ly Giffin's newest novel, Heart of the Matter. I've read Giffin's four previous novels and enjoyed three of them quite a bit. Something Borrowed and Something Blue are the best chick lit I've read since the first couple of Shopaholic books. Heart of the Matter was a little more serious . . . it felt like chick lit's older, more responsible sister. Gone are the fun shopping sprees and intricate descriptions of fashion. Instead, we see a woman who has recently given up her career to stay home with her two small children and her surgeon husband who is rarely home. I read this book after the high I had reading Freedom. I often do that--after a really great, intense read, I opt for something light and end up going too light. Any other time, I'm sure this would have been a nice, easy read. Coming off of Freedom, though, it felt trite and a little boring. Well, it did bog down a bit at the beginning. The narrative switches between Tessa, the mother mentioned above, and Valerie, the mother of a boy who was badly burned in a birthday party accident. Tessa's husband Nick, a pediatric plastic surgeon, is the boy's doctor. And he's handsome (swoon). As the story is set up, it becomes immediately clear that Nick and Valerie are going to have an affair. It just takes way too long to get there--about half the book. Once they do, the story picks up.
Giffin has definitely graduated from her chick lit origins. She seems to be trying to get into the Jodi Picoult/Lifetime movie genre . . . we feel sympathy for all parties involved and find it hard to blame anyone . . . but it doesn't quite have the urgency or emotion of a Picoult novel. I would think twice before reading Giffin's next novel. And please remind me not to pick up a cotton candy book the next time I finish a real masterpiece!
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