Life She Wants Original/E

by Robyn Carr

In the aftermath of her financier husband's suicide, Emma Shay Compton's dream life is shattered. Richard Compton stole his clients' life savings to fund a lavish life in NYC and, although she was never involved in the business, Emma bears the burden of her husband's crimes. She is left with nothing. So she goes home to Sonoma County. But starting over isn't easy, and Sonoma is full of unhappy memories, too. And people she'd rather not face, especially Riley Kerrigan. Riley and Emma were like sisters--until Riley betrayed Emma, ending their friendship. Emma left town, planning to never look back. Now, trying to stand on her own two feet, Emma can't escape her husband's reputation and is forced to turn to the last person she thought she'd ever ask for help--her former best friend. It's an uneasy reunion as both women face the mistakes they've made over the years.

• ISBN10: 0778319679
• ISBN13: 9780778319672
• Publish Date: 27 September 2016
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Mira Books
• Edition: Original ed.
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 352
• Language: English

Reviews

[Stephanie]

This review was originally posted on Once Upon a ChapterI received this book for free from MIRA in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.





Blogging shame is such a real thing. I've had The Life She Wants by Robyn Carr for forever. I love Robyn Carr. I have literally no excuse as for why I didn't read this book. I am SO very grateful that I did.

Right off the bat there is Emma Shay who is someone that I would never have felt sorry for in real life. Unfortunately I am one of the people who would have whispered about how she would have had to have known what was going on in her own home. Carr is a genius though and before long I knew I was wrong.

I adored watching a woman gather the tatters of her life and with an incredible backbone and the kindness of friends and strangers start to build a happy life for herself. There's an underlying story of best friends who were no longer friends. This really struck home with me. I have a best friend that I haven't talked to in a decade. Thinking about that nearly gutted me. I could relate SO much to Emma and Riley's story.

All of the characters in The Life She Wants made me dorky smiley happy. There was so much about this book that I loved. It instantly became a book to adorn the keeper shelf at home. I don't have many books like that anymore. Truly I loved this book. In fact, I'm going to make it a book that I will re-read every year. Maybe I can use it in the month of January sort of as a motivational yearly read.

I forget how much I love contemporary romance and then a book like The Life She Wants comes along and reminds me of how great it is. If, like me, you had overlooked this book, do yourself a favor and pick it up!

[whisperingchapters]

This review was originally posted on Latte Nights Reviews.


Emma's husband has been found guilty of stealing from his clients. He realized he would lose it all so he killed himself. Now, Emma has to live with the crimes her dead husband committed. She has nothing so the little she has left, she takes to the town where she grew up to start over. Even in her town, people accuse her of having money stored away that belonged to the clients. In search of a job, she reconnects with her former best friend's brother and realizes there's something more that could happen between them. He's the one to suggests Emma ask for a job at Riley's, the former best friend, cleaning company. They are both holding grudges of something that happened years ago and aren't sure they can move past it.

What got me to pick this book up was the talk of friendship between Emma and Riley. I was eager to read about how they would patch things up so they could move forward. What saddens me is that there wasn't much development in this area. I was expecting them to spend time together so they could move forward. That didn't exactly happen. The few times they spent time together it was because of work. I didn't feel a real connection of friendship between them when the story ended.

Another thing I didn't like was how there was no explanation for Emma's step-mother's hatred towards her. I was waiting for an explanation of sorts to understand this hatred and I got none. I could only assume it was because Emma's dad gave Emma more attention or something similar to that. The story never explained this part so I was left very confused.

What I did like about the story was the romance, Riley's mom, and Emma's friendship with Lyle. The romance was cute and it was good to see Emma falling for someone, especially someone she knew very well. Riley's mom is a character on her own that had me smiling a lot. She cares deeply for those she knows, especially Emma. She never pointed a finger at Emma. On the contrary, she invited her into her home so they could reconnect. You see, Riley's mom was like a mom to Emma so it was good to see that Emma still had people who cared for her. Lyle was one of those people. He was the breath of fresh air that this book needed. The few times he made appearances would also have me smiling. He's definitely there for Emma, even when his boyfriend doesn't trust her. He just knew in his heart that Emma wouldn't be a part of the crimes that her dead husband was involved in so he helped her out in everything she needed.

I actually did enjoy the story, despite my qualms with it. I just wish it had been fleshed out more and focused on the important aspect of the story, which was the friendship. Overall, The Life She Wants is a nice Women's Fiction novel that I think lovers of this genre will enjoy.

I received an ARC and finished copy from the publisher for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.This review was originally posted on Latte Nights Reviews.