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Live a Little
-What do you do if you have two bratty teenage kids who don't give you the time of day?
-What do you do if your husband is more interested in his remote than you?
-What do you do if you're forever being compared to your perfect sister--who just happened to marry your perfect boyfriend?
-And what do you do if you're told you have stage 4 breast cancer?
Well, if you're Raquel Rose, you tell your family your diagnosis, and then you watch them go from treating you like dirt to treating you like a queen. Then you go on to raise unprecedented amounts of money for breast cancer research. You fulfill your early artistic promise. And you find you love this new life of yours, no matter how fleeting it may be.
So when the doctor calls to tell her that there was a mistake and she's actually perfectly healthy, instead of sharing her good news, Raquel can't relinquish the sudden attention and love from her family. Soon Raquel's lie by omission snowballs and the wise-cracking 40-something becomes a sought-after figure on her sister's popular talk show, elevating her "illness" to local rock star status. Her mistaken diagnosis becomes the fated opportunity to fix the glaring problems in her life--her stalled career as an artist, her lackluster marriage, her unappreciative children, and her highly dysfunctional family.
And while she wants to tell the truth, she's afraid to give it all up--would her family go back to taking her for granted? Would the donors rescind their checks if they think she was a fraud? In the end, it's up to Raquel to find her real "cure": an ending that befits the second chance she's been granted.
-What do you do if your husband is more interested in his remote than you?
-What do you do if you're forever being compared to your perfect sister--who just happened to marry your perfect boyfriend?
-And what do you do if you're told you have stage 4 breast cancer?
Well, if you're Raquel Rose, you tell your family your diagnosis, and then you watch them go from treating you like dirt to treating you like a queen. Then you go on to raise unprecedented amounts of money for breast cancer research. You fulfill your early artistic promise. And you find you love this new life of yours, no matter how fleeting it may be.
So when the doctor calls to tell her that there was a mistake and she's actually perfectly healthy, instead of sharing her good news, Raquel can't relinquish the sudden attention and love from her family. Soon Raquel's lie by omission snowballs and the wise-cracking 40-something becomes a sought-after figure on her sister's popular talk show, elevating her "illness" to local rock star status. Her mistaken diagnosis becomes the fated opportunity to fix the glaring problems in her life--her stalled career as an artist, her lackluster marriage, her unappreciative children, and her highly dysfunctional family.
And while she wants to tell the truth, she's afraid to give it all up--would her family go back to taking her for granted? Would the donors rescind their checks if they think she was a fraud? In the end, it's up to Raquel to find her real "cure": an ending that befits the second chance she's been granted.
384 pages, Paperback
Published August 15, 2008
4 people are currently reading
186 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 55 reviews
October 5, 2008
I was completely disappointed by this book. In fact I had to force myself to finish it. I am giving it 1 1/2 stars.
I had it listed as a choice for my book club and BOY am i GLAD we chose something else.
The premise of the book had me intrigued, what a great idea for a story. What if your hum drum life completely changed when you found out you had stage 4 breast cancer? Your kids nad husband finally recognize what a great person you are, you raise huge amounts of money for research etc. What would you do? Then what would you do if you found out that you were misdiagnosed through a hospital error. What if you didnt want to go back to being hum drum with an indifferent husband and teenage kids. What if you didnt want people to think you were a fraud when you were raising money for research? Would YOU tell??
This book COULD have gone such a great direction, but instead the author chose smut and sex and adulterous affairs.
The character was just so unappealing, I had no connection to her, I really didnt understand her motivation or where she was coming from. She just couldnt and didnt redeem herself in my eyes.
I had it listed as a choice for my book club and BOY am i GLAD we chose something else.
The premise of the book had me intrigued, what a great idea for a story. What if your hum drum life completely changed when you found out you had stage 4 breast cancer? Your kids nad husband finally recognize what a great person you are, you raise huge amounts of money for research etc. What would you do? Then what would you do if you found out that you were misdiagnosed through a hospital error. What if you didnt want to go back to being hum drum with an indifferent husband and teenage kids. What if you didnt want people to think you were a fraud when you were raising money for research? Would YOU tell??
This book COULD have gone such a great direction, but instead the author chose smut and sex and adulterous affairs.
The character was just so unappealing, I had no connection to her, I really didnt understand her motivation or where she was coming from. She just couldnt and didnt redeem herself in my eyes.
March 24, 2021
This book left me confused. It's like a chic flick / soap opera .
January 12, 2011
This book was really hard to read. Not because of the writing, but the story. The main character is mistakenly diagnosed with Breast Cancer. After she receives the great news that she isn't dying, she neglects to tell anyone, leaving everyone (including her family) that she is still dying. It was hard to stomach. She loved the attention she was finally getting. She was the chick lit's favorite heroine, you know, the overweight, forgotten and ignored sister to the perfect polished accomplished girl. Blah! I am so tired of reading about this same girl! And this one was faking Breast Cancer for crying out loud!
December 2, 2012
At first I thought the subject was intriguing and I'm always looking for a new twist on chick lit. Instead this was just a main character that was selfish, self-centered, and had no redeeming qualities, a family that is just depressing, and a storyline that makes you feel disgusted knowing there are people out there that would pull the same scam. Halfway through I just started skimming to find where she would get what was due to her. I never found it. Highly disappointing.
June 14, 2009
The premise of this book sounds so promising. An under-appreciated mother finds out she has cancer. Her family suddenly values and cares about her. Only she finds out it's a mistake. The problem with the book is the character continues to lie to her family, friends, and public for almost a year; benefiting through her art and her relationships because she continues the deception she has cancer and is receiving treatment. Plus the book isn't that well written.
Don't bother reading!
Don't bother reading!
August 16, 2010
Awful, awful, awful!! I was so pissed off at the main character and her woe-is-me attitude towards her life and the terrible way she went through faking cancer, treatment, etc. The only reason I continued through the end was to enjoy her downfall...which didn't happen. Instead she becomes more of a hero? Really??
July 14, 2013
I read this book because I was intrigued and hoped to be convinced that there was some plausible, relatable reason why someone would want to pretend they had cancer. This book didn't succeed in even the slightest way. Instead, I found it to be incredibly offensive, and I could barely finish it. Don't waste your time.
November 13, 2008
I hated this book so much I didnt finish it . I'm usually a read the whole thing in a couple days but with this book I forced myself to open the pages and try and read . It looked good ( yup I'm a judge it by the cover kind of gal ) and the back sounded good but boy was I ever wrong !!!
August 10, 2019
I really did not enjoy this book but felt the need to finish it. Seems to jump around - I pretty much skimmed it to find out what happened. Really not very well written- seemed to have a lot of un useful details. I can't say I would read another book by this author
April 19, 2009
I had a hard time getting past the fact that this woman pretended to have cancer...regardless of her reasons.
June 29, 2010
She packed so many words into one sentence...I had a headache after the first page. While wading through this over wordy book...I had to remind myself what the plot even was.
December 30, 2024
What would you do if your doctor diagnosed you with cancer? Then he calls you back in for an appointment and tells you that it was a clerical error and that you never had cancer to begin with! Would it change you?
Now imagine your famous sister asking you to come on her talk show to help bring awareness to cancer and help raise money for the cause and trying to tell your family that you were misdiagnosed and them thinking you have lost your mind or in denial. Would you keep on with the charade and go with the flow because after all it’s all for a good cause and because you have been treated better by your family since the original diagnosis?
This is how Raquel Rose’s life has turned out to be and how everything begins to unravel how will this whopper turn out ?
This is a must read with an interesting story line!
Now imagine your famous sister asking you to come on her talk show to help bring awareness to cancer and help raise money for the cause and trying to tell your family that you were misdiagnosed and them thinking you have lost your mind or in denial. Would you keep on with the charade and go with the flow because after all it’s all for a good cause and because you have been treated better by your family since the original diagnosis?
This is how Raquel Rose’s life has turned out to be and how everything begins to unravel how will this whopper turn out ?
This is a must read with an interesting story line!
February 2, 2019
Difficult to get involved because of the style of writing. Interesting idea though. Diagnosed with cancer, tell your family and then find out at followup appointment that your results were switched with someone else's. Imagine - now you have people treating you differently because they believe you are going to die. your family suddenly becomes much more involved with you instead of taking you for granted. Read and see what happened.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 7, 2026
A fun and entertaining read about Raquel Rose, 43 year old wife and stay at home mom who is misdiagnosed with breast cancer. Her life gets brighter as she throws herself back into her art and she struggles to tell her family the good news, she doesn’t actually have breast cancer. Funny and smart, I enjoyed the story immensely.
September 4, 2022
A real cottage page turner, I read this in two days and it made me laugh, cry, gasp in shock and more. It's a bit like a hilarious, sappy, cheesy, feel-good movie that is somehow completely unbelievable and also very relatable.
April 15, 2024
I’m bummed that this book didn’t find its target audience, based on the reviews. This is the most hilarious story I’ve read in recent times. The author’s witty and intricate prose being the characters to life. Highly recommend if you can handle the fact that some people are self centered.
March 3, 2024
It was not my favorite. I had a hard time finishing it.
November 10, 2008
Reviewed for Rebeccasreads.com
“Live a Little” is the third book by Lisa Green. Her previous books include “Is That a Moose in Your Pocket?” and “Paging Aphrodite”.
Raquel Rose is a wife and mother of two teenagers when a routine visit to the doctor turns into a terminal cancer diagnosis. Raquel goes through a range of emotions when she is given the news and her family is shocked as well. They don’t want to believe it and life is not quite the same.
Then a month later the doctor tells her it has all been a mistake and she is not the Raquel Rose that has breast cancer. After riding the emotional roller coaster she is back on it again but this time knowing that she is fine and how does she tell everyone that it was all a mistake? She tries to give her family the good news over a nice dinner, but they don’t believe her. She is flabbergasted and doesn’t know what to do to convince them that she really is ok.
So she doesn’t. After all, she is getting the royal treatment from the family that took her for granted…or so she thought. Raquel goes along with the deception and while living a lie manages to find her true self in the process and that she isn’t just a housewife and mother, that she is inspirational and a true artist.
I had the full range of emotions regarding this book, I went from hating it in the first 30 pages (so much I wasn’t sure I was going to finish the book) to thinking that the character deserved what she got to admiration for admitting the truth in the end.
While I know that this is a work of fiction, I am a breast cancer survivor and know what women go through when diagnosed which is probably why I hated parts of the book, primarily Raquel’s deception. While it is a fictional character, Raquel had people feeling sorry for her when there was nothing wrong. She took advantage of the situation just for a little fame. Then when Raquel’s friends and family found out that she really didn’t have cancer, I felt like she deserved what came her way. In the end, she made amends and I felt like the story tied up nicely and it all happened for a reason and perhaps she realized that you don’t have to tell lies to get attention, after all it will come back and haunt you.
“Live a Little” is the third book by Lisa Green. Her previous books include “Is That a Moose in Your Pocket?” and “Paging Aphrodite”.
Raquel Rose is a wife and mother of two teenagers when a routine visit to the doctor turns into a terminal cancer diagnosis. Raquel goes through a range of emotions when she is given the news and her family is shocked as well. They don’t want to believe it and life is not quite the same.
Then a month later the doctor tells her it has all been a mistake and she is not the Raquel Rose that has breast cancer. After riding the emotional roller coaster she is back on it again but this time knowing that she is fine and how does she tell everyone that it was all a mistake? She tries to give her family the good news over a nice dinner, but they don’t believe her. She is flabbergasted and doesn’t know what to do to convince them that she really is ok.
So she doesn’t. After all, she is getting the royal treatment from the family that took her for granted…or so she thought. Raquel goes along with the deception and while living a lie manages to find her true self in the process and that she isn’t just a housewife and mother, that she is inspirational and a true artist.
I had the full range of emotions regarding this book, I went from hating it in the first 30 pages (so much I wasn’t sure I was going to finish the book) to thinking that the character deserved what she got to admiration for admitting the truth in the end.
While I know that this is a work of fiction, I am a breast cancer survivor and know what women go through when diagnosed which is probably why I hated parts of the book, primarily Raquel’s deception. While it is a fictional character, Raquel had people feeling sorry for her when there was nothing wrong. She took advantage of the situation just for a little fame. Then when Raquel’s friends and family found out that she really didn’t have cancer, I felt like she deserved what came her way. In the end, she made amends and I felt like the story tied up nicely and it all happened for a reason and perhaps she realized that you don’t have to tell lies to get attention, after all it will come back and haunt you.
July 6, 2009
Imagine you're diagnosed with an illness. Terminal, but they're going to go through the usual treatments anyway. How would you react? What would you do? Now, imagine that AFTER you tell your friends, your family, AFTER your sister has booked you as a guest on her talk show and you have told the whole town about your diagnosis and what you're going through, AFTER several thousands of dollars in donations to a good cause have been made thanks to your story-
you find out your test results got mixed up with someone else's and you're fine.
NOW what do you do?
Ok, now... if you were someone with less of a moral compass than you... imagine how that would go...
I started off this book thinking "My goodness. How dreary. How depressing. I don't want to read a book about this stuff... but I will, because it builds character and I'm not one to shy away from the yucky parts of life, even if they ARE fictional... But still... I loved this author's other book, but... but... well, how very UN- Kim Green of her!"
I was wrong.
It's no Paging Aphrodite, but it still follows the same insane, zany pattern of adventure, while managing to be nightmarish, horrendous and utterly morally bankrupt at the same time.
And yet... oddly enough, you can empathize. We've all been the woman working her butt off just to keep our small piece of the world turning- some people realize this, and just want to live a little.
you find out your test results got mixed up with someone else's and you're fine.
NOW what do you do?
Ok, now... if you were someone with less of a moral compass than you... imagine how that would go...
I started off this book thinking "My goodness. How dreary. How depressing. I don't want to read a book about this stuff... but I will, because it builds character and I'm not one to shy away from the yucky parts of life, even if they ARE fictional... But still... I loved this author's other book, but... but... well, how very UN- Kim Green of her!"
I was wrong.
It's no Paging Aphrodite, but it still follows the same insane, zany pattern of adventure, while managing to be nightmarish, horrendous and utterly morally bankrupt at the same time.
And yet... oddly enough, you can empathize. We've all been the woman working her butt off just to keep our small piece of the world turning- some people realize this, and just want to live a little.
October 18, 2008
I just read in the November 2008 issue of Glamour magazine an article titled, "She Said She Had Breast Cancer--But She Lied," by Erin Zammett Ruddy, and it brought to mind this book.
For the most part, I enjoyed Kim Green's novel. Sometimes the author demanded a little more suspension of disbelief than I was comfortable with, especially in the end where everyone is shown having unconditional love for everyone in spite of their mistakes, big and small. In Ruddy's article, the "pretend" cancer patient wasn't forgiven as easily by everyone in the end. And she had a lot of explaining to do.
I thought, as a reader, that Green's glib ending oversimplified the effects of deceit, betrayal, grief, and pain that the characters experienced. Granted, this is a "light" novel, not a serious read. Even so, it didn't resonate with me.
I've struggled with the tough questions and I've come up empty handed plenty of times, but even a "light" read can have some depth to it. I don't know many people who can stop talking about their spouse's affair or gloss over it because of their affection for one another. But maybe I'm blind and everyone is more tolerant than I think.
If you are part of the "I can forgive anything" crowd, this book is for you.
For the most part, I enjoyed Kim Green's novel. Sometimes the author demanded a little more suspension of disbelief than I was comfortable with, especially in the end where everyone is shown having unconditional love for everyone in spite of their mistakes, big and small. In Ruddy's article, the "pretend" cancer patient wasn't forgiven as easily by everyone in the end. And she had a lot of explaining to do.
I thought, as a reader, that Green's glib ending oversimplified the effects of deceit, betrayal, grief, and pain that the characters experienced. Granted, this is a "light" novel, not a serious read. Even so, it didn't resonate with me.
I've struggled with the tough questions and I've come up empty handed plenty of times, but even a "light" read can have some depth to it. I don't know many people who can stop talking about their spouse's affair or gloss over it because of their affection for one another. But maybe I'm blind and everyone is more tolerant than I think.
If you are part of the "I can forgive anything" crowd, this book is for you.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 4, 2009
Don’t read this review until after you’ve read the book…I will wait. I read the reviews before I read the book and then I couldn’t decide if I liked it or not. I spent the first 5 chapters trying to decide if I liked the book and the last 26 waiting for it to end. The story or should I say the Premise sucked me in. Raquel Rose; nee Rachael Schultz is (mis)diagnosised with breast cancer. Her whole life changes and she decides she likes the new way everyone is treating her so she doesn’t tell them about her (mis)diagnosis. There is more family drama in this book then on an episode of Jerry Springer and Maury (combined). She can’t fix her life so she tries to fix everyone else’s. The funniest part happened on starting on page 333 and was over quickly! I don’t know who is dumber me for reading the book or her family for not figuring out that she was faking.
August 26, 2015
This book was a complete waste of time. While it was funny at times, it was mainly predictable and derivative. An unlikable main character, who does everything wrong (exercise and eating habits, personal relationships, life choices) but somehow manages to get every benefit she can possibly accrue? Give me a break. This book reeks of the half-thought-out doodlings a of a bored, out of shape middle age woman. Have a bit of imagination if you are going to write a book.
I really should stop expecting more from my book club's picks, but books about women don't have to be this lame.
I really should stop expecting more from my book club's picks, but books about women don't have to be this lame.
February 12, 2009
The premise was a good one. I thought the book would be a fun, enlightening, quick read. It didn't come close to delivering. I couldn't even finish the book and I really hate to leave books unfinished. I was very disappointed with the direction of the story and did not like the main character at all. I had no sympathy for her and ultimately liked her mother and her sister better (the 2 characters that the main character had the most trouble with).
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 19, 2009
A middle age woman who is diagnosed with breast cancer only to learn a month later she was misdiagnosed. What are your feelings on this? What do you do? Well, in this book she pretends she really has it and learns to live again. I thought this book was good, even though the whole story was a lie, she kept it up for a good reason. It made me want to live my life to the fullest.
February 9, 2013
See my review of Paging Aphrodite, re author Kim Green, chic-lit and just how enjoyable these novels are. Yep- I said it. I think chic-lit is derivative and overused for a female pov or protaganist. Atypical, vaguely familiar,very real characters and places - raunchy raucous, real life situations and funny over age 40 characters - this might be my favorite so far. Read them all and have fun.
November 5, 2008
Book Club Book - there were definitely some funny parts, but the main character drove me nuts. She was over-the-top cynical and it just sounded like whining after a while. The plot also felt a bit messy - there were a lot of sub-plots that didn't seem necessary.
December 13, 2008
Wow - what a horrible heroine. I loved the author - great, funny lines but I could not get behind a mother not telling her kids she wasn't dying. Two stars are just for the writing! The plot would get ZERO.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 10, 2009
Overall the book is very cute and funny. It is entertaining, and the perfect book to take on a summer vacation when you don't want to think too much or read anything depressing. If you feel like something light, this is a great book. Also, it's chick lit, not for guys.
July 11, 2013
I thought this book was hilarious. I laughed all the way through. Its a beach read. It is not going to win any literary awards, but the humor was priceless. I think it is a must read for people going through stressful times and need some comic relief. I would recommend this book.
April 23, 2014
I have tried for 5 years to read this book. I always get to the same part in the book, and can't go any further. Usually, taking a break from a book like this, will result in me finishing and enjoying it. Not so with this one. What a waste of time it has been.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 55 reviews