Review: California Girls

California Girls by Susan Mallery
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Three sisters, three very different lives, all of which are going to change beyond recognition.

Finola the oldest is the host of a TV show, married to a plastic surgeon and about to go on holiday where they will finally start trying for a baby. Zennie is highly skilled OR nurse, single and dedicated to her work she really doesn't see the point of dating although she's going through the motions with a guy she's dated a few times. Ali, the youngest is busy planning her upcoming wedding. Then in one fateful week everything changes, all three women get dumped. Finola's husband announces he's leaving her moments before she goes live on TV, interviewing the younger woman he's having an affair with. Ali's fiance is too much of a coward to tell her himself, so he sends his older, badder brother. Only Zennie's breakup isn't a ritual humiliation, but then she really didn't care in the first place. When her BFF asks Zennie to be her surrogate Zennie doesn't hesitate, after all she has no interest in having a baby of her own.

I wanted to expand my reading horizons which had got into a bt of a rut recently and so I requested this ARC from NetGalley because it sounded like something a bit more than just a chick-lit romance. It was definitely not a chick-lit romance, I would firmly classify this in the women's fiction category but I have to say it didn't really wow me. Having the intertwining stories of the three sisters really just made me feel that we didn't get to see more than a surface impression of each of the sisters, they had no depth. Similarly the male characters were all a bit cardboard. I also had the feeling that frankly not a lot actually happened, there was a lot of the sisters bemoaning that this one was prettier or that one was their father's favourite but not much more. To be honest, I think this is my overall impression of women's fiction and therefore the fault is probably with me for requesting a book in a genre which leaves me so apathetic - a real case of it's not you it's me!

If you are a fan of women's fiction, where the characters reassess their lives and childhoods then I expect that you will enjoy this novel, I have decided that I am not a fan of women's fiction, I like a bit more angst with my romance.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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