Bad Advice

Generations of philandering and bad choices come to a head in a remote mountain cabin when Judith Easley, 37, and her older brother confront an array of lovers - past, present, and perhaps future. Their father and grandfather are on hand contributing their own revelations, a private detective and bartender provide surprising complexities, and an injured dog helps save the day. Crisp, funny, and insightful, Bad Advice crosses Judith's wild sexual adventures with David's earnest romances to show that no matter what mistakes you make, you always have a chance to make more. From the author of Sleeping with Random Beasts

About the Author :
Karin Goodwin has worked as a DJ, house painter, nude model, gymnastics coach, and a tutor, and is also a licensed private investigator. She's the author of SLEEPING WITH RANDOM BEASTS. She lives in Virginia.

Review :
Like Goodwin's first book, "Sleeping with Random Beasts," her sophomore effort stars an indecisive, self-centered heroine who can't get her act together. Judith, in her mid-30s, has fled the East Coast and is living in Tucson, Ariz., working as a waitress and sleeping with her married landlord. While out for a jog, she injures a man she believes is going to attack her. When she realizes he isn't dangerous, the two form a friendship that meanders toward love. Judith and the man, Scratch, are moral and geographical vagrants desperately in need of a home base, and each looks to the other for stability. Back east, Judith's older brother, David, is more ground but involved in a loveless relationship. A charged encounter with a bisexual stranger named Iris leads him into an unfamiliar, impulsive realm. He and his new obsession hit the road, heading west toward a possible meeting with Judith, whom David hasn't seen for two years. As other friends and family members - all battling dysfunction across the psychiatric and physical spectrums - join the siblings for an explosive reunion, the story starts to spin out of control. Goodwin's wry sense of humor and sharp dialogue compete with a slack, colloquial narration ("She looked like a brain, in disguise for the evening as an almost-babe"). Her primary talent seems to lie in creating unpleasant characters who are ultimately likeable; the dual plot line works nicely, but when its various satellites come crashing down, narrative overload may leave readers unimpressed. -Publisher's Weekly

Unsuitable romantic entanglements and bizarre family problems abound in this novel populated by a cast of characters who are both truly odd and oddly appealing. Fortysomething Judith has escaped to Arizona to avoid everything she hates about home. The tone for all that follows is set by her opening encounter with Scratch, the man she will fall in love with. This scene can't be adequately summarized, and so must be read to be believed. Her East Coast brother, David, begins an equally unusual relationship on the same night. Events and revelations bring family, friends, pets, lovers, and ex-lovers together in Grandpa's mountain cabin as if my magic six months later for a denouement that leaves the participants "damaged but living," and makes the reader's head spin. Despite all the foolishness and churning insanity, Goodwins' novel avoids a pat ending and is quite engaging and utterly unique. -Booklist