"Skipping a Beat" by Sarah Pekkanen - 4 Stars (***SPOILERS***)

Book description available via Amazon.

This could have been a GREAT book, but for some reason the middle felt like it dragged. That might be because some of the focus shifted away from Michael and Julia to Isabelle's unexpected reunion with the daughter she gave up for adoption 16 years ago. Isabelle's story was interesting, and I could see the parallels between it and Michael and Julia's story, but it felt like it should have been explored in another book instead of completely playing out in this one. The first line of Chapter 1 really grabbed me, so I expected to be enthralled throughout the book. Instead, I found myself picking up and finishing another book before going back to finish this one. While there were some big surprises (Julia's affair and her mother's death come to mind), I found parts of the book to be rather predictable. For example, I was sure that Michael would end up dying anyway, although how he died was a surprise to me. I also predicted that Julia would be pregnant by the end of the book.

I wish we could have gotten inside Michael's head a bit more to better understand what he was thinking and feeling. On one hand, I liked the first person narration because it made it easy to empathize with Julia and feel her confusion in the wake of Michael's near death experience. However, it made it a lot more difficult to understand Michael's motivations. I think I would have preferred a third person narrator, who could have explained both characters' motivations more effectively, or perhaps alternating first person narration (one chapter from Julia's perspective, then the next from Michael's perspective).

Despite its flaws, "Skipping a Beat" was a very good book, especially for a relatively new author, and it felt true to life. It's easy to see how Michael and Julia's marriage reached the breaking point. Sadly, it's a story that I've heard many times in real life.