What’s a twenty-something gal to do when her parents announce a divorce after thirty years of marriage, she finds out her best friend has cozied up to her archnemesis, and she accidentally sleeps with the Wrong Guy? Turn to her great-aunt for advice, of course.

Rosie Benson has always struggled to fit in with her over-accomplished family, type-A roommate/best friend, and workaholic boss. But she’s nearly losing herself as she strives to become everyone else’s idea of perfect. When Rosie is abruptly fired from her job at a tech start-up where her boss was way too enthusiastic about synergy and company swag, the illusion that she has life figured out is shattered. Knowing she needs a push, her great-aunt Dotty—a globe-trotting, martini-swilling occasional nudist, and the only person Rosie has ever truly felt herself around—challenges her to pursue a long-buried dream, others’ expectations be damned.

But then Dotty dies.

And Rosie spirals.

As new details of Dotty’s past emerge through revelatory emails from her many friends, Rosie realizes that maybe her aunt’s life wasn’t as charmed as she thought. With her career, friendships, and family unraveling, Rosie must drown out the noise of the world telling her what she should pursue—boyfriend, babies, boss-babe role at a corporate job—and finally focus on what she actually wants.

My Review:

For lovers of Sophie Kinsella, Lindsey Kelk, and Beth O’Leary, prepare to welcome Jaclyn Westland to your list of favorites. Her novel, “Dear Dotty,” written in the spirit of “coming-of-age” or “chick-lit,” offers a refreshing take on life’s possibilities—whether we play by the rules or craft our own.

They say when one door shuts, a window opens. For Rosie, it seemed all doors were locked, and each window firmly nailed shut. In the span of a week, she lost her job, her best friend, and the one person on the planet who understood her. To add to that, her parents were getting a divorce after 30 years of marriage, and Rosie was ready to throw in the towel. The only sliver of good fortune was a chance encounter that seemed to finally bring good fortune where there was none. The problem is, with each new opportunity presented, Rosie feels like she is moving further and further away from who she thought she would be, in her career and in life in general. When the dreams of her old self become a possible reality, Rosie must decide if the new her is the real her or if she is ready to make the ultimate gamble, going all in on herself, like Dotty always did.

This book cleverly plays with a “sliding doors” concept. Not at the beginning, as Raj made it clear Rosie was getting fired one way or another, but when Rosie was presented with the opportunity to visit Happy Hooves at the start of the story. In that moment, Dotty gave Rosie one set of directions (forgo the party and check out the animal sanctuary), and Rosie did the complete opposite. Choosing the latter path presented her with a life enriched by all the markings of a successful adult. She was dating a rich, successful, and attractive man; had the perfect job where she was making more money than she could have dreamed of, with the potential for being promoted; and had even moved in with said boyfriend! Finally, she was checking all the boxes for someone who had their life together. Her family was proud, her friends were jealous, and she was… miserable. Then it was as if someone hit the reset button, and Rosie was back where she started, at Dotty’s, trying to get her life together but this time, she chose the path Dotty had tried to place her on. I loved that Jaclyn allows us to see both sides of the coin, to view how life is when you live by the stipulations of others versus your own.

It is also through this narrative that we explore Rosie’s preconceived notion that Dotty couldn’t possibly be happy with the life she lived because she didn’t follow the societal norms placed upon her. She wasn’t married, didn’t have kids, lived a modest lifestyle, had an unconventional job that didn’t guarantee a steady income, and she always went against the grain—there was just no way it was possible that she was fulfilled. We later learn that this train of thought was a projection of Rosie’s mother, who believed being free-spirited was the same as being carefree and irresponsible. Throughout the course of the book, we marvel at the life Dotty lived, the places she had been, the people she had met, and the way she commanded her life. We learned about the happiness she experienced because she marched to the beat of her own drum. The seeds of self-discovery, independence, and acceptance are planted and nurtured continuously—for the female protagonist and possibly for the reader, who may need the gentle reminder that it’s okay to go “against the grain” and live for yourself, not for others.

The friendship between Marcia and Rosie was my favorite part of this book. The ups and downs, twists and turns of these two showed the depth of love and growth. We see Marcia transform through Rosie’s eyes and how that impacted her own development. When Marcia laid down harsh truths, even I had to take a moment for self-reflection, and the rawness of her statement when it came down to the excuse “I am doing everything I can.” Applicable in different areas of our lives, are we really doing everything we can? Have we truly exhausted all options, or have we just danced up to that fine line of our comfort zones, not daring to cross it for the sake of comfort and familiarity?

Like most women’s literature and coming-of-age fiction, the focus isn’t on the romance of the female protagonist; it is on the journey and transformation. For once, it was nice to see a female character not need to be with someone at the end in order to be happy. Granted, Rosie was seeing Patrick, but it was made blatantly clear what the short-term nature of their relationship was.

Revisiting an earlier thought, Jaclyn did an excellent job tackling the concept of heteronormative and societal ideals. If Rosie was not in a relationship that was heading towards matrimony and babies, she wasn’t considered a grown-up. If she didn’t have a career with a specific ladder to climb to demonstrate her capabilities, she wasn’t taking life seriously. She was torn between two identities: the one encouraged by Dotty to be true to yourself and live a life without regret, and one created by her mother—to be a responsible, independent adult—which meant doing what was expected by society as well as those around you. Jaclyn doesn’t make it cut and dry—good vs. evil. She shows the pros and cons of both lives, but the underlying truth in each scenario is the simplest (yet somehow most difficult) question to answer—was she happy? Not happy because of something, but happy in spite of everything.

Finally, Rosie experienced parallel grief in the story. Not only did she endure the death of her aunt but also the death of her “old self.” Throughout the story, we witness her struggle with these two major losses. We endure the roller coaster of her finding herself, losing herself, and finding herself again—all while grieving for her aunt, learning about Dotty’s life, and realizing that while her old self was gone, her final transformation was better than she could have imagined. She brought those parallel grievances together and became the person Dotty always knew she could be.

Some who read “Dear Dotty” may simply be entertained by the cute banter, witty humor, and vibrant characters. Others may find much-needed truth within the words of these pages and walk away motivated, energized, and renewed. In either case, Jaclyn has definitely left a mark with her debut novel, and I, for one, am grateful.