William Morrow
November 19, 2013
320 pages
Welcome to the last stop of TLC Books blog tour for Someone Else’s Love Story. The novel was my first book to read by Ms. Jackson, and I was very impressed with her writing and will definitely read more from this New York Times-best selling author. I had heard of Ms. Jackson and her books from social media and specifically from other authors who appreciate her writing.
This particular book begins with an introduction of some of the characters via a move from a small town in Georgia to the big city of Atlanta. What happens at a convenience store stop was the one event that brought some of the main characters together.
I enjoyed Ms. Jackson’s writing for, at the least, two reasons. She is very adept at getting into her characters’ heads and expressing their thoughts with humor and honesty. One of the characters she created for this book is on the autism spectrum and I thought Ms. Jackson wrote from his viewpoint spectacularly.
Another reason I appreciated Ms. Jackson’s writing was because almost all the outcomes were different from my expectations. For example, she completely humanizes an evil victimizer and this person was really a victim, too. Someone who I thought was a widower, was not really a widower . . .
I was also casting the movie version of the book as I read along. If I could choose, the main character, Shandi, would be played by Alexis Bledel or Amber Tamblyn. Channing Tatum or, of course, Chris Hemsworth would make a great William (Shandi’s nickname for him was Thor). William risks his life to protect Shandi and her little boy, Natty (Nathan).
Ms. Jackson did not write from the point of view of all of her characters and I really wanted to know what some of the other characters were thinking. One was Shandi’s best friend in the world, a guy named Walcott. The other character I would have loved to know what she was thinking was William’s best friend, Paula.
So many issues were presented in this book. They ranged from frat parties and rohypnol to autism to whether or not one of the characters was destined to become a nun or get married. Someone Else’s Love Story was a book I could not put down once I began reading and I read the book in a day. I will be checking out Joshilyn Jackson’s other novels, you can be sure.
Sounds like a great read! Good review, too.
Thank you, Laura. I think you would enjoy it. I will bring it to you!
I love it when I discover an author whose books I just can’t put down! I hope you enjoy her other books just as much as you enjoyed this one. Thanks for being a part of the tour.
Thank you, Heather. I will definitely read more of her books!