What happens when a middle-aged housewife and mother who runs a decade-old online bulletin board tries to make it more relevant? Eliza Starts a Rumor, of course.

After over-hearing younger mothers in a grocery checkout line talking about what was happening online at Valley Girls, Eliza decides that the the Hudson Valley Ladies Bulletin Board needs an injection of buzz. She anonymously posts that she is having an affair, making up this story while watching her new neighbor's goings on.

As expected the HVL bulletin board blows up. And other posts spark conversations, friendships, and even love.

This book is full of likable characters of different ages, genders, and backgrounds. It handles some serious issues, like mental health, as well as lighter ones, which makes a nice balance.

My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review.

I really loved Eliza Starts a Rumor by Jane L. Rosen! This is a great story, showing how something that begins innocently can completely spiral out of control.

Eliza feels old and not relevant after her children have grown and middle age has settled in. She loves running the online parenting page for her community. It’s the sole source of her enjoyment and fulfillment but when she hears two younger women discuss how outdated the page is, Eliza starts to wonder what she could do to add a little spark to it. So she creates a rumor out of thin air, only some people see it and realize the post could be about them. This ignites the story and creates havoc like Eliza could have never imagined.

Here’s the Goodreads synopsis:

It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. When Eliza Hunt created The Hudson Valley Ladies’ Bulletin Board fifteen years ago she was happily entrenched in her picture-perfect suburban life with her husband and twin preschoolers. Now, with an empty nest and a crippling case of agoraphobia, the once-fun hobby has become her lifeline. So when a rival parenting forum threatens the site’s existence, she doesn’t think twice before fabricating a salacious rumor to spark things up a bit.

It doesn’t take long before that spark becomes a flame. Across town, new mom and site devotee Olivia York is thrown into a tailspin by what she reads on the Bulletin Board. Allison Le is making cyber friends with a woman who isn’t quite who she says she is. And Amanda Cole, Eliza’s childhood friend, may just hold the key to unearthing why Eliza can’t step out of her front door.

In all this chaos, one thing is for sure…Hudson Valley will never be the same. Funny, romantic, raw, and hopeful, this is a story about being a woman and of the healing power of sisterhood.

As I read this book, I really felt emotional for Eliza and her need to create some excitement in her life, at the same time she is dealing with serious issues that she’s kept from those close to her. There is so much to love about this novel including the themes of friendship, mental health, marriage, being a mother. It’s so incredibly well written and its light and fun yet goes beyond just a cute book to include serious subjects.

In short- get this book as soon as its published! This is one of those books I read and wished I could turn it into a Netflix or Amazon series!

This fabulous book will be published in June, pre-order it here!

Chick lit. Lots of characters, lots of story lines. Eliza hosts an online moms group. Traffic is slowing on the site, so she posts a fake thread, and it goes from there. Some good comes from it. Some Not so good comes from it. There are several old friends and several new friends, all of whom seem to live from one crisis moment to the next. Makes one wonder what happened to same old, same old lifestyles.

So I wrote an entire review of this book but apparently NetGalley was doing maintenance and it never recorded. Overall, my first book by this author. I enjoyed the storyline and the characters. I know others will love this book and I cannot wait to recommend it. Thank you for the advanced copy.

As a reviewer, and ardent book lover, sometimes I feel incredibly fortunate to be given a book to read. This is one of those moments., I loved this novel. I liked the plot, the characters and the courage of the author to address some very serious issues.

I cannot wait to share this with my book groups and women’s studies seminars. There are so many topics to dig into and discuss. The me too movement, agoraphobia, self-mutilation and infidelity. The author never lets us forget the importance of the sisterhood of women.

Starting out as the story of one woman, it expand to include 3 others. The characters are fleshed out and the reader is given a good sense of closure.

I admit to being teary as I finished the book. It is well written and deeply affecting to all women, of many ages.

Thank you Netgalley for allowing me to read and review this lovely jewel of a novel.

There are a lot of threads, storyline-wise, to Eliza Starts a Rumor, and some of them are more engaging than others, but as a whole, this book delivers nicely as a good chick lit read, with both relatable humor and unexpected gravitas. Gentle skewering of the "moms groups" on line phenomena, Eliza Starts a Rumor highlights both the good (mom-to-mom support, resource sharing) and bad (judginess, gossip mongering). while employing a tried and true old friends and new friends framework. Within all of it, I though the Eliza story was the most compelling and truthful. The Jackie/Jack mix up felt disengenous and should have been diffused much, much earlier. My favorite part: "Did you bring a receptacle." I would read this author again.

Relatively light read about modern day parenting, online relationships, infedelity, sisterhood, and marriage, all set in a suburban upstate NY town. Interesting if somewhat brief character development, entertaining and topical storyline. Recommend for fans for Jennifer Weiner, Sophie, Kinsella, and the like.

Thanks to netgalley for letting me preview this one. It was an interesting and quick read. I greatly enjoyed it. The characters were easy to root for and made it one I couldn't put down.

While the premise is interesting-a false post on a women's community bulletin board stirs things up in a community- my ARC copy did feel in need of some editing. What I will say is that these characters are likable and for that I was quite pleased. This isn't as sharp as anything in Big Little Lies territory, but it still reads as relatable. The characters are warm, make mistakes and fumble through life changes. Easy read and perfect for being curled up in a chair on a lazy Sunday or by the pool.