The Sweet Spot by Amy Poeppel on January 31, 2023
Genres: Fiction / Family Life / General, Fiction / Friendship, Fiction / Women
Pages: 400
Format: eBook
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This is a cute story about family, the ones we are born with, and the ones who become our family by choice. I think this story was so absurdly funny in all the right ways. A group of ladies in Greenwich Village have to decide if they are friends or enemies after a baby comes into all their lives, a baby that doesn’t belong to any of them.
The cast of characters is pretty large in this one. It starts out with Lauren and her family and their luck of being able to stay in a huge, but stuck in the 70’s, brownstone. In the basement of this brownstone is a little bar called, The Sweet Spot. In this little dive bar, Dan has worked as the manager/bartender for many years. After a few days of being at the brownstone, Laura learns she has inadvertently caused a divorce. This is where Melinda comes in. She and her husband of thirty years end up getting divorced. Her husband has left her for a younger woman, who also happens to be Lauren’s boss, Felicity. Small world, right? Melinda doesn’t handle things well and ends up with a job at the school Lauren’s kids go to. Olivia, who is a young gal who did work for Lauren’s boss at her shop, but was fired, also ends up at the brownstone. How she ends up there is also a fun part of the intricacy. Her father is Dan, the Bartender of The Sweet Spot. I like how their lives intersect. Is it a little too convenient? Maybe, but that just makes it more hilarious. To top it all off, Lauren’s boss, Felicity, is pregnant. After she has the baby, this group of ladies, sans Felicity, end up with said baby. Can they pull together for the benefit of the baby?
This had such an outlandish premise that bordered on unbelievable, but it was humorous. I kept thinking, this would never happen in real life, but it sure is funny! This was a sweet, charming story about how these gals formed an unlikely sisterhood. This is a perfect read for those not in the mood to take themselves too seriously.
About the Author
Amy Poeppel is the author of the novels MUSICAL CHAIRS, LIMELIGHT, and SMALL ADMISSIONS. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, LitHub, The Rumpus, Points In Case, Belladonna, and Working Mother. She and her husband live in NYC and Frankfurt, Germany.