"Hey, Frannie." Ryan. Ugh. Ryan. It's as if someone has thrown a bucket of cold water on my face and I'm frozen in the doorway, mascara trailing down my cheeks....
"Hey," I say, my eyes scanning the room. Jill. On the balcony. (ch. 3)
Title: More Like Her by Liza Palmer
Harper Collins, paperback; April 17, 2012
Genre: contemporary fiction
Comments: I see that lots of readers on Goodreads gave this book four stars and some loved the writing. I felt the book was written in a jerky conversational style, which made me impatient with the book as I prefer much smoother prose. Overall, the plot was interesting, however, - involving a new high school headmistress whom the young teachers begin to idolize but whose personal life gives them a shock later in the book. There is also a love story with the main character, a shy self-effacing speech teacher Francis, moving on after her lover Ryan leaves her for another. I gave this a rating of 3 out of 5.
Book description: In Frances's mind, beautiful, successful, ecstatically married Emma Dunham is the height of female perfection. Frances, recently dumped by her boyfriend, aspires to be just like Emma. So do her close friends and fellow teachers, Lisa and Jill. Yet sometimes the golden dream you wish for turns out to be not what it seems--like Emma's enviable suburban postcard life. And in the shocking aftermath, three devastated friends have to come to terms with their own secrets . . . and somehow learn to move forward after their dream is exposed as a lie. (publisher)
Thanks to the publisher for a review copy of this book.
