- New Arrivals
Fiction- Historical FictionCrime & ThrillersMysteryScience-FictionFantasyPoetryRomanceChildren’s BooksYoung Adult
- Biographies & MemoirsHistoryCurrent AffairsTech & ScienceBusinessSelf-DevelopmentTravelThe ArtsFood & WineReligion & SpiritualitySportsHumor
Children’s BooksListsBlogGift CardsMy ListsGames- About & Help
- About Tertulia
- Membership & Co-Ownership
- Shipping & Delivery
- Orders & Payments
- Contact Support
- Send App Feedback
- Follow us
- Download the app
The co-op bookstore for avid readers
Better Luck Next Time
Critic Reviews
Great
Based on 4 reviews on
"Doesn't a romantic comedy set on a 1930s Nevada dude ranch teeming with about-to-be-divorced women owe a certain debt to the era's big-screen classics? Then again, it's hard to believe a cinematic version could be any more fun." -- New York Times Book Review
The dazzling second novel from the bestselling author of Be Frank with Me, a charming story of endings, new beginnings, and the complexities and complications of friendship and love, set in late 1930s Reno.
It's 1938 and women seeking a quick, no-questions split from their husbands head to the "divorce capital of the world," Reno, Nevada. There's one catch: they have to wait six-weeks to become "residents." Many of these wealthy, soon-to-be divorcees flock to the Flying Leap, a dude ranch that caters to their every need.
Twenty-four-year-old Ward spent one year at Yale before his family lost everything in the Great Depression; now he's earning an honest living as a ranch hand at the Flying Leap. Admired for his dashing good looks--"Cary Grant in cowboy boots"--Ward thinks he's got the Flying Leap's clients all figured out. But two new guests are about to upend everything he thinks he knows: Nina, a St Louis heiress and amateur pilot back for her third divorce, and Emily, whose bravest moment in life was leaving her cheating husband back in San Francisco and driving herself to Reno.
A novel about divorce, marriage, and everything that comes in between (money, class, ambition, and opportunity), Better Luck Next Time is a hilarious yet poignant examination of the ways friendship can save us, love can destroy us, and the family we create can be stronger than the family we come from.
Book Details
- Publisher: Mariner Books
- Publish Date: Jan 18th, 2022
- Pages: 304
- Language: English
- Edition: undefined - undefined
- Dimensions: 8.29in - 5.20in - 0.77in - 0.51lb
- EAN: 9780062916389
- Categories: • Humorous - General• Historical - General• Literary
About the Author
Julia Claiborne Johnson is the author of the bestselling Be Frank with Me, a finalist for the American Bookseller's Association Best Debut Novel Award. She grew up on a farm in Tennessee before moving to New York City, where she worked at Mademoiselle and Glamour magazines. She now lives in Los Angeles with her comedy-writer husband and their two children.
More books by Julia Claiborne Johnson
What people are saying
Microsoft MVP (Word) | Rotary PHF | Owner of Words into Type: Helping you put your best foot forward on paper
This week’s speaker in the Tuesday Book Review & Lecture Series at the #FairhopeLibrary (10:30 a.m.) will be another first-timer, Jo Sides. Jo, a library employee, will be reviewing “Better Luck Next Time,” by Julia Claiborne Johnson. https://t.co/GY1tUgnKx0
We are a new, little book publishing company (part of an old, huge book publishing company). Serious nonfiction, literary fiction. Happy to be here.
"A vivid picture of a hot Reno summer during which women wait to see whether their luck has run out or is just beginning." @bookpage readers picked their top books of 2021 including Better Luck Next Time by @JuliaClaiborne. 📚 https://bookpage.com/features/26352-readers-choice-your-favorite-books-2021-so-far?s=04&fbclid=IwAR3DyDPng3qVGyLQ3sRUZE9LocQSWcLkZ-cpdO_et4MVu-i4v8USZsjfdlQ#.YLd-m6hKiUn
William Morrow upholds its 80-year legacy of publishing the highest quality fiction & nonfiction books; an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
.@womansday names Sparks Like Stars by @NadiaHashimi, Better Luck Next Time by @JuliaClaiborneJ, and The Kindest Lie by @NancyJAuthor among their best books of 2021! Grab your copies today. https://www.womansday.com/life/entertainment/g34992652/best-books-2021/
Critics’ reviews
Praise for this book
"Doesn't a romantic comedy set on a 1930s Nevada dude ranch teeming with about-to-be-divorced women owe a certain debt to the era's big-screen classics? Then again, it's hard to believe a cinematic version could be any more fun." -- New York Times Book Review
"Johnson's rollicking comedy sizzles, thanks to the immensely appealing voice of its aging narrator...brims with the clever banter and farcical situations of a classic Capra film." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Do you want to read something funny? Let's say, a novel set at a divorce ranch in Reno in the 1930s? A book with memorably eccentric characters, sparkling dialogue, a satisfying plot twist, and some romance and sex? A feel-good literary comedy/western? Here it is, then, the book you've been looking for: Julia Claiborne Johnson's Better Luck Next Time." -- Julie Schumacher, author of Dear Committee Members and The Shakespeare Requirement
"Rollicking, nostalgic, wistful and wise, Better Luck Next Time is another gem from Julia Claiborne Johnson. Like a modern-day Anita Loos (but with more heart), Johnson spins an irresistible yarn that captures Depression-era disappointments, hopes, and determination, and paints a touching story of how even a life gone wrong can be a life well lived." -- Karen Dukess, author of The Last Book Party
"Hilarious and clever." -- New York Post
"Julia Claiborne Johnson's real skill is a literary sleight of hand: creating humorous characters with big hearts, then using them to deliver a story with a surprising emotional wallop. There were tears from heartbreak and joy! My face still hurts from smiling." -- Steven Rowley, author of Lily and the Octopus and The Editor
"Invites comparisons to Shakespeare's madcap comedies...Like Shakespeare with his fairies, Johnson uses her own brand of magic to bring these characters to life and to remind us that love often requires a second chance." -- Chattanooga Free Press
"Channels Frank Capra's screwball comedies...There is a delightful sense of closure in the way Johnson wraps up this shiny package, which arrives just after New Year's like a late holiday gift." -- Christian Science Monitor
"An engrossing portrait of 1930s Reno...witty and charming." -- Booklist
What people are saying
Microsoft MVP (Word) | Rotary PHF | Owner of Words into Type: Helping you put your best foot forward on paper
This week’s speaker in the Tuesday Book Review & Lecture Series at the #FairhopeLibrary (10:30 a.m.) will be another first-timer, Jo Sides. Jo, a library employee, will be reviewing “Better Luck Next Time,” by Julia Claiborne Johnson. https://t.co/GY1tUgnKx0
We are a new, little book publishing company (part of an old, huge book publishing company). Serious nonfiction, literary fiction. Happy to be here.
"A vivid picture of a hot Reno summer during which women wait to see whether their luck has run out or is just beginning." @bookpage readers picked their top books of 2021 including Better Luck Next Time by @JuliaClaiborne. 📚 https://bookpage.com/features/26352-readers-choice-your-favorite-books-2021-so-far?s=04&fbclid=IwAR3DyDPng3qVGyLQ3sRUZE9LocQSWcLkZ-cpdO_et4MVu-i4v8USZsjfdlQ#.YLd-m6hKiUn