In Levangie’s rollicking latest (after Seven Deadlies), divorce turns into blood sport for Agnes Murphy Nash, a Hollywood author who must regroup when her powerful movie producer husband Trevor decides he doesn’t “want to marriage anymore.” Trevor is not only a no-show to her book launch party, but Agnes must hop the gate to their home after discovering the code has been changed, only to get tased on the other side. After Trevor cancels Agnes’s credit cards, tries to sell the house out from under her, and gets her shipped off to rehab for her almond habit, it’s time for Agnes to lawyer up. Trevor and Agnes’s cat-and-mouse game soars to ridiculous heights, and when Agnes’s delightful jailbird sister Fin comes to stay, she’s more than happy to help Agnes drive the childish and neurotic Trevor out of his wits. However, things get serious when Trevor tries to take sole custody of their 11-year-old daughter, Pep. Screenwriter Levangie has a keen insight into the inner workings, and foibles, of the Hollywood elite, and her sharp, canny wit drives her mile-a-minute prose and spares no one. Agnes’s voice is wry and funny, and there’s just enough pathos about her to keep the more farcical elements in check. Readers looking for a fast, laugh-out-loud romp will find much to enjoy.
PopSugar:
Agnes Murphy Nash had the perfect Hollywood life alongside her heavy hitter producer husband… until one day, she doesn't. When she comes home to find her credit cards canceled and the gate code to her house changed, Agnes doesn't go quietly into the night. No, Agnes vows to wage war on her man-child ex. Been There, Married That is a hilarious satire written by a true Hollywood insider.
BookRiot:
Agnes is the wife of Hollywood bigshot, Trevor Nash, and together they have a picture perfect marriage. That is until Agnes arrives home one day to find her credit cards canceled and the security codes changed. Trevor wants a divorce and to take everything from Agnes in the process—but Agnes won’t take that lying down. (Adult, lit fic)
Kirkus:
A Hollywood divorce with all the trimmings: luxury real estate, lawyers, TMZ, plastic surgery, an Oscar, and a night in jail.
It begins at the narrator’s 48th birthday party, where her A-list movie star husband, Trevor, toasts her…work ethic. “My fertility is on its last heaving throes, my eggs scrambled and crapping out, waving the white maxi pad. All that’s left for me is flushing and sweat. Soon, I will be all dried out, a human tumbleweed, rolling along Sunset Boulevard to guzzle martinis at the Polo Lounge,” she says. Rushing along in a torrent of inner monologue, snappy dialogue, puns, memes, and wisecracks, the narrator of Levangie’s (Seven Deadlies, 2013, etc.) latest goes from the birthday celebration to a book party with signature cocktails called “Tres Deadlies” and “Deadlies on Arrival”—suggesting that the author, a former Hollywood wife herself, knows whereof she speaks. When the narrator gets home, she finds the code to the gate of her “mid-century California ranch-style estate in the famed Palisades Riviera” has been changed. After she climbs over, the guard, ordered to keep her out, tasers her. “I’m putting this marriage in turnaround,” announces the extremely self-absorbed Trevor. “You know, like when I had that cartel project I was really in love with but then we couldn’t get Guillermo to direct and then I kind of fell out of love and I fired everybody?” The narrator digs in her heels—after all, she needs a place to raise her daughter, Pep, hide her ex-con sister, Fin, and entertain her book club, currently reading “a multigenerational family saga set in the Burmese mountains in the winter of 1806, written by a queer-leaning Bangladeshi paraplegic.” This means war.
Booklist:
Those who can’t get enough Real Housewives of Beverly Hills will have great fun with Levangie’s latest send up of the over-the-top lives of Hollywood movers and shakers. Agnes Nash was perfectly happy with her role as a producer’s wife, which consisted primarily of gossiping at charity events and sunbathing with cocktails. But her husband, Trevor, has decided to move on, and she comes home one night to find herself locked out of her house. Determined not to lose her daughter or the lifestyle to which she’s become accustomed, Agnes sets out to make Trevor pay, with help from her over-eager staff and jailbird sister. Readers of Levangie’s previous books will find that they’ve “been there, read that,” given the book's familiar larger than life characters and exaggerated descriptions of every Hollywood stereotype, but the fast pace and quick change of scenes contribute to the depiction of life in the fast lane. The tale is full of one-liners, sarcasm, and scandal, making it hard not to laugh at Agnes’ woes. Fans of Lauren Weisberger and Candace Bushnell will inhale this in one sitting.
