Three Books For Autumn

Reprinted from auburnpub.com:

There’s a chill in the air as autumn has arrived, it’s a good time to stay inside, cuddle under a blanket, and read a good book. This month’s Book Report has two books that are seasonal- one for fall, and one for the upcoming Christmas season.

The cover of Ellen O’Clover’s The Heartbreak Hotel has a lovely autumnal feel to it. Lou is living with her longtime boyfriend Nate, the lead singer for a popular rock band. 

While he has been off touring the world with his band, Lou has been in their beautiful rental home in the mountains of Colorado. She has been studying to get her license in counseling and life seems to be on course for her.

Until Nate is photographed with another woman and he tells her that he is love with this other woman. Lou is devastated not only for the loss of her relationship, but she loves the house they have been living in. She has made it a beautiful home.

In order to keep staying in the house, she meets with the landlord, a handsome veterinarian named Ben. She proposes to Ben that she turn the house into a bed and breakfast that she would manage in lieu of paying rent.

Lou is surprised that Ben agrees so quickly, and even more surprised when he shows up at the house to fix things that need attention. Ben in turn is surprised to learn that Lou is advertising the bed and breakfast as the Comeback Inn, a place for people who have suffered heartbreak to come and stay to get over their loss.

It’s clear that Ben has had heartbreak in his life (word of warning- it’s very sad), and that he and Lou are attracted to each other. But the course of true love does not run smooth as they each have to deal with things the other is holding back that could derail their relationship.

All of the characters in The Heartbreak Hotel are so interesting- from Lou and Ben to Lou’s best friend Mei, to Nan the widow who comes to stay at the inn and doesn’t want to leave.

Lou had a difficult upbringing. Her single mother raised her and her older sister Goldie, although it frequently fell to Goldie to raise Lou as their mother dealt with mental health challenges. 

They moved often, living with whatever boyfriend Mom was with until he tired of her. Now as an adult, it has become Lou’s responsibility to get her mother out the situations she finds herself in. I think many readers may relate to Lou, a person who cares for others before she cares for herself. 

The Heartbreak Hotel is a romance with a serious side to it. I recommend it.

Turning to the Christmas season, Matthew Norman’s new novel, Grace and Henry’s Holiday Movie Marathon also deals with heartbreak. Henry lost his young wife suddenly nearly a year ago and he is still staying with his parents. 

He can’t bring himself to move back into their apartment, still decorated for Christmas. His wife loved the holidays, and one of their favorite traditions was watching holiday movies together.

Grace lost her young husband after a battle with cancer. Her mourning is different from Henry’s as she has two young children to raise- Ian and Bella. 

Grace and Henry’s mothers decide to play matchmaker. Neither Grace nor Henry are ready for a romantic relationship yet, but to make their mothers happy, they decide to be friends. 

When Henry tells Grace about he and his wife’s holiday movie marathon tradition, Grace agrees to watch the movies with him. (Even if some of them are not her cup of tea- Die Hard is not a Christmas movie).

Each chapter is titled after a holiday movie- Home Alone, Elf, Rudolph- which I find delightful. Grace and Henry help each other through their grief and Henry grows fond of Ian and Bella.

What I like about Matthew Norman’s novels is his sense of humor he imbues in each book. Grace in particular has such witty comments, even with a storyline that is sad, the humor shines though. I loved Grace and Henry’s Holiday Movie Marathon.

Reading it put me in mind of a great scary psychological thriller that also uses movies in the chapter headings and is perfect for a Halloween read. John Searles’ Her Last Affair is set in a closed drive-in theater and uses movie quotes to open each chapter. It’s a twisty thriller that will keep you turning the pages until you finish. It’s brilliant. (My full review is here.)

The Heartbreak Hotel by Ellen O'Clover- A

Published by Berkley

Trade paperback, 352 pages, $17.99

 

Grace and Henry's Holiday Movie Marathon by Matthew Norman- A+

Published by Dell

Trade paperback, 336 pages, $18

Her Last Affair by John Searles- A+

Published by Mariner

Trade paperback, 336 pages, $18.99

Two fantastic suspense novels

Reprinted from the Citizen:

What makes a good suspense novel? First you need well-drawn characters that the reader cares about. Put those characters in a situation that has a sense of foreboding and danger, and the reader will be drawn into the story. Two recent novels that fit that bill are the subject of this month’s Book Report.

The setting for John Searles’ novel, Her Last Affair is one that will feel familiar to many people in the Auburn area. The story takes place at a drive-in theater (the Finger Lakes Drive-In is one of the few remaining drive-ins left in New York). 

Skyla is a widow who lost her sight shortly after she lost her husband of nearly fifty years in a freak accident. She is looking for a tenant to rent the cottage on her property, right next her own identical cottage on the grounds of the abandoned drive-in theater her husband’s family ran for years.

Brit Teddy Cornwell shows up to rent the cottage, and he and Skyla hit it off immediately. Teddy loves this “brilliant stitch of Americana” and laughs at the only question Skyla asks him - “Have you ever been in love?” She asks nothing about his references or financial situation, just a question about love.

Teddy shares the story of his first love, Linelle, how he loved her more than anyone in his life, even more than his ex-wife. Skyla encourages Teddy to look her up, which he does, tracking Linelle down on Facebook. Linelle is receptive to meeting up with Teddy after all these years since her marriage is unhappy and her life seems to be falling apart.

Jeremy is an unsuccessful writer in New York City, about to be evicted from his apartment when he gets an assignment to write a restaurant review in his hometown of Providence. He returns home and recalls the woman he fell in love with year ago, the woman who broke his heart. Maybe he should look her up.

No one in Her Last Affair is exactly who they seem. Why did Skyla lose her job as a nurse years ago? Why is Teddy hiding out in a cottage on an abandoned drive-in? How Searles weaves the stories of these fascinating, lovelorn characters together is nothing short of brilliant, and I loved his use of movie quotes to open each chapter with insight into what is coming next.

Her Last Affair is a book that builds the suspense with each turn of the page. The twist that Searles throws in will have you gasping as I did. The drive-in setting is perfect, as this is a book that screams to be turned into a movie.

Lisa Lutz’s The Accomplice also has characters you find fascinating within a suspense story that draws the reader in. Owen is a student from a wealthy family when he meets Luna at college. Luna is quiet, keeps mostly to herself, and has a secret in her past that she desperately wants to keep hidden. 

Owen and Luna become best friends, practically inseparable. When Owen dates a woman from  college and breaks up with her, she ends up dead and suspicion falls on Owen. Luna’s past comes into focus as well when the young woman is found dead. They both become outcasts on campus.

Years later, Owen is married to someone else, as is Luna. They live in the same town and are still best friends. When Owen’s wife is found dead, Luna is the one who finds her dead body as she was supposed to go running with her.

The police discover that Owen was having an affair with one of his students, and suspicion once again falls on Owen. Luna’s past also rears its head as well. Did either or both have anything to do with the women’s deaths or is it just a bad coincidence?

Owen and Luna’s relationship is a unique one. They know each other better than they know anyone else- or do they? Are either one of them capable of murder?

Her Last Affair and The Accomplice are both terrific suspense novels that make the reader think. Although these books are both fiction, I think fans of true crime podcasts and television shows like “Dateline” would find these interesting. I highly recommend them both, John Searles and Lisa Lutz are at the top of their game here.

Her Last Affair by John Searles- A

Published by Mariner Books

Hardcover, $27.99, 336 pages

The Accomplice by Lisa Lutz- A

Published by Ballantine Books

Hardcover, $28, 368 pages

Fall Into Some Great Reads

Reprinted from auburnpub.com

If summer is traditionally a time for lighter “beach reads”, fall is a time for more “serious” books. This year, there are a plethora of books that will satisfy our literary desires.

Jess Walter’s 2012 novel, Beautiful Ruins took the world by storm, ending up on many Best of the Year and Best of the Decade books. This year he returns with another stellar novel, The Cold Millions. 

Set in 1909 Spokane, Washington, it tells the story of Irish immigrant brothers, Gig and Rye. They spend most of their time looking for day jobs, and trying to scrape enough money together to rent a cold porch in a woman’s home. 

Tired of living hand-to-mouth, Gig becomes involved with a local workers’ union, and during a workers’ protest, he and Rye are arrested and thrown in jail with hundreds of other men. Sixteen year-old Rye is released and catches the eye of Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, a union organizer who travels from city to city giving speeches and raising money to bring attention to the cause of workers’ rights.

Flynn, who is an actual historical figure, is despised not only for what she says, but also because as a woman she dares to speak out at all. This makes her a target for many, but especially for the obscenely wealthy business owners who do not want their workers to organize. 

The Cold Millions takes historical events and people and mixes them with fictional characters to create a fascinating story that resonates with things that are occurring in society today. The brilliant writing pulls you in, and the characters live on long in your mind long after you finish this though-provoking book. I give it my highest recommendation.

V.E. Schwab is best known for her young adult fantasy novels, but her newest novel, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is geared towards adults. Addie LaRue is a young woman who, in 1714 France, runs away from an arranged marriage to a widower. 

In the woods, she meets the form of a man who promises her the life she wants- freedom to choose how to live, whom to love, what to be. The only catch is that in exchange for this life, she must give her soul over to him. Addie agrees, but only if she can give up her soul when she is done living her life.

This Faustian bargain allows Addie to make her own life choices with one caveat- no one will remember her. Once she is out of their sight, it is as if they never saw her before. This makes for a very lonely life for Addie. She can’t hold a job, or have a relationship; she is forever a stranger. 

The only one who knows her is the fallen god who gave her this life. He shows up from time to time, and Addie’s exchanges with him are intriguing and tension-filled. He seems particularly drawn to Addie. 

Three hundred years later, in 2014 New York City, Addie meets Henry in a used bookstore and he remembers her name. How is this possible? Henry and Addie begin to spend time together, and everything changes for Addie. Could this be the life she has always wanted?

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue reminded me of one of my favorite books from the past few years- Lisa Grunwald’s Time After Time. Both books ask the question “What would you give up for the love of your life?” 

I loved The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. It reminds us to be careful of what we wish for, it may not be what you wanted. A tantalizing adult fairy tale, I give it my highest recommendation. 

Cassidy Lucas’ mystery Santa Monica begins with handsome, hot trainer Zack being discovered dead in his gym by his secret half-sister Leticia. She is an undocumented worker from Mexico, living here with her young disabled son.

Leticia works many jobs, cleaning the homes of the wealthy women of Santa Monica, including Brooklyn transplant Mel, who moved when her husband’s movie script became a success. Zack is drawn to Mel, which angers Regina, who is running a financial scheme with him.

This terrific mystery is elevated by the writing, characters, and the tackling of the difficult life of an undocumented worker. It has explicit sex, and if you liked Liane Moriarty’s Big Little Lies, pick up Santa Monica. I couldn’t put it down. 

The Cold Millions by Jess Walter- A+

Published by Harper 

Hardcover, $28.99, 352 pages

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab- A+

Published by TOR

Hardcover, $26.99, 444 pages

Santa Monica by Cassidy Lucas- A

Published by Harper Perennial

Trade paperback, $16.99, 348 pages

Two Novels by Wonderful Writers

Reprinted from the Citizen:

March is set aside to celebrate Women’s History Month, and in that spirit, this month’s Book Report will feature novels written by women and set in different time periods.

Elizabeth McCracken’s “Bowlaway” begins at the turn of the 20th century in small New England town of Salford, Massachusetts. A woman named Bertha Truitt is found unconscious in the town cemetery with a bowling ball, a candlepin and some gold bars on her person. 

The entire town is curious as to where Bertha came from, but she either doesn’t know or won’t tell. She marries an African-American doctor, Leviticus Sprague, and opens a candlepin bowling alley in the town. (Apparently, this was a very New England activity.)

She hires two men, Joe and Jeptha, who are considered outcasts in the town. They are fiercely loyal to Bertha, and even when Bertha encourages the town’s women to bowl at the alley, people come to accept this unusual woman and her ways.

Bertha and Leviticus have a baby girl whom they dote on. When Bertha dies in a bizarre accident, Leviticus falls apart and sends the young child away to live with his family. Soon, a man named Nahum shows up claiming to be Bertha’s son from a previous marriage and wants to claim the bowling alley as his inheritance.

This intense story weaves its way through the years. We follow the large cast of characters throughout their lives, all revolving around the bowling alley. McCracken writes the novel with some magical elements within it, and it is a unique story, but she is such an amazing storyteller the reader becomes captivated by it.

Her characters and their journeys are fascinating and heartbreaking. We see how the past influences the present, and how secrets and choices can have such lasting consequences. McCracken’s writing is just stunning and lovely, and this book has received much critical praise.

“Bowlaway” is not for everyone, but if you are looking for a big, sprawling story set in a small bowling alley with characters who are unforgettable, definitely give it a try. McCracken’s previous book, “The Giant’s House,” also featured characters that are outside the societal norms, and is just as wonderful.

Taylor Jenkins Reid’s last book, “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo,”  (my review here) featured an Elizabeth Taylor-like movie star, and her story as told by a young journalist who has been chosen by Hugo to write her biography. It was fabulous and garnered much critical praise. 

Her latest novel, “Daisy Jones & the Six,” is about a 1970s rock band, similar to Fleetwood Mac, who have a meteoric rise and fall after releasing a monster-sized hit album. This story also involves a journalist who writes this book as a series of interviews with members of the band, their producers, friends and others.

Billy Dunne begins a rock band with his brother Graham in their hometown of Pittsburgh. They eventually end up in Los Angeles, where they begin to have some success. Billy writes most of the songs and wants to be the one with final say on everything, something that rankles others in the band (now called The Six), including Graham.

Daisy Jones is gorgeous and a terrific singer. She signs with The Six’s record company and struggles with the fact that she wants to record the songs she has written, but the record producers want her to sing something else. Daisy also drinks too much and ingests too many drugs, and she has no one looking out for her, save her friend Simone (a Donna Summer-like singer).

The record company has Daisy sing a duet with Billy, and the song becomes a huge hit. Soon, Daisy joins the band and they become known as Daisy Jones & the Six, which angers Billy. The band tours arenas throughout the U.S. and Europe, and we see their love affairs, shifting alliances and fights as they become one of the biggest bands in the world.

Through the interviews we see how everyone feels throughout this, including Billy’s alcoholism and struggle to stay sober and faithful to his wife, Daisy’s drug use and many men, and the other band members' frustration at being left out of the creative process. It’s interesting to see everyone’s perspective on events, such as their first big album cover photo shoot.

If you have a worn-out copy of Fleetwood Mac’s famous album “Rumours” in a closet at home, “Daisy Jones & the Six” is for you.

If you read

BOOK: “Bowlaway” by Elizabeth McCracken

GRADE: A

PUBLISHER: Ecco

COST: Hardcover, $27.99

LENGTH: 384 pages

---

BOOK: “Daisy Jones & the Six”

GRADE: A-

PUBLISHER: Random House

COST: Hardcover, $27

LENGTH: 368 pages

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Diane La Rue is a member of the National Book Critics Circle and blogs about books at http://bookchickdi.blogspot.com. You can follow her on Twitter @bookchickdi, and she can be emailed at laruediane2000@yahoo.com.

Winter Thrillers

Reprinted from the Citizen:

Now that winter has finally shown itself, it’s a great time to hunker down and read a good book. Here are three mystery/thrillers that will have your heart pounding, your pulse racing and your mind working overtime to figure out what happened.

A.J. Finn’s debut novel, “The Woman in the Window” hit the bestseller list on the first week, which is quite an accomplishment. This book has had a lot of buzz since last spring, and it lives up to the hype.

The Woman in the Window

Anna Fox sits in the window of her Harlem brownstone, watching the neighbors go about their daily business. She hasn’t left her apartment in ten months, and her husband and eight-year-old daughter no longer live with her.

She spends her days playing online chess, dispensing advice on agoraphobia message boards and watching old black and white movies, like Alfred Hitchcock’s classics. Anna is also drunk most of the day and night, and takes numerous prescription pills.

We slowly get that something traumatic happened to Anna ten months ago, but exactly what is unknown to the reader. She is quite frankly a mess.

One day Anna sees new neighbors moving in- a mom, dad and teenage boy. The son comes to visit, and then later his mom stops by and she and Anna spend an enjoyable, drunken afternoon together.

Then Anna sees something disturbing happen at the new neighbors. She reports this to the police, but no evidence is found and Anna is not believed because she is such a mess. Anna is not even quite sure if she saw what she believes she saw.

Slowly, Finn reveals to the reader what happened ten months ago to Anna, and what happened to the neighbors. The last third of this crackerjack of a book will keep you up at night to finish. You will gasp in astonishment as events unfold. This book will be a blockbuster in 2018.

Lisa Scottoline’s thriller “One Perfect Lie” begins with Chris Brennan applying for a job as a high school teacher and assistant baseball coach in a small Pennsylvania town. But Brennan is also up to something more nefarious. 

One Perfect Lie

He needs to recruit a young male student for something bad, something that will happen on the anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing. He insinuates himself in the lives of three of his students- one a boy whose father died last year, one who never knew his father, and one a rich, spoiled young man.

Everyone loves Coach Brennan, and he works hard to quickly gain the trust of the people in this small community. 

Just when you think you know where this story is going, Scottoline turns everything upside down halfway through the story. It is a brilliant turn of events, and one I did not see coming. It turned what was a pretty good story into a crazy great story.

Other than a scene at the end of the book that was really over-the-top, “One Perfect Lie” is a fantastic ride of a book, and I tip my hat to the author, she really fooled me.

If you like your mysteries set in days of yore, Lauren Willig’s “The English Wife” is set in Cold Springs, NY in 1899. Bay Van Duyvil, a wealthy American heir, had a replica built of his English wife Annabelle’s family home on the banks of the Hudson River. 

The English Wife

On the day of their big Twelfth Night Ball to show their new home to the elite, Bay is stabbed and Annabelle is missing. Did she run away with the architect of the house, with whom she was rumored to be having an affair? And how to explain that Bay’s sister Janie saw Annabelle’s body floating in the Hudson?

Janie teams up with a newspaper reporter to find out what happened to Bay and Annabelle. The story shifts back and forth in time, from 1895 London where Bay and Annabelle met to 1899 Cold Springs. 

There are so many great characters here-  Janie, London dance hall performer Georgie, Bay’s nasty mother Alva, and Bay and Janie’s cousin Anne who stole Janie’s fiancee and was a bit too close to Bay.

There are also lots of secrets and secret alliances in “The English Wife” that keep the reader on her toes. The attention to period detail is also so well done here, you’ll feel like you are in 1899 as your read this terrific novel. 

Three Books About Siblings

Reprinted from the Citizen:

While summer is often time to read a light summer romance, this season seems to be a time for books about siblings. For those of us lucky enough to have siblings, we will be able to relate to the complicated, caring relationships the siblings in the following three books.

Curtis Sittenfeld’s “Eligible” is a modern retelling of Jane Austen’s “Pride & Prejudice”. The names are the same, but the setting is different; this Bennet family- mother, father and five sisters- resides in Cincinnati, Ohio. 

After Mr. Bennet has a heart attack, oldest sisters Jane (a yoga instructor) and Liz (who writes for a fashion lifestyle magazine) leave New York City to help out at home. Mrs. Bennet is chairing a very important fundraiser and can’t care for her husband on her own.

Apparently neither can the three adult sisters who still live at home: Mary, who is working on her third online post-graduate degree, and Lydia and Kitty, who spend all their time at the Cross Fit studio. Liz comes home to find that the house is in disrepair and since her parents don’t have health insurance, Mr. Bennet’s medical bills necessitate the sale of the family home.

Liz is the one who has to figure all of this out, and things get complicated when she meets Dr. Fitzwilliam Darcy, a newly ensconced surgeon at the local hospital. He is openly hostile to Liz, but as we all know, that means he has feelings for her.

“Eligible” is a love story, but for me, the family relationships, especially the sibling relationships, are the more interesting elements of the story. Mr. Bennet, whose dry wit made me laugh out loud, and Mrs. Bennet, who exasperates over her daughters’ lack of suitable suitors, seem to be waiting for Liz to take care of everything, even while resenting her efforts. And Liz has to kick a little sibling behind to get the Bennets’ house in order.

It is funny, charming and sweet, and if you like the TV show “The Bachelor” you will enjoy how that show plays into this modern storyline. 

Emily Giffin is known for her women’s fiction, but her latest novel, “First Comes Love” is about a sibling relationship. Adult sisters Josie, a single preschool teacher, and Meredith, a married corporate lawyer with a young daughter, have a close, but at times strained, relationship. 

When they were in college, their beloved brother Daniel was killed in a tragic car accident and it devastated the family. Their father had a drinking problem and their parents divorced. His death affects them all still to this day.

Josie envies her sister’s happy marriage to Daniel’s best friend Nolan, and their beautiful little girl. When Josie’s former boyfriend’s young daughter ends up as a student in her first grade class, Josie begins to question whether she will ever have a happy marriage and children like Meredith.

Since a husband isn’t on the horizon but her 40th birthday is, Josie decides to have a baby on her own. Meredith thinks this is a selfish decision, and she begins to question her own choices, especially quitting acting to become a lawyer and marrying Nolan.

“First Comes Love” deals with some serious issues- giving up a lifelong dream, how loss affects people in different ways, how secrets can destroy a relationship- through the prism of the sibling relationship between Josie and Meredith. Giffin does a wonderful job with a more serious subject matter and her fans will be pleased with this effort.

Ann Leary’s “The Children” is set in Connecticut. When Whit Whitman dies, he leaves behind his second wife Joan, her two adult daughters Sally and Charlotte, and two adult sons from his first marriage, Spin and Perry. 

He leaves his family’s long-held estate to his sons, with the provision that Joan be allowed to live there until her death. Charlotte is reclusive, rarely leaving the home. She is also a famous “Mommy Blogger”, which is odd because she has no children.

Her blog makes very good money, and no one has yet figured out that her husband and children are figments of her imagination, and she feels she isn’t hurting anyone. She believes she provides entertainment for mothers who read her blog.

When Spin brings his new fiancee Lauren home, something about her makes Charlotte and Sally suspicious of her motives. Again, the relationships among the siblings are the strongest parts in this terrific novel that draws us into the world of the Whitmans.

“Eligible” by Curtis Sittenfeld- A

Published by Random House

Hardcover, $28, 500 pages

“First Comes Love” by Emily Giffin- B+

Published by Penguin Random House

Hardcover, $28, 400 pages

“The Children” by Ann Leary- A-

Published by St. Martin’s Press

Hardcover, $26.99, 246 pages

Three Books By Funny People

I recently read three books by funny people: Comedian and actor Brad Garrett's (Robert from TV's Everybody Loves Raymond) When The Balls Drop, Adam Resnick's (a former writer for David Letterman's The Late Show) Will Not Attend, and comedienne and actress Ali Wentworth's Happily Ali After.

When the Balls Drop by Brad Garrett
Published by Gallery Books ISBN 9781476772905
Hardcover, $25, 288 pages

Brad Garrett's When The Balls Drop is a comic treatise on what it's like to be a 50-year-old man whose body is falling apart. It is clearly geared towards men of that age, and as a woman of that age, I am not the target audience. Garrett spends too much time complaining about his ex-wives and how much money he had to give them. For my taste, it was a little off-putting.

I most enjoyed his stories about growing up with funny with his interesting family, and opening up for Frank Sinatra in Las Vegas. Garrett has had a long stand-up comedy career, and those chapters were fascinating to me. I think he has a whole other book about this area of his life.

He spent nine seasons as Robert, the much put-upon older brother in Everybody Loves Raymond, but he doesn't share many stories from those days, other than Marie Roberts, who played his mother, could drink everyone under the table, and Peter Boyle, who played his father, had a gas problem. Again, I would have liked more of this. The book has many bursts of just laugh-out-loud stuff, just like his I can't-believe-he-really-said-that stand-up act.

Will Not Attend by Adam Resnick
Published by Blue Rider Press ISBN 9780147516213
Trade paperback, $16, 272 pages

The premise of Adam Resnick's Will Not Attend is that he is very anti-social and would much rather stay home than participate in any family dinner, much less go to Disney World with his nemesis, his wife's sister Diane, and her family.

Resnick's sister-in-law is one of those people who like to control everything, and Adam does not like to be told what to do and when to do it. Their epic blow-up in the middle of a Disney vacation where every slight was brought up was uncomfortable (though, I admit, kind of funny to see someone put in her place) to read, I can't imagine seeing it in person. After reading this, I was hoping that Diane was a purely made-up character because how he could have any relationship with her after this is unfathomable.

The language in the book is pretty rough at times, there is a lot of swearing here, so if you don't mind that, you may enjoy it. Again, I don't think I am the target audience for this book.


Happily Ali After by Ali Wentworth
Published by HarperCollins ISBN 9780062238498
Hardcover, $25.99, 240 pages

I read Ali Wentworth's first memoir Ali in Wonderland that hilariously dealt with her years trying to make it as an actress in Hollywood. Her very funny voice shone through each page. In her new book, Happily Ali After, Wentworth shares her adventures as a wife (to ABC newsman George Stephanopoulis) and mom to two young daughters.

I loved this Happily Ever After even more than Ali in Wonderland, probably because I can relate more to Ali the wife and mom than Ali the struggling actress. She tells great stories about trying to stay young-looking, her husband's poor driving, and her daughter's sex-education questions.

One of the stories that I most loved involved a trip the family had planned to Spain. Ali was in charge of making all the preparations, and when they got to the airport to take a late-night flight, they were told that the girls' passports had expired and they were going nowhere that night.

George was furious at Ali, and the girls went back and forth from one parent to the other asking if they were going to get a divorce. The car ride home was uncomfortable, and when they got home, Ali told George how so very sorry she was. As they lay in bed, he kissed her and told her he knew she she was sorry and that it was OK. Every couple has had that potentially huge fight, and could relate to this big oopsy that Ali committed.

Ali's story of a girl's weekend at a friend's California home with a psychic as entertainment was hilarious too. We all have our girlfriends, and her description of that party had me guffawing.

Reading Happily Ali After is like sitting in your funniest girlfriend's kitchen and listening to her crazy stories about her husband, her family, her job, her life. If I ever see her on the streets of NYC,  I will invite her over for a glass of wine just to hear her stories.