Some people love this book. I expect they are enjoying the side of it that's "average but plucky wife and mother saves all!"- and that's one valid way to read it.

Unfortunately, Amy Maxwell met many of the qualities for which I dislike much "chick lit": she is a total doormat. Everyone treats her badly- husband, sister, kids- and she sucks it up and tries ever-harder to meet their ridiculous standards, when there isn't a chance; if she came close, they'd move the goalposts. And does she ever, EVER stand up for herself? Of course not. She accepts that everything her sister says to her will include an insult; she accepts that her husband is too lazy to even find his own pants, let alone parent their FOUR kids, AND is only affectionate at all to her when he wants sex. The kids are awful, but mostly in age-appropriate ways rather than out of nastiness.

With all this, Amy has no life of her own. And when she tries to return to college, everyone doubles up on her.

I just could not find this funny. It's too sad.

The mystery was eventful but contrived. The end result, after she more or less saves the day, mostly by accident- means that her husband treated her decently for a bit less than a week, and her sister showered her with gifts but kept up the negging. Again, sad.

Also- whether it's Balog or her editors- the writing regularly used the wrong words. Interest was "peaked" not "piqued"; breath was regularly "baited" not "bated", etc. Common enough online, but not exactly professional in an actual published book, in my opinion.

If you like this sort of thing, it's fine if you do not read deeper than the surface. ( )