This story had it's moments, and I hate to disparage someone's hard work, but from the beginning, the dialog was very stilted, not at all realistic. The first quarter of this book is the best part, that's where the conflict resides. From there, there is no conflict, the characters become caricatures. Everything is handed to Olivia, from her job, to her lawyer, to her next step in life. That doesn't scream independence. Her lawyer tells her to move out to demonstrate her independence, and she doesn't. Her "age-appropriate" clothing isn't. The relationships aren't realistic. Plot points are repeated (in case you missed them the first two times she told you what they were a paragraph ago) and the author spends too much time "telling" you what she wants you to think rather than "showing" you things to let you figure it out on your own.

There is so much in this book that could have been cut out ... Olivia isn't going to be independent, she's going to let people drive her around because she doesn't know how to drive in winter weather, she's going to let them tell her what lawyer to call and she's going to drive their cars. And the author is going to wrap that all up and tell me this equates to independence because Olivia's out of a bad marriage. I didn't think Olivia was cool, I thought she was pampered and air-headed and juvenile, waiting for someone to tell her what to do next. Not my idea of a strong woman. She allows someone else to buy her kids' Christmas presents instead of buying them herself and for someone working part time, she shows no fiscal responsibility.

I'm sorry, Jennifer. I wanted to like this book. Really, I did. I just can't get there.