There are a couple books that keep appearing all over Instagram this summer. People everywhere are raving about them. I waffle between having FOMO or just not wanting anything to do with these books since they are already getting so much hype.
I read Claire Lombardo's first book a few years ago when it was published and thoroughly enjoyed it. I felt like it was an under-the-radar gem.
Same As It Ever Was, however, is certainly not flying under the radar.
Same As It Ever Was is a five-star read. I loved Julia Ames, the fifty-seven year old mother who is in midlife and isn't truly miserable, but isn't necessarily happy, either. When Julia runs into Helen at the grocery store one day, thoughts of the past resurface and she is forced examine their friendship and her part in its end.
The story moves back and forth in time which allows us to understand Julia - her distant/non-existent relationship with her own mother, the friendship she forms with Helen, a woman her mother's age, the betrayal she is a part of, and the way her decisions affect her husband and children.
This is a novel I want everyone to read. Julia frustrated me at times, and yet she was also so human, so flawed, that I also loved her. Her vulnerability was right there for us to see.
This will be one of my favorite books of 2024. I was also thrilled to discover that Clare Lombardo works at Prairie Lights Bookstore, one of my favorite indies that isn't all that far away.
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