Taking Back Mary Ellen Black

Go, Mary Ellen!!! This is a fun and heartwarming novel about a woman with two daughters moving back home after her divorce and finding herself again. Her mother is constantly criticizing her, always making her feel as if she can't do anything right (how many of us can sympathize with that). Her best friend, whose advice she ignored and then blew off to get married, is hesitant to renew the friendship, since they have not talked for several years. Eventually, this friend gets her a job, and Mary Ellen begins to rediscover who she is and to stand up for herself. As she does, she begans to bloom. I found the first sex scene a bit farfetched (although spicy and exciting), but the relationships between Mary Ellen and her family are portrayed in a very realistic and touching manner, especially the interchanges between Mary Ellen and her mother. The last chapter almost had me in tears. Pick this book up if you want to feel good about life and its possibilities again.