TLC Book Tours: The Life You've Imagined by Kristina Riggle

The Life You've Imagined by Kristina Riggle
Is the life you're living all you imagined?
Have you ever asked yourself, "What if??"  Here, four women face the decisions of their lifetimes in this stirring and unforgettable novel of love, loss, friendship, and family.

Anna Geneva, a Chicago attorney coping with the death of a cherished friend, returns to her "speck on the map" hometown of Haven to finally come to terms with her mother, the man she left behind and the road she did not take.

Cami Drayton, Anna's dearest friend from high school, is coming home too, forced by circumstance to move in with her alcoholic father ... and to confront a dark family secret.

Maeve, Anna's mother, never left Haven, firmly rooted there by her sadness over her abandonment by the husband she desperately loved and the hope that someday he will return to her.

And Amy Rickart - thin, beautiful, and striving for perfection - faces a future with the perfect man ... but is haunted by the memory of what she used to be.

Kristina Riggle's The Life You've Imagined takes a provocative look at the choices we make - and the courage we must have to change. (Source)

This was an interesting book for me to read at this point in my life because I am at that age where I keep thinking, "this is not what I imagined my life would be like at 26".  So, I was very excited to read this!

What I found most interesting about this book is that Cami, Anna and Amy were all previously friends in high school but when they all came back, they didn't instantly become best friends again.  I can tell you now - that is way more realistic than all those other books where people become instant friends immediately.  Nope!  It's awkward and sometimes painful and I think that the author did a great job of portraying that.  Also, each woman had something different going on in her life and each story was not connected.  I kind of loved that.

I found Maeve's sections to be odd.  I felt that she didn't really belong in the stories and I much preferred reading about Cami, Anna and Amy.  Her story of lost love was boring and kind of predictable how it ended.  I was sad about her store closing, but I would have been fine without her point of view.

My favorite character was probably Cami.  I thought her gambling addiction was quite different from what we usually read about.  Her home life wasn't pretty either, and Ms. Riggle was not scared to get nitty gritty with it!

I liked Anna as well, although I do wish we could have had more of a back story with her.  I wanted to understand her past relationships more.  I did enjoy watching her evolve from cranky daughter to supportive daughter and friend though.

Amy was interesting for me.  She had struggle with her weight for a long time, lost it and found the "perfect" man.  Maybe it's the cynic in me, but I wanted her to leave Paul almost immediately because he seemed like a jerk to me.  When Ed was introduced, I was like yes!  Unfortunately that went nowhere...

I think this would be a great book to read with friends because I think each person would take something different away from this book, and isn't that a wonderful thing?!  

Visit Kristina Riggles' website, twitter, and facebook.

Thank you to TLC Book Tours for allowing me to read this book as part of their program.  Here are the stops for The Life You've Imagined TLC Book Tour:


Thursday, August 19th:  Sara's Organized Chaos
Monday, August 23rd:  Lisa's Yarns
Thursday, August 26th:  The Book Faery Reviews
Thursday, August 26th:  Reading at the Beach
Wednesday, September 1st:  Rundpinne
Thursday, September 2nd:  Helen's Book Blog
Wednesday, September 8th:  Book Club Classics!
Monday, September 13th:  All About {n}
Wednesday, September 15th:  Thoughts from an Evil Overlord
Tuesday, September 21st:  Book Addiction
Thursday, September 23rd:  Confessions of a Bookaholic

*book was provided by the publisher for review at confessions of a bookaholic...as part of the TLC Book Tour