The Godmother by Carrie Adams

As the cover of The Godmother by Carrie Adams says, "Tessa King has seven best friends, four godchildren, and one big wish -- to have a life of her own."   This is the September book for the Authors by the Alphabet Book Club.


From Amazon:

While 30-something Londoner Tessa King questions her no-strings-attached lifestyle, she also witnesses her friends' difficulties in marriage and parenthood while playing godmother to their broods. Nick and Francesca battle to keep their sullen teenager out of serious trouble; Billy, a single mom, can't break ties to her now remarried ex-; Helen and Neil, fairy tale parents to twin boys, are hiding something; successful Claudia and Al struggle to conceive; and Ben and Sasha have no plans to have children. But Ben also happens to be Tessa's best friend, and perhaps the love of her life. When tragedy eventually strikes the group, bonds are tested, and Tessa is forced to re-examine what she thinks will really make her happy. A painful look into the fears, doubts and desires that make and break marriages, this debut novel from Londoner Adams is notches up from the usual chick and mom lit fare.

I agree that The Godmother is more than a simple chick lit novel -- I don't usually go in for full-fledged chick lit -- shoe shopping and hair crises just don't speak to me.  My own life is in such a state of flux that the emotions and experiences Adams writes about resonated with me.  Tessa's melancholy and regret were realistic without turning whiny. 


It's been a while since I've read a book with so much blatant foreshadowing -- some of which I found a bit much, ("She felt she knew him better. Turned out she was right." p. 31)  but some that really added to the poignant tone that kept me reading ("I have gone over that moment in my mind a thousand times since and I swear I saw her laughing.  Now I realize that I was seeing only what I expected to see.  Even though I was distrustful of it at the time and would have loved to have seen something else, I couldn't.  I was programmed not to. And that is why, even now, knowing what I know, my memory can only recall her laughing as Neil pulled her back inside the house." p 51-52)

Read The Godmother for a good reminder that life is lived once and that, no matter how much you envy someone else's life, there is always something to be appreciated in your own.