Liddy James is a self-confessed workaholic but she's perfectly happy with her life. Her ex-husband and his partner Rose are excellent co-parents to her elder son, thirteen-year-old Matty, whilst supernanny Lucia takes care of her younger son, five-year-old Cal, and everything else around the home, leaving Liddy to cement her reputation as one of the best, toughest lawyers in New York. But as Matty's hormones take over and Rose discovers she's pregnant, Liddy's perfect work/life balance suddenly comes under scrutiny.
This is a highly absorbing and engaging read. It wasn't as funny or climactic as I expected but it is really well-written and addictive. I found myself flying through the pages and really enjoying it despite it being far from perfect in terms of characterisation or drama. It is just a really easy story to get lost in. (JC)
Lucy has to relocate to New York when her husband loses his job. She hopes to make friendships at the school gate but it isn't until she is waiting for an emergency flight home that she bonds with Julia, a successful screenwriter who has left her husband and kids. Christy leads a pampered lifestyle married to an older wealthy man but she feels trapped and can't keep her eye off the hunky new doorman. And Robyn is married to a writer who has never amounted to anything. Feeling like she is always left out of the circle of female friendship, she has affairs with their husbands instead.
I must admit when I read the publicist's info on this book, comparing it to Melissa Bank's The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing, I was very tentative as I don't tend to enjoy vignette-style writing. With its astute observations of life, this one does hold together more or less like a novel. The story, though, is less about the Englishwoman in New York and more about the rest of the cast. Despite the work of an obviously talented writer, the parts that did capture my attention were too few and far between.
