Review & Giveaway: Inseparable by Dora Heldt (CLOSED)

First line: Forty-four years old.

From the back cover: As Christine approaches her forty-fourth birthday, life isn’t looking particularly rosy. Admittedly, her career has never been better, but her personal life has been pretty much dead in the water since she discovered her husband was sleeping with her (former) best friend. Now, not only is Christine divorced and childless – she doesn’t even have a cat! – she is beginning to fear that she has been putting too much faith and trust in her girlfriends. Alarmed by Christine’s growing despair, her sister and a longtime pal hatch an ambitious plan to prove her wrong. They will gather together all of Christine’s old friends from the various stages of her life and throw a surprise party the likes of which she have never seen. Of course, finding all of those women turns out to be easier said than done! Nonetheless, the final result proves to be a priceless gift, a moving and laugh-out-loud funny portrait of one woman’s life as told through the stories of her friendships.

My thoughts: I found this to be fun and quick while at the same time also quite a thought-provoking read about the importance of girlfriends.This is a sequel to Life After Forty, although I did not read that one, and felt that Dora Heldt gives enough background to not be lost in this one.

Christine has always had girlfriends that have come and go and once they are gone, they tend to be a thing of the past. It takes the brainstorm of her current friends to decide the perfect way to celebrate Christine’s forty-fourth birthday – find all her old best-friends, have them fill out a questionnaire they devised, and invite them to the party. I loved the concept of the questionnaire and thought the questions were very thought-provoking but fun. 

The story flows seamlessly between the present and the past. We are able to see the friendship that Christine had with each girl, while at the same time getting a glimpse into their present-day lives. Dora Heldt also includes some of the articles that Christine writes for the magazines she works for and I have to admit they are quite entertaining.

I think I would like to go back and read Life After Forty and then the other two stories that come after, if they are ever translated into English (the author is German).

I received a complimentary copy of Inseparable by Dora Heldt from Sarah at Little Bird Publicity  to review.

Giveaway Information:

This contest is open to entries from the U.S. only.

The deadline for entry is midnight, December 22nd. I will draw the winner on December 23rd and post the winner’s name shortly after that.

FORM CLOSED