Great chick-lit novel on starting over during middle age. Hopeful and optimistic read.

How Hard Can It Be? To reenter the workforce in the "good old boys" field of High Finance after nearly seven years at home taking care of your children? Raising two teenagers in the digital age where popularity is measured by the number of "likes" your nearly naked selfie gets on social media? Handling the hot flashes, foggy memory and general malaise that usually signifies the beginning of "the change of life?" Dealing with your husband's midlife crisis and staring down the barrel of your upcoming 50th birthday? If you're Kate Reddy, heroine of How Hard Can It Be?-the answer is easier than it sounds and harder than it needs to be. How Hard Can It Be? is the follow up to Allison Pearson's wildly popular 2003 novel (and not-so-popular 2011 film), I Don't Know How She Does It. With that much time between books, the subtitle of How Hard Can It Be? should have been "I Don't Know Why She Waited So Long!" instead of Kate Reddy #2. How Hard Can It Be? has the same biting humor and snappy dialogue of its predecessor, but with a less superficial feel. While the Kate of I Don't Know How She Does It truly believed she could have it all-high flying career, perfect children, and a marvelous marriage (and maybe even a lover on the side!)-How Hard Can It Be? Kate wonders if even one of them is possible. Although How Hard Can It Be? is technically a sequel, it's not necessary to have read I Don't Know How She Does It-many women under 50 may not even have heard of it. I Don't Know How She Does It shattered the idea that "working" and "mother" were mutually exclusive-How Hard Can It Be? acknowledges that while having it all is possible, juggling it all might not be worth it.

How Hard Can It Be was all over the place for half of the story. I found it quite distracting that the main character, Kate, would have side conservations with herself and it was difficult to keep those apart from the main narrative, Kate is married to a self-absorbed sot who was trying to find himself and ends up dumping not surprising news upon his unsuspecting wife. The author's descriptions of Kate's angst with her changing menopausal body are hilarious. In the end, the story comes together with everything ending up satisfactorily.

“How Hard Can It Be?” is full of humor & wit. While I found some of Kate’s mid life crises challenges tedious & her strategies frustratingly ineffectual, I also found myself laughing out loud frequently. This is the kind of book I can recommend for a good summer read, especially for anyone who can relate to the challenges of juggling parenthood (teenagers), managing conflicting spousal aspirations, and the seemingly unattainable dream of having a fulfilling & balanced work-life.

How Hard Can It Be? is Allison Pearson’s sequel to I Don’t Know How She Does It. While you don't need to have read the first book, I did read it and I think it helped put a lot into context of the previous life Kate mentions.

I wanted to like this book, but it was long, took me a while to get into it and the characters seemed to get on my nerve. I overall liked the plot and how Kate re-discovered herself but her inner dialogue with Roy kept driving me crazy.

A fun beach read and I think a great follow up to the first book of how things change from the mom of toddlers to the mom of a teenager!

I was so excited to see this book—I loved I Don’t Know How She Does It, and spending time with Kate was like spending time with an old friend. Allison Pearson paints a raw, real picture of middle age and motherhood and aging parents...it’s hard to read in a really good way. I definitely recommend this book to other women, and men who need some insight into women.

Great follow up to I Don’t Know How She does
It, this book reminds me of a smarter version of the Diary Of A Shopaholic series Pearson tackles serious issues with wit and humor.

“…if I have to save everyone else, I need to start by saving myself first. How hard can it be?” – Kate Reddy

Allison Pearson’s How Hard Can It Be tells the funny, touching, all-too-real story of almost-fifty Kate Reddy as she wrestles with every aspect of her life. She wants to be present in her angsty, teenaged children’s lives. She remodels a fixer-upper home while her emotionally-absent husband takes two years off work to attend mindfulness sessions and pursue cycling. She goes back to work after seven years, juggling all the challenges – big and small – life throws her way.

Pearson’s descriptions are funny and real: “At the thought of this unwanted immortality, her mouth collapses into an anguished “O”— a popped balloon of grief.”
She captures the everyday absurdities of real life, the things that bring us joy, the thoughts that bring us sadness, the worries that keep us up at night. She captures the mother-daughter moments: “She leaned in, resting her head on my shoulder, and I willed all the warmth and strength I had in my body to pass to hers”
and the secret realizations: “Sometimes I think I wished away their childhood so life would be easier; now I have the rest of my life to wish it back.”

How Hard Can It Be is the second book in the Kate Reddy series. I have not read the first book in the series, but I still connected with all the characters. I think you will love laughing along with Kate’s experiences in life and motherhood.

Thank you to the publisher St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for an Advance Reader Copy on exchange for my honest review.

I absolutely loved the first Kate Reddy book so I was really looking forward to reading this sequel. I wasn't disappointed! I love the style and pace of this book and I thought the difficulties faced by the sandwich generation were humorously and sensitively handled. I would love to read more by this author. Thanks NetGalley!

Would be better entitled 'Woman Makes Giant Rod for Own Back'. The main character is a former businesswoman who wants to return to work after being home for some years. She does a lot of complaining about her useless husband (and what he is up to seems pretty clear) and vile spoiled teenagers, yet does nothing to change the situation. Surely if you raise your kids to be like this - then don't complain when they're teenagers - stealing, demanding, verbally and physically aggressive, treating everyone with contempt. In addition to waiting on the family hand and foot (and doing the bratty daughter's homework), she is also fully responsible for the welfare of her husband's elderly and struggling parents. All the while she is whining about getting older, lying about her age to get a job, etc etc. I gave up at this point. A bit cliched.
Thanks to the publisher for a digital review copy.

I find it refreshing to have a central protagonist who is going through menopause. I had read her previous book and enjoyed it. I consider her writing to be popular fiction and I found it engaging, relevant and enjoyable. She captured midlife well. It was a nice mixture of serious themes mixed with stories of an almost 50 year old woman with a troubled marriage attempting to re-enter the workforce. Some of the plots ended a bit too neatly, but overall, as popular fiction, I found it well written and thank goodness for a central character who openly tackles this stage of life.

How Hard Can It Be was an easy read for me. One I could take to the beach, have a drink or five, and enjoy on a breezy day. Any woman can relate to Kate on some level which is make it even more wonderful of a book.

Kate Reddy takes on all the hassles of turning 50, mothering teenagers, returning to the workplace in middle-age with young, hipster bosses, and the evil menopause in this sequel to "I don't know how she does it." (You don't need to read the first book to follow and enjoy it. ) The British Kate brings a narrative that is hilarious, hopeful, and spot-on in this insightful novel about dealing with relationships of all sorts as we age. This review is of the pre-pub edition from NetGalley. 3 out of 5 stars because it was very predictable but enjoyable.

The story line of a woman going back into the workplace just didn't grab my attention that I thought it should. The storyline is wonderful, but It just didn't capture my attention. I'm sure it's a wonderful book but it just felt too wooden for me.

"How Hard Can It Be?" follows Kate Reddy as she nears 50 years of age. She is managing a bunch of moving pieces including her extended family, immediate family, and all the fun of almost being 50- oh yeah, and trying to land a job after being out of the field to take care of her children. It's not easy to deal with her husband's midlife crisis or her daughter's puberty.

Against all obstacles flying her way, Kate handles it all with compassion and humor. The book begins with her daughter's crisis over a belfie (selfie of her rear) that has been shared around the internet by a "friend" and continues on in this vein of unpleasant events that are handled with humor. I actually found the book to be a bit dark and sad- Kate's life isn't easy and it feels wrong to laugh at some of it (like all the jokes about therapy, which is something needed for many people, not to mention the explicit photograph of her daughter going around on the internet).

I will say that some lines made me laugh out loud and some of it in so incredibly relatable- Kate is very real and very three-dimensional. I just found it a little more of a downer than I expected.

Please note that I received an ARC from the publisher. All opinions are my own.

Allison Pearson’s latest offers a refreshing view of the harried mum

What does it say about a sequel when you get all the way to the end before realizing not only have you READ the first book and own the damn thing but you’ve also seen the movie starring Sarah Jessica Parker based on it? It phrolly says more about the now mid-aged reviewer! After all, Allison Pearson’s debut novel I Don’t Know How She Does It came out 15 years ago and it’s been 6 years since the chick flick that changed the main character Kate Reddy from British financial professional/mum/wife to harried New Yorker financial professional/mom/wife. Kate is back in Pearson’s How Hard Can It Be?, now with teenagers, a vintage fixer-upper in the suburbs, and an equally crumbling marriage not to mention body and mind/memory.

Now there are belfies (selfies of butts), texts flying, a husband having is own mid-life crisis in/on therapy/bicycles, and hormone therapy replacement. Pearson is a witty novelist for sure, and although her Britishisms may lose this all American girl reader at times, it’s a joy knowing nothing is set is stone–even as you may try to lose one leading up to a fiftieth bday.

Wendy Ward
http://wendyrward.tumblr.com/

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who liked the author's first book, I Don't Know How She Does It, but it is not necessary to have read the first book to enjoy this one. Kate Reddy has gotten older and has gone from being a mother of young children to a member of the "sandwich generation," caring for her teenage children, her mostly absent husband, and both sets of grandparents. This book is laugh out loud funny and full of insights on aging, family life, and careers. Loved it!

Meet Kate--almost 50 and hating the thought of that momentous birthday. Married with two teens, and an ex-flame she can't stop thinking about, she considers re-entering the workforce but questions whether or not she can succeed in her "elderly' state. I laughed out loud through out the entire book as I so identified with Kate's dilemmas and her concerns about her family and aging. But such wisdom as well! As she questions her role as a mother she sees that it is cast when children are young and then "set and harden without our noticing until one day you wake up and you are no longer just wearing the mask of a bossy, multi-tasking nag. The mask has eaten into your face." I love Pearson's commentary about parenting in the digital age (I mean seriously, do you know what a "belfie" is? I didn't)! So what appears on the surface to be a light and engaging novel about growing older, is really a lovely and poignant look at the complexities of marriage, love, parenting, friendship, careers, and sexism. It is truly a gem of a book!

Everything I expected and more. Loved it! Would recommend to anyone.

I requested this book because I enjoyed the first one, but I found that the first book was so much better. I had trouble identifying with Kate. Sure, I don't have teenagers and am a couple of decades away from 50, but that hasn't been an issue in other books. I'm also not a 10-year-old boy learning magic, so I feel like I should be able to identify with any type of main character in a good book. Kate's forgetfulness and ignoring things she should be paying attention to annoyed me to no end. It took too long for Jack to appear.

Overall, I enjoyed it, but it was really hard to get into, and when I wasn't reading, I wasn't dying to go back like I am with a truly great book.