the main character very well. Marian Keyes excels at character development.

As you probably know, this story is about Claire, a 29 year old Irish woman living in London. A few hours after she gave birth, her husband James announces that he doesn't love her anymore and that he is leaving her for another woman. Devastated, Claire left London for her family in Dublin. In Dublin we experience with Claire her stages of "mourning," which seem quite accurate for a woman in her predicament. First, she wants her husband to come back to her and for everything to return how it was, then she is angry, and then she finds acceptance. As Claire goes on with her life and meets someone knew, her husband James pops back into her life and wants her back. Claire contemplates taking him back because she wants to have the perfect family and her old life back. In the end, she realizes that she cannot forgive her husband. The book is a predictable plotline, of course, but what is special about it is how Claire wrestles with her changing perception of her husband and herself. She realizes that she had placed her husband on a pedestal and she figures out that he was really not the guy she thought he was.

Yes, Claire gets annoying at times. Don't we all? And aren't most poeple who go through big breakups kind of selfish and self-centered? The fact is, Claire is a very real person. She has her flaws and faults, but the reader grows to care about her.

I gave this book four stars because some sections were kind of wordy and at some points (e.g. the baggage claim scene when Claire first arrives in Dublin) where it looks like the author is trying too hard to be funny. But this is a fantastic book if you are looking for a light, funny read.