Review: My Life as a Doormat by Rene Gutteridge

Goodreads: Act I: Avoid conflicts at all costs. Even when someone signs you up for something you really don't want to do. Act II: Try to hold things together, even when your life is spinning out of control. Act III: (You'll have to read the book to learn how it all plays out).

Playwright Leah Townsend doesn't think of herself as a doormat. In fact, her life is pretty good. There's the gorgeous and dependable Edward (even if he is a little dull), and her challenging career (even if the last two plays were flops). The trouble is, Leah's feeling restless these days. The new play isn't going well. Her agent is handing out ultimatums. And her boyfriend Edward, who insists Leah "doesn't handle conflict well," has the nerve to enroll her in a conflict-management class full of people she's sure are her polar opposites, including a conservative talk-radio host named Cinco Dublin who thrives on the very thing Leah wants to avoid - making waves. Can a conflict-challenged playwright ever learn to stand her ground . . . even if life doesn't come in three predictable acts?

Kritters Thoughts: Ehhh it was ok. I hate to start a review like this, but I was left with a semi ok feeling. Nothing was super wrong with it. I guess my main area of concern was the main character - I found her to be super whiny and beyond believable. It took her way to long to discover that a changed needed to happen in her relationships and decision making.

BUT I loved the premise of the story - the sibling of the prodigal son and learning how to cope with not being the star child in the family. At times I felt a few commonalities between me and Leah - we were both the children of the family that followed the rules to a T and rarely bucked the rules our parents laid down. The big lesson comes when the sibling becomes the child that is in the forefront. Although this hasn't happened in our family, J and I have taken turns needing our parents attention for good and bad reasons.

Now after some negative comments, I would definitely pass this book along to the women in my life, but I would preface it that they should be read on the beach or huddled in during a quiet vacation. This isn't one of those "smart" reads.

Rating: perfect beach read

Pages: 320

GR Oct - Dec Challenge - Prepositions