This is an awesome book. The story begins with three women who meet at BYU Education week and are all staying with Sister Gabby Farnsworth in Provo instead of the dorms. Their meeting is the beginning of a wonderful sisterhood. Before they leave to go home at the end of the week they make a pack to return in 25 years and name themselves the Crusty Old Broads In Training or COB's for short. They return to their former lives and conflicts. Juneau to the knowledge that she is pregnant but not happy about it; Willadene to a family who doesn't appreciate her Molly Mormon Supermomness and Erin, who is a new convert, to her job as a hairdresser, her mother's silence and grandmother's scornfully bitter tongue.
Through their letters to each other their lives open up and for the next seven years there are many changes. Juneau has a miscarriage and the loss of "baby Max" affects the entire family. Her daughters, Misty and Nicole, are as different as possible with Misty growing up too fast, getting involved with the wrong people and sneaking out at night while Nicole is well behaved and enjoys doing things with her family. Willadene also has problems with her son, Carl, who is constantly getting into trouble with two friends. Her husband, Roger, is too busy working on his graduate degree to spend time with the family and leaves everything on her shoulders. Erin marries a return missionary, Cory, who is the only child of very devoted and loving but often smoothering parents. Cory allows his parents to make decisions for them without Erin's input. She has trouble setting boundaries with her in-laws and doesn't get a lot of emotional support from Cory when she needs it. They have two children who get a lot of attention from both sets of grandparents and are loved by both Erin and Cory.
This book is about the bonds of friendship between three very different women from three very different backgrounds. They have the gospel and their Spiritual Living lessons in common but on the surface that is about all. Under the surface they are all struggling with family and life and they want the same things such as happiness and fulfilment. They do get together occasionally to help each other resolve problems and to give the moral and emotional support that each of them need. The book ends with new challenges that I am sure will be faced in the next installment of the series for which I am very excited to read. Copyright 2006 Marilee McQuarrie