Babyville – Jane Green

Jun 18, 2009 by shanyn

Title: Babyville
Author: Jane Green

Plot Summary: Bestelling author Jane Green has won the hearts of thousands of readers with her fresh take on single life and the dating jungle. Now in Babyville, she applies her golden touch to the next phase of a girl’s life, in an irresistible new novel about two young women coping with the chimes of their biological clocks, and one independent glamour girl who tries to tune hers out.

Meet Julia, a wildly successful television producer who appears to have the picture-perfect life. But beneath the surface, things are not quite as they seem. Stuck in a loveless relationship with her boyfriend, Mark, Julia thinks a baby is the answer… but she may want a baby more than she wants her boyfriend. Will a trip to New York City with a jet-setting friend-and all the glittering energy and eligible men the city brings-help her discover what she really needs?

Maeve, on the other hand, is allergic to commitment. A feisty, high-powered career girl, she cherishes her ability to do just as she pleases and breaks out in a rash every time she passes a stroller. But when her no-strings-attached nightlife leads to an unexpected pregnancy, her reaction may be just as unexpected…

And then there’s Samantha-happily married and eager to be the perfect June Cleaver mother. But baby George brings only exhaustion, extra pounds, and marital strife to her once tidy life. Is having an affair with a friend’s incredibly sexy husband the answer?

By turns witty, rollicking, and tender, Babyville isn’t really a story about babies-it’s about three friends whose lives are suddenly turned upside down by that life-changing event that hangs over the head of every single girl: motherhood.

Jane Green is one of those authors I consistantly look for at the library – I have Mr. Maybe and Swapping Lives on my bookshelf at home, but am planning on reading those as a back-up, when the library ends up not having something I want.

Babyville starts off following Julia and her failing marriage. As usual, Green does an excellent job of building up the characters and making me feel connected. Much to my dismay, a third of the way through the book she switches to the next character featured on the book’s sleeve – Maeve. Then I started to get connected with Maeve, and what happens? Another switch. Initially I thought that it would end up switching back to Julia or Maeve after I had read about the third character (Samantha), but they end up just being tied together via relationships that exist with the character you are currently reading about (Maeve becomes friends with someone who is friends with Julia, etc).

In the grand scheme of things, I really would have liked if this was a set of three books, one for each character. They could have each come together in the end in a similar way, but I was really enjoying each story right before it switched, and I didn’t always get all of my questions answered. As it stands, I definitely enjoyed this book, even if I wanted it to be three times as long and didn’t get to read all of the things I wanted to read about. One of my favorite things about Jane Green is that she writes plot lines that aren’t predictable, and Babyville was no exception.

Buy Babyville by Jane Green

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• The Other Woman – Jane Green
• Jemima J – Jane Green