Plan Bea by Hilary Grossman Review

Synopsis:

How well do you really know the people in your life?

Annabel O'Conner has the perfect husband, two adorable children, an amazing job, and the mother from hell! Annabel doesn't like it but has come to terms with the fact that her relationship with her mother, Bea, deteriorated to the point of forced and strained communications. However, an unscheduled call from Bea turns her world around and makes Annabel question everything she believed about her life.

Despite the fact secrets, lies, and misplaced blame have destroyed the women's relationship; Annabel reluctantly agrees to help Bea plan her wedding. Little does Annabel know the impact of her decision, or the surprise that is in store for her.



My Review:

The following statement I found within the story really summed up this book very well.  
 “We live our entire lives thinking we know those closest to us.  But do we ever?”

Relationships between mothers and daughters can sometimes be difficult.  For Annabel O'Conner and her mother Beatrice Buchanan, difficult is an understatement.  When Bea tells Anna that she is getting married and wants her to help with the planning, Anna sees this as an opportunity to get close to her mother. 

Through the next few months, Anna continues helping Bea even though Bea's stubbornness causes Anna to just want to walk away many times.  As they spend more time together, Bea opens up about a lot of things she has kept hidden from everyone.  Maybe Bea isn't so bad after all.  When everything seems to be going wrong on the wedding day, there is a very good reason for it.  How will Anna react when she finds out what Bea's latest plan is? 

This is a great book.  I really didn't want to like Bea at first.  But as I learned more about her, she really did have a big heart hidden under all of her snobbery.  I could feel Anna's pain of wanting her mother's approval and always getting the cold shoulder in return. The story was very well written and the characters' backgrounds were very well detailed.  All around, this was an incredible story.