Does it count as 'did not finish' if you read the first third then the last chapter? ( )

Just a little paperback, rummage sale, by author of First Wives Club. Interesting premise - guy is cheating on his wife with woman who looks exactly like she did 10-15 yrs earlier. Good read, but not as good as Pen Pals which is Excellent. ( )

This is "mind candy" - totally without nutritional value, but oh so delicious. A middle-aged woman vies with a "bimbo" over the husband. A fun vacation read. ( )

I don't know if it's that I've gotten older, more cynical and more discriminating or if Olivia Goldsmith's writing has fallen down a very slippery slope into the worst kind of chicklit possible. I'd like to think it's the latter as I remember liking The First Wives Club very much when it first came out, as well as Flavor of the Month. So, it was actually with anticipation that I dove into Switcheroo, a book I found collecting dust in our garage.

The plot is a simple one. Sylvie, a successful, forty-year old woman discovers her husband is having an affair with a younger woman. Upon confronting her, she discovers that the younger woman (Marla) is a dead-ringer for a younger version of her. Marla wants to be married and Sylvie wants the romance back. So off the go for a little bit of plastic surgery so they can switch places for two weeks - Marla to secure Bob as her husband, and Sylvie to get back at him.

The premise of this book is awful and ridiculous. It's poorly written. It re-treads themes from her earlier book (plastic surgery to get ahead, husbands having affairs with younger woman) but without any of the subversive aspects that made them better than simple chicklit. This book has the odious character of Sylvie's mother who tells her she'll never find someone better than Bob and not to make waves about his affair. Cheating is seen as an inevitablity in this book, as is the wife's forgiveness. The only wife that didn't forgive her husband for cheating is painted as a shrewish woman that no one could possibly love.

And surprise, surprise - all the women (except the shrew) find their happy endings though not necessarily in the expected way... oh wait, all of the ending was expected for me. I do not recommend this book. ( )

7 1/2 hours of listening. Sylvia is a 45 year old model wife with an unattentive husband. Her husband has an affair with a young woman who looks very much like "Sylvie" over 20 years earlier. The other woman wants the statis of wealth that Sylvie enjoys and the security of being married to it. Sylvia is determined to meet the "other woman" Marla. After Sylvie confronts her, Sylvie, convinces Marla to go to a make-over camp and switch places. The story is highly unlikely but if you can accept the premise of most romantic comedies, then you could enjoy this story as well. It is written well , filled with the natural feelings that a person would experience in Sylvie's position. It may be a little dated but I still enjoyed it. There is a clever use of comedy throughout. ( )