The Sweet Spot was too saccharine for me. I didn't get past 2 hours of listening. ( )

A sweet and funny story. Basically it is about a woman who?s husband divorces her for a much younger, attractive and successful woman. Melinda is very bitter about the break up and is out for revenge. Her revenge ends up getting one person fired from her job, making the life of another very difficult and causing her ex to become distraught over his new love. Kirkus: The lives of a disparate group of people in Manhattan?s Greenwich Village unexpectedly become intertwined.A brownstone, a bar, and a baby�these create the sweet spot where the lives of a group of people intersect. In the brownstone are Lauren Shaw, a potter; her husband, Leo Aston, a professor; their three children, Charles, Harrell, and Waverly; Lauren's mother, Evelyn; and Philip, an antiques expert and Leo's gay biological father. Then there's Olivia, the children's nanny; Todd, a freelance sound engineer and Olivia?s former boyfriend; Melinda, a receptionist at the children?s school; Russell, Melinda's ex-husband, philanderer, real estate lawyer, and father to the aforementioned baby; Felicity, a TV home-makeover expert and mother to said baby; and Dan, Olivia's father and owner of the Sweet Spot¥the bar below the brownstone. And, of course there's the baby: formally Horatio, informally Hank. Melinda, enraged by how her husband of nearly 30 years has destroyed her life by having an affair and leaving her¥although the resulting destruction of her career and possessions was all her own doing¥is hellbent on revenge against Russell, Felicity, and Lauren (who she has been told convinced Russell to leave her). As Melinda wreaks havoc, she causes Olivia to be fired. The story follows Melinda?s efforts to destroy, her realization that revenge is not as satisfying as she?d hoped, and the way most of the group comes together to take care of the innocent caught at the center of it all¥Hank. There is an engaging whirlwind of characters, an exploration of unruly and conflicting emotions, and an investigation of whether a lifelong monogamous marriage or a heteronormative family unit are the only places familial happiness lies.Staged much like a play or TV show, this is another enjoyable exploration of the messiness of life from Poeppel.

Lovely fun book. Family look after a baby. 3 women working together ( )

This again was a great read with fresh characters and new bouncy storylines! The fourth book I've read by this author and she will continue to be one I wait for new books to come soon. Every book has a different plot and makes for a very fast read. ( )

3 women enter into an unlikely friendship to care for a baby that isn't theirs. Lauren and Leo live in a beautiful, but outdated, brownstone in Greenwich Village. Their life is in constant chaos. They have 2 children, and when Lauren is given a lucrative contract by celebrity entrepreneur Felicity to create unique ceramic pieces, her mother comes to live with them.
Unbeknownst to her, Lauren has encouraged Felicity in her affair to a married man, advising her to go for it. This causes her to become an enemy of Melinda, who becomes the ex-wife. Melinda is bitter over the divorce and seeks revenge. She not only goes after Lauren, but also gets young Olivia fired from her job at Felicity.
After Melinda's ex leaves his newborn with her and travels to find his love, all 3 women unite to care for the child. It is a mix of love and revenge, finding yourself, starting over, and letting go. ( )