The Men I Didn't Marry

Crapfest.

OK, maybe that's too harsh. If this book were a real crapfest, I'd have chucked it after the second chapter.

My big problem with this book is that it felt like an Arnold Schwarzenegger comedy. Or a Disney animated feature from the last 10 years--full of funny one-liners, but no real story, no real character growth. (I feel you gotta have one or the other at the very least!)

The characters felt pretty one-dimensional. I couldn't muster up much sympathy for the main character, Hallie. So her husband drives into Manhattan after they drop off their daughter at Yale, hands her the keys, and moves in with his new girlfriend. So she ends up spending a fortune on QVC and gorging on Double-Stuffed Oreos. This was nowhere near as enjoyable as Olivia Goldsmith's First Wives' Club. I didn't find myself rooting for her in any way.

I finished the book, only because I kept hoping something good would happen. Also, the one-liners were funny enough. But after a while there were so many that you couldn't appreciate them any more.

I have nothing against writing tandems--I loved The Nanny Diaries and The Talisman, to name a few--but I'm pretty sure I'll be staying away from this particular writing pair.