The Penny Pinchers Club

May 25, 2009
Strohmeyer's bubbly farce finds a shopaholic New Jersey wife worried about hanging on to her husband and trying to curb her lavish lifestyle. Katarina “Kat” Griffiths, a 40-something interior designer, joins the eccentric supersavers of the Rocky River Penny Pinchers Club to get out of debt, put her daughter, Laura, through college and save her marriage to Emerly College economics professor Griff Griffiths. Suspecting that Griff is having an affair with the more economically sound Bree, his sexy assistant, Kat vows to save her marriage, even if it means giving up her Lexus and her Starbucks triple venti lattes. Hilarity ensues as Kat discovers, among other things, two Mint Tingle condoms in the pocket of her husband's khakis right before their 20th anniversary as well as his secret $10,000 bank account. When newly divorced Liam Novak, Kat's first love, returns to town, complications ensue. While Strohmeyer's plot may appear overly cutesy, she (The Cinderella Pact
) finds ample humor in her family-centric story, and the list of Top 15 Dos and Don'ts from the Penny Pinchers Club is spot-on.

May 15, 2009
A spendthrift interior designer, fearing that her economist husband plans to divorce and impoverish her, joins a support group of eccentric skinflints, in the latest from Strohmeyer (Sweet Love, 2008, etc.).

Without regrets, Kat jilted fianc Liam, now a billionaire big-pharma exec, for her soul mate, Griff, a charismatic economics professor at a small New Jersey college. Twenty years later, daughter Laura is finishing high school, and Griff and Kat, always strapped for cash, are worrying about how to put her through NYU. A long-term factotum for Chloe, a social-climbing designer, Kat yearns to go independent, if only her paycheck weren't already dedicated to paying off her ever-ballooning credit-card debt. She rationalizes her mall habit, Lexus SUV and daily venti lattes by arguing that interior designers have to ape their wealthy clients. When she discovers condom wrappers while laundering Griff's pants, her busybody sister Viv goads her to investigate further. There's a fancy restaurant bill, unusual for famously frugal Griff. Is he wining and dining his young, sexy assistant Bree? Griff has a secret MasterCard, and he has somehow diverted $10,000 to a separate bank account. Kat's denial evaporates when she finds e-mail exchanges between Bree and Griff indicating that he is going to"break it to" Kat when Laura graduates high school. Kat has about seven months to amass a divorce contingency fund of $15,000. Enter the Penny Pinchers Club, endearingly fanatical misfits who introduce Kat to the secrets of samurai saving, e.g. swarm en masse in search of discounts and rebates, buy in bulk and freeze, etc. Kat is arrested while dumpster-diving with"freegan" former investment banker Wade. Griff and Bree are increasingly closeted, allegedly researching his book about a reclusive ex-Fed chairman. Liam resurfaces, seeking a designer to refurbish his new mansion. As Liam, still smitten, offers her a safe harbor, Kat is increasingly tempted to question the choice she made years before between financial security and the love of her life.

Thanks to Strohmeyer's penchant for humor, Kat's adventures entertain despite the transparently contrived plot.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

May 15, 2009
Now in her early forties, shopaholic Kat Griffiths has been blissfully unconcerned with finances her whole life until she realizes that her husband plans to leave her. In order to save enough money for the divorce that she is sure Griff wantsshe's made a few assumptions after snooping through his emailKat joins the Rocky River Penny Pinchers Club, which friend Libby has been asking her to check out. The club turns out to offer more than a lesson in frugality. Kat meets a group of supportive people who help her figure out what she really wants to do with her life, which is most important when Liam, the man she rejected 20 years earlier in favor of her husband, moves back to town and Kat revisits the love triangle she experienced in her twenties. A fast-paced and engaging read with a truly timely topic, this book is sure to be a winner with Strohmeyer's ("Sweet Love") many fans and women's fiction fans who need a summer read. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 3/1/09.]Karen Core, Detroit P.L.

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2009
Kats incurable shopping habit and her husband Griffs enabling have driven them into serious debt. When she discovers Griffs secret bank account and condom wrappers in his pocket, her friends are certain he is planning to divorce her, suspicions further fueled byGriffs whispered conversations with his attractive assistant. To survive a divorce, Kat needs to shape up her finances. She joins the Penny Pinchers Club, a quirky support group, and soon she gives up Starbucks and buying in bulk. As sheadoptsmoredrastic measures, a wealthy former boyfriend hires her to decorate his historic home. When Griff confronts her about their spartan lifestyle and the time she is spending away from home, she has no choice but to reveal her fears. Strohmeyer, author of The Cinderella Pact (2006), creates a relatable protagonist with a timely problem. The twists are predictable, but the ending is satisfying.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)