Cover Image: Older

Older

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I am a huge fan of the show younger and the first book so I was so excited to read older. I love following along to see what will happen with Liza next!

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Fans of the tv show YOUNGER will love diving a bit past the show's timeline to see what happens to Liza, Josh, Kelsey, Maggie, Caitlin, and some new-to-me characters that were not in the show but perhaps were in the original book. I'm not sure! But I found this an entertaining and enjoyable book with lots of fun winks to the show.  Thank you to netgalley.com and Gallery Books for the review copy.

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The idea that growing older makes you find your feet in the land of decision-making is quite incorrect as we forget that we still have to make choices as homemakers, mothers, and professionals.

Older is the very anticipated sequel to the beloved Younger, which is now a hit TV series by the creators of the iconic Sex and the City and will be returning soon for its seventh season.

Liza’s self-imposed isolation was provided to give her perspective and time to figure out who she really is, what really matters and indeed, what’s real for her. She's torn between the most important choices that she’s ever had to make when Kelsey picks her book to be made into a TV series. She finds herself off to LA to help write the pilot and her adventure in LA is too great to let go off as she meets the devastatingly handsome Hugo Fielding, but she has to make a choice. With all the fun flirting and crazy antics of Younger, this group never fails to entertain.

In this sequel, the little troupe has split in many directions: Josh concentrating on his successful business in Brooklyn, Maggie is now a mother, and Kelsey is quickly building her career in LA as a producer. Whereas Liza struggles in navigating her career and responsibilities towards family, and how challenging it can be to throw off that impulse to please everyone else.

Certainly the existential crisis that Liza is experiencing puts forward a broader set of questions of reality and what is real, the ability to trust instinct and questions what is true, and ones overarching comfort in who they are, whilst still becoming who they will continue to become. Should she work on the production of her story in LA or take care of her daughter’s baby in New York? Choosing her personal life or live her life as per the expectations of her family? Perhaps reconcile things with Josh or find a new romance? Live on her own terms or keep up with the expectations of others?

So what happens when you have to make a choice and the stakes are too high? Older is a must read for all of us because sooner or later we all have to make decisions which seem too hard. Older is where you get to be you and make decisions only for yourself and letting everything and everyone else take a backseat for a change. It's a reminder you can always be you at every age in life. 

A delightful read with great dialogue, well written characters, and some punchy moments that drive the narrative towards a very satisfying and romantic ending.

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What a fun read!! This wasn’t the height of literary genius, but it was a good summer romcom. Fans of the show Younger will really like this, I think.

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I have not read Younger, but that didn't stop me from enjoying this title. Enough information about past relationships is included that you can read this as a stand-alone novel.

As someone who has entered midlife (hello 50!), I can so relate to some of the struggles Liza has. The desire to remain young, but recognizing that your experiences shape your perspectives with the need to embrace your age to live a full life.

I can not say that some of the reckless behaviors exhibited by her in this novel are ones I'd do, but I can relate to the desire to live life to the fullest and include experiences you might have previously shunned.

Overall a quick fun read which many a woman in midlife can appreciate.

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This was a fast read and I enjoyed the witty writing style. I feel like I am the target audience for this book and I appreciated what the author was trying to convey. The behind-the-scenes of both the publishing and the entertainment business was interesting and I enjoyed that aspect of the book. There’s a dinner party scene at the end of the book that is an exact copycat of the movie Notting Hill. I didn’t appreciate the rip-off from a movie and it left me feeling a bit sour on the book. Overall a quick, easy read that was enjoyable as a 40-something woman. My thanks to the publisher for the advance reader in exchange for my honest review.

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A Coming of Age Story

A novelist on the cusp of turning fifty chooses where to land.

Older picks up where Younger leaves off? I don’t know as I’ve never read Younger or watched a single episode of the series.

Liza has just returned to NYC after writing a bestselling novel and recouping in a cabin up north. Her friend Kelsey dangles the potential of turning her book into a hit television show and filming on the West Coast while her pregnant daughter Caitlyn is begging for her to stay in New York and help her with the baby.

Liza is still single but her old love Josh is hovering nearby while her friend Maggie’s art career has really taken off.

A fateful trip to California has Liza letting her hair down and also meeting the show’s lead male, Hugo. She and Hugo have an immediate connection but it’s complicated.

Through the portals of both new life and death, Liza decides the kind of life she wants to live and on whose terms she wants to live it.

It was an average read at best.

BRB Rating: Read It.

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After binge-watching several seasons of the TV show, "Younger," it was fun to reconnect with the characters in Pamela Redmond's latest book, "Older." Though this book doesn't pick up where the show left off, the story keeps you engaged with most of the characters you know and love and brings a few new ones into the mix. As the book went on, I grew to like this older (almost 50) version of Liza more than any version that came before. A fun read!

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I received a copy of this in exchange for a review. As a fan of the show Younger, and the first book, I looked forward to this book. After coming clean about her age, Liza has sold her book and Kelsey (now out of publishing) wants to turn it into a show. Liza still struggles to figure out what she wants in life. There are some cute nods to the real show. This was a decent fast read.

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Rating: 4 Stars, HJ Recommended read

Older is the fabulous sequel to Younger, wherein Liza, having left her younger man and isolated herself for 2 years, is ready to rejoin civilisation, see her granddaughter get born and carve out a new reality for herself as she approaches her half century milestone. Liza’s self-imposed isolation was provided to give her perspective, time to figure out who she really is, what really matters and indeed, what is real for her. And so when she finds herself back on the mainland, with a TV show proposal, a trip to LA, an Ex lover who she still loves and a whole bunch of other questions that she tries to find answers to along the journey, it’s no surprise that she’s still trying to work it all out. Questions like, does youth end at 39? Or maybe even earlier – 29?

Quite subtly, Redmond highlights that it is clear that traditionally it has been men that have undergone the dreaded mid-life crisis, wherein the social narrative suggests they reach their 40s, question their broader purpose, buy a sports car and shag their secretary – or something like that. Often this is done to achieve a sense that youth, however waning, still exists and indeed, potency and virility, attracting a mate is still a tangible thing. There has never really been a time in history where women have had the time, space, money, comfort to actually consider what it is they want. Women are basically thrown on the scrap heap at 40; turned into old Nan, or wise aunts or some other wise old role that is a keeper of knowledge and the heart of all families. And so it makes sense that trying to carve an identity and figuring out who you are nearing 50 is something Liza really hasn’t nailed, like perhaps every other woman.

Older is a delightful read; great dialogue, well drawn characters, punchy momentum and some key action kernels that drive the narrative towards a very satisfying and romantic ending. Certainly the existential crisis that Liza is simultaneously experiencing and learning from has something that everyone, young or old can take something away from, including the broader questions of reality and what is real, the ability to trust instinct and question what is true, and ones overarching comfort in who they are, whilst still becoming who they will continue to become.

In many ways, Redmond has successfully created another rite of passage book – one that will be forever relevant in our youth obsessed culture. Undoubtedly, all Happily Ever After Fans will find Older a thoroughly enjoyable read with some big philosophical undertones that are worth pondering irrespective of what stage of life you are in.

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If you love Younger you will love This book! A great continuation of the show although a bit different. It will help hold you over until the return of Younger!

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Funny and oddly heart-warming, this tale by Pamela Redmond may have some readers checking to see if it is based on a true story. No, OLDER is pure fiction and the second in a series based on the shenanigans of a middle-aged single mother. In the first book, she dresses and acts 15 years younger than her age, in order to score a job in her preferred career, post-divorce. In this book, she chooses to re-enter her own age and meet her peers ‘back into the real world.’ I found the book engaging and delightful and could easily read more in this series. Although, I’m not sure what the character might do next, I enjoyed this book enough to want to find out. I received my copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

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This was a very charming, utterly adorable, clearly fictionalized memoir of sorts about Younger (the author’s first book) being made into a TV show. I came to this book as a fan of the actual TV show (I’ve seen every episode!) who embarrassingly had not read the book first. So imagine my surprise and dismay as a staunch member of #TeamCharles (on the show) to learn that Charles never existed in the book, and was created by the TV producers later on.

I was able to quickly recover from my devastation though, because this book has Hugo. Ahhh, Hugo. I’ll let you discover him for yourself, but he’s the movie star who is starring in the book’s version of the TV show.

This book will satisfy any viewer of the show, because in addition to having a great continuation of Liza’s story, there are many thinly veiled and humorous tidbits about the making of the TV show that sound suspiciously true. Most of the other great characters from the show are there (though I learned some in the book are different from the show, and fell in love with them as well), and some new ones. I was fully charmed by this book and now intend to hop online and order the first book, Younger.

4.5 stars from me rounded up. I love Pamela Redmond’s style of writing - it’s a romance/chick lit style that is empowering, truthful, and not too cheesy. I’ll be back for more.

Thanks to Gallery Books, Pamela Redmond and NetGalley for the advance copy. I am once again thankful for the many book discoveries like these that I make on NetGalley, because I would have been super sad to miss this lovely book!

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As Liza Miller is about to turn 50 she returns from her cabin in the woods and publishes a novel, loosely disguised story of her life posing as a younger woman in the workplace. Sound familiar? The little troupe had split in many directions; Sexy Josh concentrating on his successful business in Brooklyn, Maggie now a mom and Kelsey is quickly building her career in Los Angeles as a producer. It is time for Liza to once again reinvent herself and more than anything she wants the truth to set her free. When Kelsey ops her book for a TV show, Liza heads west and gets caught up in an LA movie star crush. With all the fun flirting and crazy antics of Younger, this group never fails to entertain. Fans will go wild for this sequel to a show we wait for with bated breath. Pure rom-com enjoyment, an absolute must read for the beach this summer. Thank you Pamela Redmond, just the right amount of “Take me away!" during these crazy times!

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I was really excited to read this book since I am a big fan of the show. This book picks up after Liza Miller has written a novel loosely based on her life as a 40year old pretending to be 26 to get a job in publishing. The novel she has written is, “Younger.”
In this book, Kelsey has moved to LA to work in tv and decides that “Younger” would make a fantastic tv series. Sutton Foster (who plays Liza in the real tv series) expresses interest but ultimately, an actress named Stella gets the role (mostly because her husband’s company is bankrolling the pilot). She insists her handsome ex (Hugo Fielding - who seems loosely based on Hugh Grant) plays the role of love interest but the problem is that he is older (in his 50s). He’s too old to play Alice’s (Liza’s character’s name in her book) much younger ex, Josh. Are you following here? It’s very meta. It’s a book about how a book about a 40something that pretended to be 26 is getting turned into a tv show. It was a bit confusing for me because I am a fan of the show so in my head I was like, “Wait. Is the show I’m watching the result of what happens during ‘Older?’” .
In the end, I was disappointed with how this played out. There was the whole LA silliness of Liza trying mushrooms and getting high. Not the ending I was hoping for. If you’re a fan of the show, you won’t like this. Maybe if I had never seen the show and had only read the books, I’d be satisfied?

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I’ve been missing Younger on tv this summer, it’s delayed this year of course. I was really excited to find this book on NetGalley, to get to spend some time with these characters that I love.

Reading the book, having only watched the show and never read the first book, makes this book pretty meta. It just dives right into that and literally even refers to something within the story as meta.

I’m going to guess that everyone who watches the tv show is either #teamJosh or #teamCharles. I’m team Josh. I mention this for a couple reasons: 1)if you’re either Team Josh or Team Charles it’s going to be hard to get used to the new live interest Hugo 2)Charles doesn’t seem to exist in this book.

Liza is about to turn 50. She’s been living in her boss’ cabin in Maine for quite some time, trying to write. She’s only just gotten back to NYC when Kelsey contacts her and says she’d like to make Liza’s previous book Younger into a tv series. Kelsey has been living in California and working in tv.

Liza agrees and is able to get the publisher’s approval to make it happen. She even decides to go to California for awhile to work on the screen play. Her daughter doesn’t want her to go because she’s pregnant. Maggie supports her. And she meets up with Josh long enough to wonder whether she should give him another chance.

Both on the show, and in the book, I continue to get frustrated with Liza for telling Josh that he shouldn’t give up having kids to be with her. I really believe Josh loves her enough to chose her but Liza often doesn’t think he shouldn’t. So, anyway, that’s always been my pet peeve and continues to be.

Liza goes to CA and meets a movie star names Hugo. He is being considered for a part in the tv series. They’re basically writing a role for him, the role of the now male boss. So, he’s kind of the Charles here.

Liza starts falling for Hugo.

She winds up back in NYC again and her daughter begs Liza to move in with her to help with her new baby. That seemed so unfair. Liza pushes Josh away because she doesn’t want another baby and then she winds up staying home to help with her grandchild.

I’m not going to say how long any part of this book lasts (NYC, CA, writing, tv pilot, Hugo, caring for the grandchild) because I don’t want to spoil anything. I’d also love to comment on my feelings about the ending but I’ve already said I am strongly Team Josh, so you’d be able to guess the ending if I told you how I felt about it.

It was good to revisit these characters. I don’t think Kelsey got enough time in this book, but I heard her tv character is getting a spin-off, so she deserves her own story too :)

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Younger is one of my favorite TV shows and with no new episodes during the COVID-19 pandemic, Older is the perfect replacement to spend some time with Liza, Kelsey, Maggie and Josh! I read the first book a few years ago and was pleased with the ending, but was happy to pick back up in Liza's life a few years later after she has found success as the writer behind the book Younger which Kelsey wants to turn into a TV show.

I loved the little callbacks to the show, like the mentions of Sutton Foster and Debi Mazar, as well as a few others along the way. While Charles, Diana and Lauren are not characters in the book, I did enjoy the new character of Hugo and pictured him as the British version of Charles. I did find Caitlin's character to be rather annoying, but since you don't see much of her on the show, it was interesting to read about her relationship with Liza.

Older is a quick read and if you are a fan of Younger, you'll have fun with this book. You don't need to read the previous book to know what is going on, Pamela Redmond does a good job of filling in the reader along the way. Once Younger returns, I would love to see some of the ideas from Older play out in the show.

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3 out of 5 stars - It was ok.

I feel like this book was written as a way to cash in on the success of the TV show based on the first book, "Younger". The premise is that "Younger" was the book written by the character in this second book. The character names have changed and there are references to the actresses playing characters on the TV show that airs on TVLand.

At the start of the book, I was confused by the character name changes. By the end of the book, I was rolling with it. I did come to enjoy the book, but it still made me feel like it wasn't really a true original story. It was more of a chance to tell the story of how "Younger" the TV show came to be (not that I know if the story there is even close to the truth or not).

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Delightful Liza is back and we will all enjoy getting Older. Effable, charming and relatable are three words I would use to describe the sequel to Younger. New adventures, new quandaries, new relationship twists. I loved spending more time with Liza and the reader will too

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OMFG This is literally the best thing I have read this summer! As a huge fan of younger I was anticipating this book since it was announced. I really hope that it is made into a TV show I just think it will make a fantastic show!

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