Review: She has a track record, and she’s whispered to be the husband maker.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 07 16, 2014
She has a track record, and she’s whispered to be the husband maker.And it’s true. Every guy she’s dated has gone on to marry the next woman…and Charlotte overhears this from her college roommate’s mother at – you guessed it! – her ex-boyfriend’s wedding.Charlotte is a twin. She’s been teased endlessly by her twin brother and their lifetime best friend, Angus. Angus is always there to clean up shop for Charlotte. Breakup? They go to “therapy” at their favorite BBQ joint. Angus and I were on the same page: why does Charlotte continue to put herself through torture by going to her ex-boyfriends’ weddings?On top of her nickname, Charlotte’s twin is already married and so is her little sister!The book frequently flashed back to the past, sharing insights about Charlotte and her history, in alignment for the current situation…almost like Charlotte’s stream of consciousness when put in some of the situations she finds herself in.Once Charlotte finds out about the nickname her friends call her behind her back, her boss is dying to set her up with her husband’s best friend. And she’s not even ashamed to use Charlotte’s notoriety as the husband maker to her advantage. She wants her husband’s friend married already!Charlotte finally agrees, but after much trepidation. The guy is nearly 10 years older than her…and he comes from money. Like, senator’s son money. Charlotte enjoys her dates with Kyle, and he’s a nice, kind, caring, genuine guy.It had been a perfect date, and I was sad for it to end.“Snort again for me,” Kyle said on the drive home.“I don’t snort on demand. You have to earn my snorts.”“I wish I could spend the evening trying to make you snort.”They have this lighthearted, fun and sweet relationship that often had me smiling like a lunatic or giggling like a schoolgirl, especially the part about snorting. :)Until something unfortunate happens: an accident. Charlotte is confronted with the first sign of dating a “celebrity.” It immediately set a bad taste in my mouth, and I knew it was just the beginning.And then the inevitable happens: an invitation to a charity function. That’s when Charlotte started showing conflict within her own self. Kyle’s political aspirations came before being true to herself. For a long time she didn’t even realize this, she just wanted to be with Kyle, and she’d do what she needed. This struggle makes up a large portion of the book.Unfortunately for her, things start going downhill from that charity function. Charlotte loves Kyle and his family, and they think she is wonderful, but politics and image come first.In the midst of all of this, Charlotte’s family learns there will be a new addition, and Angus deals with the dilemma of staying close to home or going to New York for his five-year medical internship. Angus is the care-free kind of best friend that every girl wants to have in their life, and he sticks by Charlotte’s side through all of it. He’s like her Jiminy Cricket. He’s there for her when she has no one else to really turn to for true comfort. But there’s one big thing he doesn’t tell Charlotte until it’s almost too late, and it lands them in a hospital waiting room. Having such a strong bond from essentially a lifetime of friendship, Charlotte was not turning her back on Angus…and it lands her in some really hot water with Kyle’s family’s PR people.“Now hold your horses. Let’s not jump off a cliff to save a peanut butter sandwich.”Charlotte overhears a conversation she was never meant to her, but it is exactly what she needed to hear. She can’t ask Kyle to change his aspirations, so it’s inevitable that she become a politician wife. She still is battling being true to herself, and finally makes a decision that’s all for her.The ending was so perfect and heartbreaking and angsty. White knew exactly how to end the novel on a cliffhanger, and all it took was a picture. I can’t tell you any more, but I am going crazy trying to figure out who is in the picture.I highly recommend this book for all women! It has a mix of various important elements in our lives: family, friendship, dating, as well as a central conflict that I think we all at times struggle with, even well into adulthood.