Book Review: The Girls' Guide to Love and Supper Clubs, by Dana Bate

The real or imagined pressure that parents put on their children - even grown children - is an incredibly influential force. Many, if not most, people have an innate need to strive to please their parents, and this often leads to making choices for the benefit of the parent instead of the individual. Kids want to make Mom and Dad happy, whether they're five years old or 35 years old. They want acceptance and approval, and if they feel that they're not getting it by pursuing their own dreams, they very well might change focus and let themselves be guided by good-intentioned parental opinion. However, just because someone has good intentions doesn't mean you should follow his advice, not even if that someone happens to be your parent. Sometimes it takes a whole lot of courage to chart your own course, but that is the only way to find fulfillment on your own terms. In Dana Bate's novel, The Girls' Guide to Love and Supper Clubs, the main character, Hannah Sugarman learns this lesson the hard way.

Hannah is living the life her parents want her to live, but she is bored and unhappy. Yet, despite her discontent, she still can't manage to be honest about her personal hopes, dreams, and goals in life, largely because they are so different from what her parents want for her. When a break-up adds to her misery, Hannah is gently urged down a different path, one that leads to a life she never thought possible. It all starts with a secret supper club, but will Hannah's journey end in disaster, or will it have a happy ending?

I tore through The Girls' Guide to Love and Supper Clubs because the suspense was killing me. No, it's not a suspense novel. It actually fits more in the category of chick lit. But Hannah's questionable choices made me so tense, I could hardly wait to read about the solutions to all of her resultant dilemmas. As a main character, she is likeable...and yet there were times I wanted to reach through the book, grab her by the shoulders, and shake some sense into her. All in all it was a nice easy-breezy read, even if it did stress me out a little bit. 


I received a complimentary copy of The Girls' Guide to Love and Supper Clubs for review purposes. All opinions expressed are my own.