This book was everything I didn’t know I needed. It has humor, gained friendship, love, and loss. I loved how all the characters came together perfectly. Absolutely adored this book!

“There was only so much shock, heartbreak, and upheaval a person could take before she eventually cracked up, and Melinda had cracked.”

For readers craving a funny, sweet, heartwarming family drama, this novel checks those boxes.

In Greenwich Village, Lauren, Olivia, and Melinda connect via a baby—who doesn’t belong to any of them. With the novel’s array of quirky characters and numerous plot lines, it is sometimes difficult to keep track of who is doing what. But, as the story comes together in a delightful way, we’re reminded our paths take us down unforeseen roads and connect us with unexpected people.

And revenge isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

The Sweet Spot by Amy Poeppel was a cute rom-com. I loved the characters in this book and how we got to know them all and their perspectives. Anyone else feel like they are living with them? I also enjoyed the concept of how one decision could and would affect so many people in different ways. Definitely an enjoyable read which will have you laughing and crying all at the same time!

January 31, 2023
OMG ! Kudos to Amy Poeppel, the author of “The Sweet Spot,” for writing a unique, creative, captivating, witty, and spectacular novel. What started to be one of those days where everything was going wrong suddenly changed when I started reading Amy Poeppel’s book! This is such a laugh-out-loud book that I needed my inhalers because I was laughing so much. ( I have asthmatic bronchitis and cold, to clarify the need for the inhaler, but it certainly was worth it)

Where do I begin? The genres for this book are Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Chick Lit, Women’s Fiction, Adult Fiction, Romance, and Satire. The timeline for this story is set in the present and goes to the past regarding the characters and events. The story takes place in New York City, mostly in Greenwich Village, in an eclectic Brownstone that seems to be built for “love” and “family.” In the basement of the Brownstone is a bar called “The Sweet Spot,” which plays music and serves liquor, which reminds me of the historical “speak-easy” during prohibition. Dan has been the bartender for years. The author vividly describes her colorful and dramatic characters as complex, complicated, and quirky. I love that there is a practically untrainable dog and gerbils.

Lauren, with her husband Leo and three young children, is lucky to be able to live in this special Brownstone. Lauren is very creative and makes pottery that is sold in an upscale store. As they settle into the Brownstone, with the addition of a dog with a mind of his own, Lauren is bombarded to fulfill an order of her creations for Felicity, who owns several stores. Felicity shares with Lauren that she is pregnant, and the father is thrilled. He does leave his wife, Melinda.

Melinda is one character that reminds me of a line and idiom in William Congreve’s play, “The Mourning Bride” (1697) “Hell hath no fury as a woman scorned.” When her husband of 30 years divorces her for a younger woman, who is pregnant with his child, Melinda is determined to seek revenge. Her revenge is one of the novel's catalysts, creating havoc and backfiring. One example is that Melinda is responsible for Olivia, Dan’s daughter, for losing her job at Felicity’s store.

Felicity’s new husband becomes responsible for the new baby until he disappears, and someone has to watch his baby boy. Can you imagine who will be watching the baby?

I appreciate that Amy Poeppel discusses the importance of family, friends, neighbors, community, and love. The author also describes the complexity of relationships, contrasts of love and hate, tolerance and acceptance of differences, second chances, and new beginnings. Amy Poeppel is an amazing storyteller and writer!

I highly recommend this outstanding book! I enjoyed this novel and was so entertained that I started re-reading “The Sweet Spot” a second time last night. Happy Reading!

What a great book! I will admit it was a little slow to start for my liking, but i was hooked pretty quick! I loved the characters and how we got to see things from all of their perspectives! At times I felt like I was in the brownstone with them! It was interesting to see how one decision could effect so many people in so many different ways. I laughed, I cried, I screamed, I laughed and cried some more. Highly recommend reading this book when you have the chance!

The Sweet Spot was the first book I have read by Amy Poeppel, but she came highly recommended. And I found the concept of this book quite intriguing - I love stories that bring together characters from various parts of life.

This one took me a while to get into, and once I did, it felt like it ended rather abruptly. I really enjoyed so many characters - and I think what disappointed me is that I would have liked more time spent with them and less with the ones that I found more cookie cutter/less interesting.

I enjoyed Poeppel's writing and her sense of humor. All of the references and jokes really hit the right note for me.

Overall, I found it rather enjoyable and with some characters I will not soon forget. I only wish we had more time with them!

The following review will be posted on my blog tomorrow, Tuesday, January 31st, the day of publication. It will be shared on Instagram tomorrow and on Wednesday as well, and has already been posted on Goodreads. The blog post includes links to order the books and to its Goodreads page, so readers can add it to their to-be-read books.





Genre: Women’s Fiction
Actual Rating: 3 stars
Spicy Meter: N/A
Content Warnings:Mentions parental death, cheating, and abandonment.

“The Sweet Spot” follows multiple points of views to tell a story of three women—women at different stages of life and who don’t particularly like each other—as they face the oddest of situations. Lauren is a ceramic artist who’s happily married and has 3 kids. What she was not intending was to cause Melinda’s husband to leave her after 30 years of marriage, simply by giving a small pep talk to the art curator who was having an affair with Melinda’s husband. Melinda worked in HR at a firm for years, but after finding herself forcefully retired after an incident, she ends up working as a school receptionist. What Melinda was not intending was to get Olivia fired after Olivia had a confrontation with Melinda at the mistress’s store and it goes viral on Tiktok. And what none of them expected was to find a baby upon their doorstep.

Getting to meet Lauren first, Melinda second, and Olivia last, these interlacing points of view bring us a story that’s so sad and improbable that it’s comical. These three ladies and a few of the side characters have so many flaws that aren’t regularly portrayed in fiction. Amy Poeppel gives us a very unique story in “The Sweet Spot.”

But I can already see from the reviews on Goodreads that my opinion is the unpopular one this time around. I really enjoyed the whimsicality of the characters, but the story never fully captivated me. I did not DNF this book out of pure willpower and stubbornness, because I honestly was done with this narrative at around 20%.

It’s complicated because the book is really well-written and the characters are thoroughly constructed and fairly unique, yet I did not empathize with any of them. I was not interested in their story and their lives and their problems. Lauren’s struggles with her commissions, Melinda’s grudge over someone steeling her husband, and Olivia’s unemployment after a meltdown inspired barely any emotion in me.

Although this book wasn’t my cup of tea, I would recommend it to readers who have enjoyed books by Sally Rooney, especially “Conversations with Friends”, and books by Frederik Backman, especially “Anxious People” and “My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry”.

If you click here, you’ll be redirected to Goodreads, so you can add the book to your TBR list.

Or you could click here, and be redirected to Amazon, so you can order the book.

ARC provided by NetGalley and Atria Books in exchange for an honest review.

Publication Date: January 31, 2023

This delightful story of women and friendships is as comical as it is chaotic. A delight to read with characters who come together seamlessly. Funny and fantastic.

Looking for a fun read!? Read The Sweet Spot by Amy Poeppel.
Publication date for this new book is Tuesday, Jan 31, 2023.
I was lucky to read an advanced copy (ARC). After the first few chapters, I just couldn’t put it down!

I found myself laughing out loud quite often through this fun weekend read.

I just LOVED the characters! ❤️❤️

Lauren and the Aston family were the most bizarre but charming people. I loved how each member of the family changed and grew by the end. Of course, you gotta love the expensive tableware with bugs represented and the surprise offer from a billionaire. Sorry Elon, you don’t always get your way. 🐜🕷️🐛🐞🪲☕️🍽️🥣

The redeemable villainess is a complete hoot! From trying to destroy her ex-husband’s lover’s high-end home decor business and reputation, to chasing away needed nannies, to terrorizing snotty, rich middle school parents; Melinda was my hero. All the things you wish you could say and do, but would never dare.

Olivia was the third women who made up this amazing trio. It was refreshing that someone in her late 20s knew her mind, embraced her skills and learned from the older women around her. Brava!

So sad this fun, whirlwind of a book ended. I will miss these ladies and their peeps. And I will giggle when I think of them.

Read it! 4 stars! ✨✨✨✨Loved it!

This is a story about family and expectations.  Lauren, a ceramicist, and her husband Leo, a professor, find themselves the inhabitants of a beautiful, aging brownstone in Greenwich Village.  Such a house would typically be behind their means, but Leo's father offered that they could stay there while he is in Europe for a job and even offered them money to send their three children to a local private school.  So Lauren and Leo moved back into his childhood home, which has a dive bar in the basement called The Sweet Spot.

Lauren seems to have good fortune abounding, as she has just been commissioned by Felicity, the owner of well-known high-end home goods stores and the star of a television home improvement show, for a line of pieces for her store.  But then her fortune seems to turn when she drops her children off at school and, in the course of making conversation with the school's new receptionist, Melinda, learns that she inadvertently played a role in ending Melinda's thirty-year marriage.  Melinda's husband, seemingly out of nowhere, dumped her for Felicity, and the two are having a baby.  Melinda is on a mission of revenge, committed to ruining the lives of Felicity and her husband no matter the cost -- and, in her rage, inadvertently provokes Olivia, one of the staffers of Felicity's store.  The incident is caught on video and goes viral, leading the store to fire Olivia, who has her own unexpected connections to Lauren, derailing Olivia's promising career.

When Melinda's actions prompt her ex-husband to leave their baby behind to chase after Felicity, the unlikely group of Lauren, Melinda, and Olivia -- together with Lauren's mom, who has been staying with them, and Lauren’s three children -- bind together to take care of the baby.  Through this unusual arrangement, they gain a greater understanding of each other, their unexpected commonalities, what they can learn from unexpected sources, and what they want for their futures.

This book was great! The setup may seem high concept but, in the author's capable hands, it feels entirely believable, leading to a warmhearted story that explores interesting themes around success, family (both born to and found), and wealth.  I really enjoyed how the book gradually unveiled the connections between the three main characters and the others in their orbit.  I also enjoyed how, through three very different characters, the author explored the way they each face similar struggles with their career, relationships, and families.  The book deftly captures the strong pull of expectations, whether from society or family, and what happens when, through circumstance or choice, people subvert those expectations.  The supporting characters were delightful, especially Lauren's mother, who goes on her own unexpected journey during the course of the book.

Strongly recommended!

I loved every bit of this sweet and quirky book, and would have happily read another 1,000 pages about the characters!

The plot revolves around Felicity, who is newly pregnant from an affair with a married man, and unsure what to do. Months later, through a series of mishaps, she ends up leaving the baby in New York while she is in LA, and the baby is cared for by an assorted group of characters all connected to her in one way or another. The book moves seamlessly from narrator to narrator, giving us a view inside each of their brains and giving us a better understanding of their motivations.

I adored all the characters -- especially Lauren, Olivia, Melinda, Dan, and all the children. Each of their personalities was so unique and fully formed, and their quirks were so endearing. I could visualize the house that Lauren and her family were living in, all the clutter and chaos of it, and would have loved to step inside it for longer.

This is one of my favorite types of books -- an assortment of unique characters in New York. This one really stood out and I would recommend it to anyone who needs a sweet and light read, which is also moving and very honest about being unsure what to do with your life.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an early copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Wasn’t able to get through this one completely. I put it down often with the idea of returning back to it.

At the moment not entirely motivated to finish it, maybe I will in the future.

Aww, I'm so sad that I finished this book! Will thoroughly miss these fabulous characters, their chaos, and harmony, as well as their interactions and personalities was beyond lovable. What a great story! Completely enjoyed "The Sweet Spot", this may be my favorite Amy Poeppel novel (and, all of her books are FANTASTIC). Thank you NetGalley, the author and publisher for the early release copy. All opinions are my own.

Pub date: 1/31/23
Genre: humorous fiction, multigenerational family drama
Quick summary: Three women, someone else's baby, one Greenwich Village brownstone, and lots of drama and hilarity.

This was my first book by Amy Poeppel, and I can see why she has such devoted fans! I loved the hijinks that the women got up to in this narrative. Female MCs Melinda, Olivia, and Lauren were each lovable with distinct personalities, and I loved seeing them bond over the course of the narrative. Poeppel intertwined their narratives so well!

THE SWEET SPOT brought the comedy but was also profound with its lessons about life and love. If only we could all live in a brownstone with our adversaries turned friends and co-parents! If you enjoy family dramas, this is a great twist on the genre.

Thank you to the Thoughts From a Page podcast and Atria Books for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is my first Amy Poeppel and I loved it! It was everything I needed! There were so many laugh out loud moments and such strong female characters! There was so much character development,which is my favorite, and all of the ladies were so relatable. It’s been a long week and this was the perfect read allowing me to really immerse myself in Poeppel’s world every chance I got! I can’t wait to read more of Poeppel’s books! Time comes out at the end of the month and I highly recommend it!

5 stars

Thank you @netgalley and @atriabooks

Grab your copy out 1/31!

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The Sweet Spot is one terrific read! It’s heartwarming and super funny.
I roared with laughter through the first half of it. I adored bitter, bitchy, rampaging Melinda. Those chapters with her on her rants were the best!
My next favorite was Evelyn whose no nonsense approach was sorely needed.
The author threaded the story so well with all the different angles. The result is a messy, quirky, loving, big extended family who revolve around a youngster named Hank.
One can’t find a sweeter spot than that.

I was happy to see a new book by Amy Poeppel as I remembered how much I enjoyed [book:Musical Chairs|52753733]. This one did not disappoint! This book has Lauren and her madcap, zany family living in Greenwich Village in a brownstone over a bar called The Sweet Spot. Just a short time after moving in, Lauren finds she has made an enemy of a woman whose husband left her, Melinda, by making an innocent comment to her friend, Felicity. Melinda's husband dumped her for Felicity. Melinda is out for vengeance against Lauren. Olivia, innocent in all of this, gets caught in the cross-fire. This book was fun!

I liked the mix of characters and the history of the old brownstone. The bartender for The Sweet Spot was a treat - I enjoyed reading about him. Melinda was crazed with her desire for vengeance. There were surprises in the relationships. Oh, and Lauren's mother was an interesting character who was not what I expected from Lauren's initial description of her.

There were several crises in the book that had to be handled and worked through. The book kept my attention throughout and i didn't want to put it down.

Thanks to Atria/Emily Bestler Books through Netgalley for an advance copy. This book will be published on January 31, 2023.

This was a funny, light, feel-good story with a large cast of characters.

The lives of three women intersect in unexpected ways, and I loved the character growth that took place over the course of the story.

It starts off with three distinct POVs, but as the story progresses, I felt that things began to feel jumbled and somewhat predictable. It took me a good thirty percent into the book before I felt invested. I didn't particularly enjoy the last 20 percent, but the middle was "the sweet spot" for me.

The Sweet Spot is billed as a women's fiction read that brings three women in Greenwich Village together when a baby arrives on their doorstep. Very Three Men and a Baby. Unfortunately, this synopsis isn't quite accurate--or, at least, it doesn't paint an accurate picture even if it is technically accurate. Not one of these women is left with a baby until well over halfway through the book. And the baby is not left on anyone's doorstep, but rather come into their care by a convoluted mess. While not the author's fault, a synopsis that says the book's focus is one thing, when it's really not, is very disorienting and frustrating for the reader. I kept waiting, and waiting, and waiting for the baby to show up, unsure why I should care about any of the characters, and just feeling sad at their many misfortunes, until I started skimming the book because I couldn't put up with full-on reading it. Perhaps those who enjoy women's fiction more than I, or go in knowing the focus of this story is not, as billed, a baby, but simply about several women whose lives intertwine in Greenwich Village.

Thanks to Atria for my eARC and my finished copy! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

3 stars - 7/10

Three women form an accidental sorority when a baby, belonging to non of them, fall on their collective doorstep. Lauren, the artist, Melinda, the father's ex, and Olivia, with her big dreams, rise to the occasion to forgive and forget and track the parents.
This woman's fiction was not for me. I had high expectations, but it was underwhelming, contained too many characters, was too long, and fell flat. The actual writing was good, but the plot needed more editing.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily.