I loved Ann Leary’s Book (The Good House) and reading her earlier books. Joe is a TV star and living in Manhattan and he has been nominated for a Golden Globe award. All is well with their marriage, financial, and two kids in private school. Until she listens to his voice mail one night by accident and hears some southern belle leaving some pretty up close and personal sexy messages.
Julia does not confront him in the beginning and continues to listen to his messages. She immediately starts going to a shrink, gets hair extensions, Botox, sunless tanning spray, and begins shopping to ensure she looks great for the Golden Globe awards ceremony.

She feels useless as she has given up on her writing to be a wife and mother. Julie becomes obsessed with finding out the person behind the voice. Prior to her marriage she was a wild child and has changed so much. To try and keep an affair from coming out she writes all this bogus stuff on cyberspace about Joe being gay and keeping all the other mom’s at her son’s preschool at bay.

She confronts Joe and he makes up an excuse, but is her really telling her the truth? A humorous read about marriage, family and how women sometimes get lost in their duties of being a perfect wife and mother. The audio was excellent and Cassandra Campbell did an excellent job as always of the performer – look forward to reading more from this author!
( )

Well-written but I spent too much time wondering how much it resembled her marriage. ( )

At first I thought this book was a biography, but started reading it and realized it was chick lit! An easy read on a rainy day! Suspenseful, yet predictable in a good way! ( )

Read this review and others at http://readingforsanity.blogspot.com/2009/01/outtakes-from-marriage-by-ann-leary... ( )

When Julia Ferraro, wife of the famous TV star Joe Ferraro, accidentally accesses Joe’s voicemail and hears a seductive message, she immediately assumes the worst. As Julia obsessively begins to track Joe’s whereabouts through celebrity websites and production set gossip she also reflects back on their long marriage, especially the years before Joe’s fame. As the Golden Globe ceremony nears and Julia is beginning to unravel, she’s plagued by feelings of self-doubt as she compares her forty-year-old self to the young actresses that now surround her husband. This leads to rash and humorous Botox and hair extension sessions. Outtakes From A Marriage succeeds in being both humorous and introspective at the same time, and it is an innocent way for readers to see inside a celebrity marriage. Being the wife of Denis Leary, the author certainly brings an insider’s authenticity to the story. ( )