Published by St. Martin's Publishing Group on February 11, 2020
Genres: Fiction, Women, Family Life, Marriage & Divorce, Friendship, Humorous
Pages: 336
Format: eBook
Source: ARC
In a world where therapists look like the Real Housewives of Equinox, where friends dispense Xanax like Pez, and where a woman’s status is directly linked to the how few carbs she eats...can one Hollywood wife take back her life?
Agnes Murphy Nash is in big trouble. When she returns home one evening only to find the locks changed on the gates of their mansion, the security guard breaks the news: her famous producer husband has filed for divorce. And he’s not going to play fair. Trevor Nash wants custody of their tween daughter, Pep, but only for the sake of appearances. And Agnes can’t let him win.
With the help of her ex-con sister, a Hollywood psychic, a ballsy female lawyer, and a host of friends and “frenemies,” Agnes realizes that when he changes the locks, she needs to change the rules. But a crisis can lead to opportunity, and for Agnes, this gigantic betrayal brings her to a crossroads that will have her asking herself what she really wants out of life, who she really wants to be, and which man she really loves.
Told with Gigi Levangie’s sparkling dialogue and wit, Been There, Married That is a drop-dead hilarious battle of wills that will make you laugh out loud, cringe, and keep turning the pages to see what crazy disaster will happen to Agnes next...and how she’ll rise from the ashes.
This is my first book from Gigi Levangie and for some reason I thought it was her debut. It isn’t but she is certainly a new author to me.
Been There, Married That is a hilarious and incredibly messy book. Every time I sat down to read it, I was taken back to days when I would drink wine and eat delicious food with my friends while watching Real Housewives. Agnes and the other characters are vapid and unlikeable. Think Schitt’s Creek’s Rose family with zero redeeming qualities and no character growth.
This unrepentant horrible state of the characters often made me laugh out loud. I’ve always been a fan of biting, sarcastic humor and Levangie definitely delivers. I think many of us enjoy poking fun at the glitz and glamour of Hollywood. So I laughed and experienced schadenfreude so why only 2.5 stars?
The manuscript needs a heavy editing session and restructuring. Flow is not a word I would associate with this read. Readers are thrust into scenes and jerked away before we are able to settle and absorb any of the critiques that could have made this an exceptional read. The stream of consciousness style filled with one-liners is exceedingly difficult to follow.
Overall, I was disappointed that Agnes’s story fell below the mark. After closing the book I was irritated that readers didn’t end up with a substantial critique, lesson, or perspective to take away from 336 pages. I enjoyed it enough to keep picking it up and laughing, but structurally it was a mess of short stories loosely linked. I’ll try Levangie’s work again in the future to see if this was an aberration but I won’t be rushing to pick anything up ahead of my TBR.
**I voluntarily read and reviewed a review copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
