Hilary Grossman

I should never have said yes! As soon as the words tumbled out of my mouth, I knew I had made a major mistake... Why did I ever agree to help my narcissistic-mother plan "the wedding of the year" to some dreamboat she just met on a cruise ship? I guess I could back out, but I won't. Call me crazy, but I didn't want to disappoint her—even though she's always disappointed me. Thanks to all this forced togetherness, I'm seeing a whole different side of the woman I thought I knew—things I never imagined. As secrets unfold, I now wonder if everything I believed about my life was a lie… Was that her plan? Or is there more? This humorous, emotionally honest women's contemporary fiction novel will tug at your heartstrings, and the twist ending will shock you!

Plan Bea

Jess Bickerton

Ok... so I've been staring at this blank page for ages and the big question on my mind is...

How do I write a review that does justice to such an amazing book?

So I have to admit straight away that I already have a bit of a love affair with Hilary's first novel, Dangled Carat (read my review here). This was a beautiful memoir from Hilary which was very open, real and captivating. When I heard that Hilary was writing a second novel, this time a fictional story, I couldn't be more excited. And what made it even more exciting is that it arrive the day before my birthday! :)

Plan Bea is... wow. I feel speechless.

Plan Bea is a story that focuses on the relationship between a mother and daughter, Beatrice and Annabel, and the difficulties they have overcoming some tragic events from their passed. Hilary grabbed my attention right from the first page as you find yourself becoming completely captivated by the family dynamics within the story and how each character works together and responds to one another. Hilary creates such strong, diverse characters and you immediately are able to see each of their personalities and qualities, helping the story to feel more real and authentic. When you first encounter the characters the natural instinct is to dislike Bea and feel sorry for Anna, however as the story unfolds and the truths about the passed are revealed, you find yourself starting to understand Bea and the reasons behind the way she behaves.

It is so hard for me to write about this story without giving anything away, and I don't want to let any spoilers go!

Hilary's writing beautifully entwines the present day struggles between Anna and Bea with flashbacks from the past. Despite jumping between the past and present, it is never difficult to follow the story and keep up with the story. As you read the story the secrets from the past are slowly unveiled and the tension between Anna and Bea starts to increase before any sign of reconciliation as they start to deal with the reality of what has caused the tension between them. I found myself becoming completely drawn into Hilary's writing, feeling all the emotions of each character and anxious to see how the story was going to end.

There is a huge surprising twist towards the end of the story which I was not expecting at all but it was brilliant and beautiful... and I have to admit it made me burt into tears!! As the twist unravelled and Bea revealed some intense, exciting news to Anna, I found myself entirely welling up with tears running down my face.

And then, if that's not enough, Hilary cleverly throws a cliffhanger on to the end of the story!! Aaahhhh!!!! Now I have very split emotions about this cliffhanger... on the one hand I am so super excited because it can only mean one thing... ANOTHER HILARY GROSSMAN NOVEL!!!! But then on the other hand, I DON"T WANT TO HAVE TO WAIT FOR IT!!! The way Hilary wrote the cliffhanger into the story was so clever. It pulls you in and you become curious, just like Anna, and when the story ends I wanted to yell 'Noooooo!!!!!!!!'. All I can say is I can't wait for the next book!!

Plan Bea is a beautiful, heartbreaking, honest and authentic story. The characters are all beautiful and real in their own way and the story explores some very intense, strong emotions in a very sensitive but honest way.

If there is one book you must read this year, and next year, and the year after... it is Plan Bea!!! I have already recommend it to so many of my friends and am buying it for a few as Christmas presents. And now I am recommending it to YOU! All of you! Read it now!!!! Your life depends on it... ok, so maybe that's not true but that's how much I loved this book!!

Plan Bea

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