Book Review: Another Piece of My Heart

Another Piece of My Heart by Jane Green

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Publisher’s Description:

Andi has spent much of her adult life looking for the perfect man, and at thirty-seven, she’s finally found him.  Ethan–divorced with two daughters, Emily and Sophia–is a devoted father and even better husband.  Always hoping one day she would be a mother, Andi embraces the girls like they were her own. But in Emily’s eyes, Andi is an obstacle to her father’s love, and Emily will do whatever it takes to break her down. When the dynamics between the two escalate, they threaten everything Andi believes about love, family, and motherhood—leaving both women standing at a crossroad in their lives…and in their hearts.

The first part of this book is told with third person narration from Andi’s point of view. Her marriage to Ethan is basically perfect except when it comes to dealing with Ethan’s spoiled seventeen-year old daughter Emily. Emily’s behavior is abhorrent; she throws tantrums like a two-year old child because she is jealous of the attention that Ethan shows to Andi. Ethan feels so guilty about divorcing Emily’s mother and not spending enough time with Emily that he lets her get away with murder. I actually felt really stressed out reading about Ethan and how he dealt with Emily. I wanted to reach in and shake Ethan and tell him to grow a pair!

About a third of the way in, the narration switches to first person from Emily’s point of view. I think this is done to help the reader generate some sympathy for Emily because up until that point I had none. It does help but Emily is still so selfish that it’s really hard to feel bad for her. Also, I had to wonder if a seventeen year old was capable of being as introspective as Emily is at times. From this point on the narration switches back and forth between third person Andi and first person Emily. It sounds strange but it worked for the most part.

Emily makes a huge mistake (I can’t say what without spoiling the story) that impacts her whole family and puts even more strain on Andi and Ethan’s marriage. This book and the relationships between its characters were so tense and strained that I felt tense just reading it. It could have used a lighter sub-plot or something to take some of the pressure off. It did seem to be a genuine portrayal of the stresses involved in a blended family though.

Just as with every other Jane Green novel I’ve read, the editor seemed to make no effort to help Green with her American characters’ dialogue. The characters in this book are all American, living in California but speak like Brits a lot of time – saying things like “proper” and “have a go”. I guess I should come to expect this since this is the third Jane Green book I’ve read and the other two have had the same problem. It still bugs me though.

I listened to the audio version of this book which was narrated by the author herself. I thought this was a really odd choice because Jane Green is British. I think that a book that takes place in America should be read by a narrator with an American accent, just like a book that takes place in England should be read by a narrator with a British accent. Green’s narration gave all of the American characters British accents and she didn’t vary her voice between characters much at all. It was very distracting. She also read at a very slow and dramatic pace which I think added to the stress of reading the book. It was filled with enough natural tension that it didn’t need a dramatic narration.

I think die-hard Jane Green fans will probably like this book but if you are new to her I think you should pick a different book of hers to start with.

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(I received this book courtesy of the Amazon Vine program.)