The Trouble with Lexie

April 15, 2016
If the protagonist of Blau's previous novel (The Wonder Bread Summer, 2013, etc.) saved all her bad decision-making for adulthood, she might look like the titular Lexie. The prologue shows readers exactly where they're headed: Lexie James, on a booze-and-Klonopin bender, is discovered sleeping in her lover's marital bed. While this opening drama will rope audiences in quickly, Blau's hand-tipping ruins a lot of chances for potential suspense. Or possibly not, since the cheating relationship at the heart of the novel is so textbook ill-fated that it would be hard to sympathize with Lexie's runaway passion in either case. Lexie is, ironically (though the irony is lost on her), a counselor for privileged high schoolers at a ritzy boarding school in Massachusetts, and her lover is one of the lead benefactors of the school, Daniel Waite. Besides being a skilled adulterer, Daniel is also the father of Lexie's favorite student, making for a very tangled web. Before she meets him, it seems that Lexie finally has it made with her sweet job, sweet fiance (who handcrafts guitars for a living), and physical distance from her disastrous childhood in California. Frequent dips into Lexie's past reveal an uninvolved-then-gone father and a self-involved career waitress mother who mocks Lexie for any achievement and kicks her out of the house when she's 15 to make room for a new boyfriend. But the real trouble with Lexie is that she doesn't quite add up. Too much time is spent on the past with not enough bearing on the present. Tidbits are always being thrown out about her--her childhood sucked, she's vain, she lets her phone's Yahtzee app make decisions for her--without ever harmonizing into a realized character. Pushed to a bigger extreme, the novel might have hit a more humorous note. It's a book balanced on thin devices, but Blau is almost as unsparing about Lexie as she is with the other characters, and her pacing is good. Anyone in the market for discount thrills will find them here.

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June 15, 2016

Lexie James, school counselor at the elite Ruxton Academy, is happily engaged and has put her dysfunctional childhood and panic attacks behind her. Life is just how she wants it: stable. Then she meets Daniel, father of one of her favorite students. He is married, but their attraction is so strong that they quickly enter into an affair consisting of secret meetings, overnights, and weeklong breaks at his lake house. Daniel constantly reassures her that he and his wife are separated, and Lexie falls into his trap, going so far as to break it off with her fiance. Lexie is a bit shallow, pops too many Klonapin, and behaves unprofessionally (and mainly gets away with it), but readers may overlook those behaviors in favor of the heat between her and Daniel. Combine that with a crazy and twisted ending and readers will be gasping by the last page. VERDICT While somewhat predictable, Blau's latest (The Summer of Naked Swim Parties; The Wonder Bread Summer) will be a hit with chick lit fans and those who enjoy beach reads filled with f-bombs, sex, and more.--Erin Holt, Williamson Cty. P.L., Franklin, TN

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2016

This trade paperback original from the author of The Wonder Bread Summer features Lexie James, a counselor at an unbearably exclusive New England prep school who's conquered a rough childhood and panic attacks and is happily engaged...until she encounters the smoldering stare of her favorite student's father. With a 75,000-copy first printing.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.