Been There, Married That by Gigi Levangie is a novel about Hollywood, Marriage/Divorce and Scandal. At the start, we meet our heroine, Agnes Murphy Nash, who is the wife of a famous producer, and has lived a glamourous Hollywood life, as well as a writer. Life is about to change for Agnes, when she comes home and finds herself locked out. It seems her husband is filing for a divorce, and slowly takes everything away from Agnes, including locking her out of the house, taking away her credit cards, accusing her of being an unfit mother; just to name a few things.

Trevor, her husband, is a powerful and arrogant man, who will stop at nothing to get what he wants; a divorce, custody of their daughter, no money for settlement and a new girlfriend. Agnes is beside herself, trying to get some support, but money talks and Trevor seems to be winning everything, not to mention being a horrible person.

Been There, Married That is noted as a hilarious frantic comedy that focuses on the wild antics of the main characters. The concept of the storyline is good, but I thought the writing all over the place, which also came across as confusing often. I will say it was wild and crazy from start to finish, and maybe others will enjoy that style of writing. The husband, Trevor as noted was a terrible person, but Agnes did not come across as a great character either. Sure, you did feel sympathy for her, and there was so many absurd and laughable situations that it was hard to like anyone in this crazy story line.

Been There, Married That was a different kind of read, a bit too wild for me, but if you enjoy wild chic lit entertainment, you should enjoy this book.

Ms. Grazer is a new-to-me author and the blurb on Netgalley sounded interesting. I’m always looking for a new author, so I requested the book.

I always write something positive about each book, but this is a difficult review to write. I wanted to stop reading but out of the thousands of books I’ve read, I’ve probably only DNF’d a couple. It seemed like a long, slow slog to make it through this story. I never read the reviews on Goodreads until after I finish a book, so I’m not influenced. I was hesitant to read the reviews, thinking there would be gushing reviews and was surprised to see so many felt like I did about the book.

There were a few entertaining scenes and dialog. The felon sister, Fin, seemed to live her life to the fullest, even if illegally, and didn’t seem to care what anyone thought of her. She was the most entertaining part of the story.

I got confused in many places thinking I had missed something because the topic, time, day, location and people would change from one paragraph to another. I felt sorry for Agnes at times but didn’t care for any of the characters. It’s not because it’s based on Hollywood, the lavish lifestyles, or any other aspects of that life. It’s not uncommon for powerful men to drop their wives but I was just appalled at the way Trevor treated her and yet he was so needy and she continually tried to help him. Agnes seemed to just go along with everything, and I couldn’t believe that she would agree to Trevor’s (and her family’s) suggestion go to a ‘spa’ to help her when the only thing she was addicted to was almonds. Trevor was a narcissist, who blamed everyone else for any of his issues, he was a cruel coward the way he treated his wife, seldom confronting her directly but through a nasty game to win at all costs. He was so self-absorbed he didn’t care how the manipulations affected his daughter.

To me the only redeeming quality about Agnes is that she spent her book sale money to help her father and sister and then at the end of the book, to fight for custody of her daughter after she realized what was important.

The ending was another odd aspect and continued the issue with the story jumping from one thing to the next. I so wanted to enjoy this book and was disappointed. I’ve never given one star previously and just can’t do it here either so am rating at two stars.

Thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for providing this book for my review.

I received an advanced review copy of Been There, Married That. This novel is written from the perspective of Agnes, the main character, in first person. At the start the story was a bit hard for me to follow. I felt the story jumped around a bit. Agnes’s observations of other characters are at times harsh.

The characters and the portrayal of Hollywood life was unique.

A book that I thought would be light and fun, but had more depressing aspects than I would have liked. There were definitely funny moments, but overall the story was not what I expected. If you need another book about pampered Hollywood types who are disillusioned, then this book is for you. Peppered with the f-bomb so much that it could have been quite a shorter book had that word alone been omitted.

I received a free advanced copy of this book through NetGalley

Unfortunately this book did not live up to the description because it’s not humorous. It is a good read if you want more of a domestic drama set against a crazy Hollywood background. I did find it hard to get into at first because the author sets it up like you should know what’s going on without actually explaining anything which left me confused. I caught the Goldberg references but I was lost about why these women would cover themselves in Aquaphor. Perhaps the hardest part for me was our protagonist Agnes. I hate weak characters. It’s frustrating to read about someone who does not stand up for themselves. The description of the book acts like she comes home only to find herself unexpectedly locked out of her mansion and acts as if this is the moment she starts to stand up for herself and get her life together but it’s not. As the blurb says Agnes gets tased but instead of that being the final straw she just carries on as before which I found maddening. Maybe about halfway through the novel I found it more interesting as it was more about Agnes and more was going on then fake Hollywood friendships. I expected humor and maybe a dose of revenge a la The First Wives Club but that’s is definitely not to be found here. It’s really just a sweet, maybe too naive woman going about her life that happens to be in a crazy place. Personally I found all the forgiveness unbelievable and far too hard to read about. It’s a very quick read that’s mostly well written, aside from the author’s frustrating idea to keep the readers on the outside of what’s going on.

Oh dear. Not my cup of tea, I'm afraid. Just seemed all over the place. But don't let it stop you from reading this book. Others really liked it.

3.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️ for this quick, sassy, snarky and quite ridiculous yet entertaining story of a Hollywood power couple’s divorce.

This book won’t be for everyone (if bad language offends you, you’ll probably want to skip). If you can get past the frantic, all over the place thoughts of the first half of the book, you’ll be rewarded with Agnes’ attempt at taking back her life in a most un-Hollywood way.

I received an advance copy of this book; all opinions are my own.

This beach read gives you a view into a Hollywood divorce. Agnes is married to Trevor, a big shot producer. She knows they aren't happy anymore but she thinks who is in Hollywood? Out of the blue, Agnes finds out that Trevor wants a divorce. Not only is he finished with the marriage, he wants to "win" the divorce at all costs. Many hilarious situations ensue as Agnes navigates through the divorce and rediscovers herself. Along the way, she has help from her sister, Fin, whose antics will have you laughing out loud.

Fin is hands down the best part of this book. She is funny and gives her sister good advice about how to move forward. Fin clearly always lands on her feet no matter what the situation is. She does her best to make sure Agnes not only survives the divorce but is in a better place.

While there are many humorous parts to this book, Been There, Married That reads like a reality tv show. Everything is over the top. It is hard to find a character that you really want to cheer for. Agnes has become a pushover in the later years of her marriage and while you see her evolving, but she's still a pushover at the end of the book. I found the stream of consciousness writing style difficult to read as well; it came off as rambling at times and distracted from the story line.

Thank you to the NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advance digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

I want to start by saying thank you for approving my request for this book. I really liked the cover, I thought this would be a fun rom/com that I could read between my thrillers, but unfortunately I have to DNF at 29%. When I first started I was all over the place because all the (sentences between) constantly got distracting for me. I didn’t feel any real depth with any of the characters and the story. I can usually finish a book in 1-3 days, but I haven’t been able to pick this up for weeks and read more then a chapter at a time.

I received an ARC of Been, There Married That in exchange for an honest review. I requested this book thinking it would be a nice short enjoyable read that wouldn’t require any deep thinking or reflection, and I was right. This book has some really funny lines as Agnes is working through her divorce. The book is full of some quirky characters that were fun to read about also. However, at times the story seemed to be all over the place. It seemed to switch from one scene to another without notice. Perhaps this was due to being an ARC and adding spacing between paragraphs, etc. will allow for that to make it clearer. I enjoyed many parts of the book but it just didn’t seem to flow together real well.

Let me start with I really like this author and her writing style and appreciate anyone who can actually sit down and craft a novel. I’ve read other books she has written and enjoyed them. Then I read the blurb about this one and was quite please to be able to read an advanced copy. I started reading and realized that I have been there and read this again and again only I liked them more. Many authors write what they know, but this was so exaggerated and over the top that I just couldn’t get into it. The main characters and many of the ancillary ones as well were shallow, obnoxious and had nothing about them that made me care or want to know what was next for them. It took multiple times to actually get into it and move beyond the first few chapters. I kept waiting for it to get better so I could enjoy this book and yet though it could have been enjoyable, funny and entertaining it wasn’t. It takes itself way too seriously, there is not a single character has even a single endearing quality that makes you root for them or even just like them a little tiny bit. Agnes and Trevor are married. She is a wife, mother and author in her own right. Trevor is one of the Hollywood power guys. They are happily married or so Agnes thinks. One day Trevor decides he wants a divorce. He “doesn’t like conflict” so he changes the locks and hires a security guy to keep her out and taser her if necessary. WTH?? He is every stereotype of crazy rich entitled powerful man (idiot). All out war begins. They literally draw a line down the center of the house. Umm Brady Bunch redux. It is in fact her home too and he has no legal right to do anything like this, but does because he’s a rich white guy who thinks he can get away with it. He even meets with every decent divorce lawyer in town so she has no access to decent council. There is a special place in hell for him, but honestly she would probably live next door or down the block. This book takes each and every stereotype we hear about the upper echelon and magnifies them to ridiculous proportions. I struggled to finish this. Parts of it got a little better in the later part of the book, but it wasn’t really worth it for me. This had so much potential to be really funny and satirical. It missed the mark in my opinion.

Oh no. I really try to be mindful of how I'm reviewing books and if I don't like something, I'm not going to drag it through the mud. I understand the hard work that must go into writing a novel, but this was just a disaster. It was so contrived and honestly nothing worked and it seemed really, really amateur. I couldn't get through much at all and DNF'd at 15%.

This is such an entertaining, funny, fast paced read. It had me laughing at loud at many parts. It would make a great holiday read and as someone else mentioned, it would be such a great movie. I look forward to reading more from Gigi in the future.
I received Been There, Married That free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Fun, amusing book for the Kardashian generation. I found it hard to identify with the outlandish characters in the book but, that lifestyle is not my life so that is understandable. The main character, Agnes (Aggie) is writer, married to a hot Hollywood producer, Trevor. Trevor doesn't really want to be married anymore, although he seems to not really know what he wants. He changes the locks, cancels her credit cards and other mean deeds. Then he then decides that he doesn't want the divorce and she, inexplicably, goes back with him. In the end, a nasty divorce does ensue.

The book does jump around at times and I found myself wondering if I missed something. The characters could have been a little more fully developed, other than caricatures but, it was a light fun read.

I would recommend to the book to Chick Lit readers who enjoy the namedropping and wondering who's who. It did some very funny moments.

This book was pretty terrible. I wouldn’t have finished it if I hadn’t received a copy to review. I still had to do a whole lot of skimming.

The cover art is great and the summary looked very interesting with a lot of humor. I sadly couldn’t finish the book but tried so hard. It was very confusing at times and other times just wasn’t holding my attention.

I don’t know if feedback counts if you didn’t finish the book, but I will submit it anyway.
I DNF’d this one, I just could not get myself into this one.
The writing didn’t feel cohesive, which made it difficult to connect with the characters and story.
Agnes wasn’t my favorite, and rather than continue to force myself to try and read this all the way through, I called it quits.
I don’t want to bash the book since I can’t actually give a full review without finishing it.
Maybe it just wasn’t for me.

Rating: 2.5/5.0

Genre:
Contemporary + Humor

The synopsis sounded very interesting to me. I love the glitters of showbiz and that was one of the reasons I picked up this ARC. And it has a beautiful interesting cover art too. However, all that said I have to say that the writing was all over the place and somehow difficult and also confusing for me. There are lots of jokes and humor in one sentence that makes it confusing to understand the sentence or the purpose of the paragraph! This sounds crazy because honestly, I have not come across a book that was written in such a way before. I am not sure if this is the regular writing style for Gigi Levangie Grazer (As I have never read anything for her before) or is it just the author trying to make the whole story very funny and overdosed it with lots of unnecessary jokes that made an interesting premise to a bizarre strange experience!

I feel there was a big potential with the story and the characters if the writing was not that much over the place. With Agnes being an author and the wife of a big Hollywood producer and going through a divorce should have been an interesting read. OK, enough of me talking about the potential that this book had and let me just say that this book did not live up to my expectations.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St Martins Press for providing me the ARC of this title in exchange for this honest and unbiased review.

The book is expected to be released: February 11th, 2020

Been There, Married That was sadly a do not finish (DNF) for me. I feel the need to say something positive first, so I have to mention that I absolutely adore the cover. So cute! With that said, this book was all over the place. I did not know if I was coming or going. It really tries hard to be funny, but I found it to be very over the top. This was a miss for me and I ultimately had to put it down.

* I received a digital copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*

I am a huge fan of Gigi Levangie's novels and this was no exception. It was light escapism at its best.