How Hard can It Be? by Allison Pearson

How Hard picks up where I Don't Know How She Does It left off. Our harried heroine, Kate, has left her high-powered financial job in London and is working part-time and focusing more on being a mom to her son and daughter, now in the turbulent teen years. However, her attorney husband, Richard, loses his job and decides he wants to focus on biking and becoming a counselor--which requires several years of training at no pay. That means Kate has to find a full-time job again to support the family. But she's approaching 50, dealing with menopause, and no one seems that eager to hire her.

I personally wanted to clunk Richard upside the head at several points in this book. He seems totally unconcerned about the family's finances. He is also completely willing to dump the care of their kids, the family dog, Kate's mother, and his own elderly parents (his mother has Alzheimer's) in Kate's lap. But Kate is a tough cookie and she is determined to be both a good mother and a successful career woman and through a few unexpected turns of fate, she fortunately seems to be on the path to achieving both--as well as some personal happiness--by the end of the book.