Review: The Summerhouse by Jude Deveraux

First line: Leslie Headrick looked out her kitchen window at the old summerhouse in the back.

From the back cover: Three best friends, all with the same birthday, are about to turn forty. Celebrating this turning point at a summerhouse in Maine, Leslie Headrick, Madison Appleby, and Ellie Abbott are taking stock of their lives , their loves, and their choices. But none of them expects the gift that awaits the trio at the summerhouse: the chance for each of them to turn their “what-might-have-beens” into reality…when a mysterious “Madame Zoya” allows them to relive any three weeks from their pasts. Will the road not taken prove a better path? Each woman will have to decide for herself as she follows the dream that got away…

My thoughts: This is the first Jude Deveraux book I’ve read and I really enjoyed it. It is a very light, easy read that reminded me of a modern day fairy tale. Ellie, Madison & Leslie are about to turn 40 and bitter about life. As they meet again for the first time since they were 21, they get a mystical chance to see what their life would have been like had they chosen different paths. Don’t we all wonder what we would change if we could go back in time and have a “redo”? And would we really change anything? There have been many times when I have wondered if I made the best decisions in my life…and what if one little decision had been different?  This novel takes an interesting look at the “what ifs” in life and how the choices we make so deeply affect us. It explores those possibilities…and then after exploring them, these women have to decide if they want to keep their new life, or keep their old life. What a choice! Who can resist finding out what might have been? While this book is not realistic and not my usual type of read, I did find it a rather creative way to explore the road not taken and am glad I picked it up! 

(I purchased this book.)