Somewhat interesting, a story about long term friends and their crime ridden families as they escape the bindings of the past. While well written, the use of far too much back story ruins the pace and bogs it down to no end. Characters are reasonably unique especially Wolfstein due to her early days in the porn business. What appears as a momentum builder midway through, falls flat when three women and a teen are being chased by a mob character. It's neither mystery or drama but somewhere in between though I felt it was mediocre. ( )

A mob widow thinks she has murdered one of her husband's former associates when he hits on her and she clunks him on the head with an ashtray. In a panic, she steals his car and flees to her estranged daughter's house. When her daughter refuses to let her in, her daughter's neighbor, a former porn star, takes her in. All sorts of complications ensue, worthy of a Guy Ritchie movie - the daughter's boyfriend steals from the mob and wants to take the daughter and flee, a man who the porn star conned out of a bunch of money tracks her down and wants her to marry him... ultimately the widow, the porn star, and the widow's granddaughter end up on the run together.

It's a mob thriller, so there's a lot of violence and some of it gets pretty gory. The action scenes are well-written and easy to follow.

In principle, the idea of a mob widow and a porn star, both women in their 60s, fleeing bad guys together, sounds like a lot of fun, and it is, but it also feels like Boyle is trying a little too hard. The porn star is always full of zen-like wisdom and always has the right thing to say. The widow's teenage granddaughter is obnoxiously stupid. Boyle clearly wanted to write some bad-ass women, and that's cool, but every single woman is a bad-ass and it's just too much. My eyes just about rolled out of my head when the granddaughter was rescued by a smoking, drinking, cursing nun.

This is a decent beach read if you're looking for something mindless and fun, but don't expect much else from it. ( )

After the 5oth page, I told myself that it was perfectly fine to stop reading this book. I guess I lost interest after the characters seemed as though they were lining up for a trip to the mental health counselor. I guess I can say that I tried. We have enough perspective switching in YA works. I guess I did not appreciate it within this work because it did not truly make the narrative anymore vital.

A crime story with heart. Heart, humor and good characters. A mob grandmother, her grand-daughter, and a couple of former porn stars go on the run to avoid big trouble - trouble caused by men, who of course leave the women to clean things up. There's stolen money, hurt feelings and a psychotic killer involved. And a very good Italian dinner at the end. ( )

Inside this Soprano style, Thelma and Louise vibed book one finds a motley crew of characters. We have an elderly man who gets beaned because he tries to get a little nookie from the wrong person. A mob bosses widow, and an older woman whose past jobs included porn Queen and drifter. A teenage girl who is determined not to run off in the sunset with her mother and her boyfriend. All the elements for a tragic comedy, and at first it is humorous.

Then the bullets start flying, great sums of money are bandied about, and the car chases ensue. The past is fast, there are some gritty and violent moments, and those left standing at the end must pick up the pieces. How? With some baked ziti, sausage and peppers and some bricole of course. That works everytime.

ARC from Edelweiss. ( )