Making It Up As I Go Along

Maria Lennon sent her novel to me.  She reads my blog.  I was delighted that someone would send me a book to read that they have just recently published.  As much as I am trying to finish Anna Karenina, I keep picking up everything else that looks a little more appealing.  Oh well.

I finally got around to reading Maria’s book this weekend.  The name of the book through me.  I thought that book was going to be about having a first kid and the toils of motherhood.  I was wrong. 

The book is about a young woman, Saffron Roche, who does have her first child but also happens to be a war correspondent in Africa.  She becomes pregnant from her unfaithful lover and flows the coop back to Malibu where she grew up.  She returns to Malibu after her stand-in mother dies and leaves her a large inheritance with many attachments. 

As she tries to resettle herself in California with a young baby in tow maneuvering the baby scene,  Saffron is a total fish out of water.  Her perception of the young wealthy woman in Los Angeles with their baby in tow is actually pretty interesting.  Through it all she actually makes some good friends. 

The book weaves and bobs through Saffron’s ties and her connections to her friends in Africa to her loyalties to her stand-in mother and the money she is to inherit. 

Maria does a good job developing Saffron’s character.  The one thing that left me baffled is for such a smart girl, Saffron is incredibly stupid when it comes to dealing with reality on the home front.  Her brother (not by blood) is figuring out how he can screw her out of her inheritance and Saffron is absolutely oblivious to the scam. 

Although I really enjoyed the book.  Great beach read.  A good first novel.  Flows really well.  Well written.  Very layered.  I was annoyed at Saffron for not having the insight into how she was being ripped off.  It was plain stupid and I thought she was a smarter gal.