The Year We Turned Forty by Liz Fenton & Lisa Steinke
The Year We Turned Forty
Authors:
Liz Fenton
Lisa Steinke
Published: April 26, 2016
319 Pages
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Read: May 2-8, 2020
Jessica’s Rating: 4 stars
Book Description:
If you could repeat one year of your life, what would you do differently? This heartwarming and hilarious novel from the authors of The Status of All Things and Your Perfect Life features three best friends who get the chance to return to the year they turned forty—the year that altered all of their lives, in ways big and small—and also get the opportunity to change their future.
Jessie loves her son Lucas more than anything, but it tears her up inside that he was conceived in an affair that ended her marriage to a man she still loves, a man who just told her he’s getting remarried. This time around, she’s determined to bury the secret of Lucas’ paternity, and to repair the fissures that sent her wandering the first time.
Gabriela regrets that she wasted her most fertile years in hot pursuit of a publishing career. Yes, she’s one of the biggest authors in the world, but maybe what she really wanted to create was a family. With a chance to do it again, she’s focused on convincing her husband, Colin, to give her the baby she desires.
Claire is the only one who has made peace with her past: her twenty-two year old daughter, Emily, is finally on track after the turmoil of adolescence, and she’s recently gotten engaged, with the two carat diamond on her finger to prove it. But if she’s being honest, Claire still fantasizes about her own missed opportunities: a chance to bond with her mother before it was too late, and the possibility of preventing her daughter from years of anguish. Plus, there’s the man who got away—the man who may have been her one true love.
But it doesn’t take long for all three women to learn that re-living a life and making different decisions only leads to new problems and consequences—and that the mistakes they made may, in fact, have been the best choices of all…
Jessica’s Review:
I just had my big 40th birthday at the end of April and thought that this novel would be a good one to start my new decade of life, and it was! The authors, Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke have been BFFs for many years and written quite a few novels together, but this is the first one of theirs I have read.
The Year We Turned Forty focuses on three ladies (Jessie, Gabriela, and Claire) who have been friends forever. They have all just recently turned 50 and are given a special opportunity to go back ten years to the year they all turned 40 and re-live that year. This was the year that changed everything for the ladies in different ways and they all have their reasons for wanting to go back. But will going back in time and making different choices make life better or worse? And what ultimate choice will they make?
This is a thought provoking and also very enjoyable novel. Who hasn’t thought about if you could go back and change something? If given the opportunity, would you actually do it and what happens to the rest of the world with changing just one decision???? One decision can change so much, and it might not actually be for the better.
The Year We Turned Forty may have been my first novel by ‘Liz & Lisa’ but it will not be my last. I will be reading them again!
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
