Jen Lancaster’s second novel, “Here I Go Again,” takes a look at how the “it girl” has fared since graduating high school. Lissy Ryder was very popular in high school. She dated the most popular guy and was the girl every other girl looked up to. She was also the one you steered clear of lest she pick up on your weaknesses and make your life miserable. This behavior carries into adulthood when, at 37, Lissy abruptly loses her job, her husband leaves her, and she finds herself back living with her parents, trying to figure out where things went so horribly wrong. While attending her 20th high school reunion, she meets up with former classmate Debbie (now known as Deva), who puts her mean-girl ways into perspective. Lissy finally begins to understand how her past behavior has contributed to her present problems. With a bit of “new age” help from Deva, Lissy is given the opportunity to set things right in the past. She soon realizes, however, that although she was able to right a few wrongs, she has also altered the lives of those she cares about, and not necessarily in a good way. Can Lissy set things really right before her future, and that of those around her, is solidified forever?
Unlike Ms. Lancaster's first novel, “If You Were Here,” her second novel takes a giant step away from her memoirs and feels more like true fiction, rather than one of her memoirs with the names changed. “Here I Go Again” is entertaining, humorous and well-written and the characters are perfection; those of you who grew up in the 80s will be transported back there as if it was only yesterday. Like Lissy Ryder, Jen Lancaster has gotten a fiction do-over and she’s nailed it.
Take a look at the book trailer before picking up "Here I Go Again" on January 29, 2013.
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