A feel good story

Cat thinks she has everything she wants in life, until she goes home to her nutty family. Then she discovers everything she’s suppressed all these years and now she has to decide what she truly wants in life. A fun story with engaging characters ( )

This was a fun, light read, good for a busy time of year. ( )

Not my favorite book.

Some characters were better than others. I think the plot was a little obvious. I was skimming through a few sections just because it felt dry and boring. ( )

It has been a while since I have read a Whitney Dineen story and I was happy to grab this copy, it was hilarious and in true Dineen fashion splendidly silly. Grab a copy of crazy family and trying to stay relatively normal. So if you need a pick me up this is it...Enjoy! ( )

No doubt about it, Relatively Normal by Whitney Dineen is fantastic! I was still reading the disclaimer, “This is a work of fiction. . .” and I was already laughing. Even the chapter headings are funny. The dedication to those lucky enough to find the loves of their lives in high school spoke to me, because that’s just what I did! So I was ready for a good story and I was not disappointed.

The story gets off to a rollicking start: Catriona is successful, settled, engaged to be married – but whoa! What’s with the little white lies to Ethan? Meeting vs. massage? Ethan seems like a pretty good guy and a pretty good fit for her. Maybe a bit too orderly, too predictable, but Cat has been hurt and she’s playing it safe. By the time they board the plane, though, you’re already wondering how this Thanksgiving with Ethan and his parents meeting the Masterton clan for the first time is going to go.

It goes better than you would expect, at least for a while. Ethan and his parents are good sports, mostly. They survive the kitchen gadget fetish, taxidermied field mice, stoner brother who hides out in the basement, and the grandmother who seems to have Tourette’s. They even survive, mostly, the Shuck and Chuck demonstration with the nuts and spittoons and the instruction to yell FLUSH! It’s one laugh after another, at least for the reader if not so much for Ethan and his parents.

But when Sam, the ex-boyfriend who shattered Cat’s heart and who she never wanted to see again, shows up with his parents for Thanksgiving dinner I feel like I’ve been dropped into Outlander. Yes Jamie! No Frank! Yes Jamie! No Frank! Substitute Sam for Jamie and Ethan for Frank and there you have it. There’s nothing really wrong with Ethan (well, maybe not much, anyway), but Sam . . . sigh. Maybe it’s just the Scottish vibe or the Masterton plaid or the kilt thing, but when Cat thinks to herself that Sam is entwined in her DNA in such a way she’ll probably need an exorcism to get rid of him you know she’s in for some tough decisions.

The story changes tempo about halfway through, but your level of interest and need to keep turning pages does not change at all. Instead of laugh out loud the humor is more dry and subtle, and the story gets sweeter and sweeter. As I got to know the characters better they became (a little) less weird and more interesting. The second half of Relatively Normal is all about family and change and hopes and dreams. Are there twists and turns and a surprise ending? The answer to that would be YES!

So many books, so little time, right? But you need to bump something and make time to read Relatively Normal. This book had me scurrying to my e-readers and bookshelves to see what else I have by Whitney Dineen that needs to be at the top of my TBR stack so I can continue this very enjoyable fix of the perfect blend of humor and sweet sexiness.

I read a complimentary advance copy of the book; this is my voluntary and honest review. ( )