The Overdue Life of Amy Byler

I so enjoyed this book, a nice reprieve from having everything tie into all the complex issues troubling our world….just a nice little story with nice real feelings…funny, heartwarming, sad and a lot of reality.

Ok,I really liked this book. Fun characters, concept and plot. But I loved the quality, funny, REAL conversations and dialogue of this book. Kelly Harms nails it with a perfect, singular voice for each of these characters. I especially love Cori's humor and banter with Amy. It is one of the first true mother\teenaged- daughter relationships I can recall reading that actually sounds genuine. It is a good reminder for all of us that we need to give ourselves a break once in a while....put your own air mask on before helping others.

This book was absolutely worth the hype and high prayer that has received. It is a very relatable, realistic (for some) tale of motherhood and discovering the importance of independence after having kids. I think every single mother, I know (especially those of us with small kids) can relate to many parts of this, even if we do have dedicated, loving partners. My only realization is that I don’t have a super fancy single friend, living in a huge metropolitan area that I can escape to!

Star Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫Genre: Women’s FictionSetting: Pennsylvania, NYCFormat: 📖. 🎧Performance: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Narrator: Amy McFaddenRelease Date: May 1, 2019Length: 328 pages/10 hrs 15 minsThree years ago, John Byler left for a business trip to Hong Kong and when the business part was over, he decided Hong Kong is where he needed to stay, leaving wife Amy to be to sole provider and single mom to 15-year-old Cori and 12-year-old Joe. It has not been easy for Amy from managing the house finances as a school librarian, keeping up with household repairs, the kids in a private school, getting them all to their different activities and keeping their behavior on the right road. Out of the clear blue sky John is back, he suddenly decided he has been a terrible father, wants to spend time with the children and cons Amy giving him the kids for one week.In dire need of some down time, Amy takes John up onhis offer in exchange for his credit card and heads off to New York City to connect with an old college friend, get some well needed sleep time, dive into to her TBR booklist and attended a library conference.What she gets is totally not what she expects. Her old college friend is the editor of a lifestyle magazine gets this brilliant idea give Amy a total makeover and make her a feature story in the magazine calling is “#momspringa" a play of the version of an Amish rumspringa. When John talks Amy into letting him keep the kids for the summer this weeklong freedom turns into a summer of self-discovery, coming to terms with her failed marriage, motherhood yet waking her up to new love with a hot and handsome NYC Librarian. Until one day she wakes and realized she has to decide abandon being a mother and her children or leave the new love behind.The Overdue Life of Amy Byler by Kelly Harms has been sitting on my TBR list since 2019, having the audiobook helped to finally get to this book. I found the story fun, witty and charming .. story about a woman in the crossroads of her life. I felt the end of the story came together a little too neatly and left me wondering. The was an audiobook narrated by Amy McFadden that did a decent job.

Three years ago Amy Byler's life fell apart. She had what she thought she wanted, marriage, two kids and a house in the suburbs. But then John, her husband, went overseas to Hong Kong for business and called her to tell her he wasn't coming back. Suddenly she was left a single mother who hadn't worked in quite a while.Amy did the best she could. She found a job at the children's pricey private school which gave her a tuition discount. She worked, looked after kids, fell into bed exhausted and did it all again the next day. John not only wasn't there, he wasn't sending money.Now, Amy pretty much has things back on track. She is tired most of the time but the three of them are doing well. Cori is talented in diving and thinking about full rides on a sports scholarship. Joe is a science and math brain and Amy knows he will do great at whatever he picks out. Then she goes to a drugstore and sees John. He has come back.John hasn't come back for Amy, but he does want to get to know his children again. He talks Amy into letting him have the children for the first week of summer vacation. She signs up for a librarian conference in New York and calls her best friend from college for a place to stay. When Amy gets there, her friend Tallia has a plan. She runs a fashion magazine and they want to do a makeover on Amy. Once they are through, Amy looks years younger and much more chic. When John asks for the summer with the children, she reluctantly agrees and stays in New York.Part of the makeover is dating new men and Amy follows through on the plan. But her interest has already been piqued by Daniel, a man at the conference all the women call the hot librarian. He is interested in Amy as well and soon Amy has to decide if this new relationship has any chance of working with him living in New York with his daughter and her in Pennsylvania with her children. Can things work out?This is my first novel by Kelly Harms but it won't be my last. Amy is relatable to any woman with kids and a job. That translates into exhaustion and putting your own needs after those of the children and your husband. Starting over and recapturing your youthful dreams seems unlikely if not impossible. Harms was a literary editor before she started writing and she captures the hopes and feelings of mothers everywhere. This book is recommended for readers of women's literature.

Demorei um pouco para terminar o livro, mas não significa que não estivesse investida na história. The Overdue Life of Amy Byler tem tudo que eu gosto em literatura contemporânea feminina e mais um pouco: finalmente um livro em que a protagonista é traída pelo marido e não fica se rastejando por ele, nem têm filhos crescidos completamente alheios à gravidade de ser infiel. Mas disso tudo eu comento depois.Ler este livro me deu o prazer e me mergulhou numa concentração que há muito tempo não acontecia. Gosto disso porque termino o livro com a sensação de que me dediquei 100% e, consequentemente, aproveitei tudo o que podia se aproveitar da leitura.Acredito que seja o primeiro livro que leio sobre uma mãe solteira em que a autora se dispôs a dar um background ao ex-marido ao invés de só mostrar que ele é um canalha irresponsável e que se torna mais canalha a cada página a ponto do personagem parecer mal construído e unidimensional e a gente se perguntar COMO a protagonista não enxergou os sinais, COMO ela se apaixonou por esse completo cretino.O background não justifica o que John fez, nem as feridas e problemas que causou à família, mas o torna mais humano.Aliás, a autora nos lembra o tempo todo o que John fez e o condena por isso, seja na voz do narrador, nas falas de Amy ou dos filhos. E achei absolutamente corretíssimo e nem um pouco repetidamente chato. Contribuiu para deixar a impressão de que o processo de perdão ao John é complexo e demorado, com avanços e retrocessos por parte de sua família devido à profundidade da mágoa que eles têm dele.Amy falando sobre os pós e contras da maternidade também se repetiu e acho que só não cansei porque lia em doses homeopáticas. Eram comentários reais e necessários, mas senti que apareciam quando a história estava na mesmice, sem nada novo. Isso intensificou a sensação de repetição sem fim.Gostei muito de Cori e Joe. Confesso ter problemas com filhos em geral na ficção; poucos me parecem verdadeiros. Eles, não. Além disso, é raro encontrar filhos que apoiam a mãe. E aqui o apoio não parecia adulto demais para a idade deles.Torci o nariz para a conversa sobre moda. Batido e ultrapassado esse papo, a condenação de roupas confortáveis, largas, sutiãs esportivos associando-os a desleixo e não a gosto particular ou, simplesmente, a conforto acima de tudo. Assim como criticar quem troca uma balada por ficar em casa e ler um livro.Tenho dúvidas sobre a profissão de Amy porque bibliotecas não dão aulas, mas dou o benefício da dúvida de que li em inglês e não entendi essa explicação muito bem.Adorei o romance. Ele respira maturidade. Dois adultos, duas pessoas maduras se abrindo para outro relacionamento, mesmo com a bagagem das relações antigas. Não tem nada que eu critique nessa questão, pra mim foi mais um acerto da autora. E é um alívio que ela não utilizou recursos preguiçosos como falha de comunicação, chiliques e até a aprovação dos filhos como empecilho.Por fim, devo dizer que adorei como leitores foram retratados aqui. Somos nerds e um nicho esquisito para quem vê de fora, é verdade. O debate sobre incentivo à leitura também foi bem bacana e, finalmente, com argumentos novos.

Although this book had a very predictable ending, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I found it so funny that my family thought I was on something because I couldn't stop laughing while I was reading it. A nice light summer read.

A delightful read. Well written. Just the right amount of comic relief and good writing. Will resonate with most of the mothers. Relatable. Bravo Kelly Harms. Looking forward to more little jewels like these.

Hermosa historia sobre la paternidad, el auto descubrimiento, la amistad y el amor, recomendable para todas las mamás y papás

For Amy Byler, the city really is so good they names it twice. With a 12 year old and a 15 year old at home and her ex-husband suddenly reappearing after 3 years of silence it is time to get away. Away from the hum drum existence of work and chores that leaves no time for her, away from her martyrdom, just away. Told with humour and a deft touch this book was a complete joy to read.There are some issues with the plotting of the book, mainly centering around how easily Amy gets a job when her husband abandons his family. Any psychological trauma to the children from this event is glossed over very quickly. How Amy manages to foot the bill for her momspringa is never really explained - yes she has free accommodation, yes she has a credit card but is very reluctant to use it and all that eating out is going to cost. At least the new wardrobe, beauty treatments and exercise classes are paid for by Pure Beautiful. This is a minor issue but it did bother me, as it always does; not enough for me to mark the book down though.The plotting is strong with believable characters and situations. Amy herself is a mix of all those conflicting emotions that we all suffer from, mainly the worry that she is just not a good enough mum. Even though her children reassure her they are fine spending this time with their father and to go enjoy herself she constantly tortures herself with thoughts of unworthiness. Fortunately she has good friends in Rachel and Lena who bolster her through, when she meets Matt and Daniel their support is probably more important as they do not know her history as intimately but yet still bolster her courage.I loved all the literary references - to be expected in a book about a Librarian after all. Even better, this is a Librarian in a school so lots of references to YA literature and I love a good bit of YA. Cori's journal entries to her mum about the books she has been set to read are fun and have the tone of a precocious 15 year old, rather than a 30 something trying to emulate a 15 year old.I believe this genre is rapidly becoming referred to as Up Lit and this book genuinely fits the genre. It will put a smile on your face and a song in your heart and give you slightly restless feet. What it won't do is help you get off at the right stop on your commute, you are going to wildly overshoot as you become absorbed in Amy's world and cheer her on through first dates, exercise sessions and heart to hearts with her friends.