FictionZeal

Life is unfair.  Caroline MacAfee’s marriage to Roy failed.  The reason?  He likes them young.  So even though Caroline is only in her fifties, Roy sees her as old.  She has been the host of a home remodeling TV show, Gut It!.  The show is based on real-life situations of MacAfee Homes.  She loves her job.  Every day she gets to work alongside her daughter, Jamie, as she walks the audience through the latest remodeling process.  Her background had been in carpentry and her daughter is an architect.  Then, just when things are going so well, the second shoe is about to drop as Roy decides to make Jamie the host of the show for the upcoming season.  Jamie doesn’t want the job and argues with her dad, but to no avail.  He simply must reach a younger audience.  Finally, rather than have Claire, the show’s producer, with all her bluntness, inform her mom of their decision, Jamie decides to tell her instead.  It doesn’t go well.  Caroline blames Jamie.  Then, Roy and his new young wife die in a car accident.  Suddenly, everyone’s lives shift.  What was once in harmony and balance is now a chaotic jumble.

I loved the flow of this novel and the emotional aspect of the story.  It paints a sincere picture of the characters and of human nature.  It tends to remind us that nothing stays the same.  Occasionally, I watch HGTV; as I was reading, I could envision the ‘behind the scenes’ narrative that must take place with most shows on that channel.  Not sure I fell in love with the ‘love interest’ portion of the story.  The title, Blueprints, becomes very fitting for the show, Gut It!.  Blueprints are the design from which houses are created and later built, but the analogy here is to the blueprints of our lives.  What built us into the people we become?  From whom do we get our strength?  What decides our values?  Rating: 4 out of 5.