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Book Description

After a whirlwind overseas romance, down-home girl Claire Stark has moved to her new husband's hometown-Hunting Hills, Ohio, where the men earn seven fi gures, the women wear a size two, and if everything isn't absolutely perfect, you're expected to pretend it is.

Claire's having trouble pretending, though. For one thing, John's ex still lives here-and with all the bed-hopping in Hunting Hills, she may not be Claire's only potential rival. Claire also misses her reporting career, but John isn't thrilled with the idea of her working at the local paper. She might just have to be satisfied mingling with the Hunting Hills moms, who like to borrow their daughters' Seven jeans and their sons' Ritalin.

That is, until scandal rocks the stylish fa?ade of this exclusive gated community-and behind the salon highlights and sunlamp tans, true colors start shining through.

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From Publishers Weekly

Strohmeyer (Bubbles Unbound) delivers a tart-tongued if predictable tale of sex outside the city. Newlywed and former reporter Claire Stark may have once braved battle-ravaged Bosnia, but nothing could prepare her for warfare among the wealthy in Hunting Hills, Ohio, where she and her bookish stockbroker husband, John Harding, move after their whirlwind romance. The ravishing but socially awkward redhead from West Virginia must learn to navigate a landscape populated by 21st-century Stepford wives who think nothing of slipping between the sheets with the husbands of their best friends. Claire thinks she's found an ally in Marti Denton, who's willing to show her the ropes (Hunting Hills wives have rules to live by, after all, including "Remember that the more you buy, the more your husband values you!"). But Marti, whose marriage is on the rocks, has an agenda of her own. Betrayal, indiscretions and white-collar crime suffuse this sly offering from Agatha Award–winner Strohmeyer, who renders a wry cast of characters, from silicone-pumped, amphetamine-addicted social climber Lisa to Joriko, a half-Japanese, half-Swedish personal trainer with curious healing gifts. This is wicked, frothy fun, even if the ending is a bit over-the-top. Life may be steamy in the metropolis, but it's just as bawdy in the burbs.

From Booklist

Perfectly timed to ride the wave of Desperate Housewives-mania comes a sharply sardonic tale of suburban sex-capades, social snobbery, and stock swindles from the author of the effervescent Bubbles mystery series. In the tony Cleveland suburb of Hunting Hills, where absurdly wealthy executives ensconce their couturier-clad wives in opulent McMansions and supply them with platinum AmEx cards, there are rules for wifely behavior that have nothing on the Ten Commandments. Trophy wives happily commit adultery and covet their neighbors with style and aplomb. As queen of this realm of riches, Marti Denton reigns supreme. Only one thing eludes her--the oh-so-sexy John Harding--and Marti isn't about to let a little thing like John's recent marriage to the mousy Claire or her own rocky marital state stand in the way. The mordantly observant Strohmeyer skewers the lifestyles of the rich and fatuous with spot-on irony, painting her pretentious socialites with broad, sarcastic strokes in an uproarious, upscale, tongue-in-cheek tour de force.

Carol Haggas

Book Dimension

length: (cm)20.2 　　　 　　　　　 　　　　　 width:(cm)13.5