The Perfect Comeback of Caroline Jacobs

Caroline Jacobs is a wimp, she avoids confrontation at all cost. She tries to be kind to everyone, including her husband, scary tattooed teen daughter, and the families that come in to get their photos snapped at the Sears Portrait Studios where she works. And then one day she tells the PTA president “F#$% you!” Everyone is shocked, not the least of whom is Caroline herself, but the incident triggers a memory. She realizes her wimpy behavior and then her outburst can be traced back to a childhood betrayal by her then best friend Emily. Now, 25 years later, she has the perfect comeback and she’s going to find Emily and deliver it. Taking her daughter along for the ride (attack?), Caroline intends to have her say and maybe, just maybe, get her life back. What she doesn’t realize is that she will be doing more than confronting her old friend, she will be uncovering some secrets, that once unearthed, will be impossible to forget

"There's no great dividing line between being a kid and an adult. We're not all Catapillar's turning into butterflies. You are what you are. When you grow up, you may be more careful than when you were a kid. You don't say what you think as much as you once did. You learn to play nice. But you're still the same person who did good things or rotten things when you were young. Whether you feel good about them or bad...whether you regret them. Well, that's a different thing. But it's not like they disappear forever."

Caroline approached the world at a safe distance. She was an observer. A watcher. She was shy. She preferred small to large..... The background to the foreground.

After Caroline swears at another mother....(inappropriate offensive language), to a room filled with parents from her daughters High School...(completely against her own character), Something begins to break open.... she wants to go back to her hometown - and confront her old friend that turned on her... became a bully. The worse kind of bully... a bully that smiles, abandons and isolates a friend.

After an incident at school the next day, with Caroline's daughter, Polly...
She pulls her daughter out of school... gets her in the car... and against her will, ( and without telling her husband or anyone of her plans)....they set out on a long car trip back to Caroline's home town. During the car ride... mother and daughter begin to talk like they haven't in years. Mom tells her daughter a secret she has never told anyone...(part of it). Polly has a few 'truthful' words she says to mom herself:
"Mom, someone could be chopping your hands and feet off with a better knife and you still wouldn't complain. I've never seen you lose your temper once. Not even with me, and I deserve it. A LOT." I love you, but you get walked over all the time and never say a word. "

This book is SOOOOO GOOD!!!! I read it in one sitting!!! I couldn't put it down..,
It starts out hilarious.... then becomes very heartfelt... then adventurous...
This is such a dynamite little journey, soooo enjoyable... charming ... and inspiring!!!!

If a movie is not made I will be shocked.

You'll meet an interesting group of characters: Caroline, and her daughter Polly. You'll meet Polly's dad... Carolyn's old friend..'turned bully'.... her nemesis. You'll meet Caroline's mother and her blind boyfriend, a parrot grieving client, and possibly an adulterous husband and his son and daughter.

I highly recommend this book to every single one of my female and male friends!!!!!!!!!

Thank You to the publisher and Netgalley! Thank you to Matthew Dicks....(very talented!!! I'll read anything you write!)

Great story of freeing oneself from guilt and getting out from under the past.

Surprisingly engaging! Much like the main character, Caroline, the book starts out with what looks like not much substance, but gems roll out when you least expect them. A fast and touching read that seems almost satirical, but not quite.