When I originally saw the cover and the title of this book, I expected it to be a fluffy chick lit novel. So I decided to pick it up as a palate cleanser after reading a long classic. I was in a for a pleasant surprise.

Our main character Agnes Parsons, a thirty-something stay-at-home mom of a three-month old Grace, is married to a much older wealthy man and lives in Santa Monica, CA. She has a full-time housekeeper and a nanny, and her life consists of yoga classes, beauty salon appointments, lunches with other moms and dinner dates with her handsome husband. Agnes gives little thought to where the money comes from and how it is managed. She is just focused on looking pretty and wasting her days away. So when she gets the news that her husband lost all the money, is in trouble with the law and has to go into hiding, she is in complete shock. She is forced to move across the country to New York and take a job of an English teacher in an all boy boarding school.

Agnes is unexpectedly really good at being a teacher. She is also for the first time connecting with her baby and learning to stand on her own two feet. This is definitely a book about growth and self-discovery. I really liked Agnes as a character and I also think her transformation was well-executed. I did find it a bit unbelievable that a poor girl who grew up in foster families would so quickly forget what it feels like to be strapped for cash or not know about junk food aisles in a supermarket. But overall her portrayal was quite realistic. I also loved her Californian perspective on New York. 4 out of 5 stars, a very enjoyable read.

An e-ARC was provided by NetGalley.com.

Trophy Life is the story of Agnes, a former preschool teacher, survivor of the foster care system after being orphaned young, and the perfect Trophy Wife. Jack, twenty years her senior, molds her into the his perfect wife, from her clothes, hair and body, to their house, lifestyle and the food they eat. He even controls what they feed their infant daughter, Grace and how she is cared for by Alma, the nanny and Sondra, the housekeeper. Then one day, everything is gone. Jack disappears and Agnes is told by his best friend and business associate, Don, to grab some clothes and drive across country to the Bronx. Santa Monica is no longer safe for her and Grace, so she must hide out and teach at a private boys' boarding school until Jack figures things out. Agnes struggles to find her place teaching school, caring for Grace and learning how to survive without her Trophy Life.

Some of the main themes in this book are trust, strength and morality. Agnes realizes so much about herself and who she wants to be throughout this book. I started reading and was hooked at the first chapter. It's easy to see yourself in Agnes and relate to her decisions. This would be a great discussion book for book club, with the many issues she faces and overcomes. I highly recommend reading it!

I received an advanced review copy. All opinions are my own.

Lea Geller’s recent book had all the lightheartedness I needed and was combined with a solid plot that kept my interest. Agnes Parsons grew up poor but in a loving family until her parents were killed in a car accident. She finds a dreamy man 20 years older than her and is assured she will never have to worry again. She has everything money can buy. Until one day she is told Jack has a problem and the money is gone. Forced to move across the country with her baby and work at a boarding school for troubled boys as an English teacher. Agnes’ life is changed in ways she never imagined. Will Jack come back to her? Will she get her Trophy Life back? I enjoyed this book! A great spring break read! I received an ARC of this book, all opinions are my own.

TROPHY LIFE by Lea Geller is one of those books that keeps you wondering what’s going to happen and when the sky will fall. This debut by Geller centers around Agnes, a woman who came from nothing, got everything, and then had to start all over again. The main character is one you cheer for even if you sometimes question her naivety. The interactions with the middle school boys will make you laugh and warm your heart and fear for when your kids are that age. I’ll never look at a puff treat again without smiling. A great blend of comedy, chaos, and connections, this was a great fast read that I really enjoyed.
I received an Advance Review Copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

I thought that this was a cute story, and it did have more to it than just the tale of a trophy wife. I liked that we got to see Agnes in a different light from where she started, and found myself really pulling for her. She was a likable character, and there were some sweet moments, especially seeing the relationships form between Agnes and her middle school students that she ends up teaching to support herself and her daughter. .

Trophy Life by Lea Geller is a surprisingly deep and well written book.

Truthfully I have expected an entertaining and funny read but was pleasantly delighted when discovered that it wasn't the case.

It tells a story of an orphan woman who has at long last found someone who will be her rock, her family and her secure place forever. She leads a wealthy and charmed life until one day her world crushes down.
It turns out her husband was not so straightforward and honest with her as she thought nor was her world as perfect as she was led to believe.
When she is told by her husband to accept the job teaching middle school at the other side of the country she accepts it, hoping as he has promised that things will very soon go back to normal.
In her new life, she rediscovers herself, her relationship with her daughter and her best friend as well and finds strength in herself to brave challenging situations and people that come her way.

I have enjoyed reading this book, although at time I felt that it could have been a bit more fast paced. The story runs smoothly and is easy to read.
Sometimes I was so frustrated with the main character, at her submissiveness and her docility and misplaced trust in wrong people that I wanted to scream.
Yet her gentleness and pain really touched me. I realized how easy it is to change our complete personality due to someone else's influence and not even realize it.
And how sometimes the hardest falls turn out to be our greatest victories.

Great read that teaches us to stay true to ourselves.

Just one more chapter...Okay, just one more chapter…is exactly how I ended staying up until 1:45 am to finish this wonderful book. I literally couldn’t bring myself to put it down. Thankfully, it was my Friday night.

This book was filled with many great little moments to go along with the bigs. Aggie’s boys…the Christmas tree…granny panties…Beeks…

And most of all, I had to see if Aggie finally found herself again and realized she was stronger than she knew.
I’m not sure this story has a genre—it had humor, teary moments, life-changing realizations, friendship tests—and was just an all-around awesome read. Hence, the 2 am sleep time. But, that’s okay, the ending was worth every second.

I received an ARC of this title. All opinions are my own.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 / 5

I know there are going to be a lot of people that will LOVE Trophy Life by Lea Geller but unfortunately I didn't love it as much as I was hoping to.

What it's about: Agnes Parsons did not have the best childhood, her parents died when she was young and she had to bounce around from foster home to foster home without much to call her own. So when she gets the chance to marry a man older than her, but who is stable and has lots of money to provide for her, she obviously takes it. She also loves him, but lets face it - a stable home, lots of money to spend, a nanny, and a cook isn't bad either. But now, 10 years later, her husband doesn't come home one day from work and she discovers they no longer have all the money she thought they did. Agnes is then told that she is going to be a middle school teacher at a boarding school in the Bronx, which means moving across country with their six-month-old daughter Grace. By herself. At least she has her friend Beeks in NY. . . What follows is Agnes' finding her place in NY away from her trophy life, and figuring out just what kind of person she really is.

The biggest issue I had with Trophy Life is that Agnes really didn't get a backbone until the last few pages of the book. She went along with everything her husband said even though there were a ton of obvious red flags that everything was NOT on the up and up. I just can't connect to a character that would move across the country without question, just because her husband (who has gone MIA) tells her to. Plus she just seemed really dense which drove me nuts.

I also thought this book wasn't near as funny as it was made out to be. There is definitely humor don't get me wrong, but I was expecting to be laughing a lot when reality was more of a few chuckles every now and then. It had a lot of potential but just feel flat for me.

Final Thought: I really think that if I could have made some sort of connection to Agnes I would have liked this book a whole lot more. Every time she whined about her new life in New York I wanted to tell her to put on her big girl panties and deal with it, she isn't a child. Overall, I did really like the story though and would definitely read more by Geller. This is a debut novel and I hope I will like her second much better. I will say that I would still recommend this book to people that like lighter reads and anyone that likes the sounds of the synopsis. I have seen a lot of people that love this one, but just not me.

I received an Advance Review Copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

I give this book 3.5 stars but rounded up for a really good premise! I loved the storyline but it lost me a little along the way. I think it was partly due to Agnes' cluelessness! It became so frustrating at times. Since I am so independent and would not settle for the things she became complacent to, I could not relate to her as much as I wanted to. I felt like screaming at this poor girl! At times, I was seriously OUTRAGED!! She also came across as entitled when she clearly didn't grow up that way. How was that lost in those short years? As a mother, I felt she needed a stronger backbone and was thankful that she did develop that more along the way. And Jack was as pretentious and condescending as all hell. There was some depth to this book that catches you by surprise so in that sense it was much worth the read. Thank you to NetGalley for providing an ARC of this novel for review. <3

I couldn’t put this book down, and read it in one day. This story covered motherhood and friendship, along with relationships and work life. Refreshing read, that kept me interested until the very last page.

A very good book by a new author for me. I really recommend reading this book. A bit like the housewives tv series.

Angus has had a rough life after she loses her parents and ends up in foster care. Then one night while fleeing an ex-boyfriend, she meets Jack and everything changes. Aggie becomes the typical trophy wife, letting her husband take care of everything. She doesn't pay attention to any of the details as she coasts through life letting him make all the decisions. Then one night her husband doesn't come home and her life is suddenly flipped upside down. Eventually she gets in contact with him and he sends her and their daughter to New York to hide out. She is sent to be a middle school teacher at a boarding school for boys while her husband "fixes" everything that went wrong. At first all she can think about is going back to her old life, but then she realizes that she's actually not completely failing. Even better than her new found purpose as a teacher, she realizes shes actually able to bond with her daughter without a staff interrupting all the time. When she finally meets up with her husband again he asks her to do something sketchy and illegal. If she does it they can have their old life back, but she's not sure it's worth the risk anymore. While a life of no responsibility sounds appealing, she's slowly realizing that maybe she's more than just a trophy wife.
I honestly wasn't expecting such a thought provoking book. Agnus has to make many moral decisions as shes navigating her way around her newfound life. Honestly who wouldn't love to be free of all the stress that comes with being an adult? But what are you willing to give up and what are you willing to do to get there? We all have lines we aren't willing to cross. This book sucks you in and holds your attention as you root for Agnus and her boys to succeed.
Things I loved about this book:
*I loved the resilience of Agnus as she is dealt many difficult hands.
*I loved the friendship she had with Beeks.
*I loved how she was able to relate with her students and let them know they were important.
*I loved watching find her way as a parent.
Things I wish were different:
*I wish she was a better friend to Stacy and we could have gotten to know that character a bit better.
*I wish she was a bit stronger when it came to standing up to her husband. Agnus came off a little bit naive and weak when it came to dealing with him.

Thank You Netgalley and Lake Union Publishing for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I expected a lightweight and fluffy novel, but found that there was more depth to this than I’d expected.

Agnes has lived the ‘glossy magazine lifestyle’ for ten years, with her loving husband Jack, when unexpectedly it all comes to an end. Before she knows it and because she’s been told to, she’s heading to The Bronx with her baby daughter, to teach at a Middle School. What follows is a story filled with humour, of friendship and family, loyalty and recognising self-worth.

I found most of the characters entertaining, but my favourites were ‘the boys’ (with the Wall of Axe) who were very sympathetically described.

I received an ARC of this book from Net Galley and Lake Union Publishing in exchange for an honest review.

I requested this book from Net Galley because it sounded like a funny, feel-good story, which is something that I’m always in the mood for. When I decided to finally pick it up, I was instantly hooked on the story, and I couldn’t stop reading it. I’m happy to say that this book had a lot more depth than I was expecting, and that it had a lot of laugh-out-loud moments, and that I enjoyed every page of it.

The reason why I liked this book so much is that I fell in love with the main character. I found Agnes Parsons to be a lot of fun, and I enjoyed reading about her journey to discover herself again after everything fell apart around her. She had a lot of moments that made me laugh-out-loud, especially when she discovered processed baby snacks. I also liked that she genuinely cared about the boys in her classes and that she wanted them to succeed and to get through middle-school unharmed. I liked her character development, and I enjoyed reading about her transition from Santa Monica trophy wife to a single mom trying to get by and forge her own path.

I also liked the supporting characters in this book. Beeks is an amazing friend, and I loved how supportive she was of Agnes, and how she helped Agnes realize what it is she had to do. I also genuinely laughed at a lot of the phone conversations between the two characters, which made the book so much more enjoyable. Stacy Figgs, the teacher who lives next door, is another character that I liked; I enjoyed her Christmas sweaters, and I liked watching her grow along with Agnes throughout the story. I wasn’t a huge fan of Jack, I found him to be way too controlling, and he said a few things to Agnes that I would not have been able to forgive. Finally, I liked the boys in Agnes’s class because they had genuine problems and fears that they were trying to sort through.

The other thing that I enjoyed about this book is that it takes place at a middle school. I think middle school is the perfect setting for this book because Agnes and the boys are both going through big changes. Agnes is adjusting from having everything she could ever want to surviving pay cheque to pay cheque and the boys are dealing with transitioning from being kids to being teenagers.

This book was somewhat predictable in the sense that I knew what Agnes was going to decide to do very early on. Fortunately, I don’t have any problems with predictable books because I enjoy finding out how the character is going to get to the ending that I predicted. In this case, I enjoyed going on this journey with Agnes and I spent the whole book rooting for her to make the right decision.

Overall, I found this book to be fun and heartwarming. I liked the characters, the friendships, and the setting. I enjoyed reading about Agnes’s journey of rediscovering herself, and I recommend this book to anyone looking for a funny, fast-paced read.

Agnes has a Trophy Life and doesn't want for anything. When her husband disappears, her life changes dramatically. Agnes moves across the country with her baby girl and gets a job teaching at a middle school. Trophy Life is a refreshing and sometimes humorous story of starting over and discovering self worth and the resilience of the human spirit. Lea Geller has written a solid debut novel. I can't wait to read her next book!

I really liked this book even though parts were so outlandish. The first few sentences were so funny that I thought the rest of the book would be as well. And while it wasn’t funny, it was very sweet and I grew to really like the main character despite all
Of her (many) flaws.

Trophy Wife follows Agnes, a California trophy wife whose life changes suddenly when she has to move to the Bronx. Agnes finds herself teaching middle school boys, which is a challenging job since this school is the last resort for these kids. This book isn't what I expected-in a positive way. This is a great, light and fun read. There is more to Agnes than people assume about her. I look forward to reading more from this author in the future.

Trophy Life was an entertaining spin of events, as Agnes, living the sparkling life in LA, suddenly looses almost everything. Facing a sobering reality, filled with many challenges, yet told with humor; this novel was a wonderful read. I received an Advance Review Copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Don’t let the fun and bright cover fool you, this book had more depth than I anticipated from first glance. Sure, it’s light and has plenty of laugh old loud moments, but it’s also brutally honest and feels refreshingly authentic.

Agnes is living the dream, she has a gorgeous house in Santa Monica, an adoring husband and a sweet baby daughter. Her only “job” is to look good for her husband, their hired help takes care of the rest and when her entire world gets flipped upside down and she is forced to get a real job, teaching unruly middle school boys no less, she gets a rude awakening, and fast. To start with I didn’t think much of Agnes, she seemed vapid and self absorbed but there is much more than meets the eye with this woman. Over the course of the book she undergoes quite the transformation and I was rooting for her hardcore by the end.

This is told over the course of one year as she navigates life as a single mom who’s future is in limbo as she struggles to figure out what her next steps are. While I did like her quite a bit, her boys, (the students she teaches) stole my heart. They’re a group of misfits that have been labeled as troublemakers by the adults in their lives and she seems to be the only person who truly cares about these kids. They were also rotten little stinkers who cause mischief at every opportunity making for some hilarious scenarios.

Recommended when you want a read with that great balance of light hearted fun and subtle depth, especially for anyone that has ever had to start over in their own life!

Trophy Life in three words: Refreshing, Genuine and Funny

I wish that I could give this book 3.5 stars, it wasn't quite a 4 for me, but it was more than a 3. I found myself wanting to pick it up to find out what was going to happen.

All that being said, I really just wanted to know what happened, I feel like nothing happened until the last 40 pages of the book. I am fine with a slow burn, but I feel like there was just nothing for 3/4 of the book.

However, it was a quick read. Reads as a bit of a mystery, but is a much lighter version of that genre. I enjoyed it and would recommend it, but I just wish more had happened. Other than the end it just felt anticlimatic. But I really liked the main character, Aggie.