If you take the concepts of reality/makeover television, celebrity psychologists, and add a pinch of new age magic in the form of Freaky Friday-like body switching, you have the basic plot outline for Jen Lancaster’s newest novel, Twisted Sisters.
Reagan Bishop doesn’t need anyone to tell her how successful and wonderful she is, for she does that herself in the form of her daily affirmations. As the licensed psychologist on the cable show I Need a Push, she takes pride in the work that she does for the show’s clients. After her therapeutic assistance and the makeover work of the other team members, the clients head out into the world in better condition physically and mentally. When the show’s creator, an Oprah-like character whose short appearance in the novel even includes a long, drawn-out shouted word to complete the comparison, decides to take the show to a major network, changes in the show’s format and goals upset Reagan’s established role. She discovers that she might have to change her approach– in ways she never could have predicted– in order to remain successful, which is of the utmost importance to Reagan.
What isn’t of huge importance to her is family, and from her perspective, no one can blame her there since she’s been saddled with a family in which no one truly understands her. While she’s sworn herself to an uber-healthy diet and lifestyle, she is still made to attend holiday meals in which disgusting jell-o molds get served, and her mother even has the audacity to show up on her doorstep bearing casseroles made with preservative-laden canned soups. There’s been a rift between Reagan and her two sisters for as long as she can remember. Neither has the intellectual drive or professional ambition that she values, and it’s clear that they have always been better treated by her parents and everyone else in their family circle. Spending any time with her family is tantamount to torture.
After reading that synopsis, does any profanity come to mind when picturing Reagan? It definitely did to me only a few pages into this novel, and while Lancaster writes with a level of sarcasm and humor that I enjoyed, it was a challenge to me to not connect in any way to the protagonist. And not only could I not relate to her, but I just didn’t like her at all. I didn’t want to root for her own transformation, because she annoyed me to no end. When she began to make questionable choices in her professional life, she lost any shred of credibility she may have retained to that point. The magical element in the plot not only helps her meet some huge challenges on the network’s new version of the show, but it must also be given credit for the tidy, happy ending to her story as well.
Having never read any of Jen Lancaster’s previous novels or memoirs, I’m not sure how her newest book holds up to her other works. With a large dose of suspension of disbelief, I’m sure many readers will find this novel to be entertaining and humorous, a lighthearted and quick read to escape into on a lazy afternoon.