Sandy M’s review of We All Live Here by Jojo Moyes
Women’s Fiction published by Pamela Dorman Books 11 Feb 25
Families – who among us doesn’t have issues with ours? Lila has her ups and downs with hers every time she blinks, all in a house that is falling down around her, just like her life, if you ask her about it all. Her days are mostly downs when you add everything together, from divorce to teenagers and long-lost, suddenly found fathers.
Not long after her self-help book about repairing marriage is a hit, her husband leaves her for the proverbial younger woman. That derails her next book, which then turns into a work of getting back on track, especially in the romance department. Her stepfather is gradually moving himself into her home, much to the dismay of her daughters who can’t take many more meals that include lentils. Then her biological father – who she hasn’t seen in decades – shows up, having not changed one whit and still riding high on his hit TV show from years before. And there’s plenty of other problems that rear their ugly heads as the entire family moves day by day into their new lives and relationships.
In the beginning I had a difficult time liking all of the characters. I feel for Gene, Lila’s aging actor father, just because of the way she treats him. Yes, maybe he deserves it, but, in the long run, you have only one father and why not get his side of everything. Of course, you have to feel for Lila when she gets news from her ex that twists the knife in the gut. Daughters who think they know everything, like most kids their age do, don’t help, especially now that Lila is a single mother herself. The romance she hopes for doesn’t end up being the one she wants, but she goes through the usual “you can’t see what’s right in front of you” for a while. So once all these “issues” are out in the open and you begin to see the change in family, love, and forgiveness, these characters pull at your emotions, all the way from anger to amazement, then laughter, and so much more.
Ms. Moyes always makes a reader think, and this story is no exception. Be sure to meet Lila and her family as soon as you can. Maybe then you’ll see your houseful in a different light.
Grade: B+
Summary:
Lila Kennedy has a lot on her plate. A broken marriage, two wayward daughters, a house that is falling apart, and an elderly stepfather who seems to have quietly moved in. Her career is in freefall and her love life is . . . complicated. So when her real dad—a man she has barely seen since he ran off to Hollywood thirty-five years ago—suddenly appears on her doorstep, it feels like the final straw. But it turns out even the family you thought you could never forgive might have something to teach you: about love, and what it actually means to be family.
