Review - A Year and Six Seconds by Isabel Gillies

Title: A Year and Six Seconds
Author: Isabel Gillies
Publisher:
Publish Date:
Hardcover, 256 pages

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I am not sure if I agree with Isabel's idea of falling in love in six seconds. With my ex husband maybe, but that didn't last. My current boyfriend, I feel the love she speaks of, the kind where I see marriage, kids and an entire life together, but I am almost positive that I fell in love with him over a year (possibly just half a year).

Having been in a similar situation of loss and having to move on, I completely understand her feelings of having a beginning, middle and end of transition. Though for me there was a lot of numbness followed by confusion and often, "Are you kidding me?" anger.

Her biography was heart-felt, true and completely and utterly understandable. Though I always hate to do this, it is a bit of, if you liked "Eat, Love, Pray" by Elizabeth Gilbert you will actually like this one more. It isn't as whiny or poor-me. It is much more of Isabel being in reality and walking us through how she is living. We get to walk in her shoes as she transitions. I was so incredibly sad when she spoke of her kids and wondering if they alone would help him stay. The parts with her living with her parents again and watching their faces and seeing their expressions. Wonderful writing.

Summary -

When you're waiting for love, what seems like a lifetime may only be a year and six seconds.

Isabel Gillies, the New York Times bestselling author of the memoir Happens Every Day, now picks up where she left off in the true story of her valiant yet sometimes bumbling effots to pick herself up after her husband leaves her for another woman and she is told by a friend it "happens every day."

It is winter when she arrives home in Manhattan, with her two young sons in tow. Her husband has left her, and she's forced to move back in with her parents until she can figure out what to do next.

Determined to feel strong, remain lovable, and be productive, she creates and tackles a staggering to-do list, starting with (and not necessarily in order of importance): get along with her parents in tight quarters; find a preschool spot for son mid-year in Manhattan; break down only in front of best friend and not in front of children; receive one great, romantic kiss.

She makes her lists, she dates, she cries, she and her whole crowded family get the flu; and then, just when Isabel least expects it, she falls in love. A Year and Six Seconds is a buoyant, real, romantic comedy with an uplifting message, reminding us that while we all struggle and stumble at times, somehow we can come out just fine on the other side.