Name: The Elegant Out
ISBN: 9781631525636

Elizabeth Bartasius

When her IUD expires, a muzzled storyteller, haunted by a traumatic event, must choose between having another baby and birthing the novel she's always wanted to write.

A Novella

The Elegant Out

Paige Green

Disclaimer: I received this book from Sparks Press. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book Series: Standalone

Rating: 3/5

Publication Date: April 23, 2019

Genre: Contemporary 

Recommended Age: 17+ (love, loss, career vs family, and feeling inadequate)

Publisher: She Writes Press

Pages: 144

Amazon Link

Synopsis: After escaping an abusive relationship, Elizabeth finds herself struggling with immense feelings of inadequacy. Stuck in a small-town, eight to five job, she dreams of characters and plot lines―when she’s not thinking about babies. She wants another. Gabe, her love, does not. When her writing coach praises her talent and encourages her to write, Elizabeth dives in, resolved to pursue her dream of publishing once again and put her ideas about pregnancy on the back burner. But then everyone around her, from her cousin to the couple-that-never-would, starts announcing their own pregnancies, and her baby obsession comes rushing back―accompanied by a deep depression.

Frustrated with Gabe’s refusal to give her another child―as well as his questioning of her motives―Elizabeth finds herself considering a separation. Writing, meanwhile, becomes a tool for beating herself up over her inability to find her voice. Ultimately, she must face an abusive past to answer a complex question: Is having babies the answer, or simply a distraction from her immense feelings of inadequacy and fear―an elegant out? If she fails to uncover her truth, Elizabeth fears she might remain strangled, her voice squelched forever.

Review: I thought this story was pretty good. The writing does well to give voice to a woman who is confused and scared. The plot was intriguing and the characters were fairly well developed.

However, I found that the book was really unevenly paced. It felt choppy and disjointed, like walking on an uneven sidewalk. I couldn’t find my stride with this book and I struggled to connect with it. I think that was the point of the book, but it just didn’t convey well to me. And, at the end of my day, this just wasn’t the type of book I would normally read.

Verdict: It wasn’t for me, but it was a fairly good book! Go check it out!

The Elegant Out A Novella

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