Laura Barnard's Dopey Women (Tuesday Intros & Teaser Tuesday)

I was thrilled when Laura Barnard asked if I would be interesting in reviewing her book, Dopey Women. It had been on my TBR for a while so, of course, I jumped at the chance! I was also thrilled to have a slow night at work so I could pretty much just sit back and do nothing but read (between bouts of actual work, of course).

"First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros" is the first paragraph (or two)
of a book being read now or in the future and is hosted by Bibliophile by the Sea.

Sadie and the rest of her team -- Steph, Mags and Lexi -- have been let go from their jobs out of the blue. Sadie completely loses it and, in the process, any hope of a job reference (although watching her lose it is hilariously priceless as long as you don't mind the word f**k a lot). A couple of months later she's still going to the job center in search of employment and runs into the others. None of them are having easy lives. Over coffee they find out that on top of none of them having jobs, Steph's boyfriend left her and their newborn, Mags' husband suddenly died and she's been diagnosed with breast cancer, and Lexi's in an abusive relationship and doesn't think she can afford to leave. Mags is planning to start marijuana in order to counteract the effects of her chemo... which gives them an idea...

"Teaser Tuesday" from Books and a Beat asks for a random
line or two from anywhere in the book currently being read.

Now, I was a huge fan of the show Weeds when it was on Showtime and Tom and I have both rewatched the entire series several times on Netflix since it stopped airing. This, my dear readers, isn't Weeds. It's even more hilarious and has so much more heart. I've tried to think of a perfect comparison and failed. A cross between Weeds and the girls from Ally McBeal? Weeds and a younger version of The Golden Girls? There really is no good comparison -- Dopey Women is truly in a class of its own.

The world's best gay best friend (just don't tell him I called him that), irate drug lords and a smoking hot diary-writing police detective round out the tale of the four women (and baby) fabulously. Just when you think things can't get better, they do. And then they don't. And then you laugh so hard that you need adult pull-ups. Then your heart breaks in a bunch of little pieces. And, after you spend some quality time swooning, THEN people start looking at you as though you've been smoking something funny (or, you know, eating too many brownies). 

You shouldn't read this in a public setting if you can't control your emotions while reading ... but if your sense of humor is anything at all like mine (and you love a good f-bomb), you definitely should read this book.