Crazy To Leave You by Marilyn Simon Rothstein was a great read! This author has a way of writing everyday issues but making it humorous. This particular story is a family in conflict. It's relatable and the humor adds a great touch. The storylines went well together. As a first time reader of this author I already know it will not be my last.

How i loved reading this book Especially the writing and the characters in this book
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for something fluffy and light to curl up to

This was heartfelt and amusing. Dumped at the alter - ouch - Lauren picks herself up and forges a path forward - about love loss and family - it was a delight

I was unable to complete this book, I was only able to get through about 10%, perhaps if I persisted I would have liked it. I sadly felt no sympathy towards the characters.

Please be aware of TW for disordered eating and destructive body image throughout the book.

‘Crazy to Leave You’ is a story about a woman finding her true path in life, standing up for herself and going after what she wants. The beginning was a bit slow for my taste and I wish there was a bit more character development with the main character, Lauren, with her being in her 40s. Overall the book was a bit slow paced for my taste and I was wondering what was coming next, sadly thought about DNFing it but didn’t because of receiving it as an ARC and wanting to give it a review.

The build between Rudy and Lauren’s friendship to more seemed nonexistent and was only mentioned briefly throughout and I wish there was more of a build between them before the ending. It seemed a bit flat overall and I wish there was more.

There is a lot of talk about weight, losing weight and binge eating, a trigger warning would be good to add since it seems to be interwoven throughout the whole book, making it a focal point. I think it shows the struggles that bigger women go through, what an eating disorder looks like and what some people never understand or think about. However I think it took over in certain places and took away from the book as a whole.

Her family is horrible and not supportive and made it hard to read at times. No friendships really, other than her neighbor, Allie, who came into the plot a few times.

The ending helped me like it more with her finally standing up for herself and taking the steps for a better life. I think this book had a lot of potential but sadly fell short.

This ARC was kindly provided to me by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The story starts of with a forty one year old Lauren Leo who was dumped by her ex-fiance Eric on the day of the wedding. While she is going through the shock at how he dumped her, she then tries to move on with her life, including building her sister bond with her sister Margot and then her friends. The story is basically about how Lauren's life changes.

I actually enjoyed reading this book. Though the first part of the book was slightly boring, I got into the story during the second half of the story. There were some funny moments in the book that actually made me laugh out loud including the banter between Lauren and her sister Margot, her budding developing romance with Rudy. I also really enjoyed reading the character of Lauren of how she dealt with obstacles, how she worked at her place with fervor and her character is relatable to many out there.

Overall, if you like a book with a memorable character like Lauren, then this book is one for you--worth four stars!

Many thanks to Netgalley and Lake Union Publishing for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.

Crazy to leave you follows Lauren who is left by her fiancé at the day of their wedding. This book is about Lauren’s journey to loving and accepting herself as she struggles with eating disorder and her family issues

This was a funny and quick read for me. The whole story is entertaining especially the relationship between Lauren and Rudy. This book tackles different issues such as eating disorder and body shaming.

The book was refreshing to read. However, the writing style isn’t for me and it didn’t have much impact to me. I still enjoyed reading this tho! It was nice seeing the development between characters and Lauren’s journey.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange of my honest review!

I loved the characters in this book! It had me laughing so much and was a great read. This is my first book by this author and won’t be the last.

The story
Lauren has worked at the same New York ad agency for 18 years. She’s 41 and about to marry Eric who she’s been with for the last two years. But with a single text to her younger sister Stephanie, Eric let’s her know he’s calling off the wedding. Yip, while she’s ready to walk down the aisle. In this time of crisis, Lauren discovers who her true supporters are, who she can count on, and more importantly, how to truly stand up for herself.

My thoughts
Lauren is a bit of a stereotypical single, forty something New Yorker. All her life she has wanted to settle down and have a family, but now she is dealing with a sense of failure. The constant references to weight and dieting in this story made me sad, but when Lauren eventually stands up to her mother’s emotional abuse, I was doing virtual high fives. I love how her strength and confidence grows as her anger on her own behalf increases. I loved how the support of adorable Rudy the driver lifts Lauren up and gives her an extra boost. Such a heartwarming read. ❤️

Oh, I just love reading books by Marilyn Simon Rothstein! Another fabulous story, with a serious topic, made light, funny and entertaining, as only this author can do. I really enjoyed the characters, family drama, girl power, and weight psychology woven in. Thank you NetGalley, author and publisher for the copy for review. All opinions are my own.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Steam Level: 🔥 (kissing only)
Trigger Warning: body shaming, binge eating, diabetes, cheating, divorce, bride left at the altar, car accident, brief mentions of abandonment and coma

At 41 years old Lauren Leo finally believes her life is on track. She's lost weight, has a great job, and is getting married. Then on the day of her wedding, the groom texts her sister to say he can't go through with it. Soon Lauren is on a downward spiral: binge eating, coming on to her boss, and getting into a car accident. As she heals from her mental and physical wounds, she begins to find the strength to rebuild relationships and become the best version of herself.

This book was highly entertaining despite the fact that the plot was a bit all over the place. Lauren's story begins with her cancelled wedding, followed her spiraling behavior, Then the story is just kind of a day to day look at Lauren's life over the next few months. We see her rebuilding her relationship with her sisters, falling for the man hired to drive her after her accident, and then standing up for herself at work. We also witness her friend's and sister's marriages going through major obstacles. There were just so many things happening, and I could never quite figure out where the author wanted things to go until the end. Honestly, the sarcastic, witty banter between characters and her brief romantic moments with Rudy, her driver, saved the story for me. If the romance had been the main focus, I think this could have been a five star review easily.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this book!

Thank you NetGalley for this eArc in exchange for an honest review!

This was such an easy read with such a simple writing style but revolved around such triggering topics.
The topic of food was so pervasive in this book and was mentioned throughout every chapter. If the mention of unhealthy/disordered eating is triggering, this book is not for you.

It was nice to see Lauren’s growth throughout the book and how she started to learn to stand up for herself and to not let people walk all over her.
However, Lauren’s beliefs seemed to be very old fashioned and it got old reading about how she wanted to live her life “the right way.”
Despite that, I related to Lauren in the aspect that she was very hard on herself.

It was nice to see the lesson that not everyone is perfect and how we shouldn’t make assumptions about people. It was also nice to see the book address the gender gap in the workplace.

There was no epilogue but the last chapter was cute. It was nice to see Lauren finally live the life she wanted!
Overall an okay book but unfortunately doesn’t really stand out to me.

Take a break from heavy novels and suspense to read a Marilyn Simon Rothstein book! Doesn’t matter which one, she has a few but her latest, Crazy to Leave You was so, so good. I love the author’s writing style and the insightful story flows easily with humorous characters. I already can’t wait for her next book. I need more like this in my life!

Forty-one years old, the last of her friends to marry, and down to a size 12, Lauren Leo is in her gown and about to tie the knot. There’s just one thing missing: the groom. With one blindsiding text, Lauren is unceremoniously dumped at the altar.

In the aftermath, her mother is an endless well of unsolicited advice (Stay on your diet and freeze your eggs). Her sisters only add to the Great Humiliation: one is planted on Lauren’s couch while the other is too perfect.

Picking her heart up off the floor, Lauren turns to her work in advertising as she gathers courage to move on and plan her next step. She should know by now that nothing in life goes according to plan. What lies ahead is the road to self-acceptance and at long last feeling worthy. With a new way to measure love and success, Lauren chucks her scale—and finds a second chance in the most unexpected place.

Coming to you on May 24!

I couldn't get into this book. It jumped right into the action, with Lauren getting left at the altar, but then stagnated for a bit and didn't hold my attention very well. However, I think that the messages of finding your own self-acceptance after a heartbreak is a great one and is conveyed pretty well.

Trigger warning: discussions of weight loss, bingeing, disordered eating, emotional abuse.
Crazy to Leave You gives us the Bridget Jones of the millennial generation – Lauren Leo. Lauren is 41, she’s just been left at the altar, so what’s a woman to do but to throw herself into work as a distraction from heartbreak (I’ve been there and I would totally do this). But disaster strikes again as Lauren has an accident on the drive back from seeing a client, fracturing her wrist leading to her being picked up by Rudy, her bosses driver. Will there be a 3rd disaster, as my mum says they come in threes, or is Lauren’s luck about to change in love and life?
We meet Lauren just as she finds out that her fiancé isn’t coming to the wedding, via her sister, by text…. W*nker much? After fleeing the synagogue and making it to the diner across the road (with a dramatic fall in the road on the way) Lauren drowns her sorrows in food, and then promptly gets shamed for doing so by her mother when her parents find out where she is.
Here’s where we hit the bit about the trigger warning – Lauren has a really bad relationship with food, her body, and her mother as a result of incessant comments about the first two. This is a relationship that I recognise, although not to the same extent. This was actually really difficult for me to read after my own struggles with weight management and a mother who, when trying to be what they see as helpful, actually ends up making you feel worse.
Lauren, like me, uses food as a coping mechanism when she’s sad, angry, stressed, happy, the lot. In the run up to her wedding she lost weight and made it to a US 12 (UK 14) for the day – another annoying focus, losing weight for your wedding – but now she’s been jilted the diet is out the window and the comfort and binge eating has commenced. A mini food coma/sugar crash is what leads to her crashing her rental car.
However in the back of her head, and in front of her face, are the constant reminders from her mother that she is over 40, fat, and single, and this just won’t do. She feels in competition with her sisters constantly (a perfect Jewish mother and an actress), despite being hugely successful in her own career and being the first woman to achieve her role in her company. This leads to situations where she feels attacked and singled out at family gatherings, getting married was supposed to stop this from happening.
As messy as Lauren comes across, and at times you just want to scream at her for reading way to much into things, I completely get it. It took me until my early 30s to understand my own body and food insecurities, and also to understand that my mothers generation grew up with a huge focus on weight as well and this just keeps being passed down to the next generation.
What I really appreciated regards the food and body issues is that Lauren does come to a positive ending in this story without having a dramatic body transformation and losing loads of weight, which is something I was really worried about. She achieves her goals, starts standing up for herself, and starts to adopt a HAES (Health at Every Size) approach to her overall wellbeing.
In addition to this we also see Lauren transform romantically, learning to trust men again instead of thinking they’re all alike; and we see her recognise her own worth in the advertising world, knowing that she can do more than she thought. It was great to see that confidence development throughout the story.
Supporting the whole journey are Laurens very dramatic family, who like most of us you love dearly but they also drive you round the bend at times. We see a journey of sisterly love as they start to voice the assumptions they had always made about each other, and we see Lauren work out how to handle her mother so she stops making her feel bad about herself.
Verdict: Marilyn Simon Rothstein has created a hugely relatable character in Lauren Leo who is facing the conflicting challenges of living up to the expectations of an older generation whilst living in a world that is trying to put a stop to the toxic practices passed down to them. Where it was intense to read about Lauren’s food and weight insecurities, it was also very familiar and written well. I hope that there’s a second instalment in the saga of Lauren Leo.

Looking for a fun, laugh-out-loud read? This is the book for you. I read this on a long flight and it made the time pass by quickly. Looking forward to reading more by Rothstein!

CRAZY TO LEAVE YOU
by Marilyn Simon Rothstein
Lake Union Publishing
Pub Date: May 24

Marilyn Simon Rothstein's books keep me in stitches as characters and their families struggle with crazy challenges. Her latest follows this charming signature style and kept me happily engaged from page one.

Lauren, 41, finally makes it to the altar, the last of her friends to get there, when she is dumped by text. The horror! And just when she reaches size 12, alas.

She deals with a judgmental mother, two sisters with their own issues, and as Lauren struggles to recover, she wonders, "Will I ever succeed?"

But she turns to her job with fervor, even when it threatens to swamp her. And as she shows grit and wit in dealing with life's lemons -- and chucks that scale for good -- we grow to love her and pray she gets the second chance she truly deserves.

Perfect for readers who love hilarious tales with relatable MCs. A treat!

Thanks to the author, Lake Union Publishing, and NetGalley for the ARC. Opinions are mine.

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Although a woman jilted at the alter might be the stuff of melodrama, in Marilyn Rothstein's hands it turns into a warm, fun and uplifting story. Rothstein's special brand of humor is surprising, quick-paced and a drop edgy, but always good natured. I found this book a wonderfully entertaining and engrossing read.

Rothstein did it again. She presents a family in sooo much conflict, but presents it with humor. I enjoyed the storylines and the author definitely has me as a fan. Can’t wait to read more from her!

This was exactly the book I needed to read this week while stuck at home in isolation! It was fun, witty, insightful, beautifully written and featured a fabulous cast of characters. I may have even fallen in love with a certain driver... (can't say more, no spoilers allowed!) This is the first book of Rothstein's that I've read, and it certainly won't be the last.