Becky's Great Book Reviews The Sweet Spot by Amy Poeppel

The Sweet Spot by Amy Poeppel is just that: a sweet story overflowing with memorable characters. A character from the Netflix show The Beast in Me just referred to a book as being "fluff but not drivel" and it struck me that that's what Amy Poeppel's novel is. And who doesn't want a satisfying confection once in a while?

When Melinda is abandoned by her husband of over thirty years for a young, famous tv celebrity, with whom he fathers a baby, Melinda is filled with anger. Seeing red, she only wants to seek revenge by sabotaging the famous Felicity's high-end Manhattan retail store. Walking in and behaving terribly, Melinda goads one of the employees into an argument which gets recorded and goes viral. The employee, Olivia, gets fired from her lucrative job and through a complicated mesh of character connections, ends up nannying for one of Felicity's artist suppliers, Lauren. Lauren's lovable family also, through a series of connected events, takes in Felicity's infant while Felicity jets off and Melinda's ex goes after her.

This warm family drama sees multiple hearts being thawed as the engaging plot moves forward. At one point Melinda has this thought: "all this hate and rage was leaving her feeling even lonelier than she'd felt when Russel abandoned her". Thus, we witness a fulfilling blend of poignant moments with hilarity. Poeppel's characters are rich in nuance, from Melinda's buffoon of an ex-husband to the appealing and relatable Lauren.

Women's fiction at its best and brightest, The Sweet Spot gets five stars out of five from me.