Five women navigate life while juggling careers, children, family, and men. Based on true stories of 40 Something women.

Charlie is bored with the family tradition of Sunday Dinner so she brings a friend her family won’t approve of to spice things up a bit. Will this friend go too far and cause too much damage?

Rose only wants to do what is right and keep her family safe. How can she do that when the world is so dangerous and her teenagers so willful. Will helping a friend invite trouble into her perfect world?

Lindsay loves to have fun and enjoys the company of men. She is a modern playgirl who will stop at nothing to get a man’s attention. Will she find what she’s looking for or something unexpected?

Sophie wants to keep the peace and keep everyone happy, especially her ex-husband, so her children will live with her full time. Will she lose the children if she can’t afford to take care of them?

Justine wants to escape her perfect life, she just doesn’t realize it. Will she find the passion that is missing or will she continue to hide behind her computer screen?

Join these women as they discover who they are, what life is really about, and why a glass of wine makes a hard day so much easier.

40 Something is about five women all in their Forties, and their struggling with their lives. Every one of them has a different story, and a different approach to life.

There is Rose, the picture book mother with her picture book husband Gus who is living a life for her family. She hosts family dinner every Sunday, and that’s when she is happy the most. Her four kids are now teenagers.

Her sister Charlie is a divorce lawyer, who is divorced herself, and mother to her only son. She is a tough woman, nevertheless she has her doubts that she will ever find love. Online dating, it would seems, is not the solution.

Her friend Lindsey is divorced too, and got out of her marriage as one wealthy women. Money is nothing to worry about. It seems, she has it all: great looks, the big bucks and a horde of men running after her.

Justine, the sister-in-law of Rose, is married to Gus’ brother Gary and works from home in Online Marketing. She has the perfect husband who helps her with the kids and the housekeeping and is as nice as a man can be. But Justine is unhappy and full of self-recrimination.

Sophie is a friend of Rose and only recently separated from her cheating and abusive husband. Charlie and Lindsey are helping her to get away and introduce her to the benefits of online dating in order to become more self-confidence.

The book is written in short chapters, in every chapter (named after one of the women) changing the POV between the five protagonists. This way you get great insight on what is going on in their lives and in their heads. I really liked that form of storytelling because it shows how different those women are, and how differently they are acknowledged by their friends.

The plot is engaging and well thought through. I liked that the problems for each of the women were so real. Every women of Generation X can relate to them, and maybe even be able to identify with one of them. The five women have to deal with great or not so minor problems, but the book is never low-spirited. It is an extract of reality.

Besides the engaging plot, 40 Something is written very well. It definitely is a good read, especially for the holidays I would say, and I recommend it to every women of the Generation X.

Shannon Peel grew up in Enderby, BC where her family’s root run deep. Growing up where television was either non existent or very limited she relied on books & imagination to escape into the world beyond.

She went to UBC to study and earn a general studies BA with a concentration in Political Science and Economics. Macro analysis of world events, social justice and human motivations became a passion of hers. This passion is a driving force in all her stories, which have political, economic, and social justice undercurrents.

After a career in the financial field she decided to stay home and raise her two children until school age. In 2007 she return to the workforce as a sales / marketing / advertising professional.

She currently resides in BC’s Lower Mainland with her two teenage children.

www.shannonlpeel.wix.com
Facebook
Goodreads