Stages is a gripping story about grief - both long buried and new. It’s about the grief that comes from feeling you’re unlovable. A truly amazing book! I could not put it down and read it in two days.

Using an intricate, unique plot structure, Jen Sinclair weaves the stories of Cam, Sophia, and Josie together in way that is both unexpected and relevant to every age and stage of our lives. In Cam we find the determination to bury grief and past mistakes, focusing only on work and refusing to allow intimacy or feelings to intrude on her successful rise. In Sophia we find a seeker who believes she’s unlovable to everyone but one friend, a friend who is slowly deteriorating. In Josie, we find the hunger, need, and frustration of a child with dreams and hopes just out of her reach, grieving for a lost mother and fearing her uncertain future.

Stages is a must read. It’s the type of book you think about for days and weeks after finishing it - a book you know you will need to tell all your friends about and read it again and again!

I loved this funny, heart-warming book! Teri M. Brown is a master at taking several serious (what could be depressing) subjects and showing the reader a lighter side to the characters dilemma.

Peg is a middle-aged woman and menopause has taken over her life. She sticks her head in the freezer to stop hot flashes, she sleeps through her alarm, and she worries incessantly about her new weight gain. Before menopause, Peg was a very successful real estate agent, always organized, and the breadwinner for her family. Now she feels like she’s falling apart. To add to the trauma menopause is inflicting on her mind and body, her unemployed husband thinks she’s crazy and has left her, taking their son with him. Throughout the novel, as Peg makes life-changing mistakes, she leans on friends, finds new solutions she would never have thought, and learns to love herself again.

I highly recommend this wonderful, relatable (if you’ve been in Peg’s menopause shoes) book!