August 15, 2014
McDonough (Two of a Kind, 2013, etc.) imagines a polite tug of war with an abandoned baby at its center. Miranda Berenzweig is in her mid-30s and feeling stuck, unable to compete with her friends' promotions and relationships. Recently dumped and wading through the waters of online dating, she trades messages with photographer and consummate nice guy Evan Zuckerbrot. After a night out in Manhattan with friends, Miranda has no idea that her life is about to change when she finds a baby girl who has been abandoned on a subway platform. With no prospects beyond foster care in sight for the baby, Miranda is granted custody and put on the fast track for adoption. Evan is thrilled by her luck and eager to declare his love for both Miranda and the new baby, Celeste. When a persistent reporter persuades her to do an interview, she gains the attention of the baby's biological father, Jared Masters. Miranda, who had settled into the idea of abrupt motherhood, loses baby Celeste, now named Lily. The narrative hops among Miranda, Jared and Evan as they deal with bruised egos, broken hearts and new beginnings, while all involved parties are forced to evaluate what it means to be a parent and whether they are truly up for the task. The novel is rigidly plotted and so hung up on the hope of discovering love in unlikely places that character development falls flat. The prose is uneven, with some expertly crafted passages-most describing Miranda's culinary prowess-hiding in pages of bland dialogue and tired language. McDonough puts a relentlessly optimistic spin on what could have been a tragic headline.
COPYRIGHT(2014) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
October 1, 2014
Miranda is a thirtysomething career woman who lives in Brooklyn and likes to hang out with her three besties in New York City--she's a bit like the Miranda of Sex and the City, even though that Miranda only moved to Brooklyn as part of a couple and under duress while this Miranda thinks Brooklyn is the place to be. The Miranda of this story also becomes a single mother by accident--but instead of giving birth, she finds the baby at a subway station. Before stumbling upon her child, she had arranged to meet a man who contacted her through a dating site. Her luck continues as he turns out to be a sweetheart and falls for her and her new charge. But when the baby's father, a sexy Blair Underwood type to whom Miranda is instantly attracted, comes forward, she stands to lose everything she never knew she wanted. VERDICT McDonough's (Two of a Kind; A Wedding in Great Neck) well-written characters and fascinating plot twists will appeal to book groups and fans of women's fiction, while the similarities that evoke Sex and the City will draw in fans who miss that show.--Karen Core, Detroit P.L.
Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
October 1, 2014
Miranda Berenzweig has fabulous friends, a fabulous job as an editor at Domestic Goddess, and an adequate apartment in Park Slope. But before her story gets too chick-lit, she finds a baby abandoned in the subway. The baby opens up a yearning she didn't know she had, not just to find the perfect man but to have a family of her own. When no one comes forward to claim the baby, Miranda names her Celeste and adopts her. Her friends think she's making a mistake, but the steady-if-boring guy she's been seeing, Evan, is all on board. What starts as a Jennifer Weinerstyle ode to modern urban motherhood loses some of its focus when we meet Jared Masters, an African American uptown realtor who is having too much fun to settle down. When Jared learns that he is Celeste's father, he fights for her. And Miranda gives in. But then fatherhood is too much for Jared. Everyone ends up exactly where he or she belongs, and Miranda's journey is compelling, but the other loose ends are tied up a little too neatly to really satisfy.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)