About Designer You
• Paperback: 278 pages• Publisher: Crooked Cat Books
Pam Wheeler checked every box: Happy marriage? Check. Fantastic kid? Check. Booming career? Check.
So when her husband dies suddenly and their DIY empire goes on life support, Pam must fix the relationship with her troubled and grief-stricken daughter and save the family business.
Pam and Nate were a couple who just couldn’t get away from each other, sharing not only their bed, but also a successful lifestyle empire as DIY home renovators, bloggers, podcasters, and co-authors.
When Nate dies in a freak accident, Pam becomes a 44-year-old widow, at once too young and too old—too young to be thrust into widowhood and too old to rejoin the dating pool.
Now the single mother of a headstrong and grief-stricken teenager, Pam’s life becomes a juggling act between dealing with her loss and learning how to parent by herself. On top of all that she also must reinvent herself or lose the empire that she and Nate had built so carefully.
It is time for Pam to seize the opportunity to step up as a mother, come out from behind Nate’s shadow, and rise as the sole face of the Designer You brand, and maybe, possibly, hopefully, find love again.
Praise
‘‘Designer You [is] a brilliant, different story of grief, recovery, and change.” ~D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review
‘‘A tenderly written story of a mother and daughter’s struggle to move on after loss, with characters so authentic you find yourself cheering and laughing.” ~Kelly Simmons, international selling author of ONE MORE DAY and THE FIFTH OF JULY
‘‘Sarahlyn Bruck’s touching debut is a beautifully written novel about love, grief, redemption—and the art of personal and professional recreation. This is a tender mother-daughter story that will stay in your heart long after you turn the final page.” ~Dawn Ius, author of ANNE & HENRY,OVERDRIVE, and LIZZIE
Purchase Links
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound
Review: The cover of this book is so darn cute, it was really a huge part in why I wanted to read it in the first place.It was a very enjoyable read and one I didn't want to put down. I read it in one day, which is saying something for me, since I seem to have a short attention span these days. Its even more surprising since I couldn't connect with any of the characters.
I felt terribly sorry for Pam. She's a character that is close to my age and she's just lost her husband in a horrible way. You instantly feel sorry for her. She's half of DIY team but that team wasn't really a shared thing, so trying to keep things going instantly is hard for her.
Her struggles are very real.
Add to the mix a teenage daughter that is also struggling in a very bad way.
This is where it gets frustrating. Grace is a brat and Pam is struggling. This is where you'll want to reach through the pages to grab both of them and shake them both senseless. I kept screaming at the pages for both of them to get into therapy. After all, the loss of Nate wasn't something either was expecting and the world was wanting them to pick up the pieces pretty quickly, especially Pam.
Both needed help that they weren't getting. The things Grace was doing were huge cries for help or something. The girl was a brat, and a nasty one at that. Truly, I didn't like her much. I probably would have put her up for adoption at 15 for the stuff she did.
They have a lot of struggles as they both start putting their lives back together.
The ending was a little too easy for me, but it was a perfect fit for both Pam and Grace, with a lot of hope for their future.
This was a wonderful read, that was light but not fluffy or too depressing.
Rating: 5 flowers
About Sarahlyn Bruck
Sarahlyn Bruck writes contemporary women's fiction and lives in Philadelphia with her husband and daughter. She is the author of Designer You, published by Crooked Cat Books on August 31, 2018. Sarahlyn teaches writing and literature at a local community college and also coaches writers for Author Accelerator.
Designer You is Sarahlyn's debut, and she is hard at work on her next book. Want the latest updates? Follow along for news, events, and announcements at sarahlynbruck.com. You can sign up for her monthly newsletter there, too.
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