"One of the most heartwarming and charming novels I've read in 2014 is "Mating for Life" by Marissa Stapley which I won from Goodreads Giveaways. As the story opens Liane, the youngest daughter of former folksinger Helen Sear is vacationing at the family cottage. Her plan is to finish her thesis, to reflect on the stability of her relationship with the staid and self-centered son of the dean, and to confront a tragedy in her past that threatens her future happiness. But like her mother and siste...

Mating for Life is a story about three sisters and their mother, their relationships with each other, and their successes and failures in finding a mate with whom to share their life. By interweaving the events of their lives and alternating the narrative among the main characters, Stapley keeps the story moving along at a brisk pace, which will make you want to keep reading the book without putting it down.While the stories and characters are interesting in themselves, Stapley's real success is...

I'll call Mating for Life a Must Read for Life. I was moved by this rich, multi-layered story of relationships -- particularly those of Helen, an aging, always independent, always single 1960s rock singer and her three daughters. Fiona, Ilsa, and Liane had different fathers, whom they did not know. Their relationships with each other, their mother, and their husbands (or in Liane's case, her lover) are fraught with challenges and decisions to be made -- to leave, to strike out on one's own, to f...

This novel is told from different perspectives, primarily those of Helen and her adult daughters. Helen was a famous folk singer in the 1970's and she was known for her fairly strident feminist perspective that women did not need men. She herself had three daughters, each from a different father. She raised them all by herself without any men in the picture.The oldest daughter, Fiona, strives for perfection. She is married to Tim who is a very ethical man. However, he has a secret and when it co...

I received this book as the result of a FirstReads giveaway.This is a wonderful book that delves into the lives of several sisters and their mother.(Their romantic lives that is.) It isn't your average romance which is why I labeled this book as good old fiction!The characters are believable, coming from a large family myself, I recognize the dynamics within the female sibling/parental roles. Stapley is able to deliver them to you the same way that you would perceive them in real life. (There is...

I received a copy of Mating for Life by Marissa Stapley in exchange for an honest review.This book covers the lives of Helen Sear who was a former folk singer and a feminist, who raised three daughters on her own. Each of Helen's daughters has a different father and Helen has never believed in monogamy, even now that she's met someone who wants to marry her. Although she is afraid he won't understand why she refuses to get married she's afraid to be considered a sell-out if she does. Helen's thr...

The start of this book was good and I thought I was really going to enjoy reading it. Sadly, I got about half way and put the book down. I thought about going back to the book and starting reading it again but realized that I had no real interest in reading anymore. The three sisters and their mother, Helen did not captivate me with their lives. The only one that kind of did was Liane. I found the rest of them drab. Plus, instead of letting me savor the three sister's stories, the author felt th...

Such a great book - love Marissa Stapley's writing, character development and the magical setting of this book!

Ilsa says p. 253: Here's the thing about love: It can last, but you have to be careful with it. You have to treat it like it's your most precious possession, you have to never, ever take it, or the person you love for granted. Ever. Even just doing it once could spell the beginning of the end. Resentment, it's love's worst enemy. ... Don't forget that and you will be fine...And also, don't be afraid...even if something doesn't work, maybe you don't have to let it scar you. Maybe it can be someth...

I hated this book at first... maybe even for the first 50-60%. It bummed me out and left me feeling very melancholy in between readings. To read about other people’s regrets or mistakes.... I hate that. I love romance. I believe in love. And I thought based on how this book started, that this book went against love and romance. But it doesn’t. It just showcases how special love can be, how hard it is to find and how much you have to work at keeping it.

4.5 stars.Mating for Life by Marissa Stapley is a compelling and thought-provoking novel about family, love and relationships. Written from numerous perspectives, each character offers unique insight into the different relationships in their lives and their own experiences with love, friends and family. Each of the women is at a romantic crossroads that challenges their long held beliefs about love and lead to some very unexpected decisions that not only impact their love life but also their rel...

Mating For Life is an ambitious exploration of love, relationships and the search for happiness by debut author Marissa Stapley.The narrative unfolds from multiple perspectives, primarily those of Helen and her three adult daughter's, Liane, Ilsa and Fiona, who are all variously struggling with romantic entanglements. Helen, a former wild child who essentially raised her daughters, fathered by three different men, on her own, is in her mid sixties and after years of eschewing tradition is wary o...

This was an emotionally charged read that is very bit intended for woman, sisters, mothers, daughters and girls everywhere.It is about relationships in all forms and matters of life. This isn't just a love story but a life story.While I admired this read greatly I can't say I fell in love with it. It moved from point of view, person to person way too much for my taste and I never really got that in depth feel for the characters because of it.I never felt their betrayal, their hopes, or their hea...

Each of the sisters in this pleasurable debut novel has, in one way or another, attempted to distance themselves from their self-described "feminist," " former flower-child" mother, whom they only refer to by her first name, Helen. The novel begins from the perspective of Liane, the youngest of the three, during a stay at a secluded family cabin in an attempt to jumpstart her motivation to complete a graduate thesis.In this chapter, and subsequent chapters, readers learn more and more about the

"Mating for Life" is the story of Helen, a woman who has always lived life on her own terms and has tried to pass that onto her three daughters. Now Helen is trying to figure out whether her terms are the right ones or if her terms need to change as she's gotten older. The story also focuses on Helen's three daughters: Liane, Ilsa, and Fiona. Each of these now women are dealing with very different circumstances and are trying to figure out their own ways forward. At its core, this book is really...

This book is encompasses the relationships of five women; Helen, a former hippie and folk singer, her three daughters, and a snippet of Myra, a peripheral character who offers a unique voice. Each chapter begins with facts regarding mating rituals of a particular animal species. The animal is then somehow woven into the chapter in a seamless manner but the paragraph is allegorical to one of the character's life moment. Each woman is trying to figure out their relationships; old or new, staid out...