I normally always finish a book, but after reading 1/3 of the book I couldn't continue. The author tries way too hard to write a breezy, inside Hollywood novel, but it falls flat. There is so much description and aside comments, that it is impossible to follow the story. Not that you could possibly care about these horrible people. Maybe the author intended for you to hate read. Waste of print.

Agnes thinks everything in her world is just peachy - until she comes home to find herself locked out of her million dollar mansion. Her husband, Trevor, wants a divorce and wants full custody of their tween daughter Pop. Trevor is a hot shot movie producer and thinks appearances are EVERYTHING, including being super-Dad. So Agnes's world is turned upside down and she has to start from square one to make her life something livable.
So, from the jump, I couldn't stand Trevor. He's everything cringe-worthy about a guy rolled into one character. I have my antagonist, right? Agnes has to be the protagonist, the one to root for, right? Welp, I didn't like Agnes at all either! Not sure I can put my finger on just one thing, but being clueless, a wet rag, etc. would be a good start. The book did have it's share of wit and snarky humor, just not enough of it for me to make it a favorite.
Thanks to Gigi Levangie, St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC.

Been There, Married That is the perfect title for this book. I would have given this book 4 stars if there had not been so much language throughout the book. Agnes Nash is the perfect Hollywood wife or so she thinks. She always needs the latest clothing styles, perfect makeup and skin care and has all the right friends. She spends a lot of money until her credit cards no longer work and she is locked out of her house. Her husband, Trevor, is a producer and ends his marriage but does not tell her himself and has the security guard break the news to her. Oh, he manages to obtain every lawyer for a meeting just so Agnes could not.

This book is full of witty and spiteful humor but is sometimes difficult to follow. Yes it is far fetched but so were the Griswalds and I loved watching them. There are many tangents throughout the book that cause you to feel a little scattered at times while reading. The characters are not always likable and are arrogant and entitled but it helps to build who they are and why they act the way they do. Overall, the book is funny and has a lot of funny lines!

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and give an honest review of this book.

I wanted to like this book. It sounded like something I'd like from the description but turns out that I was wrong. It wasn't the writing, I just couldn't get into the characters. It just wasn't my cuppa.

I so tried to get into this story but it just didn't hold my attention. I'm sure it's a delightful novel but just not for me.

Really tried with this one but it wasn't for me. I couldn't hardly get through it. Thank you to the publisher & NetGalley for the advanced copy.

I wanted so badly to love this book. Everything about it sounded right up my alley: interesting storyline filled up witty dialogue.
Sadly, it fell a little short for me. It was, indeed, an interesting storyline - although not totally original. I think where it fell flat for me was with Agnes' character. I found her difficult to like and relate to. The plot of the book was a little challenging to follow too.
I did love the dialogue and wittiness of the writing - which was one of the things that kept my interest.
I didn't love this book, but I did enjoy it enough to finish it.

This was my first book by author Gigi Levangie. The synopsis grabbed me and so did the cover, so I was excited to get started.

However, I was disappointed! I thought for sure it would be filled with a down-and-dirty look at Hollywoods divorce, but it was just way too over the top and I couldn't finish it.

I will try other books by this author, but this one just wasn't for me.

I wanted to love this book - truly. I just ended up annoyed...

In these times especially - I wanted a great escape - but I was very let down. I couldn't connect with the characters and was disappointed.

Honestly the main character is not compelling or particularly like able. I have tried picking this one up a couple times and have struggled.

I found this book to be very tedious to read. I found it to be a depressing story and struggled to finish it. I'm not sure I would read anything else from this author if they are all like this book.

The premise of Been There, Married That has so much potential. It would probably make a better movie than a book actually because I think actresses bringing them to life would add so much more depth and understanding. On the page, the characters fell flat for me and were more unlikeable than i think the author intended. It was still a quick and fun read, just not as engaging as it could have been.

I really wanted to like this book but it was a "hot mess" and not the hilarious, glitzy and glamorous novel I was expecting. Maybe the author meant for it to be "messy"?!?! The writing was cluttered with unnecessary remarks and jokes. I found some parts of the book funny but I mostly just didn't care for the characters and found them immature.

As Pat Benatar once sang, love is a battlefield. It’s about ups and downs, romantic dinners and disagreements that seem irresolvable. And in Been There, Married That, author (and former Hollywood wife) Gigi Levangie explores the battle that begins when two people fall out of love.

Full review published on NightsAndWeekends.com and aired on Shelf Discovery

Somewhat of a difficult read for me. I found the characters just not relatable. Thanks Netalley for the ARC copy.

Thanks so much to the author, NetGalley, and St. Martin's Press for the complimentary advanced e-copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are entirely my own. { partner } All of my reviews can also be found on Instagram @Tackling_TBR and on my blog at tacklingtbr.home.blog

TW : divorce, custody battle, rehab, brief discussion of eating disorders

Let's start off by saying that I didn't hate this book. I know that there were quite a few fairly negative reviews for this one when it was first published, but I found myself enjoying it. I mean, I love Hollywood drama and The Real Housewives as much as the next "basic white girl," right? But that being said, I also didn't really love this book. It was just kind of a "meh" read for me. It was a read that I almost forgot most of what I had read as soon as I had put it back down again, you know? And I enjoyed it through the lense of a fun, slightly silly, Hollywood satire. But at times it just had a hard time holding my attention.

For the characters, they were all pretty hard to relate to for me. There wasn't any one character where my brain could say "Okay, awesome, this is the Me in this story! I am bought in now." But hey, that's Hollywood, right? I'm not sure you were really supposed to be able to relate to any of them, because that would take away the shiny (and in this case, comical) wall of mystery between the "us" of the normal world and the "them" of Hollywood royalty. But it still made it a bit difficult for me to feel all that invested in their stories. Honestly, my favorite character overall was the lead's sister, who was so off the rails that she seemed at a lot of times like the only character having even an ounce of fun.

Overall I would recommend this book, but only to a specific audience. I think this might be the perfect read for a group of girlfriends disguising drink-wine-and-gossip time as a book club, so they could read it together over too many glasses of Reisling and discuss it, while also gossiping about the HOA, and ending the night with an episode or three of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Make a whole themed evening out of it! And who knows, maybe a dinner of almonds, to really feel like you're getting into the character's head. That is, in my opinion, the perfect setting for this book.

Been There, Married That 👙💍

Shout out to @stmartinspress @gigilevangie @bibliofinder @bibliolifestyle #partner for the advanced finished copy!!

Mini Synopsis: “Been There, Married That is a drop-dead hilarious battle of wills that will make you laugh out loud, cringe, and keep turning the pages to see what crazy disaster will happen to Agnes next…and how she’ll rise from the ashes.”

This one sounds like the perfecttt beach read! I mean look at that cover! Can’t wait to crack into this one on my next vaca!

This book is very different from what I normally read. It was very confusing to me, but I am sure others would find it funny. The book makes so much fun of Hollywood and how the people live and act. It is not something I would read again, but I am sure there are numerous people who will love the book. I was given a copy through Netgallery.

I don’t even know where to begin with this delightful book! This was such a fun, book to sit down and enjoy! I had such a blast with the characters and all of the shenanigans that they got involved in! I absolutely cannot wait to read another book by this author! Gigi wrote such a fun storyline it was hard not to love the characters. This is definitely a fun pick me up kind of book to enjoy on the beach!

This one just didn’t work for me. The characters rubbed me the wrong way with their shallowness right from the start. DNF about 50 pages in