THE PENNY PINCHERS CLUB
Sarah Strohmeyer
Dutton
Fiction
ISBN: 9780525951179
Kat Griffiths admits she's bad with money. She blames it on living in New Jersey, where shopping is the state pastime. While Kat and her husband Griff are not wealthy, Griff sacrifices to enable his wife to enjoy a few luxuries. For example, he drives a beater car so that she can drive a nice Lexus.
Kat enjoys her job as an interior decorator, but she doesn't enjoy her boss, the nasty and condescending Chloe. She has long harbored a dream to somehow break away from Chloe and open her own designing business. But one thing that working for Chloe did for Kat, 20 years before, was to hook her up with Griff, thereby causing Kat to fall deeply in love and break off her near engagement to the wealthy, doting and handsome Liam.
Although Kat infrequently and casually daydreams of the lifestyle she could be having with her ex, she is actually quite content and still very much in love with Griff --- until everything changes in her life, in the form of two condom wrappers discovered in Griff's pocket after he has taken a business trip to San Francisco with his young, lovely assistant, Bree. Kat is in total denial that the discovery means what it seems to mean, but then she happens upon discriminating emails between Griff and Bree, which lead her to the conclusion that her seemingly happy marriage is just a sham. Griff and Bree appear to have plans to wait until Kat and Griff's daughter, Laura, graduates from high school. Then Griff will divorce Kat. But Kat is determined to divorce him first, a goal that is intensified when she discovers he has a secret credit card, to which he charged a humongous bill at a ritzy restaurant.
Meanwhile, Kat's housekeeper Libby finally persuades her to attend a meeting of The Penny Pinchers Club, a group that is dedicated to frugality. When Kat admits her problems to the penny pinchers, they gear up to help her. The first stop is Kat's home where they not only audit her house (exclaiming in disgust over her multiple televisions and other luxuries) but delve into her and Griff's finances, of which Kat has remained blissfully ignorant. She is aghast to discover she not only needs to somehow save money for her expensive divorce lawyer, but she and Griff have accumulated $37,000 in consumer debt. She determines to pay off their debt before divorcing her husband.
Even as Kat scrimps and saves, finding a surprising satisfaction in her new frugality, she's puzzled to realize that her marriage seems even more rock-solid, loving and pleasing than ever. What is going on? Is Griff that much of an actor? Then who should drop into Kat's ever-more complicated life than Liam, who is on his way to his own divorce and appears to be determined to improve Kat's life and possibly become her next romantic partner.
Although enjoyable from the beginning, thanks to Kat's sassy voice, the story really picks up when Kat decides to take her financial reins in her own hands. The often hilarious and energetic THE PENNY PINCHERS CLUB resembles a zany madcap film comedy from the '40s but also has a meaningful message. The subject of credit debt is a timely and relatable subject; author Sarah Strohmeyer manages to make Kat's tale realistic yet upbeat and enjoyable as she discovers the true value in life. Although readers may suss out early on how Kat's love life will culminate, they are likely to continue to relish every bit of her story. They will enjoy a genuine sweetness in the romantic subplot, as well as a general good-natured, big-hearted atmosphere to the book that is impossible to resist.
--- Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon (terryms2001@yahoo.com)
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