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Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Pretty Little World by Melissa DePino, Elizabeth LaBan

Kindle Edition
Expected publication: January 17th 2017 by Lake Union Publishing
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.

My Thoughts…

Living in a commune style with my neighbors is nothing I would ever want to do but for these three families it seemed to make sense.   Yet after taking the walls down each family found their own issues.   These problems could have been there before they took the walls down but were brought to light after.    With each problem the support from the other families was wonderful.  There was never a doubt that they would support each other, pick each other up, and help each other in any way possible.

I am not sure what my thoughts were on the how the adults all seemed to bond with each other’s spouses.   What I mean is that the wives all bonded with different husbands.   I am not sure that everyone in the house didn’t overstep boundaries many times.     The style of living did not give any private/personal time to couples or individual families.     I am not sure how any of these marriages managed to stay together.  

The children in this story were not prominent characters but there was still an attachment to them.    I wonder how confusing it would be to young children to call other women mommy and other men daddy.    This is something that I thought about each time it happen but maybe it is just because I am a mommy and I wouldn’t want my daughters to call anyone else mommy.   

When I finished reading I just sat and thought about how my world would be if I lived in a world like they did.   How would my relationship with my husband change?  What would my children think?   
Pretty Little World is an interesting read.   I devoured it.

Book Links

MEET THE AUTHORS…

Elizabeth LaBan is the author of The Tragedy Paper, which has been translated into eleven languages, The Grandparents Handbook, which has been translated into seven languages, and The Restaurant Critic's Wife. She lives in Philadelphia with her restaurant-critic husband and two children.




Melissa DePino lives in Philadelphia and is a founding   partner and principal of Leapfrog Group, a marketing communications firm specializing in non-profits. In her spare time, she reads voraciously, writes fiction, practices yoga, and enjoy live music.



 “A skilled, funny, and highly engaging examination of family, love, and marriage…This book is a win.” —Meg Mitchell Moore, author of The Admissions


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