Book Review: 'Then Came Life' by Geralyn Lucas

✰✰✰½ The journey from cancer diagnosis to treatment to survival is different for each patient. Geralyn Lucas has lived under the shadow of cancer for nearly two decades. With lipstick as her shield, she has endured it all to come out on the other side with two miracle babies, a supportive husband, and a “normal” everyday life. Lucas writes with brutal honesty and humor as she describes everything from preschool interviewing and potty training to interacting with her mean tween daughter and couples counseling. Meanwhile, she must face her fears as people important to her face their own battles with cancer. As the years go by, Lucas learns to move beyond the fear of a cancer recurrence and really embrace life.

The Bottom Line: This is a very quick read. Nonetheless, it is repetitive in several spots. For example, there were several references to the challenges of putting on Spanx and the quest for Botox. Each chapter is an essay from a different point in her life, and it is the last few chapters of this book that make it a worthwhile read. Readers will laugh and cry along with the author. Fans of the author's first book, Why I Wore Lipstick to My Mastectomy, will want to pick up a copy. Also, recommended for anyone who has survived an illness and is struggling to move forward. Readers interested in mother-daughter relationships would enjoy this book as well.

Details: Then Came Life: Living with Courage, Spirit, and Gratitude After Breast Cancer by Geralyn Lucas. Advance Uncorrected Proof published in 2014. 240 p. ISBN: 978-1-592-40895-5 NOTE: I received a free copy from Gotham Books in exchange for an honest review. This was made possible by the Early Reviewers program at LibraryThing.