Pretty Little World by Elizabeth LaBan & Melissa DePino Book Review
Books,  Fiction,  Sarah

Pretty Little World by Elizabeth LaBan & Melissa DePino Book Review

Pretty Little World by Elizabeth LaBan & Melissa DePino Book Review
Amazon

Pretty Little World by Elizabeth LaBan & Melissa DePino Book Review

The lowdown from Goodreads

Publication Date January 17, 2017

On a cozy street in Philadelphia, three neighboring families have become the best of friends. They can’t imagine life without one another—until one family outgrows their tiny row house. In a bid to stay together, a crazy idea is born: What if they tear down the walls between their homes and live together under one roof? And so an experiment begins.

Celia and Mark now have the space they need. But is this really what Celia’s increasingly distant husband wants? Stephanie embraces the idea of one big, happy family, but has she considered how it may exacerbate the stark differences between her and her husband, Chris? While Hope always wanted a larger family with Leo, will caring for all the children really satisfy that need?

Behind closed doors, they strive to preserve the closeness they treasure. But when boundaries are blurred, they are forced to question their choices…and reimagine the true meaning of family.

Pretty Little World by Elizabeth LaBan & Melissa DePino Book Review

Could You Live In A Shared Home With Your Best Friends?

Well, that’s exactly what three families do in this book. They live in row houses stacked against each other & when one family wants to say, “See ya!” to the neighborhood to get more space, the other two families step in & come up with a crazy idea to take down their bottom floor walls & share a communal living space.

It Takes A Village

Now, I know a lot of folks would be like, “Heck, no,” but hear me out- this actually works well for these three families- at first. There’s Celia & Mark- she works all the time & he just had a major health scare & is now becoming distant towards his family. There’s Stephanie & Chris- she’s a professional organizer who loves yoga & seems like she’d be fun at Happy Hour, while he likes to pick the kids up from school, likes routines & traditions & isn’t very happy with his job right now. Last, there’s Hope & Leo- Leo knows all about food & good wine, but he’s not really present for family time, while Hope is a stay at home Mom & relishes in her new role as, “Mommy Hope” to all the children.

Pretty Little World Has Heart

This book has everything I love; relationships, secrets, family/work-life issues, parenting issues, friendships, affairs, pregnancies- I was REALLY into it. It’s got heart, it kept my attention, it’s a quick read & one you definitely want to talk about with your girlfriends & read again on a rainy day. I want this book to be a TV family drama, like Parenthood. It’s really great & it’s out today. If you love heartfelt fiction, like Pretty Little World, you’ll likely be really Into Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen.

THE VERDICT

I was Really Into This book. I love a good slumber party & I’ve often thought how awesome it would be if I had my favorite people with me all the time. Like, if I could get my best friends to live next door to me, that would be EVERYTHING.

Special thanks to Elizabeth LaBan, Melissa DePino, Lake Union Publishing & NetGalley for providing my copy in exchange for an honest & fair review.

Let’s connect over books! Check out our Pretty Little World by Elizabeth LaBan & Melissa DePino Book Review on Goodreads.

 

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About the Authors: Elizabeth LaBan & Melissa DePino

Pretty Little World by Elizabeth LaBan & Melissa DePino Book Review Really Into This Elizabeth LaBan
Elizabeth LaBan

ELIZABETH LABAN lives in Philadelphia with her restaurant critic husband and two children. She is the author of The Restaurant Critic’s Wife which was published by Lake Union, the young adult novel The Tragedy Paper, published by Knopf, which has been translated into eleven foreign languages, and The Grandparents Handbook, published by Quirk Books, which has been translated into seven foreign languages, and Pretty Little World, which she co-authored with Melissa DePino. Her next solo novel called Not Perfect will be out on February 1, 2018.

She is a freelance writer and editor whose work has appeared in The Philadelphia InquirerNew York Newsday and The Times-Picayune, among other publications. She also ghost writes a weekly column, and has ghost written two books.

She has a master’s in journalism from Columbia University, and a bachelor’s in English from Trinity College in Hartford. Elizabeth was an NBC Page, worked at NBC News in New York, taught journalism at a community college in New Orleans, and was a reporter at a number of small to mid-sized newspapers including The Riverdale Press before she began writing books.

 

Pretty Little World by Elizabeth LaBan & Melissa DePino Book Review Amazon
Amazon

MELISSA DEPINO An enthusiastic and passionate non-profit advocate at heart, Melissa believes wholeheartedly in organizations that advance the greater good. Because each new client and project fascinates her, her creative and strategic solutions to their challenges are as inspired as she is.

Having served the non-profit sector as a marketer for more than two decades, including seven years as a communications director for Temple University, where she helped to more than double philanthropic support, Melissa leads her Leapfrog team with enthusiasm, passion, and pride.

Her talent as an editor and aficionado of all things verbal helps her fulfill her own mission–to find her clients’ strongest voices. Those voices, the result of creative and strategic synergies between Leapfrog and clients, have touched constituents in their hearts and minds since 2004 and have dramatically changed the way nonprofits are heard in Philadelphia, Princeton, Washington, DC and beyond.

Even before she founded Leapfrog, Melissa always sought that connection to the bigger picture. As an English teacher at a high school in Camden, Melissa embraced the challenges of working with at-risk youth with the same spirit of purpose and joy in helping others that she brings to her work with Leapfrog. Melissa instills her belief in supporting the greater good in her two sons, who attend local independent schools.

In her spare time, Melissa writes contemporary women’s fiction. Her first novel, Pretty Little World, co-authored with Leapfrog team member, Elizabeth LaBan, is being released in January 2017.

Pretty Little World by Elizabeth LaBan & Melissa DePino Book Review

Momma, wife, baker, reader & smart ass. I am Really Into doughnuts, inside jokes, trash TV, pizza, 48 Hours & George Michael.

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