SLEEPING WITH WARD CLEAVER isn't a stereotypical romance novel.  In reality, it will definitely appeal to the mommy-crowd more than singles.  Jenny Gardiner paints an exceptional story of a mom/wife who has had enough of her stagnant marriage, five children, and lackadaisical husband.  I started reading the book last night and ended up staying awake until the wee hours of the morning to find out how life in Fairfax, Virginia turned out for the Doolittle clan. 

At the age of thirty-nine, Claire Doolittle wonders if her marriage is over.  Her husband Jack has turned into a demanding father-figure and nothing she does seems to please him.  Claire's sex life has gone down the drain, it's all wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am to Jack.  Claire's five children hate helping around the house, so it's all on Claire to balance housekeeping with her part-time job at a PR firm.  After an old boyfriend contacts her, Claire realizes that her life is not what she'd planned. 

When Claire tries to save her marriage by joining her husband on his business trip to Miami and he shoots her down, she's pissed off.  When she learns he will be spending every minute of his trip with a much younger woman, she's furious.  So she decides to take her mother-in-law's offer of babysitting up while Claire heads down to Miami to do some spying.  When her ex-beau turns up, an already messy situation becomes even messier. 

SLEEPING WITH WARD CLEAVER is romantic, funny, and very realistic.  I have to say that the frustration of mommyhood definitely rang true.  I can see a number of stay-home and working mom's finding that they and Claire have a few things in common.