What might have been me

I bought Yvonne Cassidy's book What Might Have Been Me a while back, having enjoyed her first book The Other Boy a couple of years ago. Some authors (Jodie Picoult anyone?) keep writing the same stories over and over, with similar themes and characters. I'm a big fan of Jodie Picoult's books, so I'm not necessarily saying that it's a bad thing per se. But I guess I was expecting to find myself in familiar territory when I picked up Yvonne Cassidy's second book.

Well, it couldn't have been more different. An Irish person abroad was really the only connection I could find. This one is set, for the first part, in New York, then in Dublin, where Carla, the main character, has to come home after her mother has been diagnosed with Alzheimer. It's about the choices one makes in life, or the choice to drift without making a break from a life that no longer is the dream it was supposed to be, it's about sisters, about friends who have grown apart. A much slower book than the first, too. It's not a big action thriller. Rather, it is a beautifully written account of life as it takes its course, with real people, real emotions, and no big dramatic finish. A slow burner, but a very satisfying read.