The Opposite of Maybe A Novel by Maddie Dawson
I absolutely loved this book! The story was messy and unpredictable
as in real life. The characters were very
human in that they were each in there way very interesting, likeable, and
changeable. I loved the story and couldn’t
wait to see how the story would end.
The book started out with Rosie and Jonathon a couple that
had been together without marriage for fifteen years. They had made the decision that they didn’t
want to have children and they both felt that was the decision they wanted to
stick with for the rest of their lives.
Rosie is 44 and she and Jonathon have a real change coming to their
relationship as Jonathon who collects teacups, to the point of obsession,
receives an offer to move across the country to California to open a teacup
museum. Rosie really doesn’t want to
leave, her Grandmother who raised her as her Mother was killed when she was
three years old, is now having problems living alone and Rosie needs to find a
caretaker to move in with her Grandmother before she feels she can leave.
She finds a caretaker but her Grandmother Sopie as she calls
her, has other ideas. She has moved in Tony a younger man who is a gardener to
live there and be her caretaker. He is
not what Rosie considers a professional who is capable and has experience in
taking care of an older person with memory problems who falls and shouldn’t be
driving, and to Rosie’s horror she really should not be drinking and dancing
and having an affair with an old friend whose wife is in a senior care facility
due Alzheimer’s. Tony seems to encourage
her Grandmother in such behavior he is completely unsuitable! Rosie agrees to move to California and also
agrees to marry Jonathon before they leave, so they put together a wedding
ceremony and invite friends and at the last minute Jonathon has to go tearing
off to rescue a bunch of teacups before something happens to them, leaving
Rosie in the lurch.
Rosie decides she doesn’t want to go with Jonathon at the
last minute, and moves in with her Grandmother and Tony. She finds much to her horror after Jonathon
has gone on, that she isn’t going through menopause as she thought, her one
time mistake of having intercourse without a condom has resulted in her
becoming pregnant. She really does not
want to have a child and she knows how Jonathon feels about it and what type of
Father she feels he would be.
She is spending time around Tony who seems to be a pregnancy
whisperer, he tells her she is pregnant before she even knows it and he is right! He is obsessed with pregnant women he loves
being around them. He tells her
everything about carrying a child and childbirth and raising a child.
Tony has a young son
named Milo who lives with his Mother and her girlfriend. Tony and Milo’s Mother were married for a
very long time and she decided she would rather be with their best friend’s
wife, rather than Tony. She and Tony and
her new partner live together for a while, until they tell Tony it isn’t
working and he should leave and they are going to keep Milo. He really isn’t happy about that but goes
along with it, then they tell Tony that he can’t see his son because his son
should get used to their arrangement.
Tony isn’t very good at changing arrangements with those two.
Rosie decides she is going to keep her child at the last
minute and Jonathon of course wants nothing to do with a baby, but then comes
round…..Tony seems to really like Rosie…..as does Milo and Rosie thinks her
baby should be with the Father….will she
change her mind, how will things work out with her Grandmother and George, how
will things work out with Tony and his son, and Rosie….will she marry Jonathon
and move to California with her child…..the book just has so many twists and
turns and just when you think you have everything figured out it changes
again. The book is rich in the depth of
story and characters. I can tell you I’m being very honest when I say
this book was a breath of fresh air, one of the best I’ve read in a long while,
and I very much would like to read anything else written by this author!
"I
received this book for free from Blogging for Books for this
review."
About The Book from the back cover:
About The Book from the back cover:
A heartfelt and exceptionally human novel about the best
mistakes a person can make
Jonathan and Rosie have been together so long they finish each other’s sentences—so when he (finally) proposes and asks her to move across the country with him, everyone is happily surprised.
But when things suddenly unravel, Rosie sends Jonathan packing and moves back home with Soapie, the irascible, opinionated grandmother who raised her. Now she has to figure out how to fire Soapie’s very unsuitable caregiver, a gardener named Tony who lets her drink martinis, smoke, and cheat at Scrabble.
It’s meant to be a temporary break, of course—until Rosie realizes she’s accidentally pregnant at 44, completely unequipped for motherhood, and worse, may be falling in love with Tony, whose life is even more muddled than hers. When Soapie reveals a long-hidden secret, Rosie wonders if she has to let go of her fears, and trust that the big-hearted, messy life that awaits her just may be the one she was meant to live.
Jonathan and Rosie have been together so long they finish each other’s sentences—so when he (finally) proposes and asks her to move across the country with him, everyone is happily surprised.
But when things suddenly unravel, Rosie sends Jonathan packing and moves back home with Soapie, the irascible, opinionated grandmother who raised her. Now she has to figure out how to fire Soapie’s very unsuitable caregiver, a gardener named Tony who lets her drink martinis, smoke, and cheat at Scrabble.
It’s meant to be a temporary break, of course—until Rosie realizes she’s accidentally pregnant at 44, completely unequipped for motherhood, and worse, may be falling in love with Tony, whose life is even more muddled than hers. When Soapie reveals a long-hidden secret, Rosie wonders if she has to let go of her fears, and trust that the big-hearted, messy life that awaits her just may be the one she was meant to live.
MADDIE DAWSON is the author of The Stuff That Never Happened. She lives in Connecticut.
