A suspenseful story about choices in life

Starting Now by Debbie Macomber
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the first Debbie Macomber book I've read. I had heard that Macomber wrote "clean" romance, but the book description didn't sound like a romance novel. When I started reading the book I found that the story was so much more than a romance.

I'm not sure how Macomber did it - she managed to heighten suspense enough for me to stay up until 1:00 am reading, way past my bedtime. No there are no bullets flying, like so many of the suspense novels I've read. The stakes were so high for Libby Morgan, a career lawyer who was convinced that her mother's deathbed oath to her to be successful, meant to be successful professionally. She cared about little other than her career and had let friends and joy in life fall by the wayside on her way to making partner in a law firm. This is all in the beginning of the story, and of course, at the start she is also laid off from the law firm position that she prized above all else. The suspense lies with choices she makes for the remainder of Macomber's remarkable story.

The novel is written in first person, but is mostly focused on the point of view of Libby Morgan, the main character. Macomber created characters who felt so real with just a whisper of description that allows the reader to draw an image in their own minds as they read. This was very well done and suspenseful as you watch Libby make choices in life, many make you cringe.

Macomber created an excellent story that I couldn't wait to finish to see what would happen next and I was sad to see it end. Fortunately, this is just one of a series of books and I'll be reading more of them.



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