Two powerhouse authors bring you a hilarious tale of one woman’s journey to find herself again.Ever have one of those days where life just plain sucks? Welcome to my last three months—ever since I caught my can’t-be-soon-enough ex-husband cheating with his paralegal. I’m thirty-five years old, and I’ve lost my NYC apartment, my job, my money, and frankly, my dignity.But the final heartache in the … the final heartache in the suck sandwich of my life? My great-aunt Maggie died. The only family member who’s ever gotten me.
Even after death, though, she’s helping me get back up. She’s willed me the keys to a house in the burbs, of all places, and dared me to grab life by the family jewels. Well, I’ve got the vise grips already in hand (my ex should take note) and I’m ready to fight for my life again.
Too bad that bravado only lasts as long as it takes to drive into Huckleberry Hills. And see the house.
There are forty-seven separate HOA violations, and I feel them all in my bones. Honestly, I’m surprised no one’s “accidentally” torched the house yet. I want to, and I’ve only been standing in front of it for five minutes. But then my hot, grumpy neighbor tells me to mow the lawn first and I’m just…done. Done with men too sexy for their own good and done with anyone telling me what to do.
First rule of surviving the burbs? There is nothing that YouTube and a glass of wine can’t conquer.
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A must read rom-com!
Sexy, sassy, and oh-so-sweet! Back in the Burbs is one of those books you devour in a day. The one-liners had me laughing, the hottie contractor had me swooning (everyone should have a Nick in their life!), and Mallory had me rooting for her all the way. This book is the perfect getaway.
It seemed like a never ending bad day for Mallory. The hits kept on coming. Sounded like an interesting read. Let’s go!
Right from the start, I am put off by the main character, Mallory. While her humor was funny at times, it also came on too strong, too soon. Then she whined a lot. It made it hard for me to relate to her. As the story progresses, she’s isn’t so bad. The story is actually pretty entertaining. Mallory is a hot mess and that usually comes with humorous situations. Did I mention hunky neighbor Nick? Oh yes.
While the story as a whole is entertaining, it didn’t wow me. I had trouble staying engaged because of the main character. However this is a fun read and I know other readers would enjoy it. It just wasn’t for me. I give this 3 stars.
This was a fun listen. A soon to be divorcee is in a downward spiral. Her husband is taking everything. Her parents are sticking up for him. Her Great Aunt Maggie comes to the rescue by leaving her her house in the burbs.
Little did she know that her aunt was a hoarder. Every room is jammed packed with everything imaginable and some that are not. A tree has fallen through the roof and demolished the porch. The HOA is at the end of their ropes. A very vocal neighbor can only criticize.
She is broke. She is unemployed. She owes inheritance taxes. She can’t afford to fix up the fixer-upper of all fixer-uppers. And this is only the beginning of her troubles. Get ready to laugh and swoon as you listen to this enemy to lovers romance.
Words can’t describe how much I loved this book. It wrapped me in a warm hug and kept on hugging. I laughed, I cried and had all the feelings in between.
Mallory is a hot mess, and listen, I’ve been there. The ex husband, gaslighting, never feeling good enough, not trusting yourself.. I’ve been there.
But not everyone will find a Nick and I know how rare it is that she did, and even more rare that I found mine.
This story is about loving and trusting yourself to open up to the possibilities of love and happiness again without losing your identity, having someone to love you as you are. I just want to hug everyone in this book, but no one more than Nick.
This isn’t my normal genre, but I was looking for an audio on Kindle Unlimited and this popped up and sounded interesting. Humorous and kept me entertained, and the narrator did a good job. Interesting characters. Warning to some lots of F word.
Adorable is the wrong/right word for Back in the Burbs. Both crazy and down to earth, this story is filled with mayhem, fun, and love.
Dealing with everything life throws at her, Mallory is stretched thin. Divorce, drama, a house, and an unrelenting HOA are pulling her attention (and her limbs) in different directions. DRAWN AND QUARTERED IN THE BURBS is a little too macabre. But I’m pretty sure the authors would have nailed it anyway. Lol. Full of shenanigans, uplofting fun, and sheer madness, Back in the Burbs will keep you grinning the whole way through!
This book was great.
I fell in love with Nick at his first ‘you need to mow the lawn’.
Mallory is a recently separated and on her way to being divorced. She has inherited a house from her aunt Maggie which comes at just the right time, as she has been staying with her parents. When she gets to her aunts house it’s not quite what she was expecting, but like her with time she will have both her life and the house under control.
Nick is her neighbor, across the street, who was friends with her aunt. He was there for her aunt when Mallory wasn’t. He offers to help her when it comes to cleaning out the house and on her divorce. As they grow closer their relationship changes. The question is, is Mallory able to move past her horrible ex-husband who treated her terrible and took advantage of her. It’s going to take someone special to show her that not all men, especially if they are attorneys like her ex-husband, are as dumb and horrible as her ex.
This book was a wonderful fast read. I picked it because of the cover and because I have loved every book that Avery Flynn has written. This book, although not hers alone, did not disappoint. This is a book that everyone should read. It has everything, family issues, romance, self realization and long grass. It was funny and there was even a point where I was glad I was reading on my nook. Because had I been reading a paperback I would have thrown the book.
I will definitely be recommending this to my friends.
This starts with a cute premise as Mallory inherits her Aunt Maggie’s home in the New Jersey suburbs and has to tackle cleaning out years of hoarded junk, repairs, and the pile of HOA violations. I wanted to like this book, I really did. I live in the burbs and have dealt with the HOA, but I wonder if the authors have ever lived in the suburbs (or a house) or driven a car. In chapter four, it states, “It’s obvious the other homes were built years later around Aunt Maggie’s…” Okay, if it wasn’t built as part of the development, it would be grandfathered in and therefore, not subject to HOA requirements, which was a major plot point as the story develops. When Mallory’s car breaks down, she goes in her aunt’s garage and rolls out the purple Cadillac. If that car had been sitting for a year, it’s not going to run for a variety of reasons. This was a cute concept but poorly executed. It literally took until chapter 23 before Mallory pulled together any grit, quit swilling wine and wallowing in self-pity and got to work. So much of the book went over and over the same emotional baggage and took soooo long for the heroine to reach any useful introspection. I did make it to the end, but I skipped parts. When I read the premise of this story, I wanted it to be a fun rom-com with a spunky heroine, but it was a repetitive mess with a heroine who couldn’t get out of her own way to make any progress with her home or her life.
Mallory Martin Bach is through with men, especially ones trying to run her life. After catching her husband with a young paralegal, Mallory decides she has had enough and wants out. She never expected her soon-to-be-ex to take everything in her life away. With no place to live, no job and no friends left, Mallory thinks her life can’t get any worse….wrong….her favorite Aunt Maggie passes away. The only potential positive thing in Mallory’s life at the moment is that Aunt Maggie left her her house. When Maggie gets to the house she loved at a child, she is in for a big surprise. The house is in very poor condition and she has 47 HOA violations waiting for her to fix. Mallory also discovers a big secret her Aunt had been keeping.
Nick Holloway has had a rough last few years. Determined to move forward in his life he is trying to find a purpose. When the feisty Mallory moves into her Aunt Maggie’s home, Nick realizes he may have found his purpose. As Nick tries to help Mallory out, their chemistry starts to sizzle until they fall into a fun, friends with benefits routine. When things are starting to look like Mallory may have finally found her happy ending, doubts and fears start to creep into Mallory’s head and her world blows up because of her actions. It will take a lot of soul searching before Mallory realizes what she really wants out of her life and she will need to make some big decisions to finally get her happy ever after.
I just adored Nick! He was so sweet, calm and determined. He is the type of man any girl would love to have. I enjoyed Mallory and her determination to not make the same mistakes all over again. I think she found the perfect person for her when she met Nick. Together they are wonderful together. Overall this was a fun, wonderful story with a perfect happy ending.
This story leaves you feeling warm and content. Mallory has lost a sense of who she is after a marriage of conformity. Watching her grow into a butterfly from her cocoon is a wonderful journey. Nick is genuinely a nice, charming, decent man, who found someone to bring colour to his life. A great read!
Funny and Sweet!
I really liked this book. It made laugh and cry and sigh. The heroine is knocked down over and over. But she does get back up and keeps moving forward. And just when she has decided she doesn’t need any MAN the perfect one comes along. I can’t wait to see what Avery Flynn and Tracy Wolff are going to do next.
Nothing like a hot-mess redemption story make you cry and make you laugh, right?
In Back in the Burbs, we have a thirty-something divorcee looking to find her grove again. But first, she has some emotional growth and baggage to work out. She’s recovering from verbal and emotional abuse, and she has a lot of growth to do before she’ll be ready to explore another chance at love.
It was an entertaining read, with some really emotional scenes as well. Overall, very good.
I am not one to hold back 5 start reviews, and I think if a book wants me to seek out more by the same author then it probably deserves a four to five start review. After reading this book I really like Tracy’s style of writing and i am going to look and see what else she has written.
Back in the burbs is a book about discovering who you are after something traumatizing happens to you. Tracy wrote a book that makes you fall in love with all of the characters and want to fight for them and their happiness.
I recommend this book.
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I’ve read a couple of books from Avery, but this was my first one from Tracy and as soon as I read the blurb I wanted to read it. While this was an enjoyable read, and I must say I laughed out loud with this story, this wasn’t what I was expecting, at all. The book is extremely well written, but it’s more a woman’s fiction than a full romance. It’s much more about how Mallory got her groove back, than her relationship with Nick.
I don’t fault at Mallory for trying to get her shit together, after finding her (ex)husband in a compromising situation with his paralegal, she is broke and back to living with her controlling parents. So when she inherits a old house from her Great Aunt, it’s time to renovate the house and maybe her life too. That’s when Nick’s show up, he is her neighbor and a slight grumpy, sticky to the rules but oh so handsome.
I wish that Nick was feature more in the story and be able to get to know him better, and although he was the hero, this was Mallory’s story through and through, I felt like he was secondary to it all. Throughout the end of the book things started to get more romantic and steamier. All in all, if couldn’t notice, it wasn’t 100% my type of book, but it was a funny and entertaining one. If you enjoy a more woman’s fiction story than romance, this might be for you.
If you need a good escape from reality, this is it! Back in the Burbs was everything I was hoping for from this dynamic pair of writers, and more!!! I adore all of Avery Flynn’s books, so I knew I would be all-in with this one, but from the first to last page I was a goner. So many shenanigans with the HOA and surrounding busy-bodies, you’re guaranteed to get a good ab workout from laughter. With plenty of witty banter, tender moments of realization and an underlying romance with the enemy, this has been quite the delightful escape from the norm. Put this on your must-read list for 2021!
I absolutely enjoyed this book! Although I would classify this more as women’s fiction than romance, it was such a relatable story that at times, it was difficult to continue reading… Such was my empathy towards Mallory. This book made me run the gamut of emotions, I wanted to scream at her and her family members, while also hugging her and bonking her on the forehead.
Nick is the quintessential cinnamon roll hero that I enjoy and we don’t see enough of. Flawed, but inherently good! Both the book world and the real world need more Nicks, full stop.
The character development and arc in this book are fantastic. So often we see “ghosts” instead of fully fleshed-out characters, so I am glad this wasn’t the case here.
Full of heart and humanity, Back To The Burb is both a reminder and a warning. A warning to not forget ourselves in the business of living, and a reminder to always live our lives to the fullest.
Five zebra-striped stars to Back in the Burbs, Avery Flynn, and Tracy Wolff
From the very beginning I was fully committed to this book, I swear it takes hold from the very first page. The writing was soooooooo freaking good. I absolutely loved everything about this book.
My emotions were all over the place while reading Back in the Burbs. When I say Tracy Wolff and Avery Flynn was able to capture every emotion. Listen to me, I was happy, sad, confused and angry. Now most of my anger was directed to either Mallory’s parents or her butthole of an ex, that man made my temperature rise
Overall this story was very engaging and enjoyable. This is definitely making one of my top books for 2020
I wasn’t sure about this book at first. Mallory was kind of a Debbie downer in the beginning. But oh did this book get better. It was super funny. But mostly, I loved Mallory’s character growth. The writing was stellar. The atmosphere was oh so fun! I definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a good reading time. Thank you to Entangled for allowing me to read and review this book!!
This writing powerhouse will take you on a wild ride of emotions, a witty, intense romcom that will have you laughing out loud at times. The story deals with divorce, emotional abuse, mental issue in real situations and bringing growth to the characters in this fun journey. I volunteered to review this story.