The Bright Side Of Disaster

I read this book in a day. This is Katherine Center's first novel and I think she did a really good job with it.

It was easy to get sucked into the story line and the characters were portrayed in such a way that you automatically felt like you knew them and could picture them in your mind.

This story is about Jenny who is having her fiancé's baby. They are set to get married a month after her due date ... things went a little backwards but it seemed to work out for them. Dean and Jenny met five years prior when he was trying to woo Jenny to show her he's a nice guy so she would give him her friend's phone number (the girl who he was really after). The friend wasn't interested and it was after the rejection that Dean noticed Jenny was "kind of pretty too."

Things seemed to be going well, however Dean (an office worker by day and "in a band" by night), began to get a little distant. Perhaps he wasn't ready to be a father or to settle down. In any case, he chose to deal with this situation and his feelings by leaving her high and dry with a note that explained "it wasn't his fault he wasn't in love with her anymore."

The next day she gave birth to their daughter.

The rest of the story portrays how this single mother went from feeling as though her situation was hopeless to rising from the ashes and making the best of it for the sake of her baby. With the help of her own mother, some new mommies she met at her birthing class, and a cute, attentive neighbour, John, who was there for when she was on the brink of sinking, she was able to get through this ordeal. Dean returns home after 7 months (of course the night she comes back from her first date with the new neighbour) and a whole slew of issues arise.

I really liked how the story progressed but wished that the ending didn't seem so concise and to the point. I would've liked to have seen the ending be drawn out for a few more pages. I really liked the voice that she used throughout the novel. Her next book is due to be published in the Spring of 2009 and it's one, based on this book, that I can see myself wanting to read.