The Future She Left Behind by Marin Thomas

Publication Date: September 5th, 2017
Publisher: Berkley Publishing

“One woman’s journey home gets derailed by her soon-to-be ex-mother-in-law in a novel filled with humor, small-town charm, rekindled love, and the resilient ties of family.

Cast aside by her cheating husband, Katelyn Chandler is ready to pack it all in and drive home to Little Springs, Texas. She wants a chance to regroup, reconnect with her mother, and get back to her art.

But Shirley Pratt–master manipulator, elitist snob, and Katelyn’s terror of a live-in monster-in-law–has other ideas. Shirley insists on joining Katelyn’s trip after her son tries to pack her off to a retirement community. Katelyn has no choice but to play peacekeeper between the ornery old woman and the proud matrons of Little Springs. Yet the small town seems to be changing Shirley. And as Katelyn weighs the wisdom of picking up where she left off with Jackson Mendoza, the town bad boy and her high school sweetheart, she must find a way to believe in the strength of her dreams.”

Review:

Thank you to NetGalley, Berkley Publishing, and Marin Thomas for allowing to me have an arc before the publication date. 

This book was adorable! I didn’t know how I would feel after reading the synopsis, but I fell in love with the way Marin Thomas wrote this story.

After being served divorce papers from her husband who is away on business, Katelyn is forced to take her mother-in-law back to Little Springs. Shirley, Katelyn’s mother-in-law, always berates her and makes her feel like she wasn’t ever worth her son. After finding out the reasons why Katelyn and Don’s marriage ended, Shirley and Katelyn started to bond while in Katelyn’s hometown.

The stories that each individual character had were loving, sad, motivational, heartbreaking and more. There was a lot in this book that were extremely realistic. The ending of relationships, returning home to your parents, finding love whether you’re older or starting over, etc. Marin Thomas did a very good job on making it seem realistic.

There were some things in this book that pleasantly surprised me. There were some things that I just weren’t expecting and I think that it made the book better for me.

The characters didn’t shine for me all too much. I really enjoyed Katelyn, but they weren’t all like she was. There were things with the characters that I would change, but not too much that it would change the book drastically.

I think that this book definitely has great potential and I loved the story. I wasn’t really sure in the beginning what to think, but I’m glad I gave this one a try!

Rating: ★★★★