it's chick lit... but it's also bibliotherapy (to steal a term from susan o).

I had trouble getting into this story. It had so many different "main" characters that I didn't feel a real connection with any of them. The book switches point of view among the 4 daughters and the husband. (Unless you count all the letters and diary entries from the mom.)

Enjoyed the book, easy read. Found the plot a bit predictable in portions. Particularly enjoyed the sections that highlighted Barbara's letters to her daughters. Heartfelt, and honest.

4.0 stars
The characters are impossible not to care for, you simply root for them and want everything to be happy endings and sunshine for everyone. It does have drama, everyday mistakes and bad decisions like on every family there are secrets that sometimes you believe that they could have continued to be unknown but the family dynamic, I just love this family.
REally enjoyed this story. I felt like the messages the daughters received from their mother and how they managed to take to heart and live by them is... It was just what you might expect, heartwarming. Nothing is perfect especially people but oh love is great, that is the greatest message anyone can receive, and that was the message these lovely sisters got from their mother.

I didn't go into this book with high expectations. It felt kind of predictable... a Mom that passes away and leaves behind posthumous letters for her daughters that help them in their lives. Their lives seem to fall apart after she leaves, but somehow love prevails, which always resonates with me.(Can't help it!) However, what I really liked was the idea of writing letters to your kids so that they would know more about you as their mother. I'm hoping to do that with my own children someday.

Even though the writing itself is kind of difficult to follow at first because you follow the story through so many different perspectives, I found that part enjoyable once I got a hang of who each character was. I felt like it made me care a lot more about each one of them instead of just focusing on one character throughout the whole story.

Overall, the different things that happen to each of the daughters was somewhat predictable, but in the end I still felt satisfied - feeling like I shared some important events in their lives with them. I was very pleasantly surprised by how much I ended up enjoying this book. I am looking forward to checking out her other books.

http://louiseradcliffe.com/2012/04/23/review-elizabeth-noble-things-i-want-my-daughters-to-know/

Maybe I am just sentimental since I have two daughters and am so close to my Mom and sisters, but this book appealed to me. It was a summer beach read, meaning, light, but engaging. Focused on a British family whose matriarch dies at 60 of cancer and leaves behind a journal or series of letters for her four daughters who range in age from 38-16 (and with 3 different fathers.) Her loving widow struggles to keep it all together. The characters seemed real to me and not so out to lunch. I also had fun with the Britishisms it isn't Brilliant, but it is jolly fun!

Enjoyed the book, easy read. Found the plot a bit predictable in portions. Particularly enjoyed the sections that highlighted Barbara's letters to her daughters. Heartfelt, and honest.

Things I want my Daughters to Know was much more enjoyable than The Reading Group. Both books were good, but I was able to better invest myself in the characters in this novel. I really felt their pain in losing their mother--I can't even imagine my life without my mom. I liked the journal she left for them, and felt it really helped them move on and grow from the experience. A great book with lovely characters.

Things I Want My Daughters To Know is Elizabeth Noble’s fourth novel. It tells the story of a mother (Barbara) who has to say goodbye to those she loves most in the world. She does this via letters expressing her hopes and fears for each daughters as well as a journal. Things I Want My Daughters To Know is quite like Cecelia Ahern’s PS I Love You and Lola Jaye’s By The Time You Read This in the way that we never get to meet the people writing the letters. I enjoyed the previous two I read and also loved this one.

I loved how the writing style wasn’t divided up into chapters but was divided up between the months and the thoughts of each person (Hannah, Amanda, Lisa, Jennifer & Mark) as well as having the odd journal entry from Barbara. It was a very clever way of writing the novel and worked really well.

I thought Elizabeth Noble wrote each character very well and loved how they were all so different from each other. Lisa, the eldest who is terrified of commitment; unhappily married Jennifer; Amanda the traveller; and Hannah a teenager who faces adulthood without her mother.

I felt sympathetic to all four sisters and absolutely loved the different obstacles each sister had to face. My favourite of the sisters had to be Amanda, I loved her flighty nature and yet, when love came calling… I so hoped Jennifer and Amanda would overcome their relationship worries. Hannah was also great and had her own problems to overcome, too.

I thought Mark’s, Barbara’s husband and Hannah’s dad, perspective gave us a different angle on grief and the struggles he faced on how to move on and whether or not it was OK to move on.

I enjoyed reading the letters to each girl – and found a few shocking – and loved the journal entries. While we never met Barbara it did feel like we knew her – through the journal entries and the letters as well as what we learnt from the girls’ and Mark’s point of view – and could also sympathise with how she was finding knowing she was going to die as well as how it impacted on the rest of the family.

There were a few scenes in the book that really lifted the lid on grief and keeping things bottled up in particular a scene where Jennifer is drinking with Mark and she really lets go of herself and lets out some shocking revelations.

Eilizabeth Noble has taken a really difficult subject and made it into a fabulous novel. Light-hearted yet serious and very moving. A lot of books say they are tear-jerkers but this one is actually one that is a tear-jerker! A definite must-read!

Rating: 5/5