The Actor and the Housewife by Shannon Hale

There were so many things about this book that make it a train wreck waiting to happen: Telling rather than showing, vague expanses of time, an annoying, sugary-sweet main character...

But then something happened about 3/4 of the way through reading this book: I started becoming attached to the characters and found myself crying at a very pivotal moment in the story. When did that happen?

There's no doubt about it: this is total chick lit. But it's sugar-coated, chaste...more There were so many things about this book that made it a train wreck waiting to happen: Telling rather than showing, vague expanses of time, an annoying, sugary-sweet main character...

But then something happened about 3/4 of the way through reading it: I started becoming attached to the characters and found myself crying at a very pivotal moment in the story. It was then that I found myself actually caring deeply about the characters in the story. When did that happen?

There's no doubt about it, this is total chick lit. But it's sugar-coated, chaste, and unpredictable chick lit. I was honestly waiting for the main character, Becky Jack, to give in to her desires and cheat on her husband. When that didn't happen, I had to give Shannon Hale major props for going against the grain and writing something that goes against every predictable scenario a reader could think of.