Book Review: Ladies' Night

Author: Mary Kay Andrews

Publication Date: June 4, 2013
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Take a splash of betrayal, add a few drops of outrage, give a good shake to proper behavior and take a big sip of a cocktail called…Ladies' Night!
Grace Stanton’s life as a rising media star and beloved lifestyle blogger takes a surprising turn when she catches her husband cheating and torpedoes his pricey sports car straight into the family swimming pool.  Grace suddenly finds herself locked out of her palatial home, checking account, and even the blog she has worked so hard to develop in her signature style.  Moving in with her widowed mother, who owns and lives above a rundown beach bar called The Sandbox, is less than ideal.  So is attending court-mandated weekly "divorce recovery" therapy sessions with three other women and one man for whom betrayal seems to be the only commonality.  When their “divorce coach” starts to act suspiciously, they decide to start having their own Wednesday "Ladies' Night" sessions at The Sandbox, and the unanticipated bonds that develop lead the members of the group to try and find closure in ways they never imagined.  Can Grace figure out a new way home and discover how strong she needs to be to get there?

Heartache, humor, and a little bit of mystery come together in a story about life’s unpredictable twists and turns.  Mary Kay Andrews' Ladies' Night will have you raising a glass and cheering these characters on. 

Am I really discussing paint colors with a cop? Within an hour of my life imploding?

 

This time around, she promised herself, the blog would be all hers. And for her first post, she decided to go public with what had happened in her life and to her old world.

 

She pushed the send button and, for the first time in weeks, felt like herself. The real Grace.

 

She held up her iPhone. “I’ve been doing a little dirt digging on my own.”

Mary Kay Andrews has always been a favorite author of mine and for very good reason. Her books are light and extremely fun to read. I am always invested in the lives of her characters and the even the secondary characters have wonderful stories to tell. This particular book tells the story of a group of women, focusing around Grace Stanton, who have been sentenced to divorce therapy because they have acted out as a result of their failed marriages, which really translates to: they did some really awful to their cheating, lying husbands. Grace Stanton, whom I love, just happened to find out that her husband was having an affair with her personal assistant and in return drives his shined up Audi sports car into their backyard pool. Pretty awesome, right?! Pick up a copy of this book now because believe me it only gets better!

 

I loved sitting in on Ladies’ Night! These four women, plus Wyatt, were hysterical. As you get further into the book you learn more about each of their lives and why they ended up in the divorce therapy sessions to begin with. They began extending their therapy sessions with a drink at the bar owned by Grace’s mom called Sandbox. It felt like I was reliving the Sex and the City scene all over again. I loved the chemistry of the women and Wyatt, and I loved seeing them find happiness and peace again after learning that their husbands and wife were having an affairs or affairs plural. Those were the best scenes in the entire book!

 

The story mainly focuses on Grace and her life after finding out her husband, Ben, was having an affair. Grace is such a strong character and I love how she was never really whiny or overly dramatic after finding out about her affair. Not a whole lot goes her way after finding out about Ben, but she moves in with her mom and starts working on getting herself back on her own two feet. She immediately gets a job and starts looking to improve her own life. I absolutely despised her ex-husband and his new girlfriend. They deliberately sabotage Grace and I foresee most women readers hating his guts.

 

This was a wonderful summer read and is at the top of my Summer Recommendation List for 2013!

 

***A copy of this book was provided to me by the publishers at St. Martin’s Press in exchange for my honest review***