Book Review - Megan's Way by Melissa Foster

Title: Megan's Way
Author: Melissa Foster 
Year: 2009
Page: 304
Genre: Fiction - Women

FTC Disclosure: Borrowed from the library

Summary (from goodreads.com):
What would you give up for the people you love?

When Megan Taylor, a single mother and artist, receives the shocking news that her cancer has returned, she'll be faced with the most difficult decision she's ever had to make. She'll endure an emotional journey, questioning her own moral and ethical values, and the decisions she'd made long ago. The love she has for her daughter, Olivia, and her closest friends, will be stretched and frayed.

Meanwhile, fourteen-year-old Olivia's world is falling apart right before her eyes, and there's nothing she can do about it. She finds herself acting in ways she cannot even begin to understand. When her internal struggles turn to dangerous behavior, her life will hang in the balance.

Megan's closest friends are caught in a tangled web of deceit. Each must figure out how, and if, they can expose their secrets, or forever be haunted by their pasts.

First Sentence:
Megan and Holly ran, weaving their way through the crowds of the carnival and hollering to hear over the thick cheer that permeated the festive evening.

My Thoughts:

• Tea Time with Marce really enjoyed this book (see her review here) and I was in the mood for a sappy book so I picked up this one from the library.

• One review I read said that this book is like a sappy lifetime movie - I had to agree. It was not something I'd usually watch, unless I was really in the mood. This read a bit like a YA book. There were parts of this book I really like, but there were other parts I didn't quite like - even though I was in a sappy mood, but my usual non-sappy mind still came out while I read this. Let's talk about the part I did not like first - note, I'll include spoilers because it was too difficult to explain if I don't.

• The story included some diary entries and letters. I typically like that, but in this story, it got a bit repetitive since the messages were pretty much the same.

• I also could not connect to the characters - though there were parts of it still made me cry. Many of the characters in the book, female or male, cried a lot. I got that it was a sad story, but it got repetitive. The same for Megan's daughter, I got that she got angry sometimes, but that again got repetitive. Maybe if I read a bit slower or over a longer period of time, I wouldn't feel the repetitiveness as much. When you read a book in a short time, you tended to see the whole book instead just parts of it.

• The following were some questions I had about the book, that I wish would have been answered more - see, I told you my usual overly logical or practical mind came out... I liked closures in books, that's why I don't typically do well with ambiguity in books (I have no problem dealing with ambiguity at work, as that just comes with the territory and we don't have control over everything, but stories are different since the author had control to include or not include something)

• [SPOILER]  (1) if Holly knew or suspected that Megan was dying, why didn't Holly tell Jack to go to Megan's birthday ritual since she knew how much it meant for Megan to have all her friends there? (2) if Megan and Lawrence had such a strong attraction, why would Megan go away that weekend and did what she did? (3) Holly's secrets..  seemed a bit far fetched regarding what happened with Peter and the baby switch... (4) the strong connection between Megan and Olivia seemed a bit unrealistic - I guess you hear about that with twins though, so I suppose it could happen with mother/daughter... (5) I was not sure about the timing - when did Holly get pregnant? Megan came back from "Italy" after 3 months, and saw Holly and Jack being in love, it didn't mention Holly was pregnant. Then both Holly and Megan were pregnant at the same time, and gave birth around the same time , and the 2 girls looked so much alike - wouldn't one baby be at least 3 months older than the other unless of course Holly got pregnant straight away when she and Jack got together... but I didn't get that impression? I suppose Holly could have gotten pregnant a month or two after Megan, but then her baby would have been a premmie. (6) It also seemed like all the 4 friends had such a strong friendship and yet there were so many secrets among them - is it possible to have such a strong friendship still given all the guilt they have? [/SPOILER]

• I liked that the books had lots of twists, but some of them seemed a bit contrived and they way they were delivered were a bit anti-climatic as they were revealed "just like that" without a lot of built up. 

• What I did REALLY like about this book, was the strong bond between the mother/daughter, and the amazing friendship Megan had with her friends - that made me envy her. I guess I am always one who would rather have a few close friends than a big group of less close friends. 

• And the book really made me think  - if I had terminal cancer, would I choose to fight or spare the loved ones seeing me deteriorate when it's 99% inevitable?

Quote: 

Megan realized that there was a certain fear when one brought life into the world, and a completely different type of fear when one prepared to die (p120)

Overall Rating:

3 Stars. There were parts I really liked about this book (and made me get teary), but my mind was overly analytical about some other aspects of the story.


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