Book Review: The Life You’ve Imagined by Kristina Riggle

Title: The Life You’ve Imagined
Author: Kristina Riggle
Publisher: Avon A
Publication Date: August 17, 2010
Paperback: 352 pages
ISBN: 978-0061706295
Genre: Fiction

From the Publisher:

Is the life you’re living all you imagined?

Have you ever asked yourself, “What if??” Here, four women face the decisions of their lifetimes in this stirring and unforgettable novel of love, loss, friendship, and family.

Anna Geneva, a Chicago attorney coping with the death of a cherished friend, returns to her “speck on the map” hometown of Haven to finally come to terms with her mother, the man she left behind, and the road she did not take.

Cami Drayton, Anna’s dearest friend from high school, is coming home too, forced by circumstance to move in with her alcoholic father . . . and to confront a dark family secret.

Maeve, Anna’s mother, never left Haven, firmly rooted there by her sadness over her abandonment by the husband she desperately loved and the hope that someday he will return to her.

And Amy Rickart—thin, beautiful, and striving for perfection—faces a future with the perfect man . . . but is haunted by the memory of what she used to be.

Kristina Riggle’s The Life You’ve Imagined takes a provocative look at the choices we make—and the courage we must have to change.

My Review:

What if? A key question of The Life You’ve Imagined by Kristina Riggle as each of her characters takes a long look at their lives and ponders the ramifications of the actions they have taken thus far and the choices they have ignored.  Cami Drayton has returned home to her alcoholic and verbally abusive father, severely in debt due to her gambling addiction.  Maeve is Anna’s mother and harbors several secrets: her store is about to go through foreclosure and she has been in communication with her estranged husband.  Her daughter, Anna, is a successful lawyer who has returned home on forced bereavement leave after the death of her friend and mentor, August.  Amy Rickart is engaged to Paul Becker who happens to be brilliant, gorgeous and wealthy yet Amy may not be truly happy.  She is finally thin and appears to have it all, yet her self-confidence does not quite allow the happiness that one hears comes from being thin, lovely, and with a handsome man. The Life You’ve Imagined is about four women; Cami, Anna, and Amy all went to school together and are catching up with each other while struggling with their own personal demons and Maeve, who has enough issues of her own.  The story is told in first person and the chapters alternate between the four women.  Riggle writes an intriguing and fast-paced story of life and how the choices we make affect where we are today.  Riggle details the lives of each of the women to the point where the reader can easily identify with one, if not all of the characters.  My all time favourite character was Maeve, possibly because I am closer to her age than to Cami, Anna, and Amy and my least favourite character from beginning to end is Amy, to the point that I cringed when I had to read about her.   The Life You’ve Imagined is beautifully written and the characters are strong and witty and at times annoying, each sharing their joys and sorrows.  If anyone has read the book, please leave a comment; I would very much like to discuss this one with someone besides my cat.   I highly recommend The Life You’ve Imagined to any reader and think this would be an excellent discussion group choice.

About the Author:

Kristina Riggle lives and writes in West Michigan. Besides her debut novel, Real Life & Liars, she has published short stories in the Cimarron Review, Literary Mama, Espresso Fiction, and elsewhere. She is also a freelance journalist writing primarily for The Grand Rapids Press, and coeditor for fiction at Literary Mama. Kristina was a full-time newspaper reporter for seven years before turning her attention to creative writing and freelancing. On Mondays, she can be found blogging at The Debutante Ball, a group blog of authors debuting in 2009. As well as writing, she enjoys spending lots of time with her husband, two kids, and dog.

Real Life & Liars is set in Charlevoix, Michigan, a town close to Kristina’s heart as the home of her grandparents where she has visited often over the years. Some recognizable Charlevoix landmarks appear in the novel, as well as fictionalized versions of real places. The home of the Zielinski family on Dixon Avenue is based loosely on the house where her grandmother grew up.

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I received a complimentary copy of The Life You’ve Imagined by Kristina Riggle from TLC Book Tours to be a part of this tour and offer my honest review of the book. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned book.