Review: Ten Years Later by Lisa Marie Latino

Title: Ten Years Later
Author: Lisa Marie Latino 
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Long Shot Publishing
Publish Date: October 4, 2016
Source: Publisher

What's the Story?:

From Goodreads.com: "When New Jersey-based sports radio producer Carla D'Agostino receives a save-the-date for her ten-year high school reunion, she is thrown into a tailspin. She is miserably single, living at home with her old-school Italian-American family, and miles away from her dream job as a sports talk radio host. She voices her discontent to her closest friends, the stunning Andrea, cheerful Katie, and playboy Dante, and they encourage Carla to stand up and fight for the life she wants. Inspired by their words, Carla sets her plans in motion. She enlists the help of a personal trainer, tapes a sports commentary demo with Dante for her unconventional WSPS boss Dan, and gets back into the dating game for the first time since her heart was broken by her first love. But the universe has different ideas for Carla than she has for herself, and she suffers setback after setback: Dan gives the afternoon host position to a Los Angeles import, and, worse yet, offers Dante a gig, which he accepts, much to Carla s hurt and dismay. More determined than ever, Carla continues to throw herself at life with gusto, and a series of surprises, both good and bad, lead her straight into the arms of a love that never really left."

My Two Cents:

"Ten Years Later" is the story of Carla, a 27 year old staring down the barrel of her ten year high school reunion and she's wondering what her life has amounted to and how she can show her face when it seems like all of her classmates seem to be so much further ahead her in life. So she makes a plan to turn her life around and to finally get what she has always dreamed of and her plan goes awry and hilarity ensues.

This is a very funny story about trying to figure out where you're going and how you can get there. Carla is a great character. She's funny and she's imperfect in a way that seems real. She seems to be going through some sort of quarter life crisis in this book, which I think a lot of people can find some commonality with. Throughout the book, we get to see her grow and change throughout the book. She starts out not being sure how to get what she wants and we see how she becomes more assertive throughout the book. It's a great transformation to watch!

The writing of the book was addictive for the most part. I loved following Carla to see where she goes. The book is pretty hefty and I think there were definitely parts that could have been streamlined to make the book move along a little bit more. That being said, overall, this is a great story with a dash of romance and a healthy helping of heart.