Isolde Brilliant is a New Yorker with a baby, husband, and a successful job as a hedge fund manager. One day she loses her job and soon her grip on sanity as she tries to navigate the difficult world of being a mother and a wife. Isolde finds herself growing enraged at her husband over everything, fantasizing about every man except her husband, and looking forward to time out alone without having to take care of her husband or son.
As Isolde’s recently divorced friend Joy tells her about her husband, “He turned me into something I didn’t want to be. Seven years of having to nag, and scream, and fight, and be a policeman in my own home was enough for me. It’s not that you get a seven year itch. It’s that they turn you into a seven year bitch. After seven years you can’t take it anymore.”
Will Isolde be able to navigate herself back from the world of bitchdom? Or will she be mired in frustration forever? You will have to check out this novel to see!
As a wife and mother, I could definitely relate to the “bitchiness” that creeps into everyday life when you are tired and frustrated. However, I couldn’t relate to the level of animosity Isolde had toward her husband Russell. Russell never got fully developed as a character and I often felt sorry for him and for their son, Duncan. It was also hard to relate to Isolde’s lifestyle. I can’t imagine after getting laid off being able to hire a nanny and not care about money matters. I think the NYC lifestyle of nannies, take-out food, shrinks, and excessive spending is very foreign to a Midwesterner. These elements of the story distracted me at times, especially Isolde’s strange obsession with her nanny’s fertility.
I loved the recurring joke of Isolde’s mother’s shrink solving all of her problems. My favorite part of the novel was actually reading the hilarious essays that Isolde had to review for cash. After she lost her job, Isolde’s mother’s shrink suggested that she take this job. The job actually turned out to be quite lucrative and the essays that Isolde had to read “describe in 100 words or less” topics such as “your best job description for being a mom” or “why you and yours deserve to be daring in diamonds” were very funny.
Overall,
The Seven Year Bitch is a look deep into the heart of a marriage after children. It is a bumpy ride to and back again, but ultimately entertaining.
I read
The Seven Year Bitch as part of the TLC book tours. For more information about the next stops on the tour, check out this
link. For more information about this novel and Jennifer Belle, please check out these links:
The Seven Year Bitch on Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Seven-Year-Bitch-Jennifer-Belle/dp/159448516X/ref=tmm_pap_title_0
Jennifer's website: www.jenniferbelle.com
Jennifer on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/people/Jennifer-Belle/541738718Book Source: Penguin Group (USA) / Riverhead Books. Thank-you!
Giveaway Details
Penguin Books has been kind enough to offer two copies of
The Seven Year Bitch by Jennifer Belle for a giveaway.
If you would like to win a copy of
The Seven Year Bitch please leave a comment about what intrigues you about the novel.
As part of your comment, you must include an email address. If I can't find a way to contact you I will draw another winner.
For an additional entry, blog about this giveaway or post it on your sidebar. Provide a link to this post in your comment.
I will be using random.org (or a monte carlo simulation in excel) to pick the winners from the comments.
This contest is only open to US and Canadian residents (Sorry!).
No P.O. Boxes.
The deadline for entry is midnight, Friday June 17th.
Good luck!
The two lucky winners of The Seven Year Bitch by Jennifer Belle are Margaret and Brenda of Dance Alert Reads (A Great New Way to Win New Books to Read). Congrats to both winners! The winners were chosen using random.org and have been notified via email. If I don't receive their mailing addresses by June 28th, new winners will be chosen.
