Year and years ago I read The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus, and I loved the book. It was funny, sharp, poignant, and scary. About a decade later, McLaughlin and Kraus check back in with Nanny, Mr. and Mrs. X, and Grayer (now 16) in Nanny Returns.
They probably should have let that cast of characters stay where they were. This book was too jumbled. Too much was going on. I couldn't figure out why Nan's Harvard hottie husband was gone for weeks at a time or why the whole sub-plot about Nan and her new job at an upscale private school had to be in the book at all.
The voice of Nan that as so endearing a decade ago fell flat this time. Maybe she should have been a different person by now. Maybe we should have heard her grown-up voice. Or maybe she just should have never resurfaced.
Nanny Returns wasn't horrible. It was mostly messy with a few good moments. If you loved The Nanny Diaries and want to know how things turned out for Grayer, you might want to read it. Or wait for the movie.
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