About the Book
We all have “those” friends. Maybe you’ve known them since childhood, or met in college, or while waiting for a child’s practice to end. Maybe you found yourself living on the same street. There’s no single path to friendship. Relationships don’t follow a script and neither do the lives of smart, funny, complicated suburban women.
Jill, Anne, Mary, and Rachel met years ago through a neighborhood group that regularly got together to play a dice game called bunco. Although players have come and gone, they continue to use bunco as an excuse to abandon their day-to-day responsibilities and enjoy food, drinks, and the company of their best friends. When new neighbors move in under the cover of night, the foursome sees an opportunity to expand their bunco circle. But within hours, suspicions run rampant as the odd behaviors of the newest residents are interpreted differently. Are they quirky, or kinky? Diabolical, or misunderstood? Time after time, as the truth sheds light on some secrets, more emerge. Each woman finds herself shocked by the friends she thought she knew.
Through the friendly banter, intimate confessions, and tongue-twisting insults, you may see yourself or your friends in these characters. Wipe away tears of laughter and loss as you join the four metaphorical rounds of bunco, and feel part of the conversation. Whether engaging in playful exploits, providing unconditional support, making uncomfortable sacrifices, or winding up in handcuffs again, these ladies are those rarest of friends who become true family. Of course, families don’t follow a script either, unless it is a plot-twisting, slightly off-color comedy about the drama of friendship. And bunco, sort of.
My Review
Bunco was a different type of read than I normally go for, but it can be fun to step outside the usual and find something new. This is written in a script or screenplay style, which took me a few pages to get used to but once I did, I think it helped the story zoom by. It’s also split into four different sections, so it felt almost like mini episodes we were getting of the women’s antics. Once I got the hang of the flow and our cast of characters, it was fun to follow their friendship and the unique scenarios they find themselves in. I saw someone describe this as the Midwest housewife’s version of Sex and the City which gave me a good laugh, but I also had to agree. It was different, but still an enjoyable read.
4 stars
