Review: I Almost Forgot About You by Terry McMillan

I Almost Forgot About You by Terry McMillan

Blurb from Goodreads:

In I Almost Forgot About You, Dr. Georgia Young's wonderful life--great friends, family, and successful career--aren't enough to keep her from feeling stuck and restless. When she decides to make some major changes in her life, quitting her job as an optometrist, and moving house, she finds herself on a wild journey that may or may not include a second chance at love. Like Waiting to Exhale and How Stella Got Her Groove Back, I Almost Forgot About You will show legions of readers what can happen when you face your fears, take a chance, and open yourself up to life, love, and the possibility of a new direction.

My Review:
I just loved this one so much -- I don't know why but it was just what I needed when I was reading it.  We meet Dr. Georgia Young, who is on the precipice of 55 and lonely and bored with her life.  On the surface, she's successful -- she's an Optometrist, she has a steady practice and a beautiful home in the Oakland hills, she's raised two beautiful daughters, and she's not wanting of anything.  But underneath, she needs something new -- however, in the middle of trying to figure out what that is, everyone around her sort of falls apart and she is supposed to keep standing: her best friend has professional and money troubles, her daughters are both going through crises, her business partner's parents are dying and her 82 year old mother decides to get married.  Despite the chaos, however, Georgia decides she's going to find all the men she ever loved, even including her two ex-husbands, and just let them know she hasn't forgotten about them -- not that she wants to re-kindle anything but that she just wants to let them know she is happy for the time she spent loving each one.  It's a good plan but, of course, it doesn't necessarily happen like she imagined.  Even though I am more than twenty years younger than Georgia, she was so likable -- I think what I love most about this author's writing is that it is so freaking honest, like beyond honest.  In the book, you are in Georgia's mind to the point where sometimes I couldn't believe I was reading these thoughts -- not that they were bad but because I think sometimes we hold so much in -- we don't let out these small truths -- and it was so lovely for Georgia to just go for it as a narrator.  The ending is perhaps a bit idealistic but I didn't mind this at all considering the realism of the rest of the book -- it was perfect!  One last thing, the friendships in this book are so great -- I laughed out loud so many times while reading this.  I need to go and read all of this author's backlist, both those that I've already read and those that I haven't.

I highly recommend this to fans of women's fiction -- it feels a shame to even have that as a category sometimes but this is just so real for women.  Not that man shouldn't read this one, at all, because I would love to see that.  I Almost Forgot About You came out last week on June 7, 2016, you can purchase HERE, and I just loved this book!

When we're young, we think we're always going to be young.  We thought life was going to be one long party.  One thrill after another.  We knew we could get over heartache and disappointment and failure in a snap, because we were going to get hundreds if not thousands of opportunities and do-overs.  We knew that success and happiness and love were in the cards.  We didn't worry about the future.  We were more worried about the next time we were going to get laid.   

Now you fall across the bed when you're not sleepy but just tired of the way you live--or aren't living. From the outside you shouldn't be complaining, but success and a good credit score can't love you.