"And you don't feel you could love me/But I feel you could."

I’ll gladly read any book that begins with an epigraph quoting Paul Simon. After reading the collection of stories Single, Carefree, Mellow, I’ll gladly read anything by Katherine Heiny.

Reminiscent of books like The Girls’ Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank, the pleasure is in the telling.

Most stories examine either an affair or the fall-out from an affair. There’s Nina who finds out the neighbor she has been seeing has been involved with another neighbor. There’s Josie who expresses the frustration of googling an ex’s ex.  She asks, “Do you know how many women there are in Boston named Lisa who work as paralegals and have red hair and potentially went to Billy’s high school?” Finally, there’s Maya who appears in several stories dealing with her dog’s illness, affair with her boss, and nascent pregnancy.

Some stories rely on the rare second person pov. This usually makes me think of books by this author, but in this case evokes a confidant – a parent, like you, sitting on the bathroom floor thinking, “All that stands between you and champagne is the bedtime story.”

After the kids are asleep (and the champagne has been downed), this book will do quite nicely for your own bedtime story.