Nanny Returns by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus

Nanny Returns by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus
2009, 305 pages

This book takes place more than a decade after the end of The Nanny Diaries. Nan has just moved back to New York after living abroad with her husband (Harvard Hottie, aka Ryan), and as she is trying to renovate her falling-apart home and get an HR consulting business off the ground, she finds herself being drawn back into the privileged life of the X family, as Grayer (the boy who she was a nanny for during The Nanny Diaries), now sixteen, is once again suffering at the hands of his negligent parents and reluctantly relies on Nan for help. On top of that, her husband is ready to have kids, but Nan isn't sure if she's is, or will ever be, ready, and reentering the world of the X's doesn't help matters.

I read The Nanny Diaries back when it first came out and remember liking it but not loving it back then, but I did enjoy the movie version, so when I saw that there was a sequel something nostalgic in me decided that I had to see what happens next. Unfortunately, I was disappointed by Nanny Returns and did not particularly enjoy the read.

I wasn't a huge fan of the plot. Maybe I'm heartless, but I thought it was weird that Nan allowed herself to become so deeply involved in the X's current situation, and I thought that the plot with the X's was way too dragged out. I would have preferred to see more of Nan dealing with her own issues than to have her dragged back to the X family in such an awkward way. Also, I'm not sure if it's because I'm an impatient reader, but I thought the writing/dialogue was a little jumpy/choppy in places - I'd be reading and the scene or conversation would suddenly shift gears, leaving me confused.

In short, I don't think this book is worth a read unless you really want to know what happens next after The Nanny Diaries. The Nanny Diaries at least seemed more realistic - a young nanny observing and becoming victim to the negligent parents of her charges - but the plot of this book just wasn't very believable, and I found it hard to sympathize with Nan this time around.