Meet Me at Emotional Baggage Claim

October 8, 2012
The witty and warm mother-daughter team are back with their third collection of “Chick Wit” columns they write for the Philadelphia Inquirer. New York Times bestselling author Lisa is the 56-year-old single mom of Francesca, a 25-year-old aspiring novelist and new resident of New York City. They work to establish boundaries and maintain a lifelong connection as Lisa settles into her Philadelphia-area empty nest (well, except for dogs, cats, chickens, and an errant fawn) and Francesca ventures out into the big city (complete with, alas, a frequent flasher). As always, Lisa and Francesca write about (grand-) Mother Mary with admiration, occasional frustration, and love. There’s a lot of love in this book; readers who have affectionate families will feel at home, and those who don’t will enjoy these relatives who are also friends. As in their previous books, the women muse on dating, aging, and carbs; the vagaries of home improvements, swimming, and online shopping are also addressed. Francesca’s contributions are, like her mother’s, by turns funny and poignant; “I Love You, Man,” about bro-ing out with mom (over action movies, gross-out comedy, and sports) is a hoot, and “Grandmother Whisperer,” wherein she brokers communication between the generations, is sweet and wise. Family photos round out this delightful collection of essays that are fun to read, share, and ponder.

September 15, 2012
A warm, lively collection of narrative vignettes chronicling the day-to-day relationship of two women who also happen to be part of a successful mother-daughter writing team. In this sequel to Best Friends, Occasional Enemies (2011), best-selling mystery writer Scottoline and her 20-something daughter Serritella offer insight, peppered with plenty of dish about men, their pets and each other's quirks, into the powerful bond they share. Love and worry, like "two strands in the double helix of some very twisty DNA," are at the heart of what keeps them together. And when Scottoline isn't worrying about her daughter or being worried over by her mother, then the three of them are driving each other crazy with contrarian behaviors. In describing a crosstown move she helped Francesca make, Scottoline writes, "it takes me five seconds to pack a box"; but for her daughter, packing--and especially dish-packing--involves wrapping everything several times over in white paper and then "stuffing the sides of the box with even more white paper." Fights are also par for the course for Scottoline, her mother and her daughter. In fact, it's the thing she claims they love best because all fights eventually devolve into risible caricatures of themselves. Then there's the guilt that inevitably goes along with the love. If it isn't Francesca feeling like "a jerk" for wanting her mother to stop trying to dress her, it's Scottoline feeling the need to buy her mother an expensive gift at Christmas that the latter claims she doesn't want. Despite all the "emotional baggage" they carry (and fearlessly claim), however, their faith in and commitment to each other remains unshaken because, writes Scottoline, "that's love." Erma Bombeck for mothers and daughters, with a zesty Italian twist.

COPYRIGHT(2012) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

June 1, 2012

Scottoline is doing so well with her juicily acerbic essay collections, particularly those written with daughter Serritella, that one wonders whether they will start taking precedence over her best-selling fiction. Here, mother and daughter deal with separation anxiety of an adult sort, as Serritella moves to the big city and Scottoline looks about her suburban empty nest.

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2012
Best-selling, Edgar Awardwinning legal-thriller author and suburban empty-nester Scottoline and her Harvard grad, writing-prize-winner daughter, Serritella, write a column, Chick Wit in the Philadelphia Inquirer. They now return to the kitchen to dish up another delicious mix of family and friendship cooked to perfection, as they did in their previous collaborations, My Nest Isn't Empty, It Just Has More Closet Space (2010) and Best Friends, Occasional Enemies (2011). Building off their laugh-out-loud success, these sassy single gals share the tumultuous terrain of the dating world, the impossibility of finding a good delivery man or a reliable snowblower, and the joys of owning a dog (or five). No subject is off-limits here, as Scottoline and Serritella include relevant quips for women from 18 to 82. With the title serving as a surefire indicator, readers can count on an ab-toning laugh session, a silly giggle, a sympathetic sigh, and a lump in the throat as life's moments are rehashed through the keen eyes and wits of this lovable mother-daughter duo.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)