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Release date: May 1, 2018

Publisher: Atria/Emily Bestler

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Blurb:

Allison Brinkley—wife, mother, and former unflappable optimist—discovers that a carefully weighed decision to pack up and move her family from suburban Dallas to the glittery chaos of Manhattan may have been more complicated than she and her husband initially thought.

Allison learns that New York is unruly and bewildering, defying the notions she developed from romantic movies and a memorable childhood visit. After a humiliating call from the principal’s office and the loss of the job she was counting on, Allison begins to accept that New York may not suit her after all.

When Allison has a fender-bender, witnessed by a flock of mothers at her son’s new school, she is led to the penthouse apartment of a luxurious Central Park West building and encounters a spoiled, hungover, unsupervised teenager who looks familiar. It doesn’t take long to recognize him as Carter Reid—a famous pop star who has been cast in a new Broadway musical. Through this brush with stardom, Allison embraces a unique and unexpected opportunity that helps her find her way in the heart of Manhattan.

In a book that delivers laughs, warmth, and delightful wish fulfillment, Poeppel dives into celebrity culture and modern motherhood with her trademark style.

Review:

Ahhh I loved this book SO much, it seriously surprised me by just how much I enjoyed it and I don’t even know why. I’ve had Small Admissions sitting on my bookshelf for over a year and now I’m so frustrated with myself for not reading it sooner. Amy Poeppel nailed every single aspect of this book, and I wholeheartedly did not want it to end!

Allison is my new fictional BFF, I could not get enough of her from the moment I read the first chapter. She’s gutsy, witty, caring and a little crazy but she’s real. She has three kids and they were so honestly depicted as well, I mean what teenager today doesn’t curse inappropriately at the worst possible time? Or what young boy doesn’t develop a fascination with the female anatomy at some point? #Truth Carter is the mega pop star that Allison finds herself working for and though they’re an unlikely duo, I loved Allison’s tactics in dealing with him. He’s a pompous, self absorbed jerk, a womanizing party animal, (Think Justin Bieber, maybe even worse) and she treated him no differently than one of her own kids, and this made for some hilarious moments and fantastic scenes.

I love reading books about celebrities (real or fictional) and Poeppel gave me the best of both worlds by including both. The behind the scenes look at Broadway was everything, admittedly I know absolutely nothing about the backstage life of a play but everything she created rang true, it was super authentic and believable to me. So much so in fact that I had to stop myself from checking to see how much tickets are to see Limelight.

I can’t say enough good things about this book, it really had it all for me. I wondered if I would be disappointed by the ending but Poeppel kept things real and there wasn’t some unrealistic, happy ever after conclusion, which was awesome because that wouldn’t have worked well here and the way she handled things was perfection.

Limelight in three words: Savvy,

Modern and Sparkling.

Overall rating: 5/5

Thanks to the publisher for my review copy.