Category: Women Publisher: Anne O'Connell
ISBN-10: 0984927220
Pages: 228
Copyright: March 7, 2013
ISBN-13: 9780984927227
Abbie Slocum, a forty-something, average, middle of the road, housewife and mother of teenage twin boys, is trying desperately to keep her outwardly idyllic life together while spiraling into a dark pit of menopausal insanity. A chance meeting seems to give her the escape she's desperate for but she winds up stumbling into borderline comical circumstances that lead to all night parties, sex and drugs and a warrant for her arrest.
Abbie is riding the hormonal roller coaster and hanging on for dear life. She finds herself in a body she no longer recognizes, a marriage that feels overwhelming, and she questions her very sanity. Her existence has become one big hot flash inflamed by killer moods.
Her mind races with crazy thoughts so outside of her normal character that it frightens her. The only person she can share the graphic images from her hormonally addled mind with is her recently separated best friend, Rachel, and the mysteriously titillating Joan, Rachel’s friend from her singles support group.
Women have survived this ‘female rite of passage’ since the beginning of time! Why was Abbie having so much trouble handling it? As the hot flashes and night sweats escalate and the battle to maintain her sanity rages on, Abbie, Rachel and Joan stumble into borderline comical circumstances that lead to all night parties, sex and drugs and two suspicious deaths. Abbie’s cop husband, Conrad, tries desperately to understand what’s happening to his normally sweet wife. While Conrad vies for promotion, the Slocum family gets embroiled in a media frenzy that swirls around a murder trial in which Abbie must fight for her life.Will her Mental Pause cause her to plead temporary insanity?
Professional Reviews
Fast and Furious
First of all, it elaborates on a very real and misunderstood medical condition that is more often the brunt of jokes rather than sympathy. Menopause is a life-altering change to the human body and this book combines that aspect with how it affects the soul of the body. In this book, Abbie will take you through this change and more!
With a Thelma and Louise type of abandon (minus the abuse), the character is confused at whether she is being redefined or being smothered under the change. I can only hope to have the support she has because without it, this change in life can/will change a person's life itself forever. You can/will lose friends and family and even lose your sanity. So, it makes perfect sense that the book developed from a girl read to a murder mystery. Entertaining as high-speed all the time, this is a one-two sitter. That means you'll read it in one-two sittings.
It's educational to those whom have yet to experience menopause and it should be given to your husband so that he can understand that the craziness is to be expected.
The author does an incredibly detailed job of explaining and describing symptoms and emotions. While reading this, you will also experience this. Fact. You can't help it. The author plants things into your mind so that the depth of the symptoms are at least attainable. A glimpse of the unknown and a touch of the hem of the garment of the robe.
With Thelma and Louise I was able to connect deeply deeply deeply with the characters and unbelievably I did so with the same depth in this book with Abbie. The author writes very well and any formatting errors were few and far between. I did not find this distracting because I expect that with ANY book from anyone even J.R. Tolkien I mean come on we are all only human.
At times a bit gritty but not dark at all. It's not what I would call a light read, but a fast read. It wasn't light, but I still read it fast because it was intense and I HAD to know where the author was taking me. It's really that simple, she writes a story like a pirate makes a treasure hunt; the treasure is elusive but the clues are excitedly honing you in and you will work feverishly to get there. Try to read it any other way lol.
I don't even know how to place this in a genre so I'm having to split it as a Crime Drama/Family/Mystery/Chic...it's a weird combo but it works.
Jennifer Elizabeth Hyndman
Mental Pause by Anne O'Connell
Abbie's boys are headed to college and she's feeling the empty nest syndrome kicking in. Trying to keep herself busy is complicated by the fact she's going through peri-menopause. Hot flashes, night sweats, anxiety and depression to the extreme. While her husband Conrad and her boys, Trevor and Winston try to understand, they really just know Abbie isn't herself. Rachel, Abbie's best friend, tells her she needs to let loose and relax. They do just that with a new friend of Rachel's. Only a girls night out becomes so much more. Abbie wonders if life will ever be normal again.
TERRIFIC! FANTASTIC! APPLAUSE! It's about time someone was willing to write a book about how women's bodies change. Anne O'Connell step out there and hit a grand slam home run with this one! Descriptive, accurate and well written, this book will keep you moving until the end. You'll fall in love with Abbie and her family. What's not to love? They are really a supportive team. This one should be winning awards for many reasons in the months to come. Check it out and see if you don't agree the twist in this book is breathtaking.
I found no issues in this one.
I gave this one 5 cheers out of 5 because it discusses something NO ONE wants to talk about. Hurrah for Anne O'Connell!!
kissablysweetone, Michigan
Women's Fiction Turned Murder Mystery
Ok readers, there I was floating through the first pages of what I though was a Chick-Lit novel. You're right, I don't normally choose from that genre, but I thought, by the title, that it might be fun... After all, we women do know all about the word-behind-the-title, don't we? Well, if not, then you will have an opportunity to learn about important issues while reading this fun novel!
But just as I was settling in, enjoying how Abbie was dealing--Let's just say that the first thing we learn is that she takes food out of the freezer to hold against her body to try to cool off after her night sweats--The book turned into a murder mystery! How Cool Is That?!!! Way to go O'Connell!
Abbie is a loving wife and mother to two great sons who are soon leaving for college. Conrad was a cop and was looking for a promotion. She knew she was lucky because he seemed to be able to keep work separated from home life and he was always loving at home. But now...he wasn't quite sure what had happened to his wife...
I know it is not funny when a woman is experiencing it, but, you got to admit when you read what it results in...well, it just IS... You know that often we think about saying what we are really thinking about any given situation... Well, Abbie's husband and sons were getting the brunt of a lot of that feedback that they usually didn't hear. Of course, they looked at their mother strangely and then with puzzlement to each other...
Which only made Abbie that much more irritated and angry!
Fortunately, her best friend was somebody that she could talk to about what she was experiencing. But when she found out that she was also going through it, she was shocked because, she always seemed so calm. However, she learned that she was taking medication. Abbie was opposed to taking any medication that she felt she did not need. She'd decided she'd just make it through it all: irritation, anger, pain, night sweats, and lots more that each individual woman could name for herself, because we are all different, right?!
It was the night sweats, which often resulted in her taking a walk in the middle of the night, that helped get her in trouble...
Rachel was her best friend so she started telling her, for instance, about the fry pan and the dead dog... Yes, Abbie did it...
But one day when she went to visit, Joan was there. Joan and Rachel were both members of a support group for recently divorced... Joanie immediately gave Abbie the impression that she was attracted to her. And, indeed, Joanie had divorced her husband once she had finally admitted to herself that she wanted to be with women...and so she had already started...And Abbie realized that she was just one of them...
They enjoyed each other as friends, however, and Joan even called Abbie for lunch one day without Rachel. But one night they all went out to dance to have a girls night out. Drinking was, of course, part of the deal and Abbie soon was not worrying about how she was feeling--in fact, she was feeling fine! So fine, that when Joan pulled her into the restroom and offered her drugs, Abbie took it...
It happened that night! Rachel decided to head home alone...Joan and Abbie wound up at a hotel and Abbie woke the next morning, not knowing where she was or what had happened! She did remember who she had been with and thought that it was Joan who was in the bathroom...
Abbie gathered up her clothes and got out of there!
Only to learn that Joanie had been murdered that very night...
Yep, and she was arrested on three counts of...murder...count them...
O'Connell, in launching her book on Women's International Day, is recognizing women, spotlighting and sharing one of the most important changes in her life, gets into women to women relationships, medication issues, family life, as well as a hell of a great mystery! I personally think she's done a great job in celebrating women! Don't you?
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