Slightly Suburban (Red Dress Ink) [Paperback]

Wendy Markham (Author)

Book Description

Series: Red Dress Ink | Publication Date: July 1, 2008

It seemed exciting at first, but after two and a half years in New York, Tracey has to admit her life…well, sucks. Sure, she makes a decent living as a copywriter, but Blaire Barnett Advertising is a cutthroat world that basically swallows her life. If she does manage to get home before nine, she's usually greeted by husband Jack's best bud, an almost—permanent fixture in their tiny, unaffordable apartment. Add the circus freaks stomping around upstairs, and Tracey decides it's time to move.

After quitting her job, she and Jack take the plunge into the nearby suburbs of Westchester and quickly discover they're in way over their heads. Their fixer-upper is unfixable, the stay-at-home yoga moms are a bore and Tracey yearns for her old friends—she even misses work!

So which life does she really want? Other than Jack's wife, who is she? If Tracey merely has to find her own Slightly Suburban niche, it had better be just around the corner, because there're no subways here!

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Picking up where Slightly Married (2007) left off, Tracey Spadolini is now happily married to Jack Candell, but that doesn’t mean she’s completely satisfied. This time, it’s the small, cramped Manhattan apartment she shares with Jack that’s getting under her skin. Tracey decides it’s time for her and Jack to move to the suburbs. After she gets the reluctant Jack to come around, Tracey finds her dream house in Glenhaven Park, not far from where Jack’s mother and spoiled sister live. Tracey is convinced things are finally falling into place—until she loses her job. Now Tracey has no choice but to embrace suburban life, which she soon discovers isn’t all she’d hoped it would be. Snooty neighbors, high prices, and the proximity of Jack’s family leave Tracey wondering if the big move was a big mistake. Readers who have followed Tracey’s adventures to this point will find humor aplenty in her big move, and the ending of the novel promises Tracey’s next outing will be even more life changing. --Kristine Huntley

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Red Dress Ink; Original edition (July 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0373895615
• ISBN-13: 978-0373895618
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #826,701 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 5th in this series, July 23, 2008

By 

Amy Leemon (North Fond du Lac, WI) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Slightly Suburban (Red Dress Ink) (Paperback)

I started reading about Tracey when she was "Slightly Single" and have enjoyed each book. This one - not as much - I agree with the reviewer who finds Tracey annoying. And there were some parts that just didn't make sense. Such as: the couch. If they got it in, why couldn't they get it out????!!!! And since Tracy was so anxious to have a house in the 'burbs, why didn't she STAY there and enjoy it?! It seems as if she was never in it once she got there.

But I still enjoyed the book because the humor has been there from the start and that's important to me. It's a light read and that's perfect sometimes.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars More chick lit, July 6, 2008

By 

Tina "Tina" (Montreal, Quebec) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Slightly Suburban (Red Dress Ink) (Paperback)

Slightly Suburban is the latest in the series of "Slightly" books. I have been all over the place with these books - I love the way this author writes and the storyline is engaging and quite funny. But I actively DISLIKE the main character Tracy - she is bossy, annoying, demanding, whiny and immature.

Everytime I read one of the books in this series, I get this urge to smack her and tell her to smarten up - I mean really - who goes out and buys a saw so that the movers can saw the feet of the couch they need to move? In this particularly storyline, she is particularly whiny and seems to want to cry at the drop of a hat. I also always wonder why she and Jack are married? They don't seem to have one little bit of thing in common.

Having said all of this! why am I rating this book 4 stars? Because these books are compulsively readable and I enjoy every moment of reading them. As I mentioned, the author writes in a witty, charming and fun way, I like the fact that this story follows a logical and clear arc and it was quite fun to actually go through the whole house buying process with Jack and Tracy.

I read this book in two days - I just kept finding a reason to read more and more.

If only Tracy was less annoying....and I am dying to find out what happens to Kate. I was a little alarmed at the direction the author is taking with some of Tracy's friends...as if a married woman can have either her husband or her friends????

I know there is going to be another installment and I am already dying to read it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars fun "Slightly" chick lit tale, July 3, 2008

By 

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

This review is from: Slightly Suburban (Red Dress Ink) (Paperback)

No longer just SLIGHTLY MARRIED Tracey and Jack are happy together in New York City, albeit in a tiny apartment. However, Tracey feels they would have a nicer lifestyle if they left the Big Apple for a somewhat SLIGHTLY SUBURBAN locale especially since that would mean coming home to Jack and not his best buddy Mitch who seems to be more of a fixture in their lives then they are. Although Jack has doubts, he reluctantly agrees to their moving to Westchester County.

However, after mortgaging a fixer-upper, Tracey loses her copyrighting job at Blair Barnett Advertising so she stays home more. Once she begins to meet the suburban mommas, she finds herself not slightly but totally bored and wonders if she made an error as wants back to Manhattan.

Continuing her "Slightly" chick lit Tracey and Jack saga, Wendy Markham provides a refreshing tale in which grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. Tracey is at her best as she moans, groans and laments city life and then suburban life. Any moment readers will expect her to sing the theme song to Green Acres although Westchester County is a very urbanized suburb. Fans will appreciate her coping not always well with issues at work, unemployment, family, and just fitting in as Ms. Markham provides an engaging look at an urbanite struggling with adjusting to life in the burbs.

Harriet Klausner