It Had to be You by Clare Lydon

It Had To Be You by Clare Lydon

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Milly and Georgia are a couple (who had meet a month before the story. In a bar).

Jane is Milly's mother and, shockingly, the same age as Georgia (or should I have worded that the other way around, shockingly Georgia is the same age as Jane, her girlfriend's mother). Rachel is Jane's friend.

Milly has invited her girlfriend to her mother's Christmas gathering. Georgia is, naturally, unsettled by the idea but is, as she says in her own words, pussy-whipped by Milly. She figures, Georgia that is, that Milly's mother will see her as a cradle robber from hell (or however that was worded), since - as I've mentioned several times - Georgia is the same age as Jane (actually it was the part wherein Georgia was much older than Milly; it just happened that Georgia's age and Jane's age corresponded in the way it did).

Prior to the party Milly has 'laid the groundwork' so that her mother 'knows' that Milly is going with someone older than herself. Jane is under the impression, though, that this means Georgia would be around 35 (ten years older than Milly's 23 or 25 (note: mother Jane and Rachel had talked, they guessed Milly's girlfriend is/was ten years older, and so 35; when Georgia is on the way to Jane's house, Georgia thinks of Milly as being 23 - I am confused by this 23/25 age thingie). When, in reality, she's closer to 65 (heh, Jane is actually 54, and Georgia is also 54 as well; of note: Jane's friend Rachel mentions that Jane could go with a 35 year old, which horrify's Jane who responds with 'I'm 54 in case you'd forgotten', so obviously she's going to be super happy her 23 year old daughter is going with someone who is 54. heh).

Also present at this party will be 'Joanna and her partner' (boyfriend). Joanna is a daughter of Jane's.

Not present at the party will be Paul, Jane's dead husband, who died 3 years ago.

Story from more than one point of view, and includes Jane (the mother of Milly), and Georgia.

One issue rears it's head immediately, though it was one I didn't expect (though maybe I should have). Has something to do . . . well, I can't even say that much. 'With something'. hehe. Even a hint would be too spoiler-y. Though I'm not sure I can say much more about this story since this is kind of a 'game-changer' kind of thing. I mean, it's one thing if your daughter dates someone your own age. It's something else entirely if, well, again, I can't say. (view spoiler)[I put myself into a trap there, I could have just said, and I only thought of it after the fact, 'another thing entirely if you, as in Jane, previously knew the woman before she became your daughter's girlfriend.'(view spoiler)[There's more to that story (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]

Hmm. There's a shelf I wish to put this story on, but can't. Because - spoiler-y. Hmms.

A solid story - deeper and with more impact than I expected. Has some humor. Some angst/drama.

November 27 2016



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