Marie Bostwick's novel Esme Cahill Fails Spectacularly (#1,273) has been sitting in the pile beside my bed for a while now. But when I picked it up the other day, it turned out to be just the book I needed. That's kind of a theme in Esme, too. Things happen to Esme she doesn't want to deal with, or can't wait to move beyond, but somehow, everything works out for the best...
Esme thinks she's left the remote fishing lodge her grandparents run just outside of Asheville, South Carolina behind when she escapes to New York to pursue a career in books. Writing them, editing them, she really doesn't care as long as she's part of that world. But her beloved grandmother asks her to come home, so Esme reluctantly prepares to visit. But she's left it too long, and her grandmother is gone. Not only that, but she's insulted one of her publishing house's biggest authors, so now she no longer has a job to go back to.
How Esme finds her way by starting over again on a new path makes this a relatable story, and a pleasure to read. Family and friends make the world a bigger place if you are willing to look beyond the covers...
This book contained some twists I did not see coming, nor did it have a neatly tied up ending, and it was all the better for it. Recommended.