Rating: 3 stars
Holly Talbott is a 34-year-old mother of one. During her single life, Holly wrote feature articles on rock bands and musicians, but after meeting and marrying Tim who would eventually run a hedge fund, Holly abandoned her exciting career to be full time mother and hedge-fund wife.
Despite not wanting for anything, Holly must endure never-ending lunches with the other stuffy hedgie wives, attend boring hedgie dinners and just overall maintain her social standing and status among her peers.
One of the bright spots in Holly’s world is her best-friend and sister-in-law Kiki, who is married to her husband’s brother, Hal. Wild and vivacious Kiki’s fire is in danger of being snuffed out after years of marriage to frigid Hal and they eventually divorce. Now Tim and his mother, the ϋber snob, Sherry Von vehemently demand that Kiki be cut from their lives and Holly is forbidden to ever speak to her again—an order that she fervently ignores.
Newly divorced and on the prowl, Kiki and Holly spend a lot of time together; but on one fateful trip to Williamsburg, both women are shocked when they see Tim messing around with a much younger woman. Now Holly will join Kiki in divorce exile, as she learns to navigate the dating world and begin a new career.
Although there isn’t really anything new here: rich husband, lavish lifestyle, snobby ladies who lunch and all the shallowness that comes with it; until divorce strikes and with it, the inevitable fall from grace, rendering the divorcee a social outcast who is forced to reinvent herself…
However, Kargman’s light and humorous voice, paired with the yin and yang vibe of Holly and Kiki make the story much more interesting. Kiki’s wild-child attitude, balanced by Holly’s fun, yet reserved demeanor has something for everybody. The reader will follow Holly as she learns to accept her new life, getting a fly-on-the-wall perspective of all the post-divorce ups and downs, as well as the dating disasters; which will elicit empathic commiseration from her dating cohorts and an audible, collective sigh of relief from her legally-obligated peers.
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Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Plume (April 27, 2010)
ISBN-13: 978-0452295940