Let me start by saying I’ve studied with Charlotte Rains Dixon and think highly of her. Perhaps our relationship will color my review, but I’m going to imagine it won’t.
Notice the photo: it was a Sunday night, my favorite night for a long bubbly soak. Notice the book: Emma Jean’s Bad Behavior. I’m here to tell you that a soak (or a blanket on the beach, or a cozy chair by the fire) is the perfect setting for reading this delightful novel. I want, in fact, to call it a romance novel, because I believe it is. Not a romance between a couple, although there is that in spades, but a romance between the heroine and herself. She faces the truth that her life is not what she imagined it to be, and she struggles with that truth until she reaches an understanding of what it is she actually wants from life and how close she is to having that authentic experience she craves. And learns to love herself and her life in a new way during her journey.
Dixon writes with a voice that is fun to read, and Emma Jean is so flawed as a person that I can’t help but adore her. Here’s an excerpt from my GoodReads review:
I want to crawl into the pages of the novel and be the friend she’s desperate to find. Emma Jean is a seeker. She’s seeking love, happiness, enlightenment, recognition, connection. She’s seeking to understand what it means to be a 48-year-old woman who no longer recognizes her life. Having found my own life unrecognizable at times, I related to her.
While at times the pace feels rushed, I never once believed the author was not in control. In fact, after finishing the book, it occurred to me that the pacing changes reflect Emma Jean’s own changes in thinking…the moments when she feels a bit wild with trying so hard to understand, and the moments when she sinks into what life has handed her.
I could not put the book down as I read the last 100 pages. I confess to my own bad behavior in ignoring the world for an afternoon so I could see what would become of Emma Jean.
Want to know?
She becomes even more endearing.
I’ll say it again.
I adore Emma Jean. Her gumption, her hope, her vulnerability.
You probably will, too.
Charlotte Rains Dixon will make a guest appearance at PoMo Golightly soon. In the meantime, give yourself a few hours of pleasure and spend it with Emma Jean!
Thank you so much for this review, Beverly! It’s so funny, my publisher sometimes calls the book a romance and that makes me squirm a little bit. But the idea of it being a romance between Emma Jean and herself–that I can embrace. Thanks for the insight.
I added it to my Good Reads list, thanks for the recommendation.
Lovely recommendation!
I’ve made note of it as well. Thanks!