JDCMustReadBooks

By Barbara Delinksy
ISBN: 9781250007049
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Publication Date: 6/9/2015
Format: Other
My Rating: 4 Stars

A special thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. "Stunning front cover!"

A long-time fan of Barbara Delinsky, once again delivers a winning women's fiction drama with BLUEPRINTS. A realistic contemporary portrayal of the many challenges and complexities, faced by women of ages from 20’s to 60’s; of today’s modern world relationships--from professional, personal, family, and motherhood mixed with humor and some tantalizing sexy distractions.

Gut it! A local television production, a home renovation series headlined by women—specifically the women of MacAfee Homes. The show was not touted by high drama nor celebrity antics, just real work by real people with whom an audience of real women identified.

However, when the director decides the program needs a facelift to attract a younger demographic, family allegiances are put to the test. Caroline MacAfee is a skilled carpenter, her daughter Jamie, a talented architect and together they have been the faces of Gut It.

Jamie MacAfee is twenty-nine and pretty much financially independent. Her parents are divorced and Caroline was not just her mother, but her best friends. Roy, her dad had moved on not once more, but twice. Jamie did not care for his second wife and his third wife, Jessica was close to Jamie’s age with a young son, and she had become a friend. All the family happened to be employed by MacAfee homes (so a lot of input).

Caroline age fifty-six had always taken pride in her work and the audience loved her. However, when she is told the network wants her daughter to replace her as host, the day after her birthday, she is devastated. Can you imagine what this does to your ego? The show wants to target a younger demographic, aiming for the twenty-five to forty-year old range.

This news places Jamie in an awkward situation, since her mom built the show, and now they think her mom is too old. She was simply being rewarded for her age at the expense of her mother, who was being punished for hers. At age fifty-six she looks great; however, for television, it means over-the-hill. She is allowed to stay on the show, just not in the limelight.

The fallout causes a strain between mother and daughter, and soon after comes the accident of Roy MacAfee, CEO of MacAfee Homes, and his young wife (father and ex-husband). Now Jamie is confronted with the role as guardian of her two year old half-brother, Tad and her fiancé, Brad is less than thrilled with the news. So there is drama all the way around for these two women with much more . . .

As Caroline is four years away from age sixty (been there, not a pretty thought);however, not everyone thinks she is over-the-hill, and may be time for "Stella to get her groove back". :) Carolina has always felt passion for work and her daughter, but a man, like Dean—could be the worst or possibly the best! Loved this part...

I really enjoyed the story, from the stunning front cover, which grabbed me, as well as the design concept, and the older woman--a fantastic topic as many of us baby boomers are facing this today with our careers, as opportunities do not come along for the over 50 woman, compared to previous years.  

Fans of highly-charged women’s topics, women’s fiction, family dynamics, romance, chick-lit and lovers of HGTV, home remodeling, architecture, design, Wendy Wax’s Ten Beach Road home renovation series, and Mary Kay Andrews’ books will enjoy Barbara’s storytelling with her in depth research into the architecture and design business. An engaging and fun beach read of love, life, aging, motherhood and reinvention.