3.9/5 My mom noticed Julia Claiborne Johnson’s Better Luck Next Time when her library showed it in the online public access catalog (OPAC) since it looked a bit like the 1939 film The Women. Some months later, I requested is my literary visit to Nevada in the Across the USA Stellar Reading Challenge (SRC).
“It’s 1938 and women seeking a quick, no-questions split from their husbands head to the “divorce capital of the world,” Reno, Nevada. There’s one catch: they have to wait six weeks to become “residents.” Many of these wealthy, soon-to-be divorcees flock to the Flying Leap, a dude ranch that caters to their every need… Twenty-four-year-old Ward spent one year at Yale before his family lost everything in the Great Depression; now he’s earning an honest living as a ranch hand at the Flying Leap. Admired for his dashing good looks—“Cary Grant in cowboy boots”—Ward thinks he’s got the Flying Leap’s clients all figured out. But two new guests are about to upend everything he thinks he knows: Nina, a St Louis heiress and amateur pilot back for her third divorce, and Emily, whose bravest moment in life was leaving her cheating husband back in San Francisco and driving herself to Reno.”
Johnson vividly described her characters. I found it easy to see Ward, Nina, and Emily as well as the Flying Leap. This book was like watching the behind the scenes of a film or limited series set in Washoe County. While not as sweet as The Women, Better Luck Next Time did beat with a tender heart. It was a sojourn into a different time and place, and a light of hope shone at the end of this rapidly read novel.
Quotes come from book flaps/cover and are featured on color blocks.
Starry Night Elf 