The Seven Year Bitch - ISBNLookup.com

Kirkus Reviews

Successful Manhattan Mom's best-laid plans go haywire after she loses her Wall Street job. Getting laid off is bad enough, but financial planner Isolde Brilliant finds it particularly galling that she will now have to spend more time with husband Russell. Brutally honest and a little outrageous-she loves the smell of her baby son's dirty diapers and dreams of sex with the grim reaper-Isolde has grown increasingly disillusioned with marriage. Russell, a hapless man-child ambivalent about fatherhood, runs a tiny, unprofitable publishing business out of their Tribeca apartment and has no qualms about his wife footing the bill for their lifestyle. On the day their son Duncan turns one, she catches him telling one of his authors that having a child was a mistake and joking about suicide. That same week her nanny quits, forcing her to find a replacement quickly, while she decides on her next career move. She hires Shashti, an illegal Guyanese immigrant who is married but unhappily childless at age 40. Isolde takes it upon herself to get Shashti pregnant, sending (and treating) her nanny to the expensive OB-GYN she used to birth Duncan. Not surprisingly, the lines between employee and employer blur, as Isolde begins to wonder if interfering in enigmatic Shashti's life is really a good idea. Enter Gabe Weinrib, a handsome, quirky multimillionaire from her past who has decided that, married or not, Izzy is the woman for him. She's mightily tempted, wondering if Gabe is the love of her life, a love she would be foolish to let slip away. The fact that Russell comes across as a total putz should make Isolde's ultimate decision a little easier, but an unexpected development complicates everything.Belle (Little Stalker, 2007, etc.) has once again invented a hilarious heroine, one who manages to be far more memorable than the plot.

Publishers Weekly

Welcome to not-so-happily-ever-after. Soon-to-be-40 Izzy just lost her Wall Street job, has a husband who runs a struggling publishing operation from their apartment, a year-old son, and a growing suspicion she's living life in captivity. “It's not that you get a seven-year itch,” divorced pal Joy confides. “It's that they turn you into a seven-year bitch.” And so Izzy goes all in, railing at hubby Russell; becoming involved in her son's nanny's quest to get pregnant; lusting after the rich, handsome guy who got away; and discovering her own heart thanks to her uncommon new job: judging promotional contest essays for 25 cents each. Belle's (Little Stalker) smart and hilariously ridiculous paean to love, marriage, and a baby carriage proves you can't always get what you want and you rarely get what you need, but you always get to choose. There are plenty of laugh-out-loud moments that come uncomfortably close to the truth about less-than-perfect relationships, which helps salvage an ending wrapped just a little too tight. Still, style and wit count, and on that, Belle doesn't disappoint. (May)

Library Journal

When Isolde "Izzy" Brilliant loses her financial sector job, she's delighted—now she can be a stay-at-home mom to her toddler son. That is, if your idea of a SAHM means having a full-time nanny while you cavort around Manhattan. Her marriage is failing, she can't decide whether she would rather be working, so she throws herself into helping to get her new Caribbean nanny pregnant (to the tune of thousands of dollars, all paid for without Izzy's husband's knowledge) and tiptoes around the possibility of an affair with a jet-setting businessman who wins her financial services at a silent auction. VERDICT While there are some funny moments, the self-centered characters and unpleasant situations make this an uncomfortable read for anyone looking for lighthearted motherhood fiction, and it's simply not fun enough for chick lit or Sex in the City fans. Purchase only if there is demand for the author's works (Going Down, the best seller High Maintenance, and Little Stalker).—Rebecca Vnuk, Forest Park, IL