Husband material : a novel

Title:

Author:

Summary:

Twenty-nine-year-old Charlotte Rosen has a secret: she's a widow. Ever since the fateful day that leveled her world, Charlotte has worked hard to move forward. Great job at a hot social media analytics company? Check. Roommate with no knowledge of her past? Check. Adorable dog? Check. All the while, she's faithfully data-crunched her way through life, calculating the probability of risk so that she can avoid it. Charlotte's algorithms could never have predicted that her late husband's ashes would land squarely on her doorstep five years later. Stunned but determined, Charlotte sets out to find meaning in this sudden twist of fate, even if that includes facing her perfectly coiffed, and perfectly difficult, ex-mother-in-law, and her husband's best friend, who seems to become a fixture at her side whether she likes it or not. But soon a shocking secret surfaces, forcing Charlotte to answer questions she never knew to ask and to consider the possibility of forgiveness.

Physical Description:

300 pages ; 21 cm

Genre:

Romance fiction.

Subject Term:

Widows -- Fiction.

Man-woman relationships -- Fiction.

Forgiveness -- Fiction.

Secrecy -- Fiction.

Publisher:

Graydon House,

Publication Date:

2019

ISBN:

9781525805981

Publication Information:

Toronto, Ontario : Graydon House, [2019]

Call Number:

BELDEN

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Item Barcode	Collection	Call Number	Status	Item Holds
33607003492967	Adult Fiction	BELDEN Emily	Searching... Unknown	Searching... Unavailable

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Summary

"By turns heartbreaking and laugh-out-loud funny."--Kristin Rockaway, author of How To Hack a Heartbreak

Sometimes love is unpredictable... in this witty and thought-provoking novel about a millenial widow whose life is thrown into disarray, with often hilarious results, when the most unexpected delivery arrives on her doorstep.

Twenty-nine-year-old Charlotte Rosen has a secret: she's a widow. Ever since the fateful day that leveled her world, Charlotte has worked hard to move forward. Great job at a hot social media analytics company? Check. Roommate with no knowledge of her past? Check. Adorable dog? Check. All the while, she's faithfully data-crunched her way through life, calculating the probability of risk--so she can avoid it.

Yet Charlotte's algorithms could never have predicted that her late husband's ashes would land squarely on her doorstep five years later. Stunned but determined, Charlotte sets out to find meaning in this sudden twist of fate, even if that includes facing her perfectly coiffed, and perfectly difficult, ex-mother-in-law--and her husband's best friend, who seems to become a fixture at her side whether she likes it or not.

But when her quest reveals a shocking secret, Charlotte is forced to answer questions she never knew to ask and to consider the possibility of forgiveness. And when a chance at a new life arises, she'll have to decide once and for all whether to follow the numbers or trust her heart.

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

While Belden's sophomore novel makes occasional missteps, this upbeat tale of finding connection and love after a tragic loss is nevertheless charming. Los Angeles data analyst Charlotte Rosen, 29 and unhappily single, is developing an app that evaluates compatibility between potential mates. She goes on frequent dates both to refine the app and to seek her own perfect match. No one knows--and Charlotte herself has tried hard to forget--that she had an apparent perfect match in Decker, her husband, who died five years ago. When Decker's ashes are unexpectedly mailed to Charlotte, the walls between then and now crumble, casting new light on all her comfortable but distant relationships with her roommate, Decker's mother, and the men she dates. Charlotte can be judgmental and self-centered, but as past conflicts reemerge, her reasons become clear and understandable. The second half of the narrative reveals yet more secrets and ends up feeling a bit compressed, with certain knots untangling mostly because the plot needs them to. Still, the heartfelt whole will keep readers engaged. (Jan.)

Library Journal Review

Charlotte Rosen, a Brooklyn expat now living in Los Angeles, is a coder/data cruncher for a social media influencer company and is also creating a dating app. A young widow of five years, she thinks she is ready to move on romantically. She also thinks the past is the past, but the unexpected delivery of her late husband's ashes proves that it isn't (and brings her difficult mother-in-law back into the picture). If receiving the urn wasn't enough of a shock, a few more surprises make her anxiety skyrocket and cause her to question what she thought she knew about some of the people in her life. Belden's second novel (after Hot Mess) is sensitive, thoughtful, and touching in how it approaches the difficult topics of Charlotte's grief, loss, and other unforeseen life challenges, and the book's humor keeps it from being maudlin. However, there's a lot going on here, maybe too much. While romantic entanglements are typical of chick lit, here it feels forced and takes attention away from the more compelling subplots. VERDICT A story for chick lit fans looking for something a bit different and more serious than the usual offerings. [See Prepub Alert, 3/17/19.]--Samantha Gust, Niagara Univ. Lib., NY