Book Review: A New Lu by Laura Castoro

This is a review I did for this book when it first came out in 2005, but the book is still available so I thought I would give it a plug. In preparing two week's worth of blogs in advance before leaving on my vacation, I did not have time to write another review.  I'm scrambling folks. LOL

A New Lu
Laura Castoro 
Publisher: Red Dress Ink (March 1, 2005)  
ISBN-10: 0373895143

Written with wit and wisdom, "A New Lu" makes a grand entrance into the Chick Lit genre with a cast of delightful, well-developed characters and laugh out loud humor and is a delight to read. Shortly before her fiftieth birthday Lu thinks the only difficulty in her life will be adjusting to being divorced, she never dreams she will have to do that while carrying an 'oops' child.

Lu's new boss at "Five-O" magazine has just suggested that Lu do a complete makeover and chronicle it in her monthly column to show readers that you don't have to look fifty even if you are. Lu can't believe it. The vision at "Five-O" has always been about accepting the aging process. She reminds her boss of what Gloria Steinem once said, "This is what fifty looks like."

The insight that the reader gets about this acceptance of who and what we are is an added bonus to a great story populated with delightful characters.

Lu's new boss at "Five-O" magazine has just suggested that Lu do a complete makeover and chronicle it in her monthly column to show readers that you don't have to look fifty even if you are. Lu can't believe it. The vision at "Five-O" has always been about accepting the aging process. She reminds her boss of what Gloria Steinem once said, "This is what fifty looks like."

The insight that the reader gets about this acceptance of who and what we are is an added bonus to a great story. When Lu decides to have the baby, her soon-to-be-married daughter is horrified. What will people think? Her ex-husband can't even say the word 'baby.' The pregnancy news is met with disbelief at work until the boss gets a new idea. Lu can chronicle her late-life pregnancy for the readers of "Five-O." "I want all the juicy details. Every awful twitch. You're prepared to do that?"

Because she needs her job so desperately, Lu agrees.

As the baby grows within her, Lu also grows and changes and realizes many things about herself, past relationships and new relationships. She also makes what appears to be bizarre choices, but as Lu puts it "...if you want rational, don't go to a pregnant woman."

For readers who have enjoyed "Loose Screws" by Karen Templeton and "Inappropriate Men" by Stacey Ballis, "A New Lu" should join those novels on their bookshelves.

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FTC disclaimer: In all fairness, I must say that Laura is a good friend of mine. She is as much mentor as friend and that may influence what I think of her work. However, I don't read and review everything she writes. Just what I truly enjoy and consider the best of what she can do. Not that her other books are less-than. But as with any writer, some work stands above others, and Laura's women's fiction does stand tall.