A Tale of Two Sisters (ISBN 0452288517)

Not the usual Anna Maxted style:
I have read every Anna Maxted book, and I must agree with prior reviewers who found this book quite a departure from her usual style. I found the plotline rather dry-it was all about baby obsession. I found it hard to believe that Lizbet went from being happily childfree to spiraling into a deep depression after a miscarriage. I am a happily childfree woman myself, and if I was to have a miscarriage, I'd be celebrating instead of being sad. Lizbet's character was ruined in this book, just like Gabby's on "Desperate Housewives" was with all of the baby nonsense. Childfree people are childfree, period. There is no all of a sudden loving babies and wanting to be pregnant.

A Tale of Two Sisters:
I had picked up "Running in Heels" first but to be honest, I did not finish that novel. It was such a whiny self-absorbed novel that I couldn't finish that one simply because I have way too many other books to read. I picked up this one and while it is better than "Running in Heels," it is still just an ok book. I love reading chick lit and I love reading about the complicated relationships between sisters and their mother. This one fits the bill but it was not as funny as I had hoped for. In fact, it was downright depressing. But it did the trick of keeping me entertained. This is a tale of two sisters, Cassie and Lizabet. Cassie is in a marriage to a man she secretly loathed. Lizabet is in a relationship with a man whom the world revolved around. Things came to a head when Lizabet had a miscarriage and all the resentments, secrets and everything else spills out on the pages. Together or apart, these two sisters must rebuild their lives again, even when Cassie gets pregnant unexpectedly and that threatened their relationship with each other. This is a tale of two sisters that decided that family comes first. It is an entertaining novel, but not all that funny nor delightful. It felt like it was a put down on motherhood in general and on sisterhood as well. It could depend on my mood too. I am not saying that it's bad writing, it's just not what I expected. 2/7/08

I had never read Maxted,:
and this book really took me by surprise. In the first chapter, I was already laughing out loud. I will definitely read it again, and now I'm reading her others--but this one is still, by far, my favorite.

A Lighter Maxted:
Though this novel did not delve into tough issues as deeply as Maxted has done in other novels (the death of a parent in Getting Over It and anorexia in Running In Heels), A Tale of Two Sisters is a sweet novel that captures the complexity of sisterhood. It was funny and sweet and an enjoyable read.

A Tale of Two Sisters:
Although i found this book to be slow in the beging, it got better and was realist, i have a sister and we both think of eachother the way the Charaters Cassie and Lizbit do. it is both a sad and funny book and my favortie part is when Lizbit gets her job at her magizine. (VERY FUNNY!) i love all of Anna Maxted's books and this one brings you in, although you have to keep reading it to really like it.