Nancy’s Review of I Couldn’t Love You More by Jillian Medoff

Thirty-eight-year-old Eliot Gordon lives in Atlanta with her partner, Grant Delaney, their four-year-old daughter, Hailey, and Grant’s children from his previous marriage, seven-year-old Gail, and teenaged Charlotte. Eliot and Grant aren’t legally married, but that doesn’t prevent them from being a connected, loving family. Despite everything good in her life, Eliot still carries a torch for her college sweetheart, Finn Montgomery, who moved to New York years ago for his career. When he shows up unexpectedly in Atlanta and Eliot runs into him, that chance encounter sends her life into a tailspin. Finn is married, but that doesn’t prevent him from flirting with Eliot, who returns his affection. They embark on a path toward adultery, but a tragic accident during a beach vacation alters Eliot’s life and her family forever.

I Couldn’t Love You More is a beautifully crafted novel. Poignant and heart wrenching, it addresses what it means to be a family, specifically what it means to be a mother and a stepmother. Relationships are tested and changed forever, and how the characters deal with these changes is what is so fascinating. The characters are well developed, and the story is richly detailed and intriguing, making this novel a page-turner. Eliot is realistically flawed and wrought with guilt over the tragedy. The pain she endures more for her family than for herself is honestly portrayed. There are touches of humor that help to lighten such a dramatic story. Overall, I Couldn’t Love You More is a captivating tale of family, love, loss, and moving forward.

Jillian Medoff attended Barnard College and received an MFA in Creative Writing from NYU. She has taught at NYU and the University of Georgia. Jillian is the acclaimed author of Hunger Point, Good Girls Gone Bad, and I Couldn’t Love You More. Hunger Point was the basis for the original Lifetime movie starring Barbara Hershey and Christina Hendricks. Jillian’s books have been translated into many different languages, including French, Spanish, Hebrew, Turkish, Hungarian, Japanese (abridged), Polish, and German (forthcoming). She currently lives in New York with her family.

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