How to Be a Grown-Up - Hardcover

Praise for How To Be a Grown-Up:

"McLaughlin and Kraus have done something much more interesting by making Rory funny, self-aware and supremely competent: a fully realized human being. The joy of this book is not wondering whether she will succeed, but watching her do it. Rory is a modern damsel in distress who doesn't wait for a prince to rescue her, but pulls on her boots and strides out to slay the dragon herself."--Eliza Kennedy, The New York Times Book Review

"Such a cupcake of a book, it feels like you're doing something more self-indulgent than reading."--Kirkus Reviews

..".humorous and rewarding... smart and lively."--Booklist

"A super-fun romp of a generational collision and a marital breakdown, starring a flustered but steel-strong leading lady."--Library Journal

" ...the book never fails to set a course for adventure and make it hilarious, with the occasional moment of quiet reflection on modern times."--Book Reporter

"This book is LOL funny."--Ft. Worth Star-Telegram

"McLaughlin and Kraus have given us late 30-somethings a little summertime indulgence. As The Nanny Diaries did for readers in their 20s, How to Be a Grown-Up hits the midlife sweet spot."--BookPage

"A fun, fast-paced look at modern life for a working New York mother.... Perfect for those who enjoy Lauren Weisberger's books, or McLaughlin and Kraus's earlier titles, How to Be a Grown-Up is smart, fabulous reading."--Shelf Awareness

Praise for The First Affair
"Just as they humanized a pop princess in their last outing, here they offer up a convincing portrait of a damaged young woman whose head is turned by the attentions of a dashing and powerful political figure. This compassionate examination of a young woman led astray is an utterly absorbing page-turner."--Booklist on THE FIRST AFFAIR

"A dishy, sometimes somber, scandalous tale of what happens when you fall in love with the president of the United States."--Kirkus on THE FIRST AFFAIR

From bestselling authors Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus comes a timely novel about a forty-something wife and mother thrust back into the workforce, where she finds herself at the mercy of a boss half her age.

Rory McGovern is entering the ostensible prime of her life when her husband, Blake, loses his dream job and announces he feels like “taking a break” from being a husband and father. Rory was already spread thin and now, without warning, she is single-parenting two kids, juggling their science projects, flu season, and pajama days, while coming to terms with her disintegrating marriage. And without Blake, her only hope is to accept a full-time position working for two full-time twenty-somethings.

A day out of b-school, these girls think they know it all and have been given the millions from venture capitalists to back up their delusion—that the future of digital media is a high-end “lifestyle” site—for kids! (Not that anyone who works there has any, or knows the first thing about actual children.) Can Rory learn to decipher her bosses’ lingo, texts that read like license plates, and arbitrary mandates? And is there any hope of saving her marriage? With her family hanging by a thread, Rory must adapt to this hyper-digitized, over-glamorized, narcissistic world of millennials...whatever it takes.

Since their “diabolically funny” (The New York Times, on The Nanny Diaries) debut, Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus have proven their ability to illuminate provocative issues with wry wit and heartfelt emotion. How to Be a Grown-up is an entertaining and insightful story sure to resonate with all those readers who first fell in love with The Nanny Diaries.