Wednesday, May 1, 2019

Book Review: Trophy Life

By Melissa Amster

For the last ten years, Agnes Parsons’s biggest challenge has been juggling yoga classes and lunch dates. Her Santa Monica house staff takes care of everything, leaving Agnes to focus on her trophy-wife responsibilities: look perfect, adore her older husband, and wear terribly expensive (if uncomfortable) underwear.

When her husband disappears, leaving Agnes and their infant daughter with no money, no home, and no staff, she is forced to move across the country, where she lands a job teaching at an all-boys boarding school in the Bronx. So long, organic quinoa bowls and sunshine-filled California life. Hello, processed food, pest-infested house, and twelve-year-old-boy humor—all day, every day.

But it’s in this place of second chances (and giant bugs), where Agnes is unexpectedly forced to take care of herself and her daughter, where she finds out the kind of woman she can be. Ultimately, she has to decide if she prefers the woman and mother she has become…or the trophy life she left behind.

Authentic and sharply witty, Trophy Life is proof that granny panties and mom coats might not be the answer to everything; they’re simply comfortable (if slightly unattractive) reminders of what happens when one life ends...and real life begins. (Synopsis courtesy of Amazon.)

The premise of Trophy Life sounded interesting and the cover is humorous and eye-catching, so I was excited to check it out. What's inside is way more rewarding than a trophy!

Agnes is instantly relatable, even though she starts off as very wealthy. I enjoyed getting to know her throughout the story and seeing how she copes with her new situation. I love the scenes with the middle school boys. They reminded me of my younger son in some ways (even though my older son is the one in middle school right now). I didn't know what would happen by the end, but I loved where the story went. It has lots of humor and heart coming through the pages. While it would have been nice to know more about Stacey Figg's backstory, it wasn't a huge deal in the grand scheme of things.

Trophy Life is an excellent debut. I enjoyed everything about this story....well, except for the meat sticks. Those just sound gross.

Movie casting ideas:
Agnes: Yael Grobglas (I had her in mind from the moment I started reading)
Stacey: Keala Settle
Beeks: Jenny Slate
Jack: Dermot Mulroney
Gavin: Simon Baker
Adam: Nat Wolff

Thanks to Lake Union for the book in exchange for an honest review and to Suzy Approved Book Tours for including us on the blog tour.

Visit the other tour stops:
April 29th– One More Paige https://instagram.com/one_more_paige
May 2nd-Jennifer Tar Heel Reader – http://www.jennifertarheelreader.com/
May 3rd –Audio Killed The Bookmark –  https://audiokilledthebookmark.com/
May 4th– Mary Beth’s Bookshelf –https://www.instagram.com/my_book_journey_
May 5th – The Ph Diva Books https://instagram.com/thephdivabooks
May 6th- Amy Lynn Lifestyle https://instagram.com/amylynnlifestyle
May 8th – BookWorm Mommy of 3 https://instagram.com/bookwormmommyof3
May 10th- Thoughts On This ‘N That https://writeoncindy.com/

2 comments:

Carole said...

Fun! Thanks

Amy O. said...

I'm in the middle of this one (really liking it) and your casting suggestions are spot on!