Bookreview: How I Came to Sparkle Again by Kaya McLaren

Thanks to Cravebox, which came out with a book lovers Cravebox earlier this month, I received this book before the official publishing date. I did not know which book would be included, but I gathered it was something romance / life story because of the teaser statements we got.

I have to admit that I never heard of the author before, but I have read several books in the past few months by authors that I had not read before, so I was excited to get to know another new author. It turns out that Kaya McLaren has written bestsellers before, including a book called Church of the Dog which deals with a couple that has become disenchanted with their marriage, but a stranger entering their lives manages to revive the feelings between the couple. Comparing both books, you can discover a theme of rekindling romance. Now, keep in mind, I did not read Church of the Dog, I was just curious a bout other books by the author because the subject of How I came to Sparkle Again is definitely interesting.

So what is How I Came to Sparkle Again now about? It tells the story of three people, Jill, Lisa and Cassie, who all end up in Sparkle, Colorado, a ski town and find their lives in turmoil. The book describes how they find back to their lives and happiness, overcoming the problems that initially seemed insurmountable.

Jill, who suffered a recent miscarriage, finds out that her husband is cheating on her. She follows invite by her friend Lisa to come to Sparkle. She hopes to only overcome the disappointment of her husband's betrayal, but Sparkle has more, much more to offer.

Cassie, a young girl, struggles with her mother's illness and death. She does not know how to go on, but she too finds herself in Sparkle with new energy and a life that has promise.

The final character is Lisa, Jill's friend, who has relationship problems of her own. not being married and really afraid to get married because she wants to avoid trouble like Jill is now in, Lisa has an endless string of brief relationships and no way out.

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While I really liked the overall message of the book, there were some issues with the book. First the good things.  The characters were well developed and the story had a deeper message of faith and belief in yourself. This I really enjoyed and made the book to me very meaningful. What put me off and this is probably a personal choice; the book contained quite a bit of swearing. To me  these sections seemed like an attempt by the author to obtain street cred, but really did not add anything to the story. I really do not like it if writers feel the need to include such language when it seems out of character.

So if you do not mind that kind of language in a book, you will probably enjoy the book a lot. I did enjoy reading it, but the first encounter of swearing left me thinking - now where did this come from? It just did not fit into the book. I recommend Kaya McLaren's book How I came to Sparkle Again for an interesting take on relationship / romance, but be warned about the language.

Disclaimer: I received the book as part of the Cravebox program. The opinions expressed in this blog are solely my own and have not been influenced by Cravebox or any third party.