Anna Quindlen is an undeniably skilled writer. She is able to take a premise I would, personally, think too dull and mundane, and she crafts it into a compelling novel.

Blessings is quite a departure from my usual literary preferences, but I still enjoyed it. Every Last One remains untouched and unparalled in my rankings of Quindlen's books (of which I have only read three thus far). That said, I would, surprisingly, recommend Blessings over Black and Blue. I think this text and its issues are handled with a bit more grace (acquired from the increased awareness and social conscientiousness accompanying the 21st century), and manages to make protagonists I would typically find too dry (Skip and Lydia) interesting enough to capture a reader's attention for the book's brief duration.