emily giffin!

There are certain authors that make you sit, in anticipation, and wait, not so patiently for every novel to come out. Emily Giffin is one of those authors. I have read everything she's done, cover to cover. I love her writing. I like that she lessens the dialogue and gives a gist of what characters say, so you're not reading constant conversations that take forever. I love how she incorporates characters from previous books in every story. Let's just face it, I want to be like her.

Her latest novel came out at the end of July. Where We Belong is a story about a thirty-six-year-old television producer named Marian who has what seems to be the perfect life. The perfect boyfriend, the perfect job in NYC, the perfect parents. Nothing is perfect. We know this, Emily Giffin knows this, and Marian finds out after she gets a knock on her door from eighteen-year-old Kirby. I don't know if this is a spoiler, but it could be, so stop reading if you don't like such things. I assume you've all predicted, like I did, that Kirby is Marian's daughter from a teenage pregnancy. Kirby has always thought that something was missing in her life. She was told since childhood that she was adopted, so when she turns eighteen she sets off to find her birth mom. Not that she was given a bad set of adopted parents, she just wants to find out where she got her blonde hair, big ears and musical genius from. It turns out that Marian kept Kirby a secret from everyone but her own mother, including the birth father, who she clearly was in love with but wanted to spare. The young love story of Marian and Conrad is beautiful and heartbreaking. Two kids, going two separate places, and at eighteen, love is never enough.

Where We Belong is told from Marian and Kirby's perspectives. They tell their story in a way that makes you unable to tear your eyes away. I read the book in two days, and couldn't help but think that there is more to this story that needs to be told. Let's hope Giffin agrees.