Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons

by Lorna Landvik

The title says it all, really. I picked up this book knowing full well that this was going to be full-fledged chick-lit. Hey, sometimes you just need to unwind and look at life behind a white picket fence. This was an engaging novel, I was snapped into it right at the very beginning, and I found myself absorbed into these friend's lives. At first I was a little annoyed that the narrator was going to change throughout the book- every chapter belonging to a different member of the Freesia Court Book Club. Oddly enough though, it worked really well for this book. There was still a sense of continuity that I don't normally feel when the point of view changes in a book.

This book definitely honed in on the sense of nostalgia. The ideas of an era gone by where neighborhoods still got together for picnics and children played together until dark without a care in the world. The five women we meet Faith, Slip, Audrey, Kari, and Merit all have extremely different personalities- and very different marriages. Each book the group reads together brings something else out for them to discover about themselves, and we see the journey from housewife to someone who affects change in the world around them.

This was an engaging novel, definitely recommended for the ladies- but guys, you may want to stay away from this one. My only beef with this book was with the character Grant. He added so much to the last portion of the book, I would have loved to see him introduced sooner. This was a perfect book for a coldwintry day, and I would look forward to reading more from Lorna Landvik.