Title: The Next Thing on My List
Author: Jill Smolinski
Summary ( From Publisher’s Weekly):
Smolinski follows up her debut, Flip-Flopped, with an airy, hit and mostly miss novel about one rudderless woman’s accidental journey of self-discovery. After a Weight Watchers meeting, narrator June Parker offers a ride home to newly svelte Marissa Jones, and the two hit it off until Marissa dies in a nasty one-car accident. When June runs into Marissa’s hot brother at the cemetery six months after the crash, she makes a rash promise to carry out the dead girl’s list of 20 things to do before she turned 25 (even though June is 34). The challenges that follow—running a 5K, kissing a stranger, “dare to go braless”—serve less to improve June’s life than to highlight how unfortunate it is that she’s taken up a stranger’s goals instead of her own. Smolinski’s Los Angeles is a well-executed set—June tilts at windmills as a writer for a ride-sharing nonprofit—but the most human characters in it are June’s tyrannical and calculating boss and her secretly sensitive, underused brother. Though completing the list is a transformative experience for June, the leadup fizzles. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. –This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Postive Elements: Ms. Smolinski pens a story that all of us can relate to. We have all at some point wanted to accomplish something important. The characters are ordinary people who live their lives just like the reader(s) that the author is targeting. I enjoyed the flow of this story and thought that it “read” very quickly. I found myself wanting to know what was going to happen next.
Sexual Content: There is a teen pregnancy in the story.
June has to complete a task on the list that involves “kissing a total stranger.” There are also several sexual references made to her not having had sex for a long time due not having a boyfriend. Finally, she openly lusts after a man to whom she is attracted.
Violent Content: None
Profanity: I recall a few instances of profanity in this story. They easily could have been left out.
Drug Content: None
Conclusion: This novel is a great summer read. I enjoyed the theme of the story, as well as the characters. I only wish the ending was a little different. This story got me thinking about things. Should I have a list of things that I want to accomplish before I meet God? I decided the answer was no. I was just going to do better about living my life day to day. Taking care of and loving things that are important — family.
