The Other Family by Joanna Trollope

This must be the month for chick lit. I read a favourable review about this book in the SMH, saying that these types of books – can’t remember whether the reviewer called them second tier or mid-range or some other similar description – deserved greater respect and that this one was a goodie. Well, maybe. But really, there’s so much else worth reading and so little time and this is like a bookish version of Sex in the City or Friends. Trash really. It's about a bloke who dies and how his second family copes when he leaves something in his will to his first family, whom they’ve never met. The mothers of both these families are caricatures and really, really irritating. In fact all the bloody characters are caricatures and really, really irritating. Perhaps for a distracting train journey or when you’re sick with the flu and don’t want to concentrate…. 1 star