Book Review: Another Year or Two

I accessed this novel through Story Cartel for free in exchange for an honest review.  Honestly, it wouldn't have mattered to me if I had skipped reading this.  It wasn't bad.  The characters were engaging and the story unfolded in an interesting series of blog posts (a method I generally enjoy).  But, if I think like Sheila of The Deliberate Reader, I would have rather spent my time reading something else.  It wasn't a bad effort.  The author wrote a story that kept me reading - that's a positive sign.  It just didn't edify or uplift me in any way.  It had no lasting take-away value.  It was just the story of several individuals whose lives intersect over pets, jobs, and work-outs.

Wendy is a single mother to 15 year old Kyle.  Kyle blogs and gets his mother into blogging, as well.  She ends up meeting Casey, a single father separated from his daughters (who is also blogging on the side).  Kyle is enamored with Lara (blogging) who is enamored with Chad (not blogging), but Chad is in love with Taylor (the horse trainer who works with both Lara and Wendy and eventually Casey).  Madison is a substitute teacher who falls in love with her work-out instructor and eventually leaves teaching to open a coffee shop.

Even as I try to describe the book, I can't pinpoint a particular theme or lesson to draw from its pages.  It was very much like eavesdropping on a small community, but to what end?  Everyone has a story, it's true.  But does the story bring something of value to the reader?  That's the telling question.