Review: Where We Belong by Emily Giffin

Where We Belong
Author: Emily Giffin
Published: July 24, 2012
Genre: chick lit
E-book: 372 pages
Source: purchased from iTunes

My Rating: 3 stars

Synopsis (from GoodReads): Marian Caldwell is a thirty-six year old television producer, living her dream in New York City. With a fulfilling career and satisfying relationship, she has convinced everyone, including herself, that her life is just as she wants it to be. But one night, Marian answers a knock on the door . . . only to find Kirby Rose, an eighteen-year-old girl with a key to a past that Marian thought she had sealed off forever. From the moment Kirby appears on her doorstep, Marian’s perfectly constructed world—and her very identity—will be shaken to its core, resurrecting ghosts and memories of a passionate young love affair that threaten everything that has come to define her.
 
For the precocious and determined Kirby, the encounter will spur a process of discovery that ushers her across the threshold of adulthood, forcing her to re-evaluate her family and future in a wise and bittersweet light. As the two women embark on a journey to find the one thing missing in their lives, each will come to recognize that where we belong is often where we least expect to find ourselves—a place that we may have willed ourselves to forget, but that the heart remembers forever.

My Thoughts: I am a huge fan of Emily Giffin's work and couldn't wait for her newest book to come out. I figured the 8 and a half hour flight back from England would be the perfect time to jump into this book. While a good story, it wasn't what I've come to expect from Giffin. Following a girl who was placed for adoption and her birth mother. The chapters alternate between the two women, showing you how each handles their journey to meeting one another. Marian, the birth mother, knew she couldn't provide the positive environment needed to raise a baby, so she places her for adoption. As Kirby grows, she wonders about her birth mother, and on her 18th birthday, decides that she is going to find her. 

I really liked the characters in this novel. All of them are real, people who exist in real life and aren't too zany or out there. Marian is wonderfully written and I could identify with all of her choices and feelings. Kirby is headstrong, but what 18 year old isn't? She feels like meeting her birth mother (and hopefully, father) will help her to understand who is really is. The premise of the novel is a good one, showing how adoption affects both parties. I just felt like it wasn't like Giffin's other stories. I didn't feel the need to keep on reading, to know what was going to happen next. I don't know what needed to change to make me feel that pull, since I loved the characters and the premise, but I could tell that something was missing.

While not up to Giffin's normal standard, this is good story, one that will have you rooting for Marian and Kirby. I look forward to seeing what Giffin will write next.