Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Preschooled by Anna Lefler




What They Say.....Behind the toddler-proof gate of Santa Monica’s exclusive Garden of Happiness, it’s the grown-ups who are getting schooled.

When new preschool parent Justine discovers that the man who broke her heart back in grad school is a dad in her daughter’s class, she tells herself she’s immune to the superficial charms of the ex she calls “the crapwizard.” But when his presence opens a time tunnel of potent memories from her life before motherhood, she must find a way to defuse her old attraction to him before it undermines her marriage.

Then there’s Ruben, rookie stay-at-home dad and standup comic who quits his day job to pursue his TV-writing dream on his wife’s condition that he take her place among the “power mommies” on the school committees.

And ruling the sand box with an iron fist is Margaret, whose ongoing divorce from her dentist-turned-New Age-surfer husband forces her to rely on her dubious people skills in order to keep the school that has become the cornerstone of her identity.

When the new school year kicks off with a flight-risk rabbit named Ozone, a school secretary in desperate need of a social filter, and some double-barreled committee recruiting tactics, it’s not all juice and cookies for Justine, Ruben, and Margaret as they struggle to play nice.



What I Say.....This book.  Man, this book.  It was okay, but for some reason I got stuck in it and I couldn't get out.   It wasn't a bad book, but it definitely wasn't setting me on fire.  

For a book about rich parents, half of them didn't seem very rich, and the kids were just scenery in the book.  I didn't get drawn into caring about any of the parents or the kids.

The owner of the preschool, Margaret, seemed to be based on an Oliver Kitteredge type character, but not strongly enough to really seem like an "iron fist".  

The characters all seemed cardboard to me, I didn't find myself believing that they were real people with real stories that I wanted to know about.
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