I just finished reading an excellent memoir by the food critic and cookbook author, Molly O’Neill. In it, she talks about her days reviewing restaurants and how she essentially only wrote good reviews. If a restaurant didn’t warrant a good review, then she just didn’t write about it, thus letting it flounder on its own. She figured no one cared about where not to go. They wanted to know where they should go.

This has always been my policy on reviewing books. Because of it, I have turned down free books from authors many times. I just figured it was easier than telling someone I wouldn’t review their book after all because…well, you know…it sucked. And on Goodreads, I only list the books I feel good about giving 4 or 5 stars to. I’ll let everyone else do the dirty work.

However, when I heard that I could join a great group of bloggers led by Jen at Devourer of Books and get a sneak peek at Kristina Riggle’s new book, THE LIFE YOU’VE IMAGINED, I threw all caution to the wind and said, “Sign me up!” I actually had no reservations whatsoever because I’d read her debut novel, REAL LIFE & LIARS and already knew that girl can write. For those of you who have started reading this blog after I quit doing book reviews, you may not know that adult fiction is not really my thing. I’m sure there’s some great stuff out there that I’m missing, but I always seem to get my hands on the ones where everyone is unhappy over their life choices and someone close to them has a terminal disease. Oh, and nothing much happens.

To be honest, both of Kristina’s books cover some of these topics, but she does it so deftly and with so much care and humour that I can’t help but love her books. They’re the kind that stick with you like a good bowl of real oatmeal on a winter morning. I couldn’t put down THE LIFE YOU’VE IMAGINED and spent hours reading it outside, my husband bringing me food and cups of tea, until I was through. But the great thing about Riggle’s writing, is you’re never really through. I’m still contemplating the sequel I’ve mapped out to her first book and trying to send her my thoughts by osmosis! And this second one could use a sequel too, although I think it wraps up very nicely.

It always gives me pause when I read something as well done as THE LIFE YOU’VE IMAGINED because it really isn’t my type of book and yet, weeks after reading it, I find myself thinking about the characters, or I’ll see my copy on my desk and it will make me smile. I think it’s Riggle’s ability to create characters that you know, love, and root for, and then making you think you know what will happen, but not having it go that way at all. The reverse in direction is always more satisfying than what I can come up with too. I highly encourage you to read both of her books, and if you’ve read them, leave a note in the comments about why you think she’s a writer with a special talent. I’d love to hear your opinion.

I do want to say something about the cover too. My husband is a photographer and an extremely visual person. He takes bad book covers personally. When he saw THE LIFE YOU’VE IMAGINED, he said, “Wow! That author got really lucky. That’s a fabulous cover.” I couldn’t agree more. Congrats, Kristina on your wonderful second novel. I wish you much, much success and happiness.