Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus: Nanny Returns
I was really excited to get my hands on the sequel to The Nanny Diaries! Nanny Returns by Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus (December 15/Simon & Schuster) picks up ten years after The Nanny Diaries. Nan is married to "Harvard Hottie" and has traveled the world. Now she's back in New York, running her own business, renovating a new home in Harlem, struggling with the thought of having children of her own.
She didn't expect to find herself embroiled in the greedy antics of Manhattan's elite again, but that's exactly what happens when she becomes a consultant for a private school where the students are catered to for their parents' money and the teachers are at the mercy of wealthy and entitled snobs.
The plot thickens when sixteen-year-old Grayer X shows up on her doorstep drunk and angry. He feels abandoned and wants to know why she left him all those years ago. Nan feels guilty about leaving him to be raised by the incompetent X family. The fact that Grayer and his younger brother Stilton have basically been abandoned by their parents, who are in the midst of a nasty divorce--Mr. X moved out and Mrs. X spends her days in bed--isn't helping her feel less guilty. Grayer is doing his best to take care Stilton, but who's going to take care of Grayer? Nan can't help but step in and do what she can to help, which drops her right in the middle of the X family drama.
Books like The Nanny Diaries and Nanny Returns are incredibly addictive because of the wealthy and self-centered supporting cast. It's unbelievable to see how shallow these people are, and this reader loves to hate them. Thankfully, there's a wonderful character like Nan to counteract the insanity. Her strength, generosity, and big heart brighten a very dark world.
Reading Nanny Returns was like reuniting with a dear friend. It was a great follow-up to one of my favorite books!
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