Review: Seven Year Switch by Claire Cook (posting 1 of 2)

Seven Year Switch by Claire Cook
Published by Hyperion
ISBN 978-1-4013-4116-9
At the request of Pump Up Your Book, a HC was sent, at no cost to me, for my honest opinion.
  Synopsis (book's jacket): Just when Jill Murray has finally figured out how to manage on her own, her ex-husband proves that he can't even run away reliably. After seven long years missing in action, he's back-crashing into the man-free existence Jill and her ten-year-old daughter have built so carefully. What's a good mother to do? To a child, even a deadbeat dad is better than no dad at all.
  Jill's life just hasn't turned out quite the way she planned. By now, she'd hoped to be jetting around the world as a high-end cultural coach. Instead, she's answering phones for a local travel agency and teaching cooking classes at the community center.
  Enter free-spirited entrepreneur Billy, who hires Jill as a consultant for an upcoming business trip. Is their relationship veering off in a new direction? And what about her ex? Jill couldn't possibly still have feelings for him....could she? Suddenly, her no-boys allowed life is anything but.
  The say that every seven years you become a completely new person, but Jill isn't sure she is ready for the big change. It takes a Costa Rican getaway to help her make a choice-not so much between the two men in her life, but between the woman she is and the one she wants to be.
  My Thoughts and Opinion:  Hurry!! You still have time to read this delightful, female self liberating, fun, maybe even a little envy thrown in summer read. Jill, has been surviving and going through the motions of daily life to stay afloat to make a life for her daughter and herself after being abandoned seven years ago by her husband. But she hasn't moved on since that time. The characters in this book come alive through Ms. Cooks writing. I found myself laughing along with Jill, the main character, feeling sorry for her and, at the same time, rooting her on. It was very easy to form imagery of the settings by the words the author conveyed. I might add that one scene, involving a tarantula, had me looking around and I don't even live where tarantulas do, but was not taking any chances. I also enjoyed the little tidbits of knowledge that the author also added about different lands, the unique foods and customs of different cultures. And for the jealousy, I now believe that every woman needs to and should take a GGG, Great Girlfriends Getaway. This was the first book I read by Claire Cook and it won't be my last. I thoroughly enjoyed it, as have so many others, from reading the many great reviews regarding this book.
Claire Cook visited this blog and was a "Guest Author" in July. Check out that posting.

DISCLAIMER

I received a copy of this book, at no charge to me,

in exchange for my honest review.

No items that I receive

are ever sold...they are kept by me,

or given to family and/or friends.