By: Camille Pagán
ISBN: 1542026466
Publisher: Lake Union
Publication Date: 05/11/2021
Format: Hardcover
My Rating: TBR
A witty and unexpected novel about a woman trying to keep her family vacation—and yes, her life—from going south by the Amazon Charts bestselling author of Life and Other Near-Death Experiences.
It’s been thirteen years since doctors declared Libby Ross-Velasquez a goner. Yet here she is—cancer free. So why doesn’t she feel more alive?
Sure, Libby’s husband, Shiloh, has been distant. One of their daughters has a serious health condition. And her father’s death hovers over Libby like a rain cloud. Still, this eternal optimist knows she’s the winner of the existential lottery.
But when her forced cheer isn’t enough to keep her family from catching her blahs, she decides to fly them all to Vieques. The Puerto Rican island is where she and Shiloh fell in love—and where she decided to fight for her life after her cancer diagnosis. Where better to put their problems into perspective?
Then a tropical storm strikes. Libby pretends everything’s fine, even as she fears she’s doomed her family. What she can’t see is that the worst disaster they’ve faced may be the best thing that ever happened to them. But first, they have to get through it.
#Don'tMakeMeTurnThisLifeAround
Praise
“Pagán combines realistic midlife concerns with likable characters, showing that perfection is an illusion and that it’s the difficult times that truly bring us together. Fans of Maddie Dawson and Allison Winn Scotch will enjoy vacationing with the Ross-Velasquez crew.” —Booklist
“Pagán delivers a relatable motherhood journey and all of the struggles that middle age bring to us. Bigger than that are the beautiful reminders of the importance of family, especially in times of struggle, that we really need right now.” —MomAdvice
“With her trademark wit and charm, Camille Pagán invites us back into the lives of Libby and Shiloh thirteen years after we first met them in Life and Other Near-Death Experiences. Don’t Make Me Turn This Life Around is rich, raw, and real, a new favorite…Readers like me can’t help coming back for more of Pagán’s gorgeously written stories. I loved it!” —Kerry Lonsdale, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post bestselling author
“Oh my goodness! Camille Pagán has achieved such an exquisite, delicate balance, writing a profoundly moving novel that expresses both the beauty and heartbreak of loving other people. Don’t Make Me Turn This Life Around is everything: funny and warm and scary and sad and reassuring—just like real life. I read this in one sitting because I simply couldn’t stop.” —Maddie Dawson, bestselling author of Matchmaking for Beginners and A Happy Catastrophe
“Camille Pagán’s latest page-turner brilliantly captures the nuances of marriage and family while tackling the tough challenges along the way. Libby is every wife and mother, and when life throws her a curveball, she finds the courage to keep moving…and keep believing. With wit and wisdom, Don’t Make Me Turn This Life Around will have you laughing and crying along with these perfectly flawed characters and asking yourself, What does it mean to have enough?” —Rochelle Weinstein, bestselling author of This Is Not How It Ends
“Pagán masterfully guides us on a stormy journey through a morass of middle-age malaise and deposits us on the other side with charm, humor, truth, and a few lessons about the power of love and unbreakable family ties.” —Andy Abramowitz, author of A Beginner’s Guide to Free Fall
“Camille Pagán pens another hit with the compulsively readable Don’t Make Me Turn This Life Around. I trust Pagán’s storytelling, and in her latest, she masterfully guides us through a woman’s journey through real ups and downs in marriage and motherhood.” —Tif Marcelo, author of Once Upon a Sunset
“Camille Pagán once again gives us a heartfelt and relatable story about a woman on the edge. This time, Libby knows she should be feeling euphoric about beating cancer for good—and instead she finds the limits of her unrelenting optimism. She can’t stop her tween daughters from arguing, make her work more fulfilling, or insulate her marriage from the pressures of middle-age. Don’t Make Me Turn This Life Around is a lovely novel about banishing ‘shoulds’ and welcoming the adventures and inevitable pain of growing just a little bit older.” —Kathleen West, author of Minor Dramas & Other Catastrophes
“Don’t Make Me Turn This Life Around is a delightful blend of humor and tension. Poignant, layered, and achingly real, we’re treated to a true-to-life protagonist we can both laugh and cry with as she navigate the anxieties of marriage and motherhood as middle age approaches. I devoured this charming, not-to-be-missed novel in a single sitting, and found myself hating to say goodbye to characters that had started to feel like friends.” —Barbara Davis, bestselling author of The Last of the Moon Girls
About the Author
Camille Pagán is the #1 Amazon Charts and Washington Post bestselling author of seven novels, including This Won’t End Well, I’m Fine and Neither Are You, and Life and Other Near-Death Experiences, which has been optioned for film. Her books have been translated into nearly two dozen languages. Pagán has written for the New York Times; O, The Oprah Magazine; Parade; Real Simple; Time; and many other publications. She lives with her family in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Learn more about her work at www.camillepagan.com.
