This novel is Stepford Wives in reverse. The women of the upscale Dynasty Ranch neighborhood have high-achieving, demanding careers and their husbands do the grocery shopping, home cleaning, child rearing. and other household management tasks. While house hunting, Nora Spangler and her husband find a beautiful home that comes complete with very involved neighbors and a mystery. Nora, a successful attorney on the partnership track, is hired by a group of Dynasty Ranch women to assist Penny, a neighbor whose husband died as their home burned. The more Nora investigates and the closer she's drawn into the circle of these women, the greater her concerns become.

A big theme of this novel is the tremendous mental and physical load women carry in raising their children and running their home, and the typically unequal role men play in managing these important responsibilities. I don't have children (and have an amazing husband) so I couldn't fully relate, but I'm sure many readers will appreciate this storyline, and it would be great to discuss in book club. Generally, I enjoyed this but felt it was too long, and the ending (which I saw coming) was pretty outrageous.

I appreciated the audiobook narration by Allyson Ryan whose voice was perfect for the professional yet completely stressed out Nora. Thank you to Macmillan Audio for the

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