Skip to main content

Review: Elizabeth the First Wife by Lian Dolan

I fell in love with the title of Lian Dolan's sophomore novel the moment I read it in the email pitch. Then I read on to find out there was Shakespeare. It was a done deal at that point. Honestly, all you have to do is dangle a little Shakespeare in front of me and I am on board. This was my first encounter with Ms. Dolan's work. I had never heard of either of her novels before, and I have to say that ratcheted up my anticipation a bit. It's summer. And I am in the mood to be entertained. By all means, bring on the new-to-me contemporary fiction with a side of Shakespeare and a touch of romance on the side! As far as covers go, I really like these sort of retro chick lit covers both Elizabeth the First Wife and Helen of Pasadena have going on. The're attractive and light, perfect to slip in your bag and pull out as needed on a sunny summer afternoon.

Elizabeth Lancaster has made her peace with her past. What's done is done. She divorced her movie star husband when he cheated on her approximately two seconds in to their ill-fated marriage, and she is now (years down the road) happily installed teaching literature at Pasadena City College. So her ex-husband was her first, possibly final love. So her father is a Nobel Prize-winning scientist she hasn't really talked to in ages. So her mother is the most exhausting of perfectionists. So what? Life is simple. And uncomplicated. And . . . nice. But then her ex walks into her classroom, with that same charming smile and those same alluring shared memories, and tries to talk her into accompanying him to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival to spend her summer making sure he doesn't fall on his face doing live theater for the first time in a decade. And she's really not going to go. She isn't. But it would be live theater, A Midsummer Night's Dream no less. It would mean being a part of a serious production. Elizabeth's life has become just small enough that, in the end, she can't quite resist FX's offer. And so against the better judgement of pretty much every sane adult in her life, she heads off to Ashland and that adventure she's been looking for.

What a smart, thoroughly enjoyable read! In the same vein as Liza Palmer's Seeing Me Naked and Liane Moriarty's What Alice Forgot, Lian Dolan weaves together a lovely mosaic of a woman in need of inspiration and revival, of complex and family dynamics that reach into the daily moments of her life, of new possibilities and old mistakes. Elizabeth herself is extremely likable. The history and the current status of her relationship with FX are both presented in a way that reveals two very young, very human people who fell apart but who remain lodestones, of a sort, in each other's lives. I like that no one in the story is demonized, that Elizabeth is allowed to work out her feelings for her ex at the same time as she hesitantly embarks on a somewhat unexpected long-distance relationship with the man running her brother-in-law's political campaign. I enjoyed watching both arcs unfold simultaneously, the one bittersweet, the other exciting in its newness. Elizabeth's nighttime Skypes with the man squatting in her home for the length of the campaign were both humorous and charming. You can't help but root for them. Add to that Elizabeth's hilarious modernized Shakespearean dating advice, and you have the elements of a very good time indeed. Having attended regional Shakespeare festivals in the past, I thoroughly enjoyed Dolan's portrayal of Ashland and the antics of the colorful cast and crew of this racy adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Elizabeth's family, from her overbearing mother to her seemingly perfect and driven sisters, provided an excellent backdrop for her professional and personal quandaries. I finished Elizabeth the First Wife in two satisfying sessions and will be checking out Helen of Pasadena soon.

Buy

Linkage
Dazzled by Books - "Cute, fun, romantic, and witty."

Comments

  1. This book sounds lovely, Angie. I love what you said about none of the characters being demonized, which sounds refreshing given that cheating ex's always tend to be one-dimensional villains.

    I'm getting it! Thanks for the rec ;-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Exactly. It was one of my favorite parts. And the burgeoning romance is subtle but very sweet.

      Delete
  2. I'll definitely be checking this one out. Such a great title and a comparison to Laine Moriarty, who I adore!

    I like the sound of the romance too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Great, Alexa! Hope you enjoy it. It was a fun summer read for me.

      Delete
  3. Angie you keep on giving fantastic reviews on books that aren't at my library!!! This one's not even in stock at my nearest Barnes and Noble, so I can't even cheat and read it there...
    Great review, as always.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ugh. That sucks, Lizzy. I'm sorry. Here's hoping a copy finds its way near you soon!

      Delete
  4. You just had to go and throw in those comparisons to Liza Palmer and Liane Moriarty didn't you?!?

    *sigh* It's already found it's way to my tbr.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous7:57 AM

    What Michelle said! You keep recommending contemporary romance titles that I wouldn't have discovered if not for your reviews.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This one flew under my radar for awhile and I'm grateful to the publicist who sent it my way, because I'm sure I never would have run across it otherwise and I really did like it.

      Delete

Post a Comment

You Might Also Like

Bibliocrack Review | You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian

If I'm being perfectly honest with myself, I've done a shamefully poor job of addressing my love for Cat Sebastian 's books around these parts. I've certainly noted each time her beautiful stories have appeared on my end-of-the-year best of lists, see:  The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes ,  basically every book in  The Cabots series , and of course  We Could Be So Good .  And the pull is, quite simply, this: nobody is as kind and gentle with their characters and with their hearts than Cat Sebastian. Nobody. I haven't always been one for the gentler stories, but I cannot overstate the absolute gift it is sinking into one of Sebastian's exquisitely crafted historicals knowing that I get to spend the next however many pages watching two idiots pine and deny that feelings exist and just  take care of each other  as they fall in love. I wouldn't trade that experience for the world. Not this one or any other.  Only two things in the world people count by months. H

Review | The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, Vols. 1 & 2 by Beth Brower

I feel a bit giddy finally talking to you all about this series. If you'll remember, I fell madly in love with The Q  when it came out a few years ago. Now, Beth Brower is writing The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion — a series of novellas set in London in 1883. Each volume is an excerpt from the incorrigible Emma's journals, and the first two volumes are already available with the third on the way soon. I think they'd make rather perfect pandemic reading. Humorous and charming down to their bones, they're just what the doctor ordered to lift your spirits in this uncertain time that just proves to be too much some days. If you're experiencing one of those days, I suggest giving Volume 1   a go (it's only 99 cents on Kindle, $4.99 for a trade paperback copy). It will surprise exactly none of you that I own print and digital editions of both volumes.  Miss Emma M. Lion has waited long enough. Come hell or high water (and really, given her track record,  both a

Review | Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

It really is a pretty cover. And dragons. I love them so.  It's been far too long since I've read a book in which dragons played any kind of primary character role. They do here, and they are probably my favorite aspect of this book. But more on that later. It's probably worth noting that I, like the rest of the world, was aware of Fourth Wing and the collective losing of BookTok's mind over it. I mean, it was kind of thrilling to hear that you couldn't find a copy anywhere—in the sense that I love it when books are being consumed and loved. And when that happens in such a way that it takes publishing by surprise (for lack of a better way to phrase it) so much so that they have to scramble to print more. So I did the sensible thing and bought the ebook. And then I proceeded to do the not-so-sensible-but-extremely-Angie thing and not read it. There was a cross-country move tucked in there somewhere between the buying and the reading, but more on that at a later date