Book Review: Vince and Joy by Lisa Jewell

I have always been a fan of Lisa Jewell, so I figured I couldn’t go wrong. Remember a few years back (okay more than a few) when Bridget Jones’s Diary hit the big time and we all wanted to read anything British? Well that’s when Lisa Jewell hit it big in the states

Ralph’s Party and Thirty Nothing were really great – and though Ms. Jewell is marketed as chick lit, her characters are very real and likable as well. I think it’s fair to say she got that label because chick lit was all the rage at the time. In fairness, her books should really just be considered contemporary fiction.

Vince & Joy is kind of like a British When Harry Met Sally except that instead of starting out friends, the pair in this story start out as lovers – each others first, in fact. Circumstances separate them and they go on to live their own very normal, very that-could-be-me lives. We experience them over a nearly twenty year period as they live their lives and bump into each other every several years along the way. The supporting cast is well thought out and interesting from the parents to the roommates to the transgender neighbor and the psychic cat.