Review: The Woman Who is Always Tan...

Summary: The overprotective PTA mom who needs to be resuscitated after she finds out her son's been fed a hotdog....The couple who sends out the annual holiday letter about how their little Timmy invented an alternative to fossil fuels—while the rest of us are still struggling to replace the lint catcher in our dryer.

Readers will encounter these familiar characters in Lauren Allison and Lisa Perry's laugh-out-loud compendium THE WOMAN WHO IS ALWAYS TAN AND HAS A FLAT STOMACH. No one is off limits as Allison and Perry take on soccer moms, video dads, rabid gardeners, and "perfect" couples in this collection of short, sardonic essays. Everyday moms and dads will laugh out loud and sigh with relief at these blisteringly funny send-ups of the most annoying over-achievers around! - hatchette book group usa

THE WOMAN WHO IS ALWAYS TAN AND HAS A FLAT STOMACH: and Other Annoying People by Lauren Allison and Lisa Perry is a pretty funny book. I wasn't sure that I was going to like it because I don't read a lot of humor, but I found myself chuckling at quite a few of the essays. I even found myself laughing out loud at many of the essay titles. For example: "The Woman Who Has a Better Way to do Everything (Like Make Jell-O) and Wants You to Know It," "The Husband Who Doesn't Notice When His Wife Redecorates the Living and Dining Rooms," and "The Husband Who Has a Cold but Believes It's Malaria" were especially amusing to me.

There are 50 essays in this book mainly poking fun at perfect people; however, there are some stories about other annoying types of people too. A few of the chapters almost seemed as if I could have written them. There is one called "The Husband Who Spends Thirty Minutes Taking a Picture of Jasmine at Disney World" that was a little too close to home for me. Another chapter that cracked me up was the one called "The Woman Who Puts All her Photographs into an Album the Same Day She Gets Them Back." From someone who has boxes (and baggies) of photos all over her basement, this one hit a nerve! "The Couple Who Write the Holiday Letter Telling You How Their Little Timmy Came Up with an Alternative to Fossil Fuels" was also a cute story. I don't know about you, but we definitely look forward to a few of our friends' Christmas letters.

I have no doubt that everyone will find at least a few essays that they can relate to, especially if you are a mom. We all know those "perfect" moms that surround us and make us look bad. You know the ones that handknit their children's clothes, or the ones that bring so much to school parties that they have to rent a U-haul, or the ones who have scrapbooks so large that they need piano movers to carry then downstairs, or the ones who have their Christmas cards, shopping and decorating done before Thanksgiving. I could keep going on, but I think you get the idea!!!

I would love to meet or even talk with Ms. Allison and Ms. Perry because I'm sure they would be very entertaining. They originally self-published this book in 2005, and it won two awards in the categories of humor and best title from the Colorado Independent Publishers Association. Besides writing this book, they give speeches to women's organizations and business across the county.

THE WOMAN WHO IS ALWAYS TAN AND HAS A FLAT STOMACH was just released by Grand Central Publishing on March 6th. If this book sounds like something you'd enjoy reading, check back here in a few days. I have an extra copy and I will be running a giveaway very soon!