Love, Suburban Style (Warner Forever) [Mass Market Paperback]

Wendy Markham (Author)

Book Description

Series: Warner Forever | Publication Date: July 1, 2007

Fed up with her moody teenage daughter, Meg Addams decides what they both need is a good dose of suburban wholesomeness. But when they leave Manhattan behind for Meg's humble blue-collar hometown, they find it crowded with wealthy strangers and upscale boutiques. Settling into a creaky fixer-upper, Meg finally spots a familiar face right next door--and it belongs to none other than Sam Rooney. The would-be love of Meg's high school life is now a single dad, her daughter's new soccer coach--and a neighborly ghost-buster whenever things go bump in the night. With three kids and an undeniable attraction between them, Meg and Sam are in for some heart-racing, wee-hour encounters that have nothing to do with spirits...but everything to do with hearts.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Faced with a fading Broadway career and a rebellious 15-year-old daughter, single mom Meg Addams decides to move from New York to her hometown 50 miles away. Against the advice of her gay best friend Geoffrey, she drags her protesting teenager, Cosette, to Glenhaven Park, N.Y., where shockingly high real estate prices leave her with only one option: a haunted house. Fortunately, the real estate comes with not just a ghost but also a hunky next-door neighbor from Meg's past: widower Sam Rooney, for whom she suffered an unrequited high school crush. Thrown together by their kids (he's a high school teacher as well as a soccer coach), their mutual attraction and things that go bump in the night, the pair are soon waging a futile battle against their romantic instincts. Rita Award–winning author Markham (If Only in My Dreams), a pseudonym for Wendi Corsi Staub (Don't Scream), provides a fast-moving, ultralight take on single parenthood, suburban sex and keeping up with the soccer moms that should please chick lit fans; anyone seeking depth should look elsewhere. (July)
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From Booklist

When Tony Award–winning actress Meg Addams loses another role to a younger actress and her teenage daughter is expelled from school, Meg decides to return to her childhood hometown in suburban Westchester County. But the town is no longer homey, and most of the old residents have left. The diner is now a sushi bar, and the quaint homes have been supersized, leaving very little hope of Meg affording a home until a fixer-upper thought to be haunted becomes available. A major asset is the next-door neighbor, Sam Rooney, one of the few townies left and Meg's unrequited crush from high school. The good news is that Sam is now single with two children of his own; the bad news is that he is not interested in a new relationship. A vastly entertaining romance and a real standout laced with otherworldly intervention and a dash of social suburban commentary. Engelmann, Patty

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Forever (July 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446618438
• ISBN-13: 978-0446618434
• Product Dimensions: 4.1 x 1 x 6.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,570,771 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Light-hearted romance for a good read, July 19, 2007

By 

Armchair Interviews (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Love, Suburban Style (Warner Forever) (Mass Market Paperback)

The fatal day that everything fell apart, Meg Addams decided to leave Manhattan for the wholesome suburban, small-town lifestyle of Glenhaven Park where she grew up. She assumed that moving out of the big city wasn't going to be a problem for either her or her 15-year-old daughter Cosette. Well, other that re-adjusting their lives from the rhythms of the city that never sleeps, to those of small town living. However things Meg hadn't expected were making that transition a less-than-easy experience.

Glenhaven Park had changed in Meg's absence. Many of the inhabitants were wealthier than the blue-collared inhabitants Meg grew up with, and the main street has been invaded by upscale boutiques and posh eateries. On top of everything else, Meg had not expected her house to be truly haunted (although it had that reputation when she was a kid). She also did not expect her next-door neighbor to be her high school crush. Neither did she expect the fact that he was a hunk and that she still found herself attracted to him.

What follows is a wacky story of homecoming, romance and finding ones place in new but familiar surroundings. Meg and her daughter bump into each other (teen conflict combined with the added stresses of moving), their home has un-earthly co-inhabitant, and then there's their new neighbor, Sam and his two children. While Meg and Sam try and figure out their attraction to each other, Cosette and Ben (Sam's eldest), find themselves attracted to each other and in a fledgling relationship of their own.

Wendy Markham has written a contemporary romance that will please the older chick lit fan with a quick-paced and movingly funny plot. This book has a quirky and funny look at life as a single mom, dealing with major life changes, a teenage daughter who is testing her limits, a ghostly inhabitant who may or may approve of sharing a house with Meg and Cosette, and a growing attraction to her neighbor Sam.

Armchair Interviews says: A great light-hearted romantic story for a relaxing summer's day reading.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Romantic comedy, Markham style, September 11, 2007

By 

Tracy Vest (Northern California) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Love, Suburban Style (Warner Forever) (Mass Market Paperback)

When Meg's daughter Cossette gets suspended for bringing a gun to school, which coincides with the struggling Broadway performer losing a role to another much younger actress, the Tony winner decides it might be time to return to her roots in upstate New York to provide a more wholesome upbringing for her Goth daughter. When she returns to her hometown, it's nearly unrecognizable, as the yuppies have swarmed in and brought up the property values. The only home she can afford is a haunted fixer upper next to the boyhood home of her high school crush, Sam Rooney. Unknown to her, widowed Sam lives in the home with his two children, working as a physics teacher at the local high school and coaching youth soccer. Both are immediately drawn to each other - particularly when things go bump in the night and Sam finds himself performing ghost buster duties. As a music and drama coach, she is tapped to help put on the high school production of "Sunset Boulevard," and has to deal with the fancy mom's who want their budding thespians to get the lead.

Markham is the alter ego of romantic suspense author Wendy Corsi Staub. Markham's latest romantic comedy has a little ghostly whimsy, similar in plot to her wonderful novel "Hello, It's Me." She creates realistic characters (both kids and adults), and manages to keep the momentum of the story progressing. I thought she missed the boat in keeping Cosette's absent father in the background, but I loved the characters, particularly how Meg could relate more to Meryl than her own daughter. It's a cute and quick read and one of Markham's most endearing.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars fine fun family frolic, July 7, 2007

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Love, Suburban Style (Warner Forever) (Mass Market Paperback)

Meg Adams knows that she is yesterday's news when it comes to her acting career as the former Tony Award winner Aster Hudson is considered a has been at thirty-four. However, her hopes for a major juicy Broadway role take a back seat to when her fifteen years old daughter Cosette gets kicked out of school for carrying a gun in her backpack. She decides to take her offspring to her hometown of Glenhaven Park to live.

She buys the allegedly haunted Duckworth house, which is next door to single father of two her former high school crush Sam Rooney. Soccer coach Sam is concerned with his attraction to Meg and that his daughter is very fond of her; he fears he and his daughter will be hurt once Meg leaves for the bright city lights especially with an apparent resident ghost wanting her gone from the premises.

The kids make this second chance at love into an interesting tale as their issues are realistic bringing freshness to the up and down romantic relationship of the adults. Readers will enjoy Cosette's antics on and off the soccer field and feel for the angst of Sam's children. Meg already knows you can't go home and the WC Field's adage of not co-starring with children as they make LOVE, SUBURBAN STYLE into a fine fun family frolic.

Harriet Klausner