Women’s fiction with a dark twist seems to be a big trend after the success of Big Little Lies and Little Fires Everywhere – what did I think of this book? Check out my review of Happy and You Know It!
Happy and You Know It by Laura Hankin. To be published on May 19, 2020 by Berkley.
Thanks to the publisher for an advance copy for review. This post contains affiliate links; I’ll receive a small percentage of any purchase at no cost to you.
Synopsis: After her former band shot to superstardom without her, Claire reluctantly agrees to a gig as a playgroup musician for overprivileged infants on New York’s Park Avenue. Claire is surprised to discover that she is smitten with her new employers, a welcoming clique of wellness addicts. There is perfect hostess Whitney who is on the brink of social-media stardom and just needs to find a way to keep her perfect life from falling apart. Caustically funny, recent stay-at-home mom Amara who is struggling to embrace her new identity. And old money, veteran mom Gwen who never misses an opportunity to dole out parenting advice. But as Claire grows closer to the cool women who pay her bills, she uncovers secrets and betrayals that no amount of activated charcoal can fix.
Review of Happy and You Know It
Happy and You Know It was an entertaining look at the challenges of (competitive) upper-middle-class motherhood and female friendship, focusing on the members of an upscale baby playgroup and the down on her luck musician they hire to sing to their group.
It’s hard to make a group of very privileged women feel sympathetic and relatable, but I think Happy and You Know It did a good job of showing that motherhood and marriage can be hard no matter what your circumstances. At first Claire envies the playgroup women their beautiful apartments and expensive clothes and then she comes to see that money doesn’t always buy happiness (though it definitely makes unhappiness a whole lot easier.)
Claire’s backstory was intriguing – she was the member of an up-and-coming band when her boyfriend’s sudden illness caused her to miss a couple of gigs. The band found a fill-in singer and suddenly Claire was replaced, sending her into a tailspin. I wished that this part of the story had been focused on more, rather than it (mostly) being a plot device to force her to accept the playgroup gig.
I was enjoying getting to know all the women: their personal challenges, rivalries, and relationships. But then then things took an unexpected turn and got a little out-there at the end. Women’s fiction books with twists have become a huge thing and I’m not opposed, though I would have preferred that this stayed as just a friendship/motherhood story as I especially liked the relationship between Claire and Amara.
But overall I enjoyed this – it definitely has that Big Little Lies or Little Fires Everywhere vibe of dark doings among well-heeled parents.
Interested in buying this? Check out Bookshop – their price on this hardcover is the same as Amazon’swomen and your purchase benefits independent bookstores. Check out my Summer 2020 list (including this book) here!
Sorry, am going to have to shut comments off on this post for a bit – for some reason this post is receiving dozens and dozens of spam comments!
I really liked Amara and Claire too and I enjoyed getting to know all of the women. They all had their own problems to deal with that’s for sure. I’m glad you enjoyed this one!
Their relationship was the high point for me and I would have been happy if the book was mostly about that. The other stuff at the end was … interesting and a little out-there for me.
This cover made me think it was YA (I guess I didn’t see the baby bottle pin LOL). It sounds like some of the books that I used to read back in the day and wouldn’t mind getting back into. Great review!
I have seen a lot of posts lately about confusing covers and it’s true. YA, women’s fiction, romance – all the covers are starting to look alike!
I like women’s fiction but I don’t read much now because of how wacky they end up being. They build up this realistic plot then throw in all these zany things near the end.
Karen @ For What It’s Worth
Agree. In order for the twists not to be guessed, they have gotten pretty out-there.