When it Happens to You: A Novel in Stories by Molly Ringwald

"The moment you make someone promise anything is the same moment you ask them to lie to you."

So, I found this book in the Kindle 100 books for $3.99 or less (of course it was $3.99). I'm not wholly surprised that I am left a little disappointed by the book. Don't get me wrong, it's a pretty easy light read and it has relatively developed characters, I was just bored. I don't know if that's because I read it after drinking way too much coffee. I couldn't stay focused. The main story revolves around a single couple with their own marital problems. Once you are introduced to them in the first story it jumps to another story about someone who is linked somehow. It begins to develop in a tangled out of order kind of way that almost forced you to have to make things make sense, instead of it happening naturally.

I don't know much about Molly Ringwald as a person and so I don't know what her life has been like. But this book was just causing one train wreck after another in the characters lives. There wasn't a single character that escaped some absurd huge tragedy whether it be finances, infidelity, drugs, or simply growing old and having dementia. It was too much. In real life every one has problems, and we all deal with them the best that we can. I just feel like in a book that is completely interconnected it's an overload to have too many struggles and personal failures to maintain.

I don't usually write reviews in such a way, but I really didn't enjoy this book. I bought it yesterday and had the day off so I finished it in a few hours time. I am usually okay with reads that go by pretty quickly because it's kind of a day romance. This book just left me feeling underwhelmed and lacking finality. I very seldom mind when a book ends and allows you to finish the story for yourself, and yet this book really needed some kind of closure. Nearly every person's story in all the short stories was left as an unfinished cliff-hanger.

In short I will just say that I don't really suggest this book if you are looking for a satisfying read. The first book Rindwald wrote was a feel good love your body book all about being a woman and awesome and stuff. I may read it just to compare. I do however, really feel like if she continues to write and explore her ideas in a refined way, she could really produce some good modern fiction. It just really needs to be honed in and address specific topics in a more focused manner.