This was a hard book to get into. There were parts that I really enjoyed but then I would read parts that I had to skim to get through the book.

Josie is a director of admissions to a private school. She lives with her aunt that took her in as a child and her seventeen-year-old daughter. My favorite parts were with her family. The tension from the book came from her wanting her daughter to go to Ivy League schools instead of Julliard. Her steadfast determination for her daughter not to pursue ballet as a career was seen as so wrong that I waiting for her to break.

Another source of tension came from her working career with her boss, who was the type of women who only see other women in their field as competition. When that tension broken, it was marvelous.

The romance I just skimmed. That was when Josie was at her worse. The stereotypes that she kept bringing up about gay men was disgusting. There was one part where she dismissed the existence of bisexuals as if this was an episode from a sitcom from '90s. Her entire attitude regarding gay men comes from a sitcom from the '90s.

Grand-aunt, mother, daughter relations surrounded with smart humor, genuine and emotional writing and great touch of romance, self-discovery and self-growing vibes.
It is sweet, fun, soft, entertaining with easily relatable characters, interesting, moving storyline, three generation’s communication problems.

Josie, once upon a time a selected, successful, beautiful model, retired because she’s 39 and she cannot defeat her half aged competitors. Now she starts her brand new job as director of admissions at San Francisco’s most popular private school. Yes, what a coolest job tag for her chic, presentable appearance. She is back, she is still strong, she will survive as like Gloria Gaynor advised her. Now job part is done and she starts adapting her independent, single mother life but her 17 years old Etta doesn’t share same ideals she planned for her. She wanted her daughter have a proper college education and find an appropriate job so she does not have to make same mistakes she’d done with her life.

Josie’s mother abandoned her to live with her Aunt Viv when she was little to chase her career oriented life. Now Josie wants to be good caring mother but her daughter’s dream to be a dancer and plans to apply to Juillard Conservatory disappoints her. And the worst part is Aunt Viv supports her daughter’s plans.
As admission season starts, Josie thinks she will chance her sex sabbatical plans after seeing two hot dads but then she realizes they’re two dad gays and she wishes one of them she named golden boy may change his play side! What a shame! But wait a second! Her aunt Viv has heart attack and she takes her to the hospital ASAP. Guess who saved her aunt’s life and wins all those brownie points? Yes, golden boy Ty is back again!
The admission parts and the emails Josie got from the obnoxious, batshit crazy parents made me laugh so hard! And I enjoyed all those characters and had so much fun. I am so ready to read any sequel written about them.

Even though story’s direction and conclusion are predictable, I still enjoyed it. ( I always choose predictability over disappointment!)

Overall: It is funny, entertaining, soft, sweet, feel-good reading! I’m giving my 4 positive, genuine, family bounding stars! I literally devoured this book in half day and I recommend it to you all who is already exhausted to live same Groundhog day and looking for a brightening reading to get rid of darkening moods.

Special thanks to NetGalley and PENGUIN Putnam/ G.P. Putnam’s Sons for sharing this ARC with me in exchange my honest review.

While a good amount of this book focused on Josie's job as a director of admissions at a private school in San Francisco, at its heart, it also dealt with an aging parental figure and a daughter getting ready to leave for college (so yeah all the emotions).

The parents that were applying their rising kindergarteners were really quite ridiculous and over entitled but the best part was Josie's responses to their emails, ultimately she deleted them but humorous none the less. If you've read Class Mom by Laurie Gelman you'll get a similar vibe from Josie.

I really enjoyed this debut novel and after reading the Q&A with the authors, I'm really hoping for more from Josie, Aunt Viv, Etta, Lola and Ty (aka Golden Boy)!

Thank you to the publisher via ShelfAwareness for the advanced copy; all opinions are my own.