Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - Back in the Burbs

Mallory Martin Bach, soon to be just Martin again, is jobless, nearly broke, and living in her childhood bedroom again after leaving her cheating and emotionally abusive soon-to-be ex-husband. Her favorite relative, Great Aunt Maggie, has recently passed away, leaving her New Jersey suburban house to Mallory…along with all of its baggage. The house is falling apart and has so many third warnings from the HOA that Mallory’s parents suggest she sell it. But Mallory is trying to prove herself and create a new life after leaving her ex, and she is determined to make this house her own. It doesn’t hurt that she lives across the street from a ridiculously handsome neighbor, even if he is on the HOA board and they are at each other’s throats from the get-go.

What a fun read this one was! However, if emotional abuse triggers you, *do not* read this one. The ex-husband is manipulative slime and Mallory’s parents keep trying to convince her to make the marriage work. Mallory is a very smart woman, but she needs distance from her ex and her family to recognize that she’s been used as a doormat for much of her life leading to unhappiness in her marriage and her life. You know I love a good enemies to lovers read - and this one has all the highlights of a very realistic evolution of the relationship. I also really enjoyed reading about some of the things found in Great Aunt Maggie’s hoarding collections.

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theespressoedition's review

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

One of the things I've found to be the most challenging over the past few years is finding a contemporary romance that doesn't feel painfully predictable. I'll read a synopsis, think, "oh that's going to be so unique," and then I'm sorely disappointed when I actually read the novel. I think that's kind of how I felt with Back in the Burbs.

Okay, so I do need to say that it had me cackling with frequency throughout the first half of the books. Considering the fact that our protagonist is going through a divorce because of a seriously emotionally abusive ex who cheated on her (freaking heavy stuff, man) - it still had fantastic humor.

I was seriously thrilled when Mikey's character was introduced since he was so sweet and helpful. Apparently, enemies-to-lovers is the "only option" for some people because Mikey was thrown to the side the literal second that Nick popped up. Now, I realize that Nick was not a toxic character and I appreciated that. The enemies-to-lovers trope was actually pretty mild on that account (thank goodness), but it did make me sad that Mallory practically assumed she was just going to always be attracted to "the jerk." Rather than "giving in" to that, it would've been nice to see her take time to fully recognize that Nick wasn't awful so she could have a healthy relationship. Instead, it took nearly the entire book for her to realize something that could have taken two seconds if she wasn't in such denial.

I was in a relationship so painfully similar to her and her ex, Karl, that there were times where I needed to skim the chapters because the content was too triggering. Learning how he spoke to her and treated her made my skin crawl and it actually made it more challenging to wind up liking Nick - even as the story went on.

The best parts were the references to her Aunt Maggie, who sounds like a total hoot. I felt as though the plotline with Sarah was completely unnecessary and the issues with her parents were exasperating and unresolved, which bothered me too. I'm assuming that if this is a series, we're going to see Sarah's story next, so I hope that clears some plot holes up a bit.

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