Review: "It Can Happen To You" Lynn Crymble

40-year-old Penny Stevens is in for a surprise. All of her life she has opted for safety rather than happiness, and although she is relucatant to admit it, she is unhappy. She doesn't have a child because a miscarriage scared her off of ever trying for a baby again, her husband has cheated on her more times than she can count and she tolerates it, and her only friend is a bit of a whiner. This all changes one day when Penny rescues $220, 000 off of the roof of an elderly couple's car and the newspaper that she works for offers to "renovate her life". Although she initially declines their kind offer, she eventually relents and a team of people hired to make over her body, her style, her home, and her garden invade the space that she formerly considered "safe" and they certainly shake things up.

Eventually, with lots of coaching, Penny begins to gain some confidence and some control over her life, but with a twist. Penny changes, but not in the way that her makeover team intends her to. Instead she becomes her own person and makes some unconventional decisions with varying results.

I really enjoyed "It Can Happen to You". Penny was absolutely adorable and although at the beginning I wanted to yell at her for being such a doormat, by the middle I was cheering her on. There is one particularly hilarious part when she gets back at her cheating husband, but I won't tell you what happens, you'll have to read it for yourself (it's that good!). I have to be honest and say that I didn't love the ending, simply because I thought that it was a little too much. I thought that it was a little cheesy, for lack of a better word. This, however, did not spoil the book for me. I really did enjoy reading it, and I liked the character of Penny as well as the premise of the book. I mean, who couldn't use a little "life renovation"?

Thank-you to Harper Collins Canada for the review copy!

Up Next: Next in the TBR pile is "This Is How" by M.J. Hyland, a book that has been said to "inspire horror and sympathy in equal measure".