The Singular Exploits of WONDER MOM AND PARTY GIRL by Marc Schuster

Wonder Mom Audrey juggles two daughters, a chaotic workplace in need of a workplace mom, and an ex-husband who just might invite her to his wedding, with unending patience and skill and a desperate need to escape. Somewhere between “no one appreciates me” and “let me out of here” is the dull quiet voice of temptation. And after all, how can you really take a stand against something if you’ve never experienced it, just once, just as an experiment, just because you’re tired of being goody-goody and always saying “no”?

Wonder Mom Audrey continues to be a wonder far into her fall, while Party Girl worms her way into her psyche. Marc Schuster’s novel, Wonder Mom and Party Girl is way more fun than it has any right to be, with laugh-out-loud dialog, zany situations, wise daughter and crazy daughter watching while wise mom turns crazy, and nobody that matters seeming to guess what’s going on. Audrey’s life tumbles into chaos while she still seems completely in control. And selling a little cocaine to pay the bills is surely no big crime, not in this American suburbia of excess, excessive demands, and a scent not quite of roses. Still, the reader laughs, though guiltily, till the final blow falls. And then…?

I couldn’t imagine how the author would finish such a book. But when I finished reading I knew the ending was perfect, the pathos just right and a natural antidote to the guilt of earlier humor, the danger achingly portrayed, and the consequences of falling all too real. This book’s almost scarily true to life, witty, biting, and wonderfully balanced, with a female protagonist who every harassed mom will identify with, at least in part.

—Sheila Deeth 

Disclosure: I received a bound galley of this book from the Permanent Press in exchange for an honest review and was, as always, honestly delighted at the chance to read.

Product Details:
Trade Paperback: 279 pages
Language: English
Publisher: The Permanent Press

ISBN 13: 978-1-57962-208-4
Publication Date:  June 2011