She Makes it Looke Easy by Marybeth Whalen

Ariel Baxter has finally moved to the neighborhood of her dreams – Essex Falls. A mother of three boys and an excellent photographer, she is busy but never feels like she has it all together. Her tendency to be disorganized and forgetful has her feeling that she is just not good enough, even in her new home.

Her new neighbor, Justine, seems to have everything that she doesn’t – a clean and organized house, well behaved girls, perfect recipes, a great singing voice, popularity in the neighborhood – in short, she appears to be perfect. Ariel hopes that her friendship with Justine will bring some of these things into her life, all the while ignoring the signs that something might not be quite right.

I really enjoyed this book. Parts of it were truly laugh-out-loud funny and yet it dealt with some serious issues too. I love the detail that the author put into the setting, making it easy to picture and feel like you were there. What I most appreciate about this book, though, is that it’s so real. I could so easily relate to the characters because they seemed so true to life, and the situations that arose and temptations that they faced are ones that most of us deal with at some point in our lives. Which one of us hasn’t looked at the “perfect mom” across the street and wished we could be like her?

There are also valuable lessons to be reminded of woven throughout the book, like the importance of putting God first in all things, and what a true friend really is.

This is an excellent book that I would recommend for all Christian women.


*Disclosure: I received a Advance Reading Copy of this book through the Amazon Vine reviewers program.