Two Women and Too Many Men by Nancy Orchard

Nancy Orchard packs a chick-lit punch in Two Women and Too Many Men, where infidelity creates a world of hurt and unconditional friendship heals all wounds.

Forty-year-old mother of two, Alix, kicks out her husband of twenty years after he reluctantly confesses to sex with a prostitute. With no skills or job to support her kids, Alix enrolls in a college finance course where she meets thirty-year-old Suzi. Happily married yet bored with her career, Suzi is hoping to learn something new. The two become fast friends – a friendship cemented on marital woes, especially after Suzi’s callous husband walks out on her again, this time on Christmas Eve…

Orchard writes with brazen intimacy, which makes Two Women and Too Many Men seem less fictional and more autobiographical. It’s difficult to not feel sympathy for the main protagonists, yet Orchard strikes a solid balance between poignancy and hilarity – the result of self-medicating shots of Bacardi and some great sex. Add to that a heaping dose of guilt, and she effortlessly captures the female psyche to a T. However, the book needs a solid edit to better organize the narrative, straighten out the alternating first and third person issues, and correct the grammatical issues throughout.

Thanks to some emotional and poignant moments, Two Women and Too Many Men offers more than your standard raunchy chick-lit fare, in a novel that’s both breezily fun and perceptive.

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