Dear Sweet Pea

This book was precious. Patricia (known to everyone as Sweet Pea) is having a rough end to seventh grade. Her parents are divorced and living on the same street in nearly identical houses. They're trying to be real chill about it, splitting their time with her; but it's making it more confusing for Sweet Pea. Why can't they just be together as a family? To make matters more confusing she's having mixed feelings about her frenemy Kiera (maybe she's not all that bad?) and her best friend Oscar is upset that she's not telling him everything.  The thing is though, Sweet Pea made a promise to her neighbor (the advice columnist) to keep a secret but it may blow up in her face. Cute, charming, and dealing with lots of issues that middle school teens face: bullying, weight, divorce, friendship, and trying to fit in. The reason it's not a 5 star book to me, is that at times, Sweet Pea sounds far too mature for her age, sometimes her voice just seemed to be "too much" for her age and it lost it's believability factor. Other than that it was great! 

Nookietown

The cover was the greatest thing about this book; the story line was just too implausible, even Hollywood would have a hard time making this believable. Basically this super-over-the-top-horny-divorced-mom is dying to get laid. She has decided that there are no men in their forties that are safe, std free, and unwilling to be in a relationship so she jokingly tells her married friends that she needs to start boning her married friend's husbands. One of her friends decides to take her up on her joke offer to jump start her and her spouses sex life, next thing you know a business is born. This is essentially 50 Shades of Gray for mom in their thirties and forties. There are lots of sex scenes, masturbation, and bitter diatribes about marriage; a win for everyone! Personally not my cup of tea, I could not suspend belief long enough to make this story work.