Happiness Sold Separately by Lolly Winston

I finished reading Happiness Sold Separately by Lolly Winston yesterday. I have also read Winston's novel Good Grief, and I found that Good Grief was much the better novel. So if you only have to pick one Winston novel - go with that!

This book told the story of Ted and Elinor Mackay and their trials and troubles. They got married in their mid-30's and started trying to have kids when Elinor was in her late 30's. They had infertility troubles and could not get pregnant successfully. The infertility troubles led to troubles in their marriage so that at the beginning of the book, (First Page!) Elinor discovers that Ted is having an affair with his young trainer, Gina.

I must admit, I had a hard time getting into this novel and was ready to take it back to the library many times. At the beginning, I found I could care less about Ted and Elinor and their troubles. The novel was clearly written for me to feel sympathy with Ted for having an affair, but I wasn't feeling it. Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but it seems to me that you can find ways to improve your marriage beyond having an affair.

Luckily the book got better, especially with the introduction and further development of Gina and her young troubled son Toby. I found myself caught up in it, but yet I was still unhappy with the ambiougous (I can't spell) ending of the book. I still don't understand why Ted is so against adopting a baby, but yet really liked hanging out with Toby, who was not his kid.

I think overall I would give this book maybe a two out of four stars as it had a good middle, but bad beginning and unsatisfactory ending.