Magnolia Wednesdays

Magnolia Wednesdays is another of Wendy Wax’s great work! This story will keep you on ups and downs through the entire read. We all have different reactions to life but I think that in being a journalist, your mind never stops. This is a fun read and look forward to reading more of Wendy’s work.

Fantastic book! These women are fabulous and could easily be my friends. Magnolia Wednesdays dropped me right back in time to my life in suburbia raising kids and surviving the teenage years. Wax's writing skillfully balances humor and pathos heavily sprinkled with the daily skirmishes that develop in families, especially between the two sisters, Vivien and Melanie. Having a sister myself, I could relate to the roller coaster relationship between the two sisters...the steep highs and the devastating lows and all the repartee in between. Wax captured the emotions perfectly and the authentic dialogue could have been written from my own life. MW shows us a slice of American life, women balancing families and careers, and family loyalty and trust. Heartwarming and inspiring, MW is a book I couldn't put down, reading late into the night and waking early next morning till I finished. It touched me, moved me to tears, made me laugh out loud, and compelled me to keep reading to the unexpected twists and turns at the end. Finishing this book is like leaving good friends. A wonderful read from a very talented author--eager to read Wax's other books. Shelley Portnoy, author "Pioneers of Israel" & "Wrestling With The Angels: A History of Jewish Los Angeles"

Reviewed by Tiffany Schlarman for Reader Views (05/10) Vivian Gray is at the top of her career, only to be shot in the butt and find out her career and life is not what she thinks. After her accidental shooting is virally posted on YouTube, and her world turned upside down by news of her surprising pregnancy, Vivian quits her job and moves to Atlanta to live with her sister, niece and nephew and write incognito and research her brother-in-law's death. Her weekly columns of life in suburbia are forged from her surface experiences while living her sister's life. Vivian, who is unsure of who she is and what she wants deals with all of the things she has avoided in her past. A mother incapable of showing love and acceptance, a sister she barley knows, guilt from leaving her sister after her husbands death, and fear of her future and her life with the man she loves, and father of her baby. While getting to know herself, Vivian slowly starts to learn about others and forge relationships. She finds out that the surface experiences are false and that life and love here truly run deep. When everything that is a lie in Vivian's life is exposed she has to choose what she wants out of life, and others are forced to see her for her true self and decide if they can forgive the hurt and pain and accept the new woman she has become. "Magnolia Wednesdays" is about life, love, loss, family and truly understanding ones self in order to understand others. "Magnolia Wednesdays" was a wonderfully entertaining read for me. It was laugh-out-loud funny, and relatable. The characters were well developed to the point that you truly felt you knew them, or at least someone like them! While I felt parts of it were a little long or could have been left out and still given the full impact, this book has something in it for every reader. The author does a wonderful job of keeping you attached to the book, and wanting to know more. There were lots of twist and turns in this book for the reader, even though I had most of them pegged or figured out before I read the part. This book made sense and didn't leave me feeling like it couldn't have happened that way. The author did a great job of including up to date technology and happenings around us, so that the reader feels the story is truly happening today, in the present and not the past. This was the first book I have read by Wendy Wax, and I fully intend to read "The Accidental Bestseller" and any other books she writes in the future. "Magnolia Wednesdays" was enjoyable and funny, while also warm, compelling and heart-wrenching. The book was so real and relatable, it made you want to jump in and help the characters or be part of their story. This book was wonderful, and I will recommend it to friends and other readers who enjoy the "chick-lit" genre.

Wendy Wax has magically turned Magnolia Wednesdays into one of those homey, cozy, and totally intriguing peeks into the Southern way of life. For a woman who thought she'd totally escaped that world, Vivien Armstrong Gray finds herself suddenly catapulted back there when she is shot in the derriere while investigating a story. When the video ends up on You-Tube, and her employers think she needs to take a step back and they bring in an "understudy" for her to train, she quits. Huffily, she takes off for her home in Atlanta, where she moves in with her sister Melanie and prepares to follow her around in suburbia. But first, in the process of quitting, she has taken on a free-lance assignment to write Postcards from Suburbia for her NY newspaper. On the way out of NY, though, she visits her doctor to follow up on the "wound," and discovers something else unexpected...she is pregnant. Her boyfriend is on assignment in various spots around the world, and she decides not to tell him...not for awhile, anyway. What does Vivi discover while exploring this "strange land of suburbia"? What happens along the way to totally change her view of almost everything? And in the end, will she finally find her own happiness? This could have been one of those predictable chick-lit stories, but Wendy Wax has a way of turning a phrase and pulling the reader in. She writes with humor, depth, and insight, which earned five stars from me.

Are you fantasizing that you're on the hit show, "Dancing With The Stars?" What is it about dancing that is so very, very satisfying that it seems like one's soul is flying free, with all the cares and concerns of the world gone for a brief, luscious time? What's it like when one gets to know real people in a real dance studio? What's happening in between the glamorous, exciting, vibrant moments? How can dance transform one's life? Shot twice - once literally in the butt and then again figuratively by her boss, Vivien Gray is unemployed, with a bruised rear end and a very bruised ego! Unable to obtain another journalistic job as an investigative reporter and finding herself in another precarious state in her lower end of middle age state, Vivien comes up with a unique idea and travels to her sister, Melanie's home in Georgia to find out what the scoop really is about suburban lives. The discoveries and surprises are stereotypical and yet Wendy Wax has a delightful manner of presenting them so that it seems like one is reading about these facts and interpretations for the first time, with quite a bit of humor and playfulness added. How, for example can you tell the status of someone driving an SUV of a certain make and year, after considering all of the stickers all over the bumpers and windows? The essence of this very readable story, though, is about people changing and evolving, growing apart and then growing closer, speaking one's mind honestly and dealing with the consequences, all in all making pivotal choices and running with the results. So Vivien has to deal with the sense of estrangement she senses in her niece and nephew, as well as the unacknowledged feelings her own sister is harboring against Vivien. Then there's Mom who's never quite satisfied with anything said, done and probably even thought by her daughters or a boyfriend who's never stuck around long enough to establish some depth in a relationship. There's Melanie's friend Ruth whose confidence grows enough to make an incredible challenge to her spouse of many years. On and on we read, moving deeper into the personalities, the talents and quirks of these very human people who are forced to struggle through their crises or forever be stymied by them. Wendy Wax knows how to spin a credible, humorous, poignant and provocative story with some incredible issues behind it - all in a style that is surprising, credible and in a very real sense, life-changing. Superbly written, Wendy Wax!!! More please!!! Reviewed by Viviane Crystal on March 21, 2010

Vivian Gray is an investigative reporter for a big news company in New York and she is shot during an FBI sting.Viv and her cameraman, Marty Phelps, are hidden in an alley preparing to get the story first. When Viv is shot in the derriere,. the whole thing is recorded and ends up on "YouTube." When she learns CIN is trying to replace her, she quits. She`s not about to train some bleached blond with poochy lips to take her place. Jobless, with her boyfriend working a story in Iran, she discovers she was pregnant. It's bad enough being the "butt" end of everyone's jokes, but pregnant at 41 and unmarried is the pits. She takes a job writing a column on suburban lifestyle, under an assumed name. I could go on and on about this book, but I don't want to give too much away. You can`t help but laugh at some of the antics of Vivian, Melanie, Shelby, and Tripp. In fact, the whole cast of characters is enough to keep you giggling til the last page; a very entertaining book. Look for "Magnolia Wednesdays" in March. This is the first book I have read written by Wendy Wax, but I can guarantee that it won't be the last.