Title: And One Last Thing…
Author: Molly Harper
Publisher: Gallery; Original edition
Publication Date: June 27, 2010
Paperback: 320 pages
ISBN: 978-1439168776
Genre: Fiction
“If Singletree’s only florist didn’t deliver her posies half-drunk, I might still be married to that floor-licking, scum-sucking, receptionist-nailing hack-accountant, Mike Terwilliger.”
Lacey Terwilliger’s shock and humiliation over her husband’s philandering prompt her to add some bonus material to Mike’s company newsletter: stunning Technicolor descriptions of the special brand of “administrative support” his receptionist gives him. The detailed mass e-mail to Mike’s family, friends, and clients blows up in her face, and before one can say “instant urban legend,” Lacey has become the pariah of her small Kentucky town, a media punch line, and the defendant in Mike’s defamation lawsuit.
Her seemingly perfect life up in flames, Lacey retreats to her family’s lakeside cabin, only to encounter an aggravating neighbor named Monroe. A hunky crime novelist with a low tolerance for drama, Monroe is not thrilled about a newly divorced woman moving in next door. But with time, beer, and a screen door to the nose, a cautious friendship develops into something infinitely more satisfying.
Lacey has to make a decision about her long-term living arrangements, though. Should she take a job writing caustic divorce newsletters for paying clients, or move on with her own life, pursuing more literary aspirations? Can she find happiness with a man who tells her what he thinks and not what she wants to hear? And will she ever be able to resist saying one . . . last . . . thing?
My Review:
And One Last Thing by Molly Harper is a clever and humorous look into a situation that most would not be able to laugh about. Lacey’s life changes on the morning flowers for her husband Mike’s mistress, BeeBee Baumgardner, mistakenly get delivered to her. Rather than confronting her husband, Lacey airs her grievances in the monthly company email. Realising what she has done and at the advice of counsel, Lacey goes out of town to stay at the cabin on Lake Lockwood, left to her by her Gammy Muldoon. Harper details the characters and the small Kentucky town of Singletree as well as those in Buford and on Lake Lockwood. The characters are lively, moody, obnoxious, witty, charming, flawed and creatively realistic. And One Last Thing is an endearing novel that will have the reader laughing even as Lacey struggles with divorcing her cheating husband, a small town knowing all the details and Lacey’s struggle to pick up the pieces of what remains of her life and dignity. I would recommend And One Last Thing to anyone who is looking for a feel good, funny, snarky, witty, and all around fun book to read.
Raised in Mississippi and Kentucky, Molly Harper graduated from Western Kentucky University with a bachelor’s degree in print journalism. She worked for six years as a reporter and humor columnist; her reporting duties included covering courts, school board meetings, quilt shows, and once, the arrest of a Florida man who faked his suicide by shark attack and spent the next few months tossing pies at a local pizzeria. Molly lives in western Kentucky with her husband and daughter.
I received a complimentary copy of And One Last Thing… by Molly Harper from Simon & Schuster to review. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned novel.
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