It's romance, 1990s style, as Claire meets the love of her life‘another divorced parent like herself. Unfortunately, the effort to make their two families one has mixed results. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

In this evocative chronicle of one woman's life in the 1990s, Maynard creates an extraordinary character out of the altogether familiar attributes of Claire, divorced mother of two children and epitome of the supermom. Approaching her fortieth birthday, Claire spends her days juggling the demands of a career with the vicissitudes of parenthood and the exciting if confusing role of lover. Romantic and sexual needs that were never fulfilled by her former husband are now satiated, first by Mickey, who turns out to be skittish about Claire's children, and then by a truly devoted lover, Tim, himself the father of an impossibly difficult young daughter. Admirers will savor Maynard's skillful renderings in this knowing, finely realized novel of the emotional peaks and the excruciating mishaps that come with the territory of love affairs and of parenting. --Alice Joyce

Mating rituals among the middle-aged provide the focus for Maynard's latest. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved