Books like Nanny Returns

I'm embarrassed that I read this book and even more embarrassed that I sort of liked it.The premise: Nan and Ryan (better known as HH to those who read the prequel) are married and have recently moved back to NY after years spent abroad working with the UN. Because this is a McLaughlin and Krauss confection, the main characters are born of privilege but have chosen to slum it by buying a Harlem brownstone that is in serious need of renovation. This is always my complaint with McLaughlin/Krauss books... the leading ladies are always like "Oh, poor me, I live in a dump" but then 20 pages later their characters' parents are all like "La-di-da, I own an apartment on Park Avenue and another in East Hampton, let's do shopping at Bergdorfs, of dear, I wish you would quit that miserable job."But OK, I can suspend disbelief. Anyway, Nan isn't sure she wants a baby, even though she just bought a multi-bedroom home and her husband (who is absent for 85% of the book because he has to travel for work, so I don't know where he gets off with this nonsense anyway) is pushing her to conceive. If this premise wasn't annoying enough, a 16-year-old Grayer shows up on Nanny's doorstep (he found her in the phone book roughly 5 minutes after she moved back?!) drunk and demanding to know why she abandoned him when he was a little boy.Get over it, kid. She was your NANNY. It's a JOB. I'm sorry your parents are assholes, but it's not your former Nanny's fault.But again, this being a McKrauss book, it doesn't have to make sense. Grayer has a young brother now and needs Nanny's help pretending to be their mother so the kid can get into boarding school. And. She. Does. It. In fact, she's basically at Grayer's beck and call throughout the whole book. Homegirl needs to learn to say NO.Meanwhile, Nanny (who, if you remember, always wanted to teach) gets a job consulting at a private school where Grayer and other recycled characters from the first book attend high school. The children are--guess what?--pampered and overindulged while their rich parents are--surprise!--pampered, overindulged and horribly mean.And you know the weirdest part? I couldn't put this book down and I had a good time reading it. It's predictable, cheesy, lame and a generally mediocre follow up to a mildly engaging chick-lit book by less-than-proficient writers who are trying to get some extra mileage out of their one good idea. But it's also really, really, really, really fun. I enjoyed recognizing old characters and seeing how ten years had changed them (or not). The plot was lame, but engaging in that "how the other half lives" sort of way. And even though Nanny is a generally unlikable main character, I was perfectly happy to invest another 4-500 pages in hoping that she'll learn how to establish boundaries with her rich family, friends, employers and now, former employers/charge.I like reality TV and I like this book for the same reason; sometimes you don't want to think too hard. For days like that, this is actually not a terrible choice.