Goodreads|Amazon

Release date: February 27, 2018

Publisher: Lake Union

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Blurb:

At fifty-three, Maggie Harris has a good marriage and two mostly happy children. Perpetually anxious, she’s also accumulated a list of semi-reasonable fears: falling air conditioners, the IRS, identity theft, skydiving, and airbag recalls. But never once did Maggie worry that her husband of nearly thirty years would leave her.

On the day Adam walks out the door, everything that makes Maggie secure goes with him. Only then does she realize that while she’s been busy caring for everyone else, she’s become invisible to the world—and to herself.

Maggie cautiously begins to rebuild her life with a trip to Rome, a new career, and even a rebound romance. But when a fresh crisis strikes and an uncertain future looms, she must decide: How much will she risk to remain the woman she’s just become?

Review:

I don’t know if there’s a mother on the planet that hasn’t felt like they lost a piece of themselves at some point since having their children. It’s SO incredibly easy to throw your heart and soul into being a mom, it’s a gigantic responsibility and one most don’t take lightly. Along the way it’s far too easy to put yourself last in order to keep your family functioning happily and you don’t even notice until you’ve been doing it for years, decades even. That is the crux of Maggie’s problem, she has lost herself and it takes her husband leaving her for her to even realize it.

I could completely relate to Maggie even though she’s a bit older than me, she’s a normal, everyday wife and mom who doesn’t even really know what makes her happy. She knows what drives her kids and her husband, but herself? The last time she followed her dreams was when she married her husband decades ago. Pagan created such a realistic character in Maggie, she was warm and kind and also insecure and unsure of her place in the world and lacking confidence in a major way. Who can’t relate to that?! She also had a dark sense of humor at times that I loved! The way the whole book unfolded was so true to real life, you know those books where a woman gets divorced then moves someplace new, falls in love and gets a second chance at happiness super quickly? This isn’t that book and I so appreciated that, it’s an extremely well written and accurate portrayal of what a woman would do after her life is shattered.

Woman Last Seen in Her Thirties in three words: Honest, Relatable and Hopeful.

Overall rating: 4/5

Thanks to the publisher for my review copy.