Tuesday, August 26, 2008

My Husband's Sweethearts


My Husband's Sweethearts by Bridget Asher (ARC review for LT)

Faced with the imminent death of her charming, cheating and estranged husband Artie, Lucy Shoreman decides to call the names in his little black book and invite the ladies to his Philadelphia home to say a final farewell. For her part, 30-ish Lucy, who's 18 years Artie's junior, can't decide whether she loves or hates the man, while her much-married mother insists he deserves forgiveness. As a broad spectrum of his ex-lovers arrives, including a surprised mother-and-daughter duo and a troubled young woman Lucy takes under her wing, Artie's previously undisclosed and estranged grown son, John, shows up and seems as wickedly appealing as Dad. Asher, a pen name of prolific author Julianna Baggott, takes the edge off her sharply drawn characters with a succession of familiar sentiments. But flashes of wit and a parade of memorable women keep pages turning as Lucy grows increasingly and endearingly confused about her feelings toward Artie, John and the rest. (From Amazon)

When Lucy finds out her husband Artie is cheating on her, she takes off and buries herself in her work. Trying to forget his ultimate betrayal. But when she finds out Artie is dying, she realizes she must come home and try and make peace with him before his time comes. In a drunken fit of anger, Lucy takes her husbands little black book and starts calling all of his "sweethearts". She tells them "Artie is dying - come say goodbye". After only a few of these calls she realizes her mistake and is shocked the next day when the doorbell rings, and it's one of the women that she's called. What Lucy doesn't expect is the way in which she bonds with some of these women. And her confusion over how she feels about Artie. While she and the other women come to terms with his dying - they form an unlikely "family." While the ending was a bit predictable I enjoyed this book. Lucy's struggle to make peace with Artie, as well as all of his sweethearts trying to get him to make peace with his cheating ways made for a pleasurable read.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

this is one that's caught my eye a few times ... I'll add it to my wish list!