Guest Review - - Escape by Barbara Delinsky

Author: Barbara Delinsky
Publisher/Format: Doubleday(2011),Hardcover, 320 pages
Genre: Fiction
Subject: love and life in the fast lane
Source: Review copy from publisher


If this doesn’t sound like Tutu, it’s her occasional book reviewer/borrower. Becky works at our town library and is a very competent writer/reviewer/retired journalist who loves to pick through my pile of new arrivals. And I love to have her help. I hope you enjoy her delightful review of this fun book. I'm certainly going to keep it on my TBR list.

Happy September! As in “Happy Kids Back to School, Happy Vacation Visitors have Gone, Happy Partner’s back at work, and Happy new Fall books are all out at once! Not so happy Border’s is gone, days are becoming shorter, and it’s almost time for winter clothes!" If you’re a consummate reader of everything and you’re a woman of a certain age, you probably know Barbara Delinsky well. You may even like her. Her books fall into two categories: strictly “chick lit” involving only a gorgeous heroine and a hunk of an available man, and slightly deeper plots involving a gorgeous heroine, a hunk of a man, and maybe some conflict besides the romance. Escape skirts between the two categories. Gorgeous hunk is a husband, and, as I expected, he’s a handsome, charming attorney married to an auburn-tressed beauty who’s herself an attorney. They share a Manhattan condo, love each other deeply (if only late at night since they’re both work-a-holics), and life is marred only by the occasional yen for a child.

Since the title gives it away, I’ll tell you: she plans an escape to think things over. And here’s this author’s strength. The escape takes her to a picturesque New England village, a charming B & B, an encounter with a long-ago swain, and an appealing center where animals are given a second chance at life. So although you know how it’s going to end, the details and the action keep you reading without forcing you to stay up until it’s finished because the suspense is just too much to bear.

Delinsky’s details are accurate, picturesque, and comprehensive. And even if you only read these books as “fillers” between your great literary perusals, you can count on a Barbara Delinsky hardback to distract you for a few hours with an enjoyable story. This is true to her form, and it was the perfect September escape when the kids have gone, the company has deserted Maine for warmer climes, and the sky is clear blue, the birds are singing, and you have all winter for the serious stuff.