Alice Hartley's Happiness

I've read so many of Phillipa Gregory books. She's the one that sparked my love of historical novels 20 years ago. Going off how she typically writes historical novels, and the woman on the cover is in a corset, that's what I was expecting. But it's modern day and kind of new agey. The book is so wordy, its hard to say focused. I know that's weird to say of a book...of course it's wordy. What I mean is, you read a whole page and have no clue what happened. It's like that whole page could've been left out and still get the picture. Seems like the story jumps to all these little side stories that don't help the main story at all. The only character I even like is the crazy aunt that keeps dying. It's got its silly moments that's made me chuckle, but it's tucked in pages and pages of pure drivel. I'm not done with this book, and not sure I will finish it. I dread reading it at night, but at this point, it feels like a horrific car accident you see on the side of the road and a head is rolling away. I'm kind of curious where the head goes and I'm just watching in horror and can't pull my eyes away. I won't stop reading her historical novels as they still remain my favorites...but it'll be awhile before I trust another of her books again, and will never try one that's not her typical genre.