Sisters and Husbands, by Connie Briscoe

I've been meaning to get to this novel for a long time. I'd call it a light read: it moves right along.

It's about 3 sisters and a friend. Beverly is about to get married, but everyone around her is afraid she'll have cold feet at the last minute because she's called off two weddings before.

Her sister, Charmaine, has recently remarried for the third time. Her marriage is strained by her husband's relationship with his daughter.

Evelyn, the oldest, the stable one, the responsible one, and the professional one (she's a therapist), seems to be the only sister with no problems. What her sisters, who resent her for being so seemingly perfect, don't know is that Evelyn has a secret: she's having trouble in her marriage and she's not only crushed, she's bewildered.

Beverly's closest friend is going through some things, too. Her boyfriend struck her. Beverly thinks that there's no way that relationship should be repaired. As far as Beverly is concerned, violence of any kind crosses the line and she can't understand why her friend can't see that.

All of these issues weigh on Beverly and increase her anxiety about whether getting married is really the right thing to do. Her fiance is kind and sexy, a professional, and seemingly everything a girl could want but Beverly sees her sisters' problems and feels deeply uneasy.

One thing surprised me. As Evelyn's marital problems escalate, she remains determined to stay calm and not make any rash decisions. She feels that as a marriage counselor, she of all people should know that marriages have their ups and downs and she is committed to do whatever's needed to save her marriage. But then she does something that seems to me to be completely out of character, and I needed that explained. But perhaps that's part of the fun of this book: that Evelyn steps out the patterns of her current life when her husband leaves her -- that his abrupt departure opens her up to viewing herself and her life in a new way.

A brisk read with an eventful story and interesting characters.