On a break between movies, actress Stella Powers and her
unfortunately named daughter, Idaho, (somewhere, Gwyneth
Paltrow is crying) visit her mother back in her home state
of New Jersey. Twenty-two years earlier, Stella had fled
Homewood for the starry lights of Hollywood in search of
fame and fortune—and she found it. Her latest role is Oscar-
worthy and her new husband is super hot. Things couldn't
get better for Stella—and in fact, they don't. Only mere
hours into her visit home, her mother suddenly dies of a
heart attack. Crippled with grief, Stella misses the
starting day of filming on her new movie and gets replaced
by Katie Holmes. Her husband is caught cheating with
Idaho's nanny and all of her assets are frozen during the
divorce proceedings. How could things get any worse?
Enter Henry Sladowski. After coming to town only a few
months before, Henry has snatched up all the available
housing, stripped them to their studs and put cookie-cutter
homes in their places. Now that he's sold most of the
properties to rich New York lawyers and businessmen, Henry
has set his sights on being mayor (if only to cut property
taxes to hike up property values). He also has his sights
set on Stella, turning her into the perfect trophy wife and
arm candy for his campaign. This leads to mixed feelings
for Mary Jean Wright, Stella's childhood best friend. Henry
is threatening to evict Mary Jean and her family of six so
he can flip their home. He's also agreed to appoint Mary
Jean's husband, Pete (who just happens to be Stella's first
boyfriend), police chief when he becomes mayor. While the
extra money would be nice, what's the point if they have
nowhere to live and nowhere to go? What's even more
heartbreaking for Mary Jean is that Stella can't seem to
see what a vile man Henry truly is.
As these two childhood friends reunite and struggle to get
over the past while dealing with the present, tempers flare
and friendships are tested. Everything is at stake—homes,
careers and even lives. What are a couple of SUBURBANISTAS
supposed to do?
Disguised under yet another pink Chick Lit cover, Pamela
Redmond Satran has actually written a delightfully
lighthearted story about two middle-aged women dealing with
very real issues of family, sexuality and loss. Her
characters aren't simply bimbos trying to land a man or get
the perfect job; instead, they try to do what's right for
themselves and their families while holding everything
together amidst crisis after crisis. Funny, sexy and
heartwarming, SUBURBANISTAS makes the perfect Sunday
afternoon read.
Stella Powers is an A-list movie star, who has just landed
an Oscar-worthy role and married a hot new rock-star husband
when her mother's unexpected death brings her whole world
tumbling down. Floundering as a full-time mom for the very
first time to her six-year-old daughter, Stella finds
herself back in the same old sleepy New Jersey suburb she
thought she escaped from twenty years before.