Friday, April 30, 2010

The Overnight Socialite by Bridie Clark

4 Star

Lucy Jo Ellis has moved to NYC and is working in an entry level position for a fashion designer with a dream of becoming one herself.  She’s awkward and unpolished and on the night that everything turns wrong, she meets Wyatt Hayes IV. He’s just dumped his socialite girlfriend and bet his friend he can turn any woman into a New York socialite, deciding he can jump start his sagging anthropology career by documenting the experiment in a book. Lucy Jo, desperate for a job, accepts the challenge and the fashion contacts he promises.  Their lives converge as they engage in a roller coaster ride beginning with a personal trainer and ending with lavish parties and benefits while Lucy’s life becomes blurred as she tries to figure out who she really is and who she wants to be.  


Lydia - 4 Star

The Overnight Socialite was a fun chick lit read that I quite enjoyed.  It was an easy, fast paced book that made me laugh and I had a smile on my face through to the end.

Although the ending was predictable, The Overnight Socialite was a smart, fun read that I enjoyed curling up with. I was fascinated seeing how the other half lives, loved the New York details and the lavish lifestyles and seeing Lucy Jo’s transformation from a small town girl to socialite. I thought that even though the story was a version of the classic Pygmalion tale, the environment and twists were enough to make it different and interesting and I was kept intrigued throughout.


Kathryn - 5 Star

I really enjoyed The Overnight Socialite. The only thing I knew about it before reading it was that it was it’s a modern day Pygmalion- so I had the Henry Higgins/Eliza Doolittle story firmly in my mind before I began and I wasn’t disappointed (even though I assumed I knew how it would end).

Bridie Clark writes a complete story- by that I mean that the people are fully developed- they have character as well as background and they have complete relationships with family and friends.  Given that there are quite a lot of people in The Overnight Socialite I was very impressed that no one got lost!   Amazing also is that the characters overlap within the novel and develop new relationships too. The plot is fast paced, full of fashion details and social events- you feel like you’re in a whirlwind of activity from start to finish.

I especially loved the quotes and notes at the start of every chapter- they were perfectly chosen and sometimes helpful, sometimes just funny. And to be honest Lucy Ellis and Wyatt Hayes weren’t exactly Henry and Eliza which was great!

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The Carrie Diaries by Candace Bushnell

4 Star

We first meet Carrie as she begins navigating her senior year of highschoo. She feels like she’s just biding time, waiting for her life to begin and is surrounded by her circle of friends. She knows what she wants and when Sebastian Kydd enters the picture, she falls for his charm, wonders about her future, while a friend’s betrayal forces her to question everything. 








Lydia - 5 Star

I really enjoyed The Carrie Diaries.  It was interesting to find out Carrie’s history and I was brought right back to high school with this easy read. I don’t normally pick up Young Adult books, but made an exception for this one, being an avid Sex and the City fan. I don’t know if this novel would be appreciated by a younger audience because the story is set in the 80’s and they might not get the lack of cell phones, let alone the busy signal of the home phone line but it would definitely be enjoyed by fans of the show.

There was just enough detail here about Carrie’s history, but I didn’t feel bombarded with foreshadowing of how she was going to turn out which was nice.  Some things were obvious and integral to her story like her desire to be a writer, while others were hinted at such as her unique fashion style and others still took me by surprise, specifically her behaviour with Sebastian – but I won’t give anything away!  I loved reading her teenage theories on boys, dating and friendship and enjoyed even more that she wasn’t part of the popular clique.

There were bits towards the end I thought were rushed through – where did prom go?  The first half of the book is very detailed through to December and then January to June files by in the last part of the book with little happening during that time. It could be that I just didn’t want this book to end, speaking of which, I loved the ending - it put a huge smile on my face and I’d definitely read another if Bushnell writes another prequel.

I’m sure I’m not the biggest Sex and the City fan so I might have overlooked some of the intricacies and details, but I enjoyed it just the same.  I wasn’t searching The Carrie Diaries for every single detail to analyze how it related to Carrie’s subsequent life, but thought the overall path she took carried well to her Sex and the City life.  I’d love to read another and this made me even more eager for the next movie!


Kathryn - 3 Star

To be honest I’m still not sure I really liked this book (I guess that’s not entirely fair as by the end I was eager to find out what happened to Carrie at the end of high school!)- but The Carrie Diaries wasn’t quite what I was expecting.

I found the voice a bit irritating to begin with- didn’t really feel much warmth from it or for it and that made it difficult for me to get into the storyline.  Once I was a bit further in I found myself more interested in some of her friends more than her- like her friend Walt, who was dating one of her good friends, who was figuring himself out.  And maybe it’s because I still have some great friends from high school but I found all hers really unhelpful (except The Mouse) and couldn’t grasp why she was friends with them at all.  Given that she ends up with huge support from her friends in New York I was expecting some of the same type of relationships with a younger Carrie too. 

Now saying all that I’m thinking that this probably is supposed to give us clues as to why the Carrie from Sex and the city is so full-heartedly involved in her New York life. During the series we hear virtually nothing about her past- guess it wasn’t much to hold on to.  I did like that the boyfriend in The Carrie Diaries is pretty useless- explains a lot about her lack of trust in men for the future but all in all I wasn’t super excited reading this prequel.  It’s probably worthwhile reading though if you’re a fan and I’m sure there’s room for us to learn more as the ending really left it open for another- and I’d probably read it!

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Wednesday, April 28, 2010

A Summer Fling by Milly Johnson

5 Star

A Summer Fling follows five different women that work together and we watch their friendship slowly evolve as their individual lives become more complicated.  Anna has been left in pieces after her fiancĂ© left her at 39, while Dawn, aged 33, is planning her own wedding to a man not worthy of her affection.  Raychel, aged 28, seems the happiest, but has dark secrets and Grace, in her 50’s, is trapped in a loveless marriage.  These women worked together for years yet remained distant until their new manager, Christie, takes over and coaxes them all into coming out of their shells. 



Lydia - 5 Star

I don’t think there will be anything Milly Johnson writes that I don’t enjoy. All of her novels are lovely and unique, even though they may share similar themes, and they all find a place in my heart. This one was no different.

I did find the beginning to this novel a tad slow and didn’t fully get immersed into the story right away, but seeing as how the story is told from 5 women’s perspectives, it only makes sense that it would take some time to get to know each character. Once I did though, I got sucked into the story and couldn’t wait to see what was going to happen with these women. 

A Summer Fling was a great chick lit novel centering around friendship and encompassing stories of love, finding it in strange places, learning to let go of toxic relationships and finding happiness.  Milly Johnson covers such an array of topics and in typical fashion for her, some of the stories she spins aren’t chock full of roses.  There are heavy topics here and I love this about her work. Her heroines aren’t full of sunshine all the time and have real issues, instead of which pair of shoes to buy, which much more realistic than some of the other chick lit out there. I find this makes her characters much more relatable and multi dimensional and keeps me reading as fast as I can devour the pages. I also really like the overlap of characters in her novels – but don’t worry if you haven’t read her other books. I don’t think it would take away from the story.

Pick up a Milly Johnson book today!  You won’t be disappointed!


Kathryn - 5 Star

Another winner for Milly Johnson!  She’s definitely my new favourite chick lit author and A Summer Fling made me very happy once again.

This chick lit tale follows five women from different stages of life-I really liked this as a concept- I focused on it a lot as I read the book because it struck me as unique. Four women have worked together for a while but only become friends when they are given a new female boss who makes it her first mission to bring her team together.  Reminded me of my own co-workers and made me smile.  It was nice to read a novel reinforcing that women do not need to bring each other down and be support for each other even with decades between their ages.

Milly Johnson makes a point of including a storyline where a woman is struggling with serious domestic issues- this one suddenly popped up for me out of nowhere and was really intense. That particular thread was very subtly written until you finally realized what was going on. I also always appreciate the way that her characters have family and friends that are well painted, serve a purpose and are given a conclusion.  I like that she makes me questions things while it still being an easy read- always a nice thing!  I also always find a few things about her novels that make me laugh- this one includes a bizarre vampire-like fashion designer and a horror of an ex-boss… I was so engrossed in this story that missed a link with a previous Milly Johnson character- must be a good book!


Thank you to Simon and Schuster UK, for our review copy! All opinions are our own.

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Saturday, April 24, 2010

Needles and Pearls by Gil McNeil

4 Star

This sequel starts right where Divas Don't Knit left off.  Jo has picked herself up and moved on, been successful at getting her Gran's knitting shop revamped and has become fully ensconced in the seaside village life she's moved her family to. Two upcoming weddings leave her with even more to do as well as a potential love love interest and a surprise even she wasn't expecting.








Lydia - 3 Star

I loved Divas Don’t Knit, finding Gil McNeil a fresh voice in chick lit and loved the premise and the story.  Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for Needles and Pearls and I wasn’t as pleased with this sequel as I had hoped to be.

Divas Don’t Knit began with Jo, newly widowed, starting over in a new town with her two boys, making friends and taking over her Grandmothers’s knitting shop.  Quite a lot to overcome! In this sequel though, things stayed pretty much the same including her friendships and fights with the PTA mom and her own mother. There was one small difference in that she was pregnant in this novel, but it didn`t become an issue and there wasn`t much else that was different. The novel even started right where we left off with Divas Don`t Knit with no time lapse and maybe that`s what was needed to change things up.  I didn’t find much plot in this story and I already knew the characters, so was unable to find much to keep me entertained. 

The tone of the story is the same and the kids gave me some laughs, but Jo`s continuing story just didn’t satisfy me. I wanted a little more to happen, but it didn't and even though Needles and Pearls wasn't terrible, it wasn't fantastic either, which leaves it as a 3 Star for me.


Kathryn - 5 Star

I enjoyed Needles and Pearls just as much as the prequel “Divas don’t knit”. If you’ve read the first then I would imagine you’ll probably feel the same way but if you’re looking for something newly enticing then you might be a bit disappointed.

Jo is continuing her new life in Broadgate with her two fabulous sons Archie & Jack.  She is still always pressed for time but feels that her knitting shop is beginning to take off- then she discovers she’s pregnant.  She must now attempt to juggle the shop, the boys and a new pregnancy.

I don’t think there is anything earth shattering about this sequel, nothing too dramatic happens and there isn’t a huge sense of climax at any point.  To me it feels as if the two novels were written as one and then chopped in half to make two books.  It didn’t matter to me though- I still enjoyed the Jo’s voice and the voice of her kids- they are hilarious and one of my favourite things about Gil McNeil’s writing!  It’s the same book to me… so my rating reflects how thrilled I was reading the first one.

Needles and Pearls is definitely worth a read if you were wondering how Jo was getting on!  I’d probably read another to see how the baby was doing!

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Wednesday, April 21, 2010

The Opposite of Me by Sarah Pekkanen

3 Star

Lindsay, consistently living in the shadow of her beautiful twin sister has worked hard to build her career and when she’s on the verge of being named VP, she ends up loosing not only the position, but her job as well.  She flees New York, returning home and finds her sister, Alex, doing better than ever and the jealousy she’s always felt towards her sparks even further. Lindsay tries to stay the smart and responsible sister while salvaging her career, rebuilding her life and trying to figure out her relationship with her sister along the way. 




Lydia - 3 Star

I liked The Opposite of Me, but I’m afraid I didn’t love it as much as I wanted to. There are rave reviews for this debut, but unfortunately I was disappointed.  Pekkanen’s writing has been compared to Jennifer Weiner and Emily Giffin, and while I could see that, it fell flat with me for several reasons.  I don’t know if it was because of all the hype surrounding this release, but it definitely didn’t blow me away as much as Jennifer Weiner’s Good In Bed, but then again, not much could live up to one of my favourite chick lit novels.

I really enjoyed Pekkanen’s voice.  It was fresh and felt like a friend was telling me a story which made the novel easy and fun to read.  The first part of this chick lit tale, set in New York City, flew by and I felt the frantic life Lindsay led with her long hours and pressure to advance her career.  When she moved home, I immediately felt the change of pace and thought this was very well done by Pekkanen because it was such a dramatic change.  The beginning of this novel had me hooked, but it was once she left for home that things started unravelling for me. 

I became annoyed at Lindsay’s jealousy of her sister and at times didn’t understand it, maybe because we weren’t shown any actual interactions with Alex for such a long time so I couldn’t see firsthand why she felt this way.  I don’t have any sisters, so was left wondering if that’s why I couldn’t relate, but Kathryn does and she felt similarly.  And to be fair, I actually didn’t relate much to Weiner’s In Her Shoes either, so maybe novels about sisters don’t engage me much. 

This chick lit tale wasn’t as predictable as I feared it might be part way through, which was nice, and I enjoyed several of the other characters, but found they were lost in the shuffle. First her parents, who I thought were charming and funny, but I wanted more from them, especially towards the end of the story when a family secret was revealed.  I also really liked the friend she made along the way who also seemed to disappear from the story without a trace as well as some of her new clients.  The focus shifted towards her sister, which was to be expected with the storyline, but I missed seeing these characters and I found the ending abrupt as it all wrapped up too neatly and quickly.

The Opposite of Me explores themes of sibling rivalry, expectations and assumptions of oneself as well as family and I questioned my own family history and relationships with my brothers.

Although I felt something missing with this novel, or whether I missed something myself, I’ll definitely read another novel by Pekkanen.


Kathryn - 3 Star

I had high hopes for this one as it appeared to have been given a lot of praise but I wasn’t all that wowed.

It’s a classic tale of single girl lit full of trials and self discovery. At first I enjoyed the main character’s career in advertising in New York. She is completely engrossed in her job though so there is nothing else in her life.  I found this interesting I suppose because it is so unlike me to be so detached from anything outside of my job.  Unfortunately the same things I found interesting also became a bit annoying.  She complains a lot about her twin sister and they don’t have any sort of relationship.  I just couldn’t imagine how that would be possible and when her career derails and she decides to pack up and move back to her hometown it didn’t make sense to me why she would move back to a place with a family she didn’t have a connection with?

Once she moves home we are thrown all over the place with her search for a new career, a new life and her obsession with an old boyfriend. I felt it was disjointed and that there was a focus on some details (like her connection to some of her new clients - one of the few parts I liked) which then disappeared from the story-line.  I liked the woman she began working for though and would have liked a firmer relationship to be given to us.  I also liked her friend Matt from New York, but found the old boyfriend was a bit blank- the potential for that character was there & started off well but then sort of died off towards the middle.

In the end the relationship with her twin and her parents is settled but I felt everything else was left a bit unfinished. So I was disappointed.

The Opposite of Me was written really well and it was an easy read so I’m sure that I would be happy to try another Sarah Pekkanen novel in the future.

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Saturday, April 17, 2010

A Few Kinds of Wrong by Tina Chaulk

4.5 Star

Jennifer works in a man’s world of mechanics, having followed in her father’s footsteps, but becomes lost after his sudden death and in her grief is clinging to the past as everyone around her seems to be moving forward.  This is a novel about loss, deception, love and acceptance and Jennifer wades through it all to find her self identity without her father. 








Lydia - 4 Star

I really liked A Few Kinds of Wrong. It's much heavier than chick lit, but that didn’t deter from my enjoyment.  I laughed, and cried and wanted to shake sense into Jennifer at times and felt every ounce of her anguish and grief.

Chaulk creates real characters that are flawed and confused and I enjoyed watching Jennifer try to pull herself up and figure out her life without her father.  The relationship with her grandmother was touching and the complicated relationship with her mother and estranged husband I found intriguing and infuriating. 

My only concern was the slower beginning, which I seem to be saying often lately about many novels.  The flashbacks jolted me out of the story, but as I got further into the novel, I realized how critical they were.  Memories, often misunderstood and altered by innocence and age, played an integral role with Jennifer’s coming to terms with her father’s passing.

Overall, I thought A Few Kinds of Wrong was a great book and loved the story.  It was unique, full of East Coast Canadian details and had such raw emotion that made me squirm and shed tears yet also laugh and smile at times.  I would highly recommend this novel and would most definitely read another of Tina Chaulk’s books.


Kathryn - 5 Star

I cried a lot reading A Few Kinds of Wrong and much as I found it difficult to read at times there is nothing about the writing or the storyline that I would change.  In fact, I wouldn’t touch a thing.  I completely agree with Lydia though that this is definitely a bit more tough a read than typical chick lit.

The juxtaposition between Jennifer’s tender relationship with her grandmother and her tense relationship with her mother was the hardest part for me. It was so intensely sad to see how moments from her past had tainted her feelings about her mother.  Jennifer is obviously a complete daddy’s girl but I hadn’t really expected how that truly came to be- the whole novel was great at releasing little bits of the story without it being too slow.

I liked the way Jennifer’s ex-husband was given a complete character- we understood his personality, his intentions towards her and he was present from the start of the novel to the end- I appreciated that as lately I’ve read some novels where some characters just disappear.

The only thing I didn’t love was how frustrated I was that Jennifer didn’t just pull it together!  But I suppose that’s realistic and it’s all very well for the reader to see the way out so easily!  All in all will definitely pick up another Tina Chaulk and look forward to it.

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Thursday, April 15, 2010

The Catch by Louisa McCormack

1.5 Star

We follow Minnie, a television producer in Toronto, whose boss decides she needs a break at the same time her great uncle Rex asks her to come to Prince Edward Island to look after his house when he goes into a seniors home on a trial basis.  On her adventures in PEI, she finds a simpler life, falls for a fisherman in the village and learns a little something along the way. 








Lydia - 1.5 Star

I had to work at The Catch and was tempted several times to put it down, which doesn’t happen to me often.

My first issue with this novel was McCormack’s flair for language which I found over done. There were multiple words I was not familiar with and could not even figure out their context from the sentence, the first occurring on the third page.  I have a university degree and am well read, yet this book had me rereading sentences over and over again as I got lost amidst her prose.

With this overuse of language though comes one of the positive things I discovered with this novel, and the only reason I rated it 1.5 star instead of 1 star. There were a few heavy scenes which were much stronger due to her writing style, although one of them I almost couldn’t read because the narrative was too much. It may well be that McCormack’s talent lies in writing in a genre other than chick lit.  I found in her prose a few unique gems that have stayed with me including this passage describing a pick up truck:  “But he had also forced a weapon into my hands, a ton of steel that could pop muscles open like grapes and squirt blood across the road like the Lord’s ketchup.”  But unfortunately, others, such as “I didn’t just drift off – I was swept to unconscious like flotsam in the path of effluent” or “The urine coloured sky” just didn’t work for me. 

This novel was well researched and the education I received about the fishing industry and environmental impact will remain with me.  McCormack also highlighted such details in her previous novel Six Weeks to Toxic with the main character’s role in the movie industry.

I wasn’t able to relate to Minnie’s character, had a distinct lack of empathy for her and couldn’t figure out what drove her or what she even wanted. I found the plot slow, even her fast paced life in Toronto at the beginning of the novel and wasn’t even sure much of that was even necessary. I thought the characterization and plot were lost in translation because of the over done writing.  This novel left no emotional impression on me and I didn’t care in the end what happened, although I did warm up slightly in the middle and became more curious as to what would happen, but by that point I had already been tempted to put the novel down several times.

The ending wasn’t predictable, but didn’t leave me satisfied either, although that might have been because I just didn’t care as much about Minnie’s adventures as I wanted to.

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Thursday, April 8, 2010

The Yorkshire Pudding Club

4.5 Star

Three friends discover that they are all pregnant at once. For one it was longed for but for the other two it was definitely not! Their lives intermingle as they go through their pregnancies and their friendships become more important as they choose new things in their lives. 










Lydia - 4.5 Star

This was another lovely read by Milly Johnson.  The Yorkshire Pudding Club was her first novel and I enjoyed it just as much as A Spring Affair which I happened to read first.  I did find it didn’t grab me in the beginning in the same manner as A Spring Affair, but regardless, I loved this chick lit tale and can’t recommend her novels enough.

I laughed and cried and noticed the characteristic Milly Johnson smile that appears on my face as I read her novels.  It’s a dopey, silly, happy grin that is plastered on my face for chunks of her books and it’s such a lovely feeling!  This grin alternates with sharp intakes of breath at times though because her chick lit is not always so light and fluffy and has heavy subjects thrown into the mix, but I think this makes me love her stories even more.

The characters Milly Johnson creates are so well developed and The Yorkshire Pudding Club was no exception.  I cared about all the women and wanted happy endings for all of them.  There were times I wanted to give some of them a good shake, but that just shows how much I wanted them to get their act together!  Her stories move along at a perfect pace, not too slow or fast and I enjoyed how the women played off each other and how each one had such a different story and attitude towards pregnancy. 

The only reason I gave it a less than perfect rating was that there were a few reasons it took me a while to get into this book. First, the story is about three friends and alternates from each one’s perspective which slowed the beginning. I also had a hard time with all the characters naĂŻve understanding about early pregnancy symptoms (this could just be due to my over-education of the subject though).  But once I had a handle on their characters and worked my way past the point where they realized they were pregnant, I couldn’t put this book down.

The last reason it took me a bit to get into this novel was that I had a difficult time with the British terms used (Plonk, Bairn and Bonny to name a few), but once I got used to them, I became fully immersed yet again in the wonderful world Milly Johnson created.  I was able figure the odd words out, having read many British chick lit books in the past, but this had more than I had ever seen!  Her subsequent novels don’t contain as many though, so don’t be put off all her novels if you weren’t able to understand the terms above!

So, if you don’t mind some naĂŻve women, and getting to know them in rounds and can understand British terms, you’re laughing and will love this book!  Not to say that I didn’t – I did, once I got past all that, I wasn’t able to put The Yorkshire Pudding Club down.


Kathryn - 4.5 Star

Found this one funny and charming and lovely!  I believe this is Milly Johnson’s first novel and I was happy to find that the core things I loved about A Spring Affair were present even in her debut.

The Yorkshire Pudding Club is a simple story with some intense parts, emotional and hilarious- I laughed out loud lots of times (for example the prologue and the chalk drawing on the hill!) and would actually probably read this one again.  I did find that after the prologue it took me a bit of time to warm up to the characters again- I think this was because none of them (even the one who wanted to get pregnant) seemed to have any idea what the signs might be and it drove me insane that it took so long for them to work it out.

The one thing you may notice about this debut novel is that there are many terms that perhaps might not be recognizable to the North American reader- for example “sarnie” and “who the chuff” come up in the prologue and may cause a few re-reads to get the full meaning.  I didn’t notice them until Lydia pointed them out- guess that’s where my English heritage comes in handy- but don’t stop reading because they soon melt into the story and makes it much more cosy…does that make sense?


Thank you to Simon and Schuster UK, for our review copy!
 
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Sunday, April 4, 2010

This Little Mommy Stayed Home by Samantha Wilde

4.5 Star

Joy has just given birth to Zach and is completely in love with her new son- exhausted but in love.  As we meet her she’s just beginning to realize that there’s just no longer enough time to do anything but take care of this baby. No time for washing, cooking or checking email… let alone time for her husband or herself.  Her husband is becoming more and more distant and is completely ignoring the fact that he even has a son, let alone a wife that really needs his help. As she starts to lose control of ever getting back to her old life she has to examine everything else around her to find out what her future holds. 




 Lydia - 4.5 Star

I loved This Little Mommy Stayed Home and laughed out loud from the first page right through to the end, and I haven’t even had a baby.  I do know many women who have in the last year though so I’ve heard all the stories and many of them are told in Wilde’s novel from the good, the bad and the ugly.

This wasn’t just a novel about being a new mom, but about the main character, Joy, finding herself amidst the chaos of motherhood including the lack of sleep, piles of laundry and a new dynamic with her increasingly distant husband. Add her newly engaged mother, a smothering mother in law and a resurfacing ex-boyfriend to the mix and we find Joy struggling to figure out just what she wants out of her new life.  Every new mother should read this book. Perhaps even their baby-less friends and husbands to get a glimpse of what their friends or wives are going through. 

There were times that I wasn’t sure about Joy’s character which is my only complaint.  She was so self-absorbed at times that it became hard to take (possibly my own fertility issues skewed my opinions here), but about half way through the novel we find out exactly why she was so grumpy with her husband and she rounds out as she comes to a few realizations along the way.

This novel was well written and Wilde’s descriptive flair was vivid throughout with descriptions and comparisons I found unusual, but accurate. Several are still with me, making me jealous that I didn’t think of them first! 

If you want a laugh out loud, interesting and absorbing read on new motherhood check out This Little Mommy Stayed Home.  I will definitely be seeking out Wilde’s novels in the future.


Kathryn - 4.5 Star

I absolutely loved the concept of this book!  I just had my first child last winter so could relate to everything she was writing about first hand- however I don’t think that this book is only entertaining for a current mummy- it’s full of useful insights into marriage and finding oneself too so don’t be put off if you’re not right in the midst of the baby thing at the moment.

I was hooked from the very first pages of This Little Mommy Stayed Home as it doesn’t seem so long ago that I was in the same predicament of trying to keep a house while tending to an infant.  I tried to cook dinner while breastfeeding once (and I didn’t have one of those pillows that attaches around your waist) and realized that this was just going to end in tears- mine and hers.  We ate a lot of soup and meals brought by fabulous family members for the first 3 months!  There were a lot mummy moments that were funny and earnest which I related to instantly.  Unfortunately about half way through I found that I lost interest a bit in the main character- possibly because she seemed determined to try and find something or someone else to make her herself again. I realize that this is part of the story but it left me bored.  However once I reached the end and put it all in perspective I decided to let this go and appreciate how well Samantha Wilde picked out pieces of motherhood (and fatherhood) for us to laugh about…now.  I wasn’t always laughing when it was happening to me!

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