"All Fall Down" by Jennifer Weiner

I picked up this book at Barnes & Noble after reading "Then Came You" by Jennifer Weiner in August.  At the time, Then Came You was the first book of hers that I had read and I enjoyed it.  "All Fall Down" was a good book.  It was a little slow at first to get into.  But it was interesting to read about a busy, working mom, wife, and partial caretaker to her ailing father and how she copes with the stress of it all.  I'd recommend this book   It was an interesting take on addiction.

Overview from Barnes and Noble:

Allison Weiss got her happy ending—a handsome husband, adorable daughter, a job she loves, and the big house in the suburbs. But while waiting in the pediatrician’s office, she opens a magazine to a quiz about addiction and starts to wonder…Is a Percocet at the end of the day really different from a glass of wine? Is it such a bad thing to pop a Vicodin after a brutal Jump & Pump class…or if your husband ignores you?

The pills help her manage the realities of her good-looking life: that her husband is distant, that her daughter is acting out, that her father’s Alzheimer’s is worsening and her mother is barely managing to cope. She tells herself that they let her make it through her days…but what if her increasing drug use, a habit that’s becoming expensive and hard to hide, is turning into her biggest problem of all?

With a sparkling comedic touch and a cast of unforgettable characters, this remarkable story of a woman’s slide into addiction and struggle to find her way back up again is Jennifer Weiner’s most masterful work yet.

"Then Came You" by Jennifer Weiner

I don't think I've ever read a book by Jennifer Weiner.  I was in Barnes & Noble and trying to find another book for the "Buy 2, Get 1 Free" deal and saw this one.  It sounded pretty interesting and I picked it up.  It was a little slow in the beginning, but I really liked this book.  It took me a little longer to get into it due to being busy at work and not having the time to read.  But once I got about half way through, I had to finish.  I would definitely recommend this book.  I liked it enough to pick up another one of her books last time I went into the bookstore.

Synopsis from Barnes and Noble's website:

Jules Strauss is a Princeton senior on a full scholarship who plans on selling her “pedigree” eggs to help save her father from addiction.

Annie Barrow, a struggling Pennsylvania housewife, thinks that carrying another woman’s child will help her recover a sense of purpose and will bring in some much-needed cash.

India Bishop, thirty-eight (really, forty-three) and recently married to the wealthy Marcus Croft, yearns for a baby for reasons that have more to do with money than with love. When her attempts at pregnancy fail, she turns to Jules and Annie to make her dreams come true.

But each of their plans is thrown into disarray when Bettina, Marcus’s privileged daughter, becomes suspicious that her new stepmother is not what she seems . . .

Told with Jennifer Weiner’s trademark wit and sharp observations, Then Came You is a hilarious, tender, and timely tale that explores themes of class and entitlement, surrogacy and charity, the rights of a parent and the measure of a mother.