I Never Promised You a Goodie Bag by Jennifer GilbertWhen I first knew I would be reading this I was really excited. After all it was from an almost RHONYC, who was a fabulous event planner. I figured I was in for an amusing read, with stories of brides throwing fits and elaborate parties. And yes, the book did actually deliver on that.
Except what I had no idea about going into it, was that at 19, Jennifer Gilbert was brutally attacked and almost died. Most of the book deals with how that impacted her and dealing with the aftermath. Her life definitely didn't go as planned, but one has to wonder, if she never had that life changing moment would she have made a point to be as successful as she became?
One subplot I really identified with was the amour Jennifer tried to shield herself with. She wants so badly for others not to realize that inside she may be feeling insecure, that friends and coworkers have no idea how she's actually feeling inside. There's one point where she realizes she actually needs to say hi and make more of an attempt to be friendly to those working for it. It's not that she doesn't have friendly feelings towards them, but that she was so worried about being perceived as weak, that she had no idea how she actually came across. I think this made sense because so much of this is how I feel. I'm always so worried about how people perceive me, especially at work, that I make a point to sound confident. Except more often than not, I come off as unfriendly, even though that's never intentional.
I wound up really enjoying my time with this book. Which I wouldn't necessarily have believed if I had been told that what happens to Jennifer within the first few chapters. Instead the book wound up being the perfect mix of events, personal growth, relationship drama, family life, and entrepreneurship that really resonated with me. My only complaint at the end is that I wish Jennifer Gilbert was given more of an opportunity to have her scenes aired on RHONYC (although I'm guessing with all the Bethany and Jill drama that season, they had crazier things to air).
4.5/5
Disclosure: I was provided this book through TLC Book Tours. All opinions expressed are my own.
I know sometimes you don't feel confident and that you might seem standoffish to some people but I know that when you get comfortable around someone they inevitably see how fun and loving you are. I love you Shosh.
ReplyDeleteI'm happy to see how much this book resonated with you, especially considering that you didn't expect to like it at all.
ReplyDeleteThanks for being a part of the tour. I'm featuring your review on TLC's Facebook page today.