The Resurrection of Joan Ashby by Cherise Wolas

After reading reviews of The Resurrection of Joan Ashby by Cherise Wolas, I was so excited to get an ARC. Once I started reading that excitement turned to disappointment. I found it verbose and agonizing slow. It actually took me three tries before I could finish.

Joan Ashby is a young and up-and-coming writer. Her first two books, collections of short stories, have already secured her a place in the literary world. She is working on her first novel and is excepting to become the next great American novelist. She has sworn off relationships, love and marriage as well as vowed to never have children in order to focus on her writing. That is until she meets Martin and falls in love. She discovers that marriage and writing do not have to be mutually exclusive.

Snug in this new knowledge Joan sets out to begin the novel. Then Joan discovers she is pregnant. Martin is over the moon, which shocks Joan since he agreed to the no children rule. Despite her vow, she embraces the life of a mother and nurturers two boys to adulthood all the while secretly writing her first novel. Just as she finishes the novel a tragedy strikes her youngest and she once again puts aside her writing for her child. Just as things finally settle down Joan discovers the ultimate betrayal.

Some final thoughts, the book was very well written and that was the saving grace for me. I am actually envious of Wolas writing skills. Unfortunately, that alone was not enough to save it from being laborious. The stories within the story were a big distraction for me and just added to the problem. I think the writer intended those to be insightful and I found them tedious and finally ended up skipping over them. I know I am in the minority here, but that does not change the fact that it was just not my cup of tea.

I received a free copy from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.