Coulda skipped this

I just finished read Skipping a Beat by Sarah Pekkanen. It wasn't horrible. It wasn't great. It was definitely different than what I have been reading. I might characterize this as a fluffy, sitting-by-pool, quick read. I will admit that I shed a tear or two towards the end. So I guess that says something. Here's the synopsis by Goodreads.com:

Julia and Michael meet in high school in their small, poverty-stricken West Virginia hometown. Both products of difficult childhoods -- Julia’s father is a compulsive gambler and Michael’s mother abandoned his family when he was a young boy – they find a sense of safety and mutual understanding in each other. Shortly after graduation they flee West Virginia to start afresh. Now thirty-somethings, they are living a rarified life in their multi-million-dollar,Washington D.C. home. From the outside it all looks perfect – Julia has become a highly sought-after party planner, while Michael has launched a wildly successful flavored water company that he sold for $70 million. 
But one day Michael stands up at the head of the table in his company's boardroom -- then silently crashes to the floor. More than four minutes later, a portable defibrillator manages to jump-start his heart. Yet what happened to Michael during those lost minutes forever changes him. Money is meaningless to him now - and he wants to give it all away to charity. A prenuptial agreement that Julia insisted upon back when Michael's company was still struggling means she has no claim to his fortune, and now she must decide: should she walk away from the man she once adored, but who truthfully became a stranger to her long before his near-death experience - or should she give in to her husband's pleas for a second chance and a promise of a poorer but happier life?


I guess I found the dialogue a little inconsistent. Sometimes I felt like she went very in-depth with the conversation and it sounded real. At other times, it was just on the lame side. I liked the fact that they highlighted what Michael's personality was like in parts throughout the narrative. You found out bits and pieces of why Julie grew apart from him as it went. At times, it made me sad when I connected it to parts of my own life and relationships. Like I said, it was such a stretch from the genres I have been reading that it felt strange. It was the perfect type of book to "cleanse my palate" which was my goal. So, given that I will give this book a 7 out 10.