Nancy's Review of Magnolia Wednesdays by Wendy Wax

Wendy Wax's Magnolia Wednesdays tells the story of Vivien, a forty-one year old investigative journalist, and Melanie, Vivien's widowed sister who owns a ballroom dance studio. When Vivien loses her job and finds out she is pregnant, she decides to leave New York to stay with Melanie in the suburbs of Atlanta. She takes a low paying job with the Weekly Encounter to write a column called Postcards from Suburbia under a pseudonym. Vivien does not tell Melanie that she is pregnant, writing a negative column about suburban life, or that she is investigating the case of Melanie's deceased husband. Vivien struggles to keep these secrets while she becomes more and more involved in Melanie's life and the lives of Melanie's teenage children, Shelby and Trip. The story also focuses on two of Melanie's dance students, Ruth and Angela.

Magnolia Wednesdays is an enjoyable read. It is great to read a book that depicts a group of women bonding and supporting each other rather than backstabbing. Even though there is some conflict between Ruth and Vivien, they all become a close group of friends. It is also nice to see the range in age of the female characters. The author wrote genuine dialogue from Shelby to Ruth, despite the vast age difference. It is fun reading how Vivien becomes such an important part of Melanie's life again and how much they really need each other. However, when the story is told from Angela's point of view, it becomes boring. She is not as necessary as the other main characters. Also, the lack of more scenes with Stone, the father of Vivien's child, is disappointing. He seems like a fun character and a really genuine guy, so other readers will most likely wish for more of him. Since the point-of-view changes mid-scene in some chapters, there are some minor issues with the flow, making it confusing to follow at times. Despite these issues, there are a lot of great aspects to this book. Readers will enjoy the friendships between very different women who discover that they have more in common than they initially thought.

Wendy Wax is also the author of 7 Days and 7 Nights, Leave It to Cleavage, Hostile Makeover, Single in Suburbia, and The Accidental Bestseller. She lives in Atlanta with her husband and two sons. To learn more about Wendy and her books, please visit http://www.authorwendywax.com.

Have you read any of Wendy's books? What do you think of her work? Post a comment to let us know. Thanks!