Getting Mad, Getting Even

by Annie Sanders

[Leah]

Four years ago Georgie and Flick started a business called Domestic Angels which does everything from replacing dead hamsters to dyeing pets to match their owners’ clothes. One night though, Domestic Angels turns into Avenging Angels when Flick and Georgie agree to help a woman get revenge on her cheating husband. From then on, the girls get more requests to help out wronged wives until finally a wronged husband wants his own back. Can the girls wriggle out of it scot-free?

I’ve previously read three of Annie Sanders’ books and was a huge fan of them. As soon as I saw the synosis for their new one Getting Mad, Getting Even I eagerly awaited it’s release. You’ll be pleased to know it didn’t disappoint. In fact, it’s shot up to the top of the four books I’ve now read of theirs.

I thought the plot of the book was inspired. An agency that deals with all of life’s domestic duties is nothing I’ve ever heard of before nevermind read about. Domestic Angels sounds like something that could be a huge hit for anyone willing to do the boring domestic duties other people can’t be bothered to do! I thought Annie and Meg described the business beautifully and easily brought in the ‘avenging’ element to the whole business. Yes, you could question how moral it was of Flick and Georgie to do that but I thought it was perfectly acceptable. So often cheaters get away with it so Flick and Georgie agreeing to help the wives get revenge got a thumbs up from me.

I thought the added ‘who-was-it’ added that extra bit of spice to the book and I enjoyed trying to figure out exactly who it was and exactly how it would all go down. I was worried the book was going to turn into a murder-plot and almost forgot what I was reading for a moment! The whole thing worked really well and it had a very satisfying conclusion.

Flick and Georgie were wonderful characters and I liked them both immediately. I questioned a few things at the beginning about Flick’s affair and then again with Georgie’s problems with her husband Ed but neither of those lasted long enough to spoilt the book for me. Flick’s affair was resolved quickly and Georgie woke up and smelled the coffee. I thought Flick was the ultimate in independent woman but I also enjoyed reading about her softer side, the side that came out nearer to the conclusion of the book. I also liked how Flick handled herself during the whole ‘who-was-it’ plot and kept her nerve as best as she could. I also loved Georgie. She seemed to want to have the perfect family but Ed really didn’t make it easy for her and I just couldn’t warm to him. It also seemed that Ed was quite controlling although it wasn’t in an obvious way nor in a particularly abusive way, it was just in the way he was period so when Georgie finally woke up to that made for great reading. Both of the girls got on really well and I thought their friendship came across really genuinely.

The only other main characters seemed to be Joanna who worked at Domestic Angels as the ‘Girl Friday’, Ben a client, Tim a client and Ed Georgie’s husband. I liked Joanna and although she wasn’t featured too heavily I could see she was integral to Domestic Angels. I loved Ben and Tim and knew right from the start Ben wasn’t at all like he was described. I thought Tim was incredibly sweet and knew right from the start he seemed to like Georgie. As I said before I couldn’t stand Ed, I didn’t believe a word he said and thought he eventually got his just desserts.

Everything about the book was great. I thought the writing was fabulous, something Annie and Meg excel at. The third-person narrative switched seamlessly between Georgie and Flick and the whole book was a pleasure to read. I loved the whole revenge aspect to the book and I loved how it questioned whether you can take revenge into your own hands and deal out the appropriate punishment without having to deal with the fallout. Annie and Meg approached the subject very well and without any pre-amble and finished it even better – I was laughing out loud during the end scenes. A really really enjoyable read.