Book Review: Eliza Starts a Rumor | Jane L. Rosen

Emotional, thought-provoking, captivating—Eliza Starts a Rumor by Jane L. Rosen is a genre-defying story about the damage a lie can cause, regardless of intention. Surprising and engaging!

About the Book

It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. When Eliza Hunt created The Hudson Valley Ladies’ Bulletin Board fifteen years ago, she was happily entrenched in her picture-perfect suburban life with her husband and twin preschoolers. Now, with an empty nest and a crippling case of agoraphobia, the once-fun hobby has become her lifeline. So when a rival parenting forum threatens the site’s existence, she doesn’t think twice before fabricating a salacious rumor to spark things up a bit.

It doesn’t take long before that spark becomes a flame.

Across town, new mom and site devotee Olivia York is thrown into a tailspin by what she reads on the Bulletin Board. Allison Le is making cyber friends with a woman who isn’t quite who she says she is. And Amanda Cole, Eliza’s childhood friend, may just hold the key to unearthing why Eliza can’t step out of her front door.

In all this chaos, one thing is for sure…Hudson Valley will never be the same.

Funny, romantic, raw, and hopeful, this is a story about being a woman and of the healing power of sisterhood.

Reflection

This is a book that is hard to categorize. I thought the premise made it sound like it might be a bit of a fluff, popcorn-type read (which is certainly had elements that fit those categories), but it truly has so much depth. The women in the book are dealing with some heavy things as we learn more about them. And perhaps women’s fiction is the best category for this because at it’s core, this is a book about women and for women. Exploring female friendship, female rivalries, and at the end of the day, how only women can truly understand what one another have experienced.

Eliza has a crippling case of agoraphobia (anxiety about leaving her house) that we don’t immediately know the cause of. But Eliza is troubled—depressed, lonely, anxious, and bored. She’s a recent empty nester and her loneliness and lack of purpose is all-consuming. In an effort to connect with people despite her spatial limitations, Eliza starts a Facebook group for herself and other Hudson Valley moms to connect. The group gives Eliza a sense of purpose that she was lacking.

When Eliza gets the courage to leave her house for a quick trip to the grocery story, she overhears two women talking about another Hudson Valley mom’s group on Facebook. Valley Girls sounds just like a younger, trendier version of her own group, The Hudson Valley Ladies’ Bulletin Board. Feeling her sense of purpose being ripped away from her, Eliza decides to start a small, harmless rumor by releasing a white lie from an “anonymous sender” that might hit a bit too close to the truth for some women in the neighborhood.

Told in alternating narratives from the point of view of Eliza, Amanda (Mandy) who is a childhood friend of Eliza’s, new-mom Olivia, and high-powered attorney and new-mom Allison, it does take a bit to keep the stories straight as you learn about each of the women. Touching on themes of infidelity, depression, parenting, abuse, friendship, marriage, and mental illness, this book is powerful and hits on many levels.

Overall I found the story heart-warming and a mix of serious, witty, and heartfelt. I liked each of the women and enjoyed reading their dynamics with one another. Uplifting and will leave you feeling warm and content!