Jen's Review: "Sleeping with Ward Cleaver" by Jenny Gardiner

From the back cover:
WHAM, BAM, NO THANK-YOU, MA'AM
That about sums up the sex life of Claire Doolittle, not-so-happily-married to Jack--once the man of her dreams but now a modern-day version of the bossy, dull Ward Cleaver of '50s sitcom fame--Claire is at the end of her rope. Gone are the glorious days of flings in elevators and broom closets. And Jack? All he needs is a cardigan and a billowing pipe to become the domineering father figure Claire never wanted. And looking at her body in the mirror, Claire would cast herself as Lumpy. They'd once had a world of color, of wanton frivolity. Now, life's black and white: a sitcom in reruns. A not-very-funny sitcom. Cue an old boyfriend--the "one that got away"--throw in a predatory hottie who's set her sights on our leading man, and watch Claire's world spiral out of control. In the old TV show, the Beaver always got a happy ending. Stay tuned.

I'd been eyeing this book for a while. The title just caught my eye and pulled me in. So when Jenny and I started talking about her guesting on the blog she offered me the chance to review the book. I jumped at the chance... and I'm glad I did. (But totally wishing I wrote this review right after reading and not a month later.)

The book starts off a little slow, but just when you don't think Claire's life can get any more tangled... it does and the pace picks up. I'll admit in the beginning of the book I started to have doubts about where it was going. I worried when the old boyfriend entered the scene and more than once wanted to smack Claire for being a little whiny. But those feelings were shoved to the side as I laughed over Claire's antics and cried as she reminisced about the early days of her marriage and the deterioration of the relationship. I enjoyed going on the roller coaster ride of emotions and always find it a good thing that I care what happens to the characters.

Jenny Gardiner is going to be Book Talk's guest next week, December 15 to 18. She'll be stopping by to answer your questions as well as giving away a copy of the book to a random commenter. And who knows, I might give away my copy as well.