How Hard Can It Be is the sequel to How Does She Do It. I never read the first novel, so I didn't realize until the end this was the second book in the series. Although I do want to go back and read the first story, I didn't feel like I missed anything by reading the second story first. How Hard Can It Be is completely a stand-alone novel. I found it very relatable, and incredibly funny. There were many times I laughed out loud. However, there were some parts that I found a bit slow. But all in all, a very enjoyable read.

Can it Be?” by Allison Pearson St. Martin’s Press June 5, 2018

“How Hard Can it Be” by Allison Pearson is the book that follows the bestselling book by Allison Pearson “I Don’t Know How She Does It”. This can be read as a stand alone. The genres for this book are Fiction, and Women’s Fiction. This novel also has some humorous parts, and some parts where you want to laugh and cry at the same time.

The colorful cast of characters are complex and complicated. In this sequel, it is seven years later and Kate Reddy is now a “Returner”. Kate is approaching fifty, and has to re-enter the job market. She is in the sandwich generation, with teenage children, and parents that are needy. Kate’s husband is going through some kind of mid-live crisis, after losing his job, and trying to find himself.

Kudos to Allison Pearson for discussing such contemporary subjects as abuse of the media for teenagers, Alzheimers, menopause and other related female issues, being part of the sandwich generation, peer pressure and cutting, mid-life crisis, inequality in the workplace between men and women, and problems with youth and aging.

The author mentions the importance of self- worth, growth, family support, love and hope, forgiveness and acceptance. I would highly recommend this intriguing and captivating novel for readers of Women’s Fiction. I received an ARC from NetGalley for my honest review.
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I had high hopes for this book but it wasn't as deep or meaningful as I'd hoped, more a bit of fluff that I couldn't care enough about. It's about turning 50 and feeling invisible, a mix of comedy and drama, dealing with menopause, aging parents, teenagers, a husband having a midlife crisis, and trying to stay relevant in today’s business world. I wanted to like it more than I did.

It turns out that this is a sequel to another book, which I’d never heard of, I Don't Know How She Does It. That’s a fact I discovered after I read this book, which functioned perfectly well as a standalone.

This one attracted me because there are so few books about older women that promise to be fun instead of dreary Problem Novels. I know what the problems of being old are, thank you. I don’t need to read fiction about it.

So Kate Ready is 49, almost fifty (which seems young to me, but still props to the author). She’s married with two teens, and an unemployed husband who has decided to become a mountain bike rider, and then a counselor of some sort, very New Age sounding. Right to the expensive cost.

So Kate has to give up freelancing and get a job. To prepare for it, she made her family move closer to London. While she’s gearing up for competing against much younger people in what seems to be to be hedge fund banking (getting rich people to invest to get richer), meanwhile her daughter’s toxic “best friend” somehow oopses the wrong sort of selfie of the daughter onto the Internet, and makes sure it goes viral. The daughter goes ballistic, of course.

Other weird stuff happens before and after Kate lands the job by whacking years off her life. Which she has to remember in the office, or she’ll be outed by her abusive boss and his toady. Because ageism is alive and well in hedge-fund land, especially for women.

So we get family as well as work disasters, as she tries to deal with her daughter’s emotional traumas with flagrant lack of success, her always-absent spouse, school expectations, and the issues of aging parents—bother her mother and her spouse’s parents, who never liked her.

The book was funny, but that first half tended to be a bit smug. Kate has opinions on everything, and at times some of the incidents seemed to be plot triggers for long opinions. For example, quite a few pages were dedicated to Kate analyzing her own face for flaws and pluses. Then, she has an inner voice she calls “Roy,” which I found distracting rather than entertaining.

When everything seems to be at its worst an amazing guy shows up in her life again—someone she had hit it off with so well that it spooked her, and she’d ended the friendship. But has not stopped thinking about him for several years.

Then he turns up, not just in email, but in person.

Meanwhile, dementia, class expectations, menopause, self-harming teens, and the stresses that can break a marriage get dealt with . . .and the book finds a balance between compassion, insight, and wish-fulfillment that finally pays off splendidly.

For a while in the first half I wasn’t sure I could finish, and it took me several days to plow through, but the second half I read in a single night.

I don’t know that I’d look out for the first book, but I finally enjoyed this one quite a bit.

It was a cute enough novel, but despite being relatable on several levels if you're either on the other side of 40, have teenagers navigating the pitfalls of a social media induced world, or trying to re-enter the working world, I still felt like I couldn't get into the characters lives. I wasn't bored but I wasn't racing to get back to the story when life interrupted.

How hard was it to like this book? Very hard. I realize that I am in the minority of other reviewers of the book How Hard Can It Be by Allison Pearson, but I was provided with a free copy of the book in return for my honest review. There was no real plot to be found and there were no endearing qualities in the main character, Kate. All she seems to do is complain about getting older while her family is falling apart around her. I wanted her to be stronger, I didn't like the "I'm almost 50 woman" cliche that the author created. I couldn't stay interested in the story so for me I was unable to finish this book. Even though I have lots of friends the same age as Kate, with teenage children and aging parents, I would not recommend this book to them. Disappointing.

Laugh or loud and cry at the same time.

This book hit home and made me put some things in perspective.

Well-defined and extremely accurate characters.

Kate is my new Yoda.
Sarcastic, straightforward and downright hilarious, Pearson captures the plight of the middle aged woman through Kate impeccably. Not only does Pearson nail the ‘women of a certain age’ subject, she does it with style and a fabulous sense of humor. Pearson makes you want to be friends with Kate just so she can help you survive all the facets of later forty somethings: Technology challenged, Peri-menopausal symptoms, Teenage kids, Elderly parents, Snarky ‘other moms’, Exercising hell, etc..
I loved this book so very much, not only for its characters, plot and voice, but because Kate’s life so mirrors mine in many ways, it’s nice to know I’m not the only one who feels this crazy!

16 years is a long time to wait for a sequel, but the follow-up to Allison Pearson's 2002 novel "I Don't Know How She Does It" is worth the long wait. Kate Reddy is back and nearing her 50th birthday, and Pearson's account of a woman trying to make everyone happy while caught in the crossfire of belligerent teenagers, parents struggling with dementia, and snarky work politics resonates as strongly as did her debut novel.

What makes the narrative so compelling is the brutal honesty of the pain and laughter that are interwoven throughout the book. Kate's daughter is being bullied at school (the victim of a shared "belfie" -- selfie of her butt); Kate's relationship with her husband is growing increasingly distant; and the demeaning responses to Kate's attempts to re-enter the job market are horrific -- and, as in so much else in the novel, devastatingly real.

Pearson is a master at exposing the ugly truths of the modern world and the impossible demands it places on girls and women. Some may find the barely suppressed rage that lurks beneath the surface of this book unsettling -- but Pearson isn't one to sugar-coat serious issues. This is the best kind of "chick lit" (a rather horrible term): thought-provoking, funny, heart-breaking, and above all, real and relatable.

It was a slow start but the heart of the matter- the motherhood, the career, the marriage that gets pushed back, and the self care that disappears completely - hit me hard in the solar plexus. As a sequel it was outstanding, as a stand alone it is equally amazing.

Allison Pearson has written an “OMG, yes!” book. As in, she totally gets it. This book, about turning 50 and entering the age of invisibility, hits all the correct notes. It’s a real mix of comedy and drama, between dealing with perimenopause, teenagers, aging parents, a husband seeking to find himself at everyone else’s expense and the need to stay relevant in today’s business world. A book about needing to laugh so you don’t cry.

I have not read the first book in the series and didn’t feel like I was missing out by not having that background.

There are lots of chuckles here. But also lots of serious notes that resonate. Like how life as we know it can change in the blink of an eye, especially if teenagers or aging parents are involved. “We ended up crying with laughter. Only later did I wonder which was greater: the mirth or the tears.” It was as if she had a bird’s eye view on a lot of the things floating around in my brain.

“...each day it gets slightly harder to retrieve the things that I know. Correction. The things that I know that I knew. At forty nine years of age, the tip of my tongue becomes a very crowded place.” Or this...“Today is my seventh session at the gym this week. Even God got to rest on the seventh day, but God was only trying to create the world, not restore a middle-aged female body to a state of battle readiness.” I hate to tell her how bad it’ll be as the years go on!

I highly recommend this book, especially to all the women in the sandwich generation. I will be immediately seeking out Ms. Pearson’s first book.

My Thanks to netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advance copy of this book.

It's all fun and games until someone posts a belfie.

Kate Reddy is back. And her daughters backSIDE is causing some trouble. We jump right into our favorite bad-a$$, anxiety-ridden, take-charge heroine Kate's life as she is approaching 50 and it seems the hilarity and struggles of parenting, working, wife-ing, friendship and everything else in Kate's life is just as amusing as ever.

Kate's daughter Emily has taken a pic of her butt and the crazy life of Kate's we all know and love, just cannot seem to get any more complicated - until it does. She's been out of the workforce, and looking to get back in, She's not having much of any sort of pleasant relations with husband Richard (yes, surprisingly, still married). She's having a mini mid-life crisis trying to accept she's almost 50, her parents are aging, and her kids are now teenagers and the struggles to communicate with these digital-age micro-adults is almost as difficult as communicating with Russian Investors.

As Kate tries to make her way back into the world of investing she once was so good at, she has some pretty cringeworthy experiences, and struggles to find a way in that world as an "aging" woman. We find several comparisons to the past, when just being a mother was the wall between her and success. She finds herself lying to herself and others, trying her best to tiptoe through a marriage in crisis and lack of communication with her children, and praying the looming milestone birthday isn't going to be the demise of any semblance of the woman that she knows she is, and desperately wants to find again. Oh, and did I mention Jack is BACK?!

The book is classic Allison Pearson: witty, entertaining and full of laughs. I didn't realize how much I missed Kate (I totally still picture SJP in every situation...) and I settled into a familiar routine of rooting for her to find her stride and finally be happy with who she is, who she's becoming, and where she might be headed next.

The story is nostalgic of I Don't Know How She Does It, but reads well as a standalone with snippets of backstory that are well-placed and don't interfere. Avoiding any spoilers, I'll just say that I'm pretty sure readers and fans of Kate Reddy will be pleased at how it all turns out. How Hard Can It Be? was refreshing but familiar and it felt like an old friend was back in my life.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the Advanced Copy and opportunity to review this book.

First a confession, I have not read the precursor to this book, so I came to the characters blind. Kate is HILARIOUS. She is everyone of us with tweens and teens. She is relatable, as is her entire family. I'd like to call this book an HONEST fairytale, because it is! Kate has to deal with issues that everyone understands: menopause, midlife crises, millinenial coworkers and a marriage past its prime. It's like a look at mid life with a bite. I laughed my way through the book, smiled with Kate and cheered for everyone at the end. This is your feel good read of the Summer, so don't miss it!

I read the first book ages ago and remember liking it quite a bit. This one was just as good. Lot of issues covered but in a gentle humorous way. The only subject that gave me pause was the fact that I am over 50 and unlike Kate didn’t find it daunting. However, everyone faces aging related problems and I think all readers can relate to the story. Solid read! Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC.

This is a sequel to a book I never read, but I enjoyed it quite a bit nevertheless. I appreciated the honest (and humorous) look at a woman going through perimenopause and juggling work, family, and her own desires.

*Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an e-galley in exchange for an honest review.

Super fun read with a lot of moving parts and ideas and nonsensical things that we all have going through our head on a regular basis. I loved the main character and her crazy mojo as she jumps back into the world of high stakes finance. Her mom stance, her in law stance, and her own family stance are something we all can relate to in our lives. Great read!

Thanks NetGalley!
Full disclosure, I never read "I don't know how she does it". I did see the movie and related to it on so many levels.
This one was enjoyable. At times I felt like too much was going on, and the book seemed to go on forever, but still a good read.
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This is a good book. It tells a story of a 'current day' mother, lost in a marriage and lost to herself, trying to navigate the online world of her children, a social media 'oops' by her daughter and an aging mom (parent). Issues in this book divide between 'crisis' and 'problem' and puts internet issues, teen foolery and mid-age and aging in comedic perspective. This book is a breeze to get through and an ok way to spend a few hours.

I can so relate to the character of Kate! She quickly came alive for me and drew me in to the story. I have not read the prequel but I must now do so. Funny, engaging, and believable. I highly recommend this book to all women. If you haven’t reached this point in your life yet, hopefully you will.

Entertaining, witty and engaging novel about overworked mother of teens whose unemployed husband decides to take several years ‘off’ and find himself (ostensibly while re-training as a quasi-therapist and bicycle rider extraordinaire.). The family has relocated to a fixer-upper house but the exceedingly absent husband and the tight finances leave the mother no choice but to head back to work after years out of the job market. Since she’s almost 50, she decides to lie about her age to get a low-level job in her field. Teens have a special skill at making any adult feel out of touch with all new things, and these kids were especially adept, and their mother uniquely receptive, to this strategy. It makes for some wonderful scenes in the book that remain vivid long afterwards. While this is a second book in a series, it works well as a stand alone. I received my copy from the publisher through NetGalley and enjoyed every minute.