Mother
Caroline MacAfee and daughter Jamie are best friends. They’ve been that way all
of Jamie’s life, in part because it’s been just the two of them since Jamie’s
father divorced her mother, citing her advancing age and his desire for a
younger model, which he then pursued, twice over.
Despite
working closely together in their family business, MacAfee Homes, Caroline as a
carpenter and Jamie as an architect, the two rarely experience conflict in
their relationship. That is, until their roles on the home-renovations series, Gut It!, are challenged. The network
wants Jamie to take over her mother’s hosting role, which hits Caroline hard when
she learns that the switch is being pursued because her fifty-six years make
her too old for television.
But before
the two women can sort out their feelings on the matter and talk through the
situation, Jamie’s father and his wife die in a car accident, leaving their
two-year-old son, her half-brother, Tad, an orphan. Jamie, having agreed long
ago to be his legal guardian, never imagined actually being thrust into this
role. So much so that she failed to tell her fiancé, Brad, about the decision
she made before she met him, and Jamie quickly learns that he’s not interested
in becoming an instant-parent. The timing of it simply doesn’t work for him.
In the
subsequent weeks, the roles and identities of both MacAfee women are put to the
test. Jamie is forced to make tough decisions about her future, both with Brad
and the direction of her career. And then there’s the issue of the attractive
single father at the playground, who goes out of his way to help her during her
first weeks of mothering Tad. At the same time, Caroline battles feelings of
insecurity, all while exploring her feminine side that was neglected in the
decades since her divorce. Having never pursued a relationship, now long-time
friend Dean is expressing his interest, and she’s not certain she shares his
interest.
Will these
women be able to reclaim the closeness of their relationship? How will the
network’s desire for a host swap affect MacAfee Homes? And most of all, will Caroline
and Jamie be able to carve out new identifies when the blueprints of the old
ones are destroyed?
Barbara
Delinsky’s Blueprints drew me in
right away by creating tension between mother and daughter. As someone who is
very close to her own mother, I instantly related to Caroline and Jamie’s
relationship, recognizing that any conflict with my mom is disconcerting, and
one involving the sensitive-for-women topic of age would be particularly so. If
I couldn’t call her to share in my joy at a personal success or cry on her
shoulder when things get tough, I would feel much like Jamie and Caroline do in
Blueprints: lost, alone, and
troubled. While I had difficulty relating to the quickness of the romantic
relationships in the story, the rest of the book flowed extremely well. I would
highly recommend this wonderful story about family, love, and the value of
being true to our own identities, which naturally shift over time as we
experience little – and big – bumps in the road of life.
Purchase the
book at:
Barbara Delinsky has
written more than twenty-two bestselling novels with over thirty million copies
in print. She has been published in twenty languages worldwide. Barbara's
fiction centers upon everyday families facing not-so-everyday challenges. She
is particularly drawn to exploring themes of motherhood, marriage, sibling
rivalry, and friendship in her novels.
A lifelong New Englander, Barbara earned a B.A. in Psychology at Tufts University and an M.A. in Sociology at Boston College. As a breast cancer survivor who lost her mother to the disease when she was only eight, Barbara compiled the non-fiction book Uplift: Secrets From the Sisterhood of Breast Cancer Survivors, a handbook of practical tips and upbeat anecdotes. She donates her proceeds from the sale of this book to her charitable foundation, which funds an ongoing research fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Barbara enjoys knitting, photography, and cats.
A lifelong New Englander, Barbara earned a B.A. in Psychology at Tufts University and an M.A. in Sociology at Boston College. As a breast cancer survivor who lost her mother to the disease when she was only eight, Barbara compiled the non-fiction book Uplift: Secrets From the Sisterhood of Breast Cancer Survivors, a handbook of practical tips and upbeat anecdotes. She donates her proceeds from the sale of this book to her charitable foundation, which funds an ongoing research fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Barbara enjoys knitting, photography, and cats.
Connect with the author at:
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