Review: The Story of Our Lives by Helen Warner

by Susan Roberts

The Story of Our Lives is a wonderful story about 4 friends during 20 years of their lives. Even though they are best friends, they all live very different lives and only get together for an occasional weekend. More importantly, even though they are best friends who tell each other everything -- they are all keeping secrets from each other. Can their friendship survive when these secrets are brought out into the open?
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February 2018; HarperCollins; 978-0008202682
audio, ebook, print (432 pages); women's fiction

The novel is set up in time periods based on the friends' weekend get-aways. Each section starts with a short comment about what is going on in the world - ex Princess Diane died or the search for Madeline McCain - to put the time period in perspective.

The four friends are:

• Sophie (my favorite) who moved in with her boyfriend after her first year of college and follows a fairly sensible life - buys a house, has a baby but when she can't bond with her baby, we start to learn more about her. She was always the voice of reason among the four friends.
• Melissa is always ready for a good time - another drink or another drug and always another man. She has a job in the music industry and is the wild-child of the group.
• Amy is beautiful and charming and finds a rich husband and appears to have a perfect life...but can she share her problems with that life with her friends?
• Emily is a single mother who was the smart one in college. She is raising her son by herself and refuses to tell her friends who her son's father is.

The Story of Our Lives is a fantastic book about a long-term friendship between women that deals with real-world problems - abuse, addiction, infidelity.

The main characters are well written - not too perfect with flaws that make them more realistic. The bonds of their friendship get tested over and over as their secrets are revealed and the reader is anxious to find out if they are all able to maintain their friendships or if the secrets they are keeping will destroy it.

Buy The Story of our Lives at Amazon

About the Author:

Helen Warner is director of daytime for ITV, where she oversees all programming, including Good Morning Britain, This Morning, Loose Women, Judge Rinder, Tipping Point, and The Chase. Helen writes her books on the commute to work in London from her home in Colchester, where she lives with her husband and their two children.

Website | Goodreads

Susan Roberts lives in North Carolina when she isn't traveling. She and her husband enjoy traveling, gardening and spending time with their family and friends. She reads almost anything (and the piles of books in her house prove that) but her favorite genres are Southern fiction, women's fiction, and thrillers. Susan is a top 1% Goodreads Reviewer. You can connect with her on Facebook, Goodreads,  or Twitter.

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