cover image With No Regrets

With No Regrets

Julie N. Ford. White Star, $16.95 trade paper (340p) ISBN 978-1-939203-65-6

Listing heavily toward the women’s fiction side of the romance genre, Ford deftly portrays 40-year-old Finley Harrison’s gradual recovery from the shock of divorce. After 20 years with her philandering husband, Roy, Finnie’s venture into solo life in present-day Nashville forces this picture of Southern womanhood (antebellum accent mandatory) to evolve into 21st-century personhood, but she’s fighting it tooth and nail. Married Finnie was so obsessed with appearances that the only thing worse than catching Roy in flagrante delicto with another woman was finding them thus engaged on her expensive sofa. Once the divorce is finalized, Finnie is pushed by longtime friend Cathyanne to leave her comfort zone—which means going on dates. Cathyanne sets her up with Josh, a 31-year-old hottie; Finnie is also drawn to next-door neighbor Quinton. Cathyanne doesn’t care which one Finnie chooses, so long as she sets aside her suffocating Southern-belle decorum and vows to live with no regrets. Readers who love stories of women finding their truths will enjoy Ford’s spot-on portrayal of midlife change, friendship, and romance. (BookLife)