This was a normal book meaning it offered nothing new. Not at least to me. Rather, it was perhaps way too unrealistic for my taste. I have read books where above forty women falls for someone like a decade younger and I never really liked them much. I just bought it for a chicklit read on a boring day but Leaving Normal bored me.
I get the need for a tall, dark and handsome hero in a chicklit but lately I think the boundary line's blurring way too much. I should never feel that the world is full of men with an average height of 6 feet! But, unfortunately the world of chicklit believes that and as much as I like chicklit, I just didn't like this one. I mean it was more of a cougar chicklit if you get my drift. Stef Ann Holm may very well get lost in the sea of average or rather, below average authors.
The story would have been worthwhile if not for the unnecessary inclusion of scenes involving Natalie's daughter, Cassie and father, Fred. And why in the hell didn't Natalie change her name back to her maiden's name? Very ironic considering she initiated the divorce. There should have been more of a story behind Tony and Kim and well, I wished the hero's name wasn't Tony at all. It was targeted to be an emotional read but I just didn't find it much emotional and the end was too clichéd.