IT'S GETTING HOT IN HERE

A 47-year-old Manchester woman faces a bevy of problems.

Professionally, Lisa Darling is a success. She works as an executive at a Netflix-style streaming service, developing new shows for her best friend, Rose Riley, who’s in the scheduling department. Her personal life, though, is messy and out of control. She’s bearing the brunt of parenting her two sons, 10-year-old Jacob and 15-year-old Leo, since her ex-husband is too busy with his cycling club and new girlfriend. She’s overextended herself volunteering for the PTA at Jacob’s school. And between perimenopause and her execrable taste in men, she’s sworn off dating. When Rose takes a leave of absence from work to continue her cancer treatments, Lisa is supportive but also worried about Zach Russo, the Los Angeles–based television executive who’s going to replace her. Zach’s ex-wife is a Manchester native who’s moved back temporarily to care for her ill father, and Zach follows along because he can’t bear to be away from their 4-year-old daughter. Lisa and Zach clash at their first meeting when he puts the brakes on a series that she wants to greenlight. The truly witty banter between these two when they’re sparring is a highlight of the novel. After Zach apologizes for his brusque treatment, he and Lisa begin an amicable friendship which eventually turns romantic. Like Lisa herself, the novel struggles to keep all its plates spinning. Lisa and Zach can never finish a date or romantic interlude without a phone call interrupting them, but it starts to feel like lazy plotting rather than the truly organic evolution of a relationship. Instead, Lisa’s reactions and attempts to parent Leo, who is experimenting with vaping and drinking, drive most of the plot. The novel wraps up with pat resolutions for every problem, no matter how chronic or complex.

Humorous but insubstantial, even though it tackles weighty topics.