Good Morning Everyone!
We are back with the second book in my Summer Book Club! It took me a solid few days to get through this book surprisingly, I think with the longer gap between books I took a few days off and then bumbled through at a far more lethargic pace than I did previously. Also a slightly unhealthy Outer Banks binge session may or may not have occupied the better part of my evenings this weekend…. However, once I got into the swing of things and switched back to listening to this book during chores, in the car and before bed I was hooked and blasted through the back half in a record two days.
FIRST IMPRESSION OF THE OVERDUE LIFE OF AMY BYLER: IT’S A COMING OF AGE NOVEL BUT FOR MOMS.
Scroll down for my review and thoughts!
| Previous: JULY 8th: The Last Tang Standing Rating: 9/10 Readability: 10/10 Would Recommend: Yes! Read my full review: https://hungryandwelldressed.com/summer-book-club-the-last-tang-standing/ | Up Next: JULY 20th: Sex and Vanity by Kevin Kwan Length: 279 Audible Amazon |
**** SPOILER ALERTS AHEAD ****
The Overdue Life of Amy Byler
| Rating: 10/10 | Readability: 10/10 | Would Recommend: Yes! |
The slow burn of this book was so wonderful, it had far less turbulence and up and down emotions of the usual chick-lit novel that I would normally read. There is drama do not get me wrong, especially when Corey goes away to her diving and gets hurts, it’s just written in a much less dramatized way and much more relatable. Unlike with the previous book The Last Tang Standing, where that stomach drop moments happens when the main character gets drunk (at her office) stumbles into her bosses office, breaks into his computer and happens upon an unflattering email (I mean… professionalism much?).
The concept of the book seems like a working single mothers dream (not that I am a mom myself so if someone could confirm the validity of this please do). Amy effectively gets to escape her real life for what she thinks is only a week, which turns into a whole summer in New York City. Let’s be real having spent a summer in NYC, as a non- New Yorker, summer in New York is pretty magical. She lives her best life. Literally. She ends up the subject of a magazine article for her “mom – springa” which has all the perks of a full makeover, new clothes and a close friendship with Matt who is writing her pieces. She gets to experience the best of dating in the city, with Matt matchmaking her blind dates and ends up having a summer romance with the “Hot Librarian of the Year”. As with all good things in literature that happen before the last chapter, it must come to an end, with Amy coming to a startling realization that her “mom-springa” is turning her into somebody that she wasn’t a huge fan of… her estranged husband.
The main characters own journey of self-awareness and coming into her own is really lovely. It’s the adult equivalent of a coming of age story, with the benefit of her not having any crazy friendship blowouts or high school mean girls. Actually, this book is entirely free of mean girls. There are no catty mom’s, lippy daughter’s friends and even the exchange with Daniel’s daughter while terse and a little tense, never goes into a full on hate fest as so many of those interactions trend towards in this genre.
Overall, the book is really refreshing compared to what I normally would find myself reading in the same genre. As much as it’s about Amy as a mother, it focuses so much on her as a person and learning about herself that it can be relatable to all ages. I loved the relationship with Daniel, because while being part of the story the story was by no means shaped by her love interest. The men played a part in her summer but the narrative never became ensconced in her relationships, which I loved. Daniel was her friend and companion, and a big part of her growth and her learning that she needs to start to put herself first sometimes.
xoxo S
To Come:
To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, P.S. I Still Love You, and Always and Forever, Lara Jean
