I bought "Nanny Returns" for some light and fun holiday reading. It was definitely light, but not so much fun. The story begins 10 years after the time period of the Nanny Diaries, when our hero, Nan, has returned to New York after years of globe-trotting with her husband. The story has several parallel threads: the purchase and the subsequent foibles related to the fixer-upper house Nan and her husband purchased, the fact that Nan's husband wants to have a baby immediately, the launch of Nan's consulting business, and the return of some characters (including the "Xes") from the prior book.
The authors did a fairly good job of re-introducing old characters for those of us who didn't read or only vaguely recall the first book (I fall into the latter category). I do remember enough of it to recall that back then I thought Nan was immature and spineless, which was perhaps understandable given her age at the time. And therein lies the fundamental problem with the current book. Nan, after marrying, living all over the world, and having aged 10 years, has not changed. I found the character to be completely unsympathetic and unlikeable. This is a woman who shakes in her boots when she has to return to the building of her old nemesis, Mrs. X, but yet she opts to take employment with a private school dealing with precisely the same type of people that we thought she was "over". This is a woman who expresses her liberation from the evil "Xes" by dressing dumpily when she goes to their house. This is a woman who hangs her colleagues out to dry in order to please the very people she is "over". Has she learned nothing from her experience with the "Xes", having lived in different cultures all over the world, and having aged ten years? Apparently the answer is no. Once the table was set with that realization, it was reinforced over and over again by Nan's actions.
In addition to my obvious dislike of the main character, I found the book to be fairly dull and at the same time, over-written. While some of the subject matter in the book is incredibly current, in many cases the dialogue about these issues seemed forced. Also, since we already know how awful the parents of New York are from the first book, the "wow" factor is gone from the second.
Nonetheless, the authors again tried again to shock with the horror of NYC parents. It's a re-hash of the same old stuff. In the years since Nanny Diaries was printed, the world has changed. Shows like the "Real Housewives" franchise have made anything the authors have to add completely redundant. Is anyone surprised by this type of behavior anymore? Finally, the major plot twist is very obvious right from the get-go. The combination of all these factors means that I would not recommend this book to even my sister, who will read cereal boxes for fun.
