Book Review: "Claire Knows Best" by Tracey Bateman

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Sometimes it's Mom that knows best

Claire has now begun to settle down after having it all out with her ex husband and his new wife. She has a great boyfriend, her kids are starting to finally get along well with her and she's finally starting to relax from her panic attacks. Then a tornado hits her house and everything changes for Claire. When Greg invites Claire to move in with his mother for a while, he then drops the bomb on her that he wants to go to seminary to become a full time pastor. Claire can't deal with having to become a pastor's wife so she dumps Greg, and then begins to regret it. In between her relationship issues, she also has to deal with a contractor that dies on her, another that wants to date her, her teenage daughter rebelling big time, her son wanting to become an actor, the retired atheist actor who wants to give him acting lessons, his estranged daughter who Claire wants to reunite with her dad, and her publicist saying that her new book idea will be a flop. But leave it to Claire, who takes all this issues and handles things her own special way.

This was another fun read in the life of Claire. In this book, she's grown up some and isn't as wishy-washy as she was in the first one. She begins to put her foot down involving her children. I'm glad that she finally laid down the law with Ari because she was really starting to rebel and no one was punishing her. I felt though that Claire was being a bit unfair to Greg's decision. I realize that she may have had fears about the idea of what a pastor's wife should be and it would be intimidating. However she just blows him off without telling him the real reason why she's breaking up with him. I also felt that she was a bit paranoid about letting her atheist actor neighbor coach her son. I know she was afraid that he might let his views waver her son's faith, but I honestly felt all the guy wanted to do was just help her son with his acting, and she was making a mountain out of a molehill. I'm glad though that Claire resolved her issues with Darcy who might be a little annoying but is still very friendly. I found it very hilarious when she called the psych student to discuss her problems and the girl was trying to pretend to be twins and Claire caught on and called her out on it. I also liked the bit about Claire's former publicist naming her daughter Anakin Skywalker. As a huge Star Wars fan, this got a big grin from me. I really did enjoy this book. It was a fun and fast read. I'll be looking very forward to reading I Love Claire.

Claire Knows Best by Tracey Bateman is published by Faithwords (2006)