BOOK REVIEW: Trophy Life by Lea Geller @lrgeller @amazonpub @suzyapbooktours #blogtour #lakeunionpublishing #trophylife

Uniquely authentic, laugh-out-loud, rejuvenating, and with depth and heart that just warms the soul, Lea Geller’s Trophy Life is that rare novel that spans from light to emotional and back within a single scene. I absolutely loved this book!

About the Book

A refreshingly honest, laugh-out-loud novel about losing the life you always wanted…and finding the life you were meant to have.

For the last ten years, Agnes Parsons’s biggest challenge has been juggling yoga classes and lunch dates. Her Santa Monica house staff takes care of everything, leaving Agnes to focus on her trophy-wife responsibilities: look perfect, adore her older husband, and wear terribly expensive (if uncomfortable) underwear.

When her husband disappears, leaving Agnes and their infant daughter with no money, no home, and no staff, she is forced to move across the country, where she lands a job teaching at an all-boys boarding school in the Bronx. So long, organic quinoa bowls and sunshine-filled California life. Hello, processed food, pest-infested house, and twelve-year-old-boy humor—all day, every day.

But it’s in this place of second chances (and giant bugs), where Agnes is unexpectedly forced to take care of herself and her daughter, where she finds out the kind of woman she can be. Ultimately, she has to decide if she prefers the woman and mother she has become…or the trophy life she left behind.

Authentic and sharply witty, Trophy Life is proof that granny panties and mom coats might not be the answer to everything; they’re simply comfortable (if slightly unattractive) reminders of what happens when one life ends…and real life begins.

Reflection

This book blended these emotional raw scenes with fantastically humorous commentary, giving it a lot of depth that you may not have guessed at when looking at the cover. It projects rom-com, and it has some elements of that. But don’t mistake this book for any sort of a love story. This is a story of a woman realizing who she is as a person, a wife, a mother, and a friend.

At the beginning of the novel, Agnes is in her charmed life in California. She really has it all! A great husband whom she has fantastic sex with, sunny California weather, organic food, a sweet daughter, and two full-time staff that help with the majority of the child care, cooking, and cleaning.

But Agnes is not necessarily who you think she is. She isn’t spoiled or entitled. Agnes’s parents died when she was young, and she grew up with no money, no family, and no stability.  It is no wonder that when Agnes meets Jack, she loves the stability of their life! She knows what others think of her, but she also knows that she likes the life she has. She never wants herself or her daughter to go hungry like she did as a child.

But when Jack disappears, Agnes is forced to step out of her comfort zone. All the way to the Bronx where she teaches English at an all-boys private school. These boys are on their last chance though. This is a last resort school for them, and they need to straighten up if they hope to get into high school.

I absolutely loved seeing the story of Agnes and the boys she grew to love unfold. I laughed out loud at her underwear hijinks—she’d only worn thongs for Jack and now she has the luxury of buying the biggest underwear she can find! I got frustrated along with her when the demands placed on her to discipline the boys go too far. And I teared up when she missed her husband or fought with her best friend or had a touching moment where she got through to a student.

This is a book at its core about finding out who you are. Agnes is on a road to self-discovery, and I’ll admit there were a few wrong-turns along the way. I wanted to scream at her how to do the right thing! But what I loved most about Lea Geller’s novel was that she boldly allowed Agnes to be entirely flawed. To sometimes be too weak to do the right thing, or to miss the comfortable life she had when times were tough. Agnes at times was unlikeable, and other times she was so loveable I wanted to reach through the pages and hug her! But at all moments, Agnes was a very authentic character.

Thank you to Suzy for my spot on the book tour! This book is on sale now.