Allison James is finally thriving. No longer mourning her old PR career or cheating ex-fiancé, the thirty-eight-year-old entrepreneur embraces a successful business supporting nonprofits and her gorgeous coffeehouse owner boyfriend. But when her mother suddenly suffers a heart attack in the middle of the night, she’s completely shaken to realize once again how quickly life can change—and vows now is the time to be a mom.
Unfortunately, her partner isn’t so sure he wants to be a father, and Allison worries her pursuit of pregnancy could break them up again. But when tragedy strikes and her ride-or-die best friend is suddenly avoiding her, she feels her world spiraling as her envisioned family seems to be falling apart.
Struggling through heartbreak, loss, and unpredictable twists threatening all she loves, will Allison lose faith or discover that something greater lies in wait? (Synopsis courtesy of Amazon.)
I really enjoyed Angela Terry's debut, Charming Falls Apart (reviewed here), so I was pleased to find out that she wrote a follow-up novel. While Greater Expectations can be read as a standalone, it's worth your time to read Charming first. I enjoyed being reunited with Allison and all the other characters. Angela provided enough memory refreshers that it felt easy to pick up where Charming left off. Adeline (from Angela's sophomore novel) also makes an appearance, so there is a spoiler for her story (which is also worth reading).
Angela's writing is genuine and I feel like I am a friend of Allison's too. I still find her to be easily relatable, even if we're at different places in our lives. I also enjoyed seeing Chicago through Allison's eyes and it brought back memories from when I lived out that way.
I could guess some things, but I also was glad to be right. There were still plenty of things I wasn't expecting, so I still felt like I was along for the ride. Some of the things that happened in this story were upsetting or frustrating, but Angela handled them in a sensitive way.
I recently read and reviewed Shaken to the Core by Dara Levan and found a few similarities between that book and this one. It's all coincidental since they were probably being written around the same time. I don't want to say much as to not spoil either book, but if you read both, you'll notice this too.
Overall, this was a sweet story about relationships and the quest for motherhood. I already can't wait for whatever Angela has in store next!
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