Everyone is Beautiful

Everyone is Beautiful by Katherine Center
Glorious, hopeful, inspiring bit of mommy lit sure to entertain anyone who has ever wanted to make a change.

Suddenly uprooted from her Houston hometown when her husband Peter begins a music composition graduate program, Lanie finds herself in Cambridge, MA with her three young sons, a shotgun apartment full of unpacked boxes, and her husband locked in his practice room, rehearsing. After a mom at the park mistakenly asks her when her baby is due, Lanie embarks on a mission to change her life. She starts by joining a gym, carving out some personal time during the only part of the day parents know they will have to themselves—when the kids go to bed. In addition to rediscovering her body, Lanie realizes that something will eventually have to be done to her marriage. After four years of sleepless nights and constant interruptions, Lanie and Peter have drifted so far apart, Lanie doesn’t know if they will be able to come back together—or when they would find the time. But something will need to change soon, or all that Lanie has been striving for could be lost.

Center’s follow up to her sparkling debut, The Bright Side of Disaster, is a glittering gem of a story. I enjoyed every minute of this novel. Center demonstrates once again that she knows beyond a doubt who her heroine is and provides her with such a clear, strong voice and enrapturing tale in which she can blossom, readers can’t help but fall in love with her. I was encouraged by the fact that Lanie didn’t really want to change anything at the core of who she was; she just wanted her exterior to accurately reflect who she was on the inside. Lanie needed tangible evidence of all the creativity that was swirling in that dormant part of her soul so that she could be repeatedly reminded of who she was--that she wasn’t just a short-order cook, a housekeeper, a washerwoman, a mom; she was a woman of value, just by being herself. And that’s the kernel of truth that all women can take away from this book.

Center also speaks through Lanie to all the women in the world who want to have it all—if in attaining everything, you lose your family, all that has been gained will be pointless. At the end of the book, Lanie achieves balance, and is able to bring all the different aspects of her life together—she is able to devote time to her body, her creative pursuits, her children, and her husband. Lanie has come to the realization that if she takes her husband for granted, thinking that they can pick up where they left off when the kids are older, they may not have anything left to salvage.

I think the countless ways Lanie’s three sons managed to make messes truly speaks to Center’s imagination. Their actions practically became another character in the book. As the mother of two little girls, I would not have dreamed children could come up with some of these ideas on their own. If nothing else, this book has prepared me for the mischievous minds of little boys!

PS—The chocolate cupcake with blue frosting was so tempting, I almost reneged on my dessert ban. This cover is also deliciously seductive. I might have to read it next.