The 8 Mistakes of Amy Maxwell — Heather Balog

Amy Maxwell is tired. She's got four kids, a useless husband and crusted applesauce on her yoga pants that haven't seen the inside of a gym in over a decade. She can't remember when she last showered, she likely has a bladder infection from holding it until she can pee alone, and she can't fit into last year's winter clothes. She's convinced her teenage daughter is up to no good, her ten year old can't stop chattering in her ear and her oldest son has befriended a teenaged boy twice his age who is a little strange. And don't even get her started on having a toddler when you're in your late thirties. She just can't keep up. Forget tired; she's exhausted. To make matters worse, her older sister, Beth is perfect and her younger sister, Joey is having a blast living the single life. Amy feels unfulfilled, dissatisfied and like she's a disappointment to everyone; her kids, her parents and most of all, herself. To relieve her stress, Amy finds herself fantasizing about everything from the pool boy next door to finding out that her daughter was switched at birth. She can't help her thoughts, but she figures, if they're in her head, they can't hurt anyone else, right? When Jason, a very sexy forty something year old single father moves in across the street, Amy finds her fantasy world has gone into overdrive. She despises him and has the hots for him all at once, further screwing up her already conflicted reality. She swears off thinking about him and refuses to interact with him whenever possible. But the murder of her neighbor, Mary (Jason's mother) brings them together in the most unpredictable way. When Amy and her 13 year old daughter, Allie, stumble on the poor older woman's body, shot to death in her living room, they are ferreted away by Jason himself. Amy finds herself bumbling around Jason, trying desperately to stop her fantasies and her underlying attraction towards him as this who done it mystery slowly unfolds. And Amy soon realizes, nobody is who she thinks they are…even Amy herself.