peppermint phd: Designer You by Sarahlyn Bruck

Designer You by Sarahlyn Bruck

• Paperback: 278 pages

• Publisher: Crooked Cat Books

Goodreads:

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound

About Designer You

Pam Wheeler checked every box: Happy marriage? Check. Fantastic kid? Check. Booming career? Check.

So when her husband dies suddenly and their DIY empire goes on life support, Pam must fix the relationship with her troubled and grief-stricken daughter and save the family business.

Pam and Nate were a couple who just couldn’t get away from each other, sharing not only their bed, but also a successful lifestyle empire as DIY home renovators, bloggers, podcasters, and co-authors.

When Nate dies in a freak accident, Pam becomes a 44-year-old widow, at once too young and too old—too young to be thrust into widowhood and too old to rejoin the dating pool.

Now the single mother of a headstrong and grief-stricken teenager, Pam’s life becomes a juggling act between dealing with her loss and learning how to parent by herself. On top of all that she also must reinvent herself or lose the empire that she and Nate had built so carefully.

It is time for Pam to seize the opportunity to step up as a mother, come out from behind Nate’s shadow, and rise as the sole face of the Designer You brand, and maybe, possibly, hopefully, find love again.

Praise

‘‘Designer You [is] a brilliant, different story of grief, recovery, and change.” ~D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review

‘‘A tenderly written story of a mother and daughter’s struggle to move on after loss, with characters so authentic you find yourself cheering and laughing.” ~Kelly Simmons, international selling author of ONE MORE DAY and THE FIFTH OF JULY

‘‘Sarahlyn Bruck’s touching debut is a beautifully written novel about love, grief, redemption—and the art of personal and professional recreation. This is a tender mother-daughter story that will stay in your heart long after you turn the final page.” ~Dawn Ius, author of ANNE & HENRY,OVERDRIVE, and LIZZIE

My Thoughts

While the book is certainly about Pam suddenly losing her husband Nate, for me, it was more a story of what happens after grief...finding a new normal...having your life turned upside down with realistic worries about finances, life itself, making decisions, forging relationships, mending some, and letting others go.

I loved Pam and Grace. I'm a girl mama myself so that shouldn't surprise anyone :)

I felt their relationship was believable, as difficult as parenting a teenage daughter honestly is, its illogical nature sometimes...with both wanting to just smack the other...and then realizing that's not what they really want. And, most of all, realizing that they truly are in this life together. Mother and Daughter. And that life does go on.

A fast read and recommended highly for mamas.

The Author