How Perfect Is That

by Sarah Bird

Blythe Young—a wannabe Texas princess, a heroine as plucky, driven, and desperate as Vanity Fair ’s Becky Sharp—is plummeting precipitously from up- to downstairs, banging her head on every step of the Austin social ladder as she falls. Not unlike the country as a whole, Blythe has surrendered to a multitude of dubious moral choices and is now facing the disastrous bankruptcy, public humiliation, a teensy fondness for the pharmaceuticals, and no Pap smear for ten years. But worst of all, she is forced to move back into the fleabag co-op boardinghouse where she lived when she was a student at the University of Texas.

Though Blythe cares much more about the ravaged state of her nails, and how to get the ingredients for Code Warrior—Blythe’s proprietary blend of Stoli, Ativan, and Red Bull that keeps everything in focus—her soul is hanging in the balance. Only when she is in danger of losing the one friend who’s been her true moral center is she ready to face her sins and make amends.

And her penance is she must find a way to lure her former socialite friends into the tofu tenement she has been reduced to. Little does Blythe know that the ensuing collision between the pierced, tattooed, and dreadlocked inhabitants and the pampered, Kir-sipping socialites offers the only hope of finding a way out of her moral quagmire.

Funny, fast-paced, sharp-eyed, an old-fashioned morality tale with an appropriately twenty-first-century ending, How Perfect Is That is a comic triumph of a novel.

Genres: Chick Lit, Fiction, Book Club, Humor, Womens Fiction, Audiobook, Southern

320 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Sarah Bird is a bestselling novelist, screenwriter, essayist, and journalist who has lived in Austin, Texas since long before the city became internationally cool. She has published ten novels and two books of essays. Her eleventh novel, LAST DANCE ON THE STARLITE PIER--a gripping tale set in the secret world of the dance marathons of the Great Depression--will be released on April 12th.

Her last novel, DAUGHTER OF A DAUGHTER OF A QUEEN--inspired by the true story of the only woman to serve with the legendary Buffalo Soldiers--was named an All-time Best Books about Texas by the Austin American-Statesman; Best Fiction of 2018, Christian Science Monitor; Favorite Books of 2018, Texas Observer; a One City, One Book choice of seven cities; and a Lit Lovers Book Club Favorites.

Sarah was a finalist for The Dublin International Literary Award; an ALEX award winner; Amazon Literature Best of the Year selection; a two-time winner of the TIL’s Best Novel award; a B&N’s Discover Great Writers selection; a New York Public Libraries Books to Remember; an honoree of theTexas Writers Hall of Fame; an Amazon Literature Best of the Year selection; a Dobie-Paisano Fellowship; and an Austin Libraries Illumine Award for Excellence in Fiction winner. In 2014 she was named Texas Writer of the Year by the Texas Book Festival and presented with a pair of custom-made boots on the floor of the Texas Senate Chamber.

Sarah is a nine-time winner of Austin Best Fiction Writer award. She was recently honored with the University of New Mexico’s 2020 Paul Ré Award for Cultural Advocacy. In 2015 Sarah was one of eight winners selected from 3,800 entries to attend the Meryl Streep Screenwriters’ Lab. Sarah was chosen in 2017 to represent the Austin Public Library as the hologram/greeter installed in the Austin Downtown Library. Sarah was a co-founder of The Writers League of Texas.

She has been an NPR Moth Radio Hour storyteller; a writer for Oprah’s Magazine, NY Times Sunday Magazine and Op Ed columns, Chicago Tribune, Real Simple, Mademoiselle, Glamour, Salon, Daily Beast, Ladies Home Journal, Good Housekeeping, MS, Texas Observer; Alcalde and a columnist for years for Texas Monthly. As a screenwriter, she worked on projects for Warner Bros., Paramount, CBS, National Geographic, Hallmark, ABC, TNT, as well as several independent producers.

She and her husband enjoy open-water swimming and training their corgi puppy not to eat the furniture.

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disappointedly, I rate this 3.5 stars. When I first started it, I was ready to give it a full 5 stars (on the "for-what-it-is"shelf), because I was so dazzled by the slapstick + clever snark onrush. Bird is great at coming up with the perfect contemporary culture-laced descriptions and using them to skewer upper-crust Texas ladies and their satellites. The book can't keep up with its giddy beginning, though, and it bogs down during the long "Blythe grows a conscience and learns to be a good friend" middle section. There are a lot of entertaining secondary characters throughout, notably some of Blythe's ex-employees. I do wish fricking Millie didn't get so much page time. It's a good thing everyone in the book loves her so much, because for the reader she is a dead bore. The narrative perks back up briefly toward the end when the upper-crust ladies make a second appearance--I swear, these parts really made me laugh out loud--but has a head-scratcher of an unsatisfying (not to mention infuriating) ending.

EDIT--scratch that part about the head-scratcher of an unsatisfying ending...the audio "Playaway" device I used to experience this book was defective! It didn't contain the final chapter, which wraps everything up! Since no one else was complaining about the ending, I found the real book and looked it up. Whew. Thanks, Goodreads reviewers. Still only 3.5 stars, though.

[Nicolle M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 🌟if I could. Really enjoyed this one. The writing is witty and smart, the references made me feel young again and I can’t decide which of three friends to give this one to— as one is from Austin, one loves a good book, and the other could be the protagonist in another life. In my tops of books read this year.

[Claudia C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good satire of Austin lol

[Tay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fast-paced read with lots of Austin place-names. Entertaining with a lot of unlikeable characters, lol!

[Nely · Rating 4 out of 5]

Blythe Young has been given lemons... and has no idea how to make lemonade with them.

She was recently married to a very wealthy man and part of a well-known family, but sadly is now divorced and she made the mistake of signing a pre-nup. So she’s broke, wearing last years fashion, living in her friends pool-side cabin, and all while trying to maintain her socialite status but failing miserably. Her last chance is to cater an upscale garden party for one of her ritzy friends but that is a total disaster and the last step off the social ladder for her.

She’s bankrupt, being hounded by an IRS agent, and stalked by her irate employees who have not been paid for months, she has been publicly humiliated, and is addicted to pharmaceuticals (oh, and have I mentioned that she hasn’t had a Pap smear in ten years). Luckily for her she remembers a friend (the only one she can remember and whose calls she’s been ignoring) and runs to her for help. The only problem, her friend still resides in the same housing co-op she did back when they were in college. While residing amongst the tattooed, the pierced, the rasta-wannabe’s and the musically hip, she begins to face her sins and make amends for her behavior... but not without getting into all types of scrapes and scuffles along the way.

I thought this was hilarious! Blythe is a narrator you will not soon forget. Her story is one full of ups and downs but mostly one of hope. She gets herself into all types of wacky situations and is always in some type of trouble - even when she is trying to do something good it backfires on her. She is funny, sarcastic, witty and clever. All the other characters were quirky and unique and they were just tons of fun. The story is set in Austin, TX and from what I’ve read from other reviewers - the descriptions of Austin are very accurate and there is a lot of Austin-insider info were someone who is not from or has never been to Austin might not fully comprehend. That was definitely not the case with me and I do fall under the category of never been. This is a quick, easy read with an uplifting message that I would definitely recommend it.

[Bridget · Rating 5 out of 5]

Blythe Young has made some serious mistakes in her life and is on a dangerous downward spiral. She has lost all that was important to her. Her friends, her husband and worst of all, her status. She is now forced to work for her money and has a "the world owes me" attitude. With the IRS hot on her trail, how will she survive? She can't go home and she drugged her clients so she can't exactly ask for her check. Then a lightbulb appears and she realizes that she does have somewhere she can go. Her college roommate, Millie, who has a heart of gold will surely take her in. In her desperation she uses the only means she knows to get what she wants. She lies and sucks up. Will Millie take Blythe under her wing and show her the error of her ways or will Millie the saint become as frustrated and fed up with Blythe as everyone else seems to be?

I really enjoyed this book. If you have ever made a mistake or lost touch with someone important to you then you will be able to relate to Blythe in some way, shape, or form.

Thank you to Sarah from Pocket Books for sending me this book to review.

[Cher Johnson · Rating 1 out of 5]

There may be spoilers….? Someone I respect highly recommended this book, but while I found the language clever, I couldn't get past the unrelenting shallowness of the main character and the unlike-ability of almost everyone else. The selfish world of these Austin TX rich folks holds little appeal, and the recounting of the size of their mansions, plus the listing of the finest brands of material possessions that these people surround themselves with doesn't impress. The madcap adventures did not find me rooting for the "protagonist" to succeed with her lies as she plotted to fool everyone and get away with various criminal and/or mean escapades to save herself. I read some reviews and apparently there is some kind of redemption, but I'm too bored to keep reading. In real life I wouldn't want to spend a minute with these people.

[Mirabai · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was hoping this would be a rollickingly fun read, it certainly seemed like it would be: unscrupulous, fallen Austin socialite Blythe Young (born Chanterelle in an Abilene trailer park) finds herself the victim of all her own bad choices and without anywhere to go but her old college co-op. Can she re-constitute some semblance of a life worth living, or is she unredeemable? Two guesses.
Sarah Bird has always been a hoot and a half, and I needed a book that takes place w/in 100 miles of where I live for the 2017 Book Riot challenge, so this was supposed to be a fun time. Instead, the whole first third of the book was an anxiety-provoking read, with plenty of frustration thrown in over what an a-hole Blythe is (which is, of course the point) but fun? No. The next third is kinda boring, and only in the last third does the story pick up some steam.
Some have complained that there's a lot of unlikely, farfetched plot points in this, and they're not wrong. I do think Sarah Bird meant them in a wink-wink, this is ridiculous, but isn't it funny? way. Not meant to be taken too seriously. I mean, we're all aware we're reading a book of comic fiction, right?
I did like recognizing all the local places mentioned in the book, but 2.5 stars, rounded down because it just should have delivered more enjoyment.

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am generally a fan of Sarah Bird's books. This one, not so much. I almost stopped reading it because I really didn't like the main character. You would think you would feel sorry for a woman whose rich husband dumps her on the say-so of his mother, using the pre-nup to leave her bankrupt. And yet, the way she chooses to deal with the situation, running the gamut from lying, to cheating her event customers, to doing drugs, and drugging her customers at a party in the hope they won't notice she's substituted subpar food, is a turn off. As someone who has lived in and near Austin for years, the physical setting was well done, although not knowing any rich people, I can't really speak to the cultural setting she is describing. Luckily, as the book progressed I got more interested in her attempts to redeem herself. Still, I'm basically rounding up from 2.5 stars when I give it three. If you haven't read Sarah Bird before, I'd try another one first.

[Amy Knight · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being an Austin gal, and this being my second Bird book after Alamo House, it’s a fun bonus seeing local treasures and characters. For instance, guessing “Jaguar” is an homage to my old pal, “Larry the Leopard”? .... perhaps Danny is really Alejandro Escovedo? I really like her writing in a “Carla” Hiassen kinda way. Her character development is there and this does not disappoint on the variety scale. Someone should option for a girlfriend flick. Sarah Jessica as Blythe, anyone? Super fun beach read.

[Jenny · Rating 1 out of 5]

Clichéd. Overly reliant on melodrama and vulgarities. I borrowed this book from a friend, so I trusted her taste and forced myself to read 50 pages, which were truly awful. The characters are too simple, zero complexity, no subtleties. The next day I forced myself to read more, but I had to stop after page 100 because I could feel my brain cells dying. I think this deserves negative stars, but I’ll give it one star because my friend liked it.

[Malia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Abandoned book at the half way point. Characters were not likable and were poorly written. So many clichés poured out upon every character. They were so heavy laden with socialite and upper crust stereotypes I felt like I was reading a kid’s hate diary.

[Maggie · Rating 2 out of 5]

At least a dozen times I considered moving this book to my DNF list. I don't know why I didn't. There was so much catty, petty, vicious behaviour, and I just wasn't in the mood. Obviously the main character learned her lesson by the end, but I don't know if it was worth getting to that end.

[Pcox · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sounded much better than it turned out to be but maybe because it is dated.

[Claire Brom · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just a parade of incredibly surface skimming, unlikable characters.

[Deb Hallowell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Crazy story but a bit confusing

[Charles Matthews · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sarah Bird’s new novel is a Cinderella story. Although when it begins, her Cinderella has already married and divorced the Prince; she’s been booted from the palace not by her wicked stepmother but by her wicked mother-in-law. She has to return to the scullery, but she finds there the equivalent of a fairy godmother. And when another Prince comes along, she has some helpers, like the mice and birds of the Disney version, to prep her for the ball.

But in truth, Bird’s heroine, Blythe Young, is an anti-Cinderella. Her “trailer-trash tramp of a mother” had christened her Chanterelle – “in her single, solitary moment of maternal lyricism she had named her only child after a mushroom.” After graduating from the University of Texas at Austin when the dot-com bubble was at its most inflated, Blythe started a catering business called Wretched Xcess Event Coordination Extraordinaire. At one event, she caught the eye of the crown prince of Austin high society, Henry “Trey” Biggs-Dix the Third, whom she married, thereby surviving the bubble burst by riding in triumph into Bushworld.

Now, trying to make a comeback as a caterer after her divorce, she stages a garden party for one of her old socialite friends. But when the hostess discovers that Blythe is passing off taquitos from Sam’s Club as Petites Tournedos Béarnaise à la Mexicaine, she threatens to withhold payment. Whereupon Blythe spikes the party’s kir royales with Rohypnol.

Blythe has been fueling herself with her “proprietary blend of Red Bull, Stoli, Ativan, just the tiniest smidge of OxyContin, and one thirty-milligram, timed-released spansule of Dexedrine.” She’s up, she’s down, and – having slipped a mickey to the cream of Austin society – she’s out: of money and gas for her catering van. Moreover, the Internal Revenue Service is nipping at her heels because of her casual attitude toward her taxes. So she heads toward the only refuge that remains: her old college rooming house, the Seneca Falls Housing Co-op, now run by her former roommate, Millie Ott.

Blythe’s antithesis, altruistic Millie tends not only to the needs of Seneca House’s fringe-dwelling college students but also to various street people: homeless men, illegal-immigrant day workers, and panhandling runaway teens. With Blythe’s arrival, this secular saint meets the devil wearing Prada. (Actually, Blythe is decked out in her last remaining outfit, Zac Posen with Christian Louboutin shoes.)

And thus Blythe plummets – ascends? – from Bushworld into hippiedom, giving Bird a chance to gleefully skewer the denizens of both planes of Austin existence and serve them up as a satiric shish kabob. Readers of Bird’s novels know that she loves her misfits, and won’t be surprised that in the end, hippiedom wins out. Not to give anything away that the reader won’t see coming a mile off, this time it’s the fairy godmother who gets her prince while anti-Cinderella learns a few things about what really matters.

How Perfect Is That doesn’t have the range and depth of Bird’s best novel, The Yokota Officers Club, or the engaging exploration of a subculture found in her most recent one, The Flamenco Academy. It has to be said that her satiric target, the Bush-worshipping nouveaux riches, is as bloated as a blimp, and that Bird attacks it with a broadsword. The women all have names like Kippie Lee, Bamsie, Cookie, Blitz and Missy, and they vie with one another to see who can build the most extravagant mega-mansion in Pemberton Heights. Kippie Lee’s ideal is Becca Cason Thrash, whose 20,000-square-foot Houston house has 13 bathrooms, but her husband insisted on only four, whereupon “Kippie Lee split the difference and went for eight” and her husband started having an affair with his dental hygienist.

Topical satires usually wind up in the remainder bins, victims of creeping obsolescence. But How Perfect Is That takes note of the winds of change. The story begins in April 2003, a month before the declaration of “Mission Accomplished,” when Bush’s popularity was near its post-9/11 peak. But time wounds all heels, and by the end of the novel, even Kippie Lee and Bamsie are distancing themselves from the president: “We never really liked Bush anyway,” Bamsie confesses to Blythe. “Every Southern girl in the country knew a hundred frat guys just like Bush and every one of them was smarter and better looking.”

Bird’s snark is tempered with heart, and the tug of her plotting and the warmth of her characterization overcome the occasional heavy-handedness of the satire. Blythe is a splendid creation, a kind of Auntie Mame for the Internet age. Though How Perfect Is That isn’t perfect, it’s exactly what you’re looking for if you want an enjoyable summer read.

[Cinnamon · Rating 4 out of 5]

We’ve all heard the saying, “When you’re at the top, the only way to go is down.” Well, Blythe was at the top. She had it all: the perfect husband, the perfect house and money raining down around her. With nowhere else to go except plummeting off of her perfect cloud, Blythe’s life does just that. Now a divorcee, Blythe kicks herself constantly for signing that dratted prenuptial agreement and although her life is in shambles, it leads to some great laughs for the reader. HOW PERFECT IS THAT by Sarah Bird is a perfect summer read with drama, suspense and the perfect amount of gossip to fuel our fun-loving little hearts.

Blythe’s story is that of a ruined socialite. She had it all and then in the blink of an eye lost it all as well. Her catering business is now the only thing that is keeping her head above water and even that is plummeting to the ground. What’s a girl to do when her clients want pâté but refuse to pay her an advance to purchase the goods? Why, she makes it with Crisco, that’s what.

Living in a carriage house, Blythe is trying to survive and attempt to feed herself and her business. Only problem is that everyone keeps coming after her for money! Even her employees want to be paid now! Ha! With a cocktail of liquor and psychiatric medications keeping her going, Blythe must find some way to turn her life around and gain the ability to once again stand on her own two feet. Seeing her old friend Millie as her only escape, Blythe will run to her and beg sanctuary. Will Millie stand with Blythe through thick and thin or will Blythe’s escapades push Millie to the edge?

I thought HOW PERFECT IS THAT was absolutely hilarious. Bird does an amazing job of instilling realism and humor into her story in such a way that we don’t really question whether or not this could actually happen. Of course it can! Nobody could possibly be creative enough to make up Blythe and her odd ways of going through life…right? Bird’s creativity flows through the pages as we encounter events with Blythe that will both drop our jaws and have us rolling on the floor in laughter at the same time.

One of these moments for me was right near the beginning where Blythe decides that she must drug the people at the party she is catering so that they won’t realize how bad the food really is. That scene was unbelievable and hilarious at the same time. I felt horribly guilty for laughing, but how could you not? Bird’s writing makes you laugh, makes you feel. I absolutely loved that about the book and I imagine that anyone else with a tender spot for stories that make you feel something would love this as well.

For a quick, fun, summer read I was expecting good characters but fairly shallow depictions. Instead, I found that Bird’s main characters were very well developed with multiple layers of complexity. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times. This adds depth to the story and acts as another handhold for the brain to attach to. Through the characters, we were more able to fully dive into the story and become one with Blythe. Due to her mishaps, this wasn’t always pleasant, but being able to feel that connection with a character in a story was fantastic.

HOW PERFECT IS THAT was a lovely book with wonderful characters and a good deal of tension to pull the reader in. I loved the story and I believe my rating should reflect that. I would highly recommend this to anyone looking for some good women's fiction, a nice summer read or just something different to carry the mind away. This was a fun story, an emotional story and a great work of fiction by author Sarah Bird.

[Isalys B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Blythe Young, the daughter of a white-trash biker mama, climbed the ranks of Austin's elite by marrying rich - very rich. However, thanks to her monster-in-law, she's forced into a divorce, falls from grace and falls hard! She finds herself broke, destitute, and a socialiate outcast. She attempts to keep up pretenses as an Event Coordinator to Austin's bluebloods but her world as she knew it starts to crumble after the IRS is within minutes of slapping handcuffs on her. She has no choice but to run to her old college BFF for help.

Millie takes her in with open arms, but her troubles are far from over. Here she encounters a whole new cast of characters of which most are ex-employees and are not members of the "Blythe Young Fan Club". They want nothing more than to see her tossed out on her sorry hide. Despite her poor state of affairs and Millie being the kind-hearted & generous person that she is, she insists on helping Blythe...but Blythe cannot bring herself to be totally honest with her. Before she knows it, she is on the verge of losing the one person that truly cares for her.

This book has been one of the most witty, sarcastic and cleverly written books that I've read this year :) The characters are incredibly colorful and the dialogue is downright funny. Blythe is a narrator you won't soon forget! She is cheerfully optimistic that if she can somehow avert her problems long enough, they'll just "go away". She soon learns that dodging bullets isn't the way to fix your problems or redeem yourself.

I have to admit that Blythe did annoy me at times because she wasn't the independent, self-sufficient person I wanted her to be. She was kind of whiny and had the whole "woe is me" attitude going on. However, those attitudes were part of her growing pains.

This is more than a chick-lit - this is a story of self-awareness, forgiveness, redemption, and friendship!

[drey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Blythe, Blythe, Blythe. How I wanted to step into the story to smack you upside the head... Alas, that cannot be, and you went on your merry way, leaving chaos in your wake.

How Perfect is That is a frothy little concoction of Blythe's misadventures in the world of pretending-to-be-rich (if not famous). She manages to marry into money, but is thrown back out on the curb (the why of it isn't quite explained). Her "friends" are ignoring her--or worse, gossiping about her. Her employees are staging a mutiny because they haven't been paid. Her car has been repossessed. She doesn't have anywhere to live. And somehow (this isn't explained either) the IRS is looking for her. But does Blythe give up & go away? No. Instead, she's trying to hang on to her (pre-divorce) life by the tips of her fingernails. After all, she can't go from wearing Zac Posen, to Wal-Mart couture, can she?

So Blythe does what she does best--fake it. And when she's caught, she runs to the only person she can think of who can still stand her (maybe). Millie was Blythe's college roommate, and she's one of those people who would help you no matter what--her heart's just that big. She takes Blythe in, and Blythe repays her kindness by bringing her personal blend of chaos into Millie's life.

When Blythe's actions threaten the very existence of the boarding house and spells the end of Millie's community endeavors, everyone is up in arms, and Blythe's last refuge may just spit her back out to the curb. She finally grows up enough to recognize that she can help them out of the hole she's dug, even if she has to grovel for the chance to do it.

How Perfect is That is frothy, yes. It is also a journey in recognizing that life doesn't revolve around what you want it to, and the choices that you make ultimately define the person you are.

[Rebekah · Rating 1 out of 5]

What I get for choosing a book by it’s cover, or an audiobook to be specific. Blythe Young puts the shopaholic to shame in her self absorption. Of course it all works out for the world and not perfectly for her as she still will need some more redemption to earn a love life, but sheesh how hard could a girl fall and how nobel is the power of a righteous woman.
Blythe is the anti-Christ and Millie Ott is the saint sent to fix her. Things are smoothed over as to how the 4 employees who are desperate for her to pay them don’t loose their jobs or rooms in the boarding house. I love that she conveniently forgot she led them to her old boarding house and the last real haven she has making it far from safe for her.
This novel was insane. I believe a woman can fall this far from reality. I just in my current cynical state don’t think that she can suddenly get folks to back her absolutely crazy stunt that ‘saves the day’. Far fetched is almost to mild a way to put it. It is almost in the fantasy realm. Her charisma being a magic power she has over people.
The reader was interesting. I liked her smooth voice for millie, but I noticed Blythe’s tone took on those qualities as she started taking on some of Millie’s work, exposing I suppose the transformation we are supposed to believe in.
I don’t think I liked it a whole lot. I don’t think I will look up the authors other works. Right now it was just something to fill the time that frustrated me to no end. I just don’t like leaving narratives unfinished.

[Holly Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love books that have a healthy dose of high fashion. This gem of a book delivers the red soled pumps and the couture closet every girl dreams of. Unfortunately the leading lady, Blythe Young, manages to lose everything when her slimy husband dumps her with no notice and kicks her out of the mansion with nothing more than what she could carry. Having signed a pre-nup, she is stuck with no friends, no money, and a very bruised ego.

Powering through on the drug cocktail of champions, she tries to keep her once thriving event planning business afloat by throwing one last ditch effort of a tea party to impress her former friends. Unfortunately nothing goes as planned, and she ends up on the run from the IRS and quite possibly the DEA.

With nowhere to go and no money in her pocket, she ends up going back to where she started, her old stomping grounds at college. Her old friend Millie is still living at the Seneca House, she is a den mother of sorts. Blythe had stopped talking to her bosom buddy when she struck it rich, and is pleasantly surprised to find that her old friend holds no grudges and wants to extend the olive branch.

Blythe manages to wreak havoc in the house, and because of that she might not be able to stay. Having to move back to the college slums has given her a new lease on life, she has to decide what makes her happy and what she wants to gain out of life, but luckily she has the help of her friend Millie.

A little bit of romance and a lot of backstabbing keep this book interesting. Check it out! If you liked Girls in Trucks, you will love this book.

[Shari · Rating 4 out of 5]

Blythe Young was recently married to a very wealthy man and part of a well-known family, but sadly is now divorced and she made the mistake of signing a pre-nup.

So she's broke, wearing last years fashion, living in her friends pool-side cabin, and all while trying to maintain her socialite status but failing miserably. Her last chance is to cater an upscale garden party for one of her ritzy friends but that is a total disaster and the last step off the social ladder for her.

She's bankrupt, being hounded by an IRS agent, and stalked by her irate employees who have not been paid for months, she has been publicly humiliated, and is addicted to pharmaceuticals (oh, and have I mentioned that she hasn't had a Pap smear in ten years). Luckily for her she remembers a friend (the only one she can remember and whose calls she's been ignoring) and runs to her for help. The only problem, her friend still resides in the same housing co-op she did back when they were in college. While residing amongst the tattooed, the pierced, the rasta-wannabe's and the musically hip, she begins to face her sins and make amends for her behavior... but not without getting into all types of scrapes and scuffles along the way.
i copied this review as it seemed pretty apropo. totally silly-yet completely amusing-vacation-beach read?

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Post Listen Review: This started out with a bang, with a spectacular and dizzying downfall of a woman who used to be ultra wealthy until her husband dumped her. Listening her try to frantically dodge the IRS, convince society women that Cream of Wheat was gourmet food and generally tool around taking pulls of an insane mix of alcohol, caffeine and drugs. For that portion of the book I would say the author was perhaps as funny as David Sedaris or Nick Hornby. The bad news is that the main character grows a conscience and learns to be a better person. And that got boring. I preferred the maniacal frantic farcical nature of the beginning to the guilt stricken, trying to make ammends character of the end. Don't get me wrong, I want people to grow and learn from their mistakes but in this book it was funnier withuot that. Still there were several funny one liners that a lot of people might be able to relate to. Some of my favorites were, "I could have survived a bubble, but did it have to be filled with swamp gas?" and "Nothing you can do can possibly be as bad as what the ultra wealthy are doing right now to screw you." that last one was paraphrased but you get the point.

Pre-Listen Guess: I really hope that the claims on the back of this book that this author is as funny as David Sedaris or Nick Hornby turn out to be true.

[Lana. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Do not be alarmed... well, o.k. be a little alarmed. Blythe Young, a youngish Texas woman who madly clings to her spot in high society after she's been divorced from her rich / upper class husband, is spiralling out of control.

Her attempts to get out of debt by running a corners-cut catering business to her former friends - to hold on to the little power and influence she has - is further complicated when she's chased into hiding by the IRS.

If not the fact this was an audio book and I was winter-proofing my windows, I might not have gotten further. I mean, it was almost too sad to be hearing about this label-dropping, self-centred, manipulative, drugged up, woman going a bit crazy. I didn't like her, and wasn't really sure to laugh or cry.

But things began to change: She's offered sanctuary from her old best friend at her old university house - and while it's a far cry from where she wants to be, it ends up being just what she needs.

I do end up laughing, because Blythe is pretty witty (dissecting flaws of high society, and spinning [almost] everyone around her finger) once she's sober.

Definitely a fun one - but you have to get past the original distaste.

[Amy]

Reviewed this one for Library Journal:

Verdict: Bird’s latest novel (The Flamenco Academy; The Yokota Officers Club) is a rollicking, laugh-out-loud funny story. The plot stretches credulity at times, but the characters are sharply drawn, the dialog is dead-on, and the sense of place is pitch-perfect. Highly recommended for all libraries.

Background: Blythe Young is an admitted schemer and scammer who went from trailer park biker mama to wife of a scion of Austin society. After her mother-in-law kicks her out of the family for being just too NOKD (Not Our Kind, Dear), Blythe struggles to make ends meet and keep appearances up with her former neighbors. It all falls apart spectacularly during a garden party involving Sam’s Club appetizers, Rohypnol, disgruntled cater-waiters, and a determined IRS agent. She ends up back at the flophouse she occupied in college, where an old friend has now become a house mother of sorts. From there, she and the people around her begin a rocky road to self-discovery and happiness.

http://www.libraryjournal.com/article...

[Jennifer Defoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was hilarious. I laughed almost from the first word all the way through. And while I couldn't connect with Blythe on a personal level it was entertaining to try and find reason in her messed up logic. She's been cast aside from her once glamorous life and is trying to wide a wave that has long left shore. While she can't seem to realize it, all of her problems are her fault, not her ex-husband or his "evil" mother.

Her look on life is a bit disheartening and I can't say I want to trade places with her, however seeing what she comes up with is hilarious. From the Ruffies to the tandem recumbent bike to the "off label" spa clinic this book just kept me laughing. There are so many moments when I was thinking she's screwed now, but somehow she comes up with something.

I know I keep mentioning how funny this book was, but I couldn't stop laughing. Even when I was talking to my bf about what was happening in the book he would chuckle. It's a great pick me up, cause if you feel like you have nothing well Blythe has even less, and she's making due (kind of). It's good chick lit and it was a pretty quick read.

[Hallie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very odd book. I love Sarah Bird's snarky sense of humour most of the time, and this one, about Austin, Texas super-rich socialites, seemed as if it would be a favourite. But Blythe is a very hard protag to like, and even though that's the point, it gets pretty painful to read at times.

Blythe is a divorced (not just taken to the cleaners, but to the taxidermist, as she says) events planner, who scams, lies and cheats in order to convince her former 'friends' that she's still wealthy and connected enough to matter. But even serving rufies in her last event isn't enough to save her position when the tax man almost catches her. Once she goes to stay in her old university boarding house, with her annoyingly saintly friend Millie (and a few other characters she's even less pleased to see living there), I found it harder to read again. Lying to other amoral, mercenary social climbers is one thing, but lying to Millie, even though she is a bit of a pain, is quite another.

For all the black-and-white depiction of Austin life didn't seem as spot-on as in other of Bird's books, there were some hilarious scenes and a suitably bittersweet ending.

[January · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh this book. I'm reading two heavy nonfiction books right now also, and try as I might, and as much as I'm enjoying them, I need breaks from nonfiction! So this weekend I picked up this book, which apparently I had reserved after reading a review? I usually love reading tales of "Southern High Society, " and all the fashion, food, homes - all the stuff. They are things I will never have and don't want, but it is a very entertaining world. (There is a lot of New York Chick Lit that deals with the super rich too, good times) But I digress :) Unfortunately the character in this book was a little too annoying. The author makes a good point after when she states how often a female character has to be "likable" or "redeemable" and I see that. But you knew she would redeem herself somehow, it was just a matter of when. And for my taste, Blythe stayed too catty for too long before she suddenly had her transformation - change comes in small doses; this was too sudden/ too late. I did enjoy the ending, and the supporting characters ; but overall I waited too long to enjoy the book, if that makes sense. Ah, back to race relations and processed food!

[Kristin (Kritters Ramblings) · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well, I read this book for the GoodReads Challenge for a Second Chance - read a book by an author to give them a second chance.

Well - my first run in with Sarah Bird was The Alamo House. I didn't enjoy the language she used in that book for the chick lit plotline it had - so I picked up How Perfect is That to give her a second chance.
After reading How Perfect is That, I will not be giving Bird another chance. Again she used words that didn't fit the story. This book took us back to the same sorority house on UT campus with a completely different story. I enjoyed the story itself, but I had a very different hesitation to the book.
There were some parts of the plotline that I thought could have been left out. One that sticks out in my mind is the excessive drugs and drinking - it was beyond control and it just didn't fit. I felt like it could have been toned down or completely cut out

So I would not pass this book along to my friends or foes.