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A review by thebookmedusa
Back in the Burbs by Tracy Wolff, Avery Flynn
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
✩✩✩.5
Back in the Burbs is a light, fast, and intriguing romantic adult read that follows 35 year old Mallory, who moves into this run down mess of a home in the suburbs that belonged to he now-deceased great aunt Maggie. She only has a limited amount of time to secure the inheritance tax she needs to pay and fix up the property in accordance to the standards of the HOA, all while dealing with an overbearing and absurd family who are all incredibly unsupportive and project their own issues onto Mallory as she struggles through a divorce with her cheating ex husband, Karl. All the while, she meets friends turned family and lovers in this new chapter of her life as she explores what her forms her future.
As a contemporary read, it was great, and definitely something I would imagine be turned into one of those cliche Netflix originals with the Outer Banks small town setting with the new girl that moves in from the city, totally out of he realm. While there was nothing wrong with the book, it was just more a really fast read that in a day I won't remember a thing about. At around 300 pages in the paperback form, this is an incredibly easy read (for adult audiences) that anyone can consume in 4 hours MAX, which is what attracted me to the to book to begin with, to defeat a reading slump.
- slight spoilers-
Luckily, I don't think this book has put me into another slump as I'm currently pretty motivated to read another book asap thats going to hook me in and engage me. While I don't regret reading this, it could have had more to the plot and the relationship between Mallory and Nick could have for sure been more developed and enhanced as it just seemed SO random of them to one minute have Nick almost fully in love with her, and the next to have them broken up because of Mallory's issues, back together, and off again, and just honestly who knows. While I loved Mallory's growth as a person especially from having started a whole new chapter in her life, I really hated the way she kept bringing Karl back up again and again through comparisons to Nick and just kept finding reasons to be unhappy in the new chapter of her life. In the end though, and I mean really the end like the last couple pages, everything seemed to work out okay, and the epilogue fully redeemed everything I hated about their relationship struggles cause it was just way too cute and made my heart swoooooon. I also still don't fully understand the relationship between Nick and aunt Maggie though, while it made sense while reading, looking back I'm still confused and although I likely missed something with their relationship it was still so very random. Oh but a spin off book about Aunt Maggie would be incredible and something I'd fully devour!
Back in the Burbs is a light, fast, and intriguing romantic adult read that follows 35 year old Mallory, who moves into this run down mess of a home in the suburbs that belonged to he now-deceased great aunt Maggie. She only has a limited amount of time to secure the inheritance tax she needs to pay and fix up the property in accordance to the standards of the HOA, all while dealing with an overbearing and absurd family who are all incredibly unsupportive and project their own issues onto Mallory as she struggles through a divorce with her cheating ex husband, Karl. All the while, she meets friends turned family and lovers in this new chapter of her life as she explores what her forms her future.
As a contemporary read, it was great, and definitely something I would imagine be turned into one of those cliche Netflix originals with the Outer Banks small town setting with the new girl that moves in from the city, totally out of he realm. While there was nothing wrong with the book, it was just more a really fast read that in a day I won't remember a thing about. At around 300 pages in the paperback form, this is an incredibly easy read (for adult audiences) that anyone can consume in 4 hours MAX, which is what attracted me to the to book to begin with, to defeat a reading slump.
- slight spoilers-
Luckily, I don't think this book has put me into another slump as I'm currently pretty motivated to read another book asap thats going to hook me in and engage me. While I don't regret reading this, it could have had more to the plot and the relationship between Mallory and Nick could have for sure been more developed and enhanced as it just seemed SO random of them to one minute have Nick almost fully in love with her, and the next to have them broken up because of Mallory's issues, back together, and off again, and just honestly who knows. While I loved Mallory's growth as a person especially from having started a whole new chapter in her life, I really hated the way she kept bringing Karl back up again and again through comparisons to Nick and just kept finding reasons to be unhappy in the new chapter of her life. In the end though, and I mean really the end like the last couple pages, everything seemed to work out okay, and the epilogue fully redeemed everything I hated about their relationship struggles cause it was just way too cute and made my heart swoooooon. I also still don't fully understand the relationship between Nick and aunt Maggie though, while it made sense while reading, looking back I'm still confused and although I likely missed something with their relationship it was still so very random. Oh but a spin off book about Aunt Maggie would be incredible and something I'd fully devour!
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexual content