Status Updates From Stacey McGill... Matchmaker...

"No," Mom replied at the same time. "What would you like to hear?"
"Hanson?" she suggested.

BE STILL MY TEENAGE HEART

Yeah Maureen is right. John is handsome but far from Prince Charming. Plus he needs to deal with his kids first, especially Joni's feelings about her mom.

Lol Hanson.

Poor Maureen. I don't care how hot John is, dealing with Joni's tantrums is not worth it.

Ok Joni needs therapy, stat. My god.

Ok Joni is a brat. But also, John, you can't let your nine-year-old daughter just leave unattended in a restaurant. That's not safe / responsible parenting. It shouldn't be Stacey's job to follow her and make sure she's safe.

I re read this book again. I thought, I might like this more. Nope. I didn't like it at all. They only baby sit, Joni & Ewan. No other kids were baby sit.

Other than the weirdly quick/anemic end, I thought everything else built up well enough, and I am ALWAYS here for Ethan being a voice of reason/Dream Guy.

I don't think Maureen ever does end up with anyone, but she does seem fine with it. There's this weird part at the start where Stacey worries about her mom not having any friends, but what about Mrs. Pike? Oh well, the book forgets about that in favor of dating.

For some reason it ends SUPER QUICKLY-- Maureen breaks up with him while Stacey's in New York, Ethan convinces Stacey that she needs to support her mom no matter what, and when Stacey gets back, Maureen doesn't bother talking to her about how she feels going forward or anything, and the book instead ends with Stacey assuring the hot dad's kids that she (Stacey) will stay in her life. Yeah, that's not awkward.

There's also this scene where Stacey, her mom, the hot dad, and his two kids go out to dinner, and the daughter pitches a fit and runs out of the restaurant, and her dad REFUSES TO GO AFTER HER (they're at Washington Mall btw). Like me, Stacey's mom thinks this is hideously unsafe, so the guy is definitely at the very least kind of clueless.

Stacey's mom decides she's not into the hot dad AFTER ALL for a multitude of reasons that she lists that Stacey doesn't think are fair, and the book fails to draw a conclusion, but I'm probably on Stacey's mom's side. The dude MAYBE dyes his hair, doesn't ask to wash dishes, writes trite dialogue, AND he wants Mrs. McG to read his manuscript (I would dump him at this exact point as well).

Mallory's sad little plotline continues, with Stacey noting that part of the reason kids decided to pick on Mallory back in 122 is probably because she knows she's not classically beautiful. Haha, wow Stacey, that is potentially the worst thing anyone's ever said in this series, and you said it so offhandedly-- good job?? Anyway, Mallory checks out that boarding school and loves it, so the next 2 books are set up.

Stacey's new clients have a hot dad who hooks up with Stacey's mom, and Stacey gets all excited even though the guy's daughter is not thrilled because it means the ex-wife will be totally out of the picture. It's actually pretty realistic. For some reason, the babysitting subplot is still the main plot (with the same clients), so it feels more like a prototype for the Friends Forever series than a usual BSC book.