Fiction Friday: Beth Harbison's Hope in a Jar Fun, Nostalgic Read

Harbison's Hope in a Jar is a fun, easy read that takes a few classic plot elements (class reunion, opposite sex friends falling in love, ugly ducking blossoming into successful, beautiful woman) and briefly ties in taboo topics to give this otherwise chick-lit novel some edge.
I am a sucker for reflective novels that force you to take personal inventory about where your life is headed and what you want for your future. Both of the main characters are approaching their twenty year high school reunion filled with regret and a shrinking supply of time and eggs.
The perpetual sidekick becomes the highly successful beauty editor of a high-profile magazine, while the formerly prettier and more dominant former best friend's personality has shrunk while her waistline has expanded. After losing touch at the end of high school, the girls' are reunited, and Harbison shows how some people are just meant to be in each others' lives.
These two characters fit together and both make each other better people that want more out of life--after all, shouldn't good friends, just like good spouses and family members, make you want to be a better person?
My complaint was that I felt perhaps these women should have been approaching their tenth reunion or even fifteenth because I wish they had rediscovered each other sooner and started living the lives they wanted to live sooner too. Better late than never I guess, which is another theme in Harbison's fun novel with heart.