Elizabeth LaBan

This book was fine - light reading for me to read when I'm a little bit sick and not quite ready to read anything with more heft. The author is from Philadelphia and I really enjoy all the local flair in her novels.

This one is about a single Mom of two living in a nice part of town in the months after her husband mysteriously leaves her and the kids. She doesn't want to tell anybody and slowly her resources have dwindled to the point where she's stealing packets of butter and sugar from restaurants and smuggling happy hour food out of bars to feed her kids for dinner.

I mostly enjoyed the novel but was completely unsatisfied with the underlying mystery.… (mais)

I picked this up after seeing a photo of the author with Jennifer Weiner, who I enjoy. Elizabeth LaBan is the wife of a well known restaurant critic here in Philadelphia and I bought this book as a nod to supporting the local community. Honestly, I wasn't expecting it to be good and I was really surprised with how much I enjoyed it!

The book is about Lila, an executive turned mother of two who is living in a new city with her slightly paranoid restaurant critic husband. She's struggling to adjust to a new baby, the new city, and a future that might be nothing but motherhood.

I really enjoyed all of LaBan's characters, I thought she did a great job of showing the conflict between Lila's past and present and the antics of Sam the critic were funny and sometimes over the top but mostly believable. I'm curious how much of this is actually lifted from Craig LaBan himself!

Overall, it's a nice dose of chick lit, an easy read and fun for a Philadelphian who will recognize some of the location details in the book.… (mais)

El Trabajo de Tim cuenta la historia de Tim Macbeth, un chico albino de diecisiete años que comienza a asistir a la Irving School. Tim no tiene ningún interés en hacer amigos, pero un día conoce a Vanessa, la chica más guapa del instituto y novia del chico más popular. Para sorpresa de Tim, Vanessa también se enamora de él, pero su estatus social podría verse afectado si alguien lo supiera. Tim y Vanessa pronto inician una relación clandestina, pero sobre ellos surge, amenazador, el Trabajo de la Tragedia, una tesis de la Irving School para los alumnos de último año. La historia de Tim y Vanessa se intercala con la historia de Duncan, un estudiante de último curso que descubre poco a poco qué pasó. ¿Podrá evitar que le ocurra a él?… (mais)