"Funny, charming and shocking. . . . [Chronicles] an obsession that threatens to upend sanity and bank accounts. . . . Daum has a rare gift in her ability to keep readers laughing through her own tears. . . . Her spirit is generous, her writing is buoyant, and her heart is open to all the ways in which a house holds the key to happiness. Perfection has nothing to do with it." - The New York Times Book Review

"Wonderful. . . . Like having a long, glorious, no-holds-barred conversation with your smartest, funniest friend about all the juicy topics: real estate, class envy, bad dates, family identity, and the discrepancies between the lives we aspire to and the lives we lead. I'm awed by Daum's honesty and talent." -Curtis Sittenfeld

"A delightful dissection of the real estate obsession that's a hallmark of our age, recession or no." - O, The Oprah Magazine  

"Self-deprecatingly funny. . . . Daum uses her lifelong obsession with finding the ideal living space to probe domestic desire, a deeper restlessness than the search for quick profits." - The Wall Street Journal

"Honest and endearing . . . richly drawn. . . . Daum captures the now-gone moment when real estate became a national obsession, chronicling the shared madness of those who could only take breaks from watching HGTV to discuss closing costs. . . . As she moves from coast to coast and in between, Daum is consistently relatable." - Los Angeles Times Book Review  

"Suffused with humor and desire. . . . Alternately whimsical, philosophical and psychologically probing. . . . [An] enchanting, compelling memoir on the impossibility of resisting an irresistible object of desire." - The Miami Herald  

"Daum tackles real estate-or, more pointedly, the fixation, anxiety and magical thinking that often accompany it-with wit and a gift for self-parody. . . . Her prose has smarts, style and personality, but never turns pretentious. . . . It's a pleasure to read this author as she revisits comic misadventures and wrangles with a hot-button topic." - Time Out New York  

"Vividly described. . . . Daum exposes the modern real-estate-mad female underground, where open houses (visited in rabid two-women teams) are a seasonal blood sport, Zillow is a verb, and where remodeling a collapsing farmhouse into a writer's retreat could instantly, we imagine, transform us into the George Plimpton of the prairie." - The Atlantic Monthly  

"Entertaining. . . . Like a romantic comedy in which Daum always seems to rent Mr. Wrong. . . . Don't be surprised if you race through Life Would Be Perfect in a single night." - Richmond Times-Dispatch  

"Daum is the essential Generation X-er. . . . She radiates the eternal youthfulness and the fear of commitment that define her cohort. . . . Life Would Be Perfect is the memoir of how the wandering Ms. Daum finally put down some roots. . . . A great book." - The Philadelphia Inquirer  

"Timely. . . . Daum [is] a fine writer-candid, reflective, stylish, fun and a bit prickly. Throughout the book, she offers an unflinching portrayal of her anxieties and her aspirations. . . . When she finally realizes that a house is not what will make her whole, you can't help but breathe a sigh of relief." -Associated Press  

"In this funny, horrifying (she came this close to buying a place near a roaring interstate because she was smitten with a landing), achingly honest memoir, Daum explores the way we wrap our identities in our surroundings, at one point wondering, 'Did the house look sexy on me?' Home truths, indeed." - More