Mommy Tracked

Mommy Tracked by Whitney Gaskell

What was this book about?

Four mom’s each with a different perspective on their lives and a desire to have more of what someone else has.

Anna, is a divorced mother of a two year old boy. Her relationship with her ex is iffy at most considering they only got married because she was pregnant. She is trying to be a career mom and doesn’t know if she really is ready to date again. Is she?

Chloe is new to the group and suffers from anxiety of not being good enough. She is just about to have her first child and has expectations for how this is going to affect her life (and her husbands life) can they live up to all these expectations?

Juliet is a lawyer who is desperate to become partner. And she has twin girls who have had a “stay at home daddy” their whole lives. This switch on the conventional stay at home mom/dad works is starting to cause havoc in their lives. Is having a high powered and time consuming career more important then seeing her childrens’ firsts. Or is it more of a problem with being the moneymaker when dealing with her husband.

Grace is a stay at home mother who is great at it. She knows it – her three children love her and she dedicates her life to them. But she can’t help but feel insecure about her relationship with them and her husband. Is she good enough, thin enough? She sure doesn’t think so and can’t help but compare herself to everyone. That probably isn’t a good thing for anyone.


What did you think about the book?

I really liked this book being told from a perspective of many different kinds of roles that mothers take. Being a parent isn’t always what you think it will be. Let alone trying to juggle being a parent with your relationship with your husband or boyfriend. It is a tough road.

At the same time there are all sorts of rewards – which is why people do it. And I felt this non-judgemental book showed many of them. The author doesn’t try to make it seem like one mother is doing a better job then the other because of the choices that she made to work/not work. She just shows the emotional pitfalls in each of them.

I would feel honored to be friends with this group of four women. They are just my style.

What genre would you consider this?

Women, Motherhood

Overall:

All We Ever Wanted Was Everything

All We Ever Wanted Was Everything by Janelle
Brown

What was this book about?

Janice Miller thinks that today is going to be a great day. Her husband Paul’s business will be going on the stock market and they have earned millions upon millions, more money then she can even conceive. Then she gets a letter from Paul explaining he will be divorcing her (and oh yeah she doesn’t get any of the money).

Her 20-something daughter comes home to help her through these difficult times. What Janice doesn’t realize is that Margaret is really home to escape her own problems.

Her teenage daughter Lizzie is having a difficult time fitting in. She is mistaking sex for love and it has begun to give her a reputation. But this of course is all something her mother doesn’t know.

Each woman must work out her own problems and yet turn to the others for when she needs support.

What did you think about the book?

It was an interesting take on how life is not really all it seems to be. Sometimes we rely on things that we take for granted, and it doesn’t mean that it is best for us or for our life.

Seeing things from three different age perspectives is interesting in this book. The teen who tries her best to fit in. The 20-something who wants to be independent but has found things in her life going out of control. And the Mother who thought her life was what she wanted so these changes take some adjusting.

What genre would you consider this?
Summer Read

Overall:

Comfort: A Journey Through Grief

Comfort: A Journey Through Grief by Ann Hood

What was this book about?

Ann Hood, a novelist went through one of the most difficult things a parent can go through – she lost her 5 year old daughter. One day Grace was a happy healthy kid, the next she was dead.

Having a mother (and a writer) analyze their grief and get it down on paper has to be difficult. But that is what Ann has done in this novel.

What did you think about the book?

Ann Hood has also written “The Knitting Circle” which I definitely enjoyed. When I found out that that novel came from a tragedy in her own life – and she had written something about that I knew I had to read it.

It definitely didn’t disappoint. While it seems to jump from one place to another – in many ways I feel that it only represents what is really going on in her mind and her life. Grief for losing a child is something I can only imagine. While the book isn’t going to end all fairytales and roses, I feel it realistically both describes her grief and describes how she has as best she can continued on with her life.

What genre would you consider this?
Memoir

Overall:

Domestic Affairs

Domestic Affairs by Eileen Goudge



What was this book about?

Abigail, Lily, and Vaughn grow up as best friends. There seems to be no difference between them even though their social classes should demand it, see Abigail is the housekeeper’s daughter. When a horrible confrontation between Abigail and the twin’s mother forces Abigail and her mother out into the street – Abigail blames Lily for not sticking up for them.

Years pass and everything turns topsy turvey. Abigail is the CEO of a major corporation that she built from the ground up. Lily has just been devastated by her husband’s suicide and the fact that this time her and her son are left to be on the street.

Lily decides to approach Abigail after not having seen her in years. Can she get a job? Abigail decides to “repay” Lily for everything by letting her be her housekeeper (which Lily is definitely not ready to do). She takes the job and everyone finds a little more out about themselves and the complexities of the relationships.

What did you like/dislike about the book?

Eileen Goudge does a great job at figuring out the nature of how people interact. The reasons behind actions. They teach you that things are not always what they seem and that figuring out the whole picture often sheds light on more then you could ever have imagined.

I enjoy her books for things start out rough but in the end things work themselves out. Maybe not in a fairy tale way – but instead on what is best for everyone involved.

What genre would you consider this?
Fiction

Overall:

Blame it on Cupid

Blame it on Cupid by Jennifer Greene



What was this book about?

Fun loving, girly girl Merry becomes the guardian of an 11 year old girl she hasn’t seen in years. She can’t help but want to give that girl everything she never had – a stable loving environment. Charlene (“Charlie”) is nothing like what Merry is expecting. Having been raised by a single father, who is now dead – Charlie is anything but into pink frilly things.

Next door neighbor Jack can’t help but think at first that flighty Merry isn’t going to last long. But instead he realizes there is much more behind her fun exterior. He can’t stop his attraction to her and his teenage sons can’t help but look to her for comfort.

What did you like/dislike about the book?

Overall, I enjoyed the book. It is a fun, flirty romance. All the children have unique personalities that only help the romance progress. And Jack and Merry are more then what they seem on the surface.

What genre would you consider this?
Romance

Overall:

Mrs. Perfect

Mrs. Perfect by Jane Porter

What was this book about?

Taylor Young grew up and moved on with her life. And it has turned into quite the life. She has a house many women drool over. She has a husband that loves her and she can’t help but be attracted to. She has three beautiful daughters.

One day she wakes up and realizes she doesn’t have everything she thought she did. Her husband is distant and keeping secrets that can affect the whole family. These aren’t the types of secrets that you can keep behind closed doors forever.

Taylor must work the drama with her family and her friends. She has to figure out what she is truly capable of – what she is willing to do with her life. And through it all she becomes a better person.

What did you like/dislike about the book?

I very much enjoyed this life. It seems like Taylor’s problem is one that many women and many relationships face. It is much easier to concentrate on the things that affect you and let your partner take care of things like finances, the children, or something. But long term living in a bubble like that can take it’s toll on you.

This book is neither preachy nor fluffy. It has a good lesson for everyone and it tells a great story.

Everybody dreams of having a life like Taylor’s but in the end no life is perfect. Behind closed doors something is happening to everyone. Sometimes hard work is the best reward, because it makes you evaluate what you have and cherish the effort it takes to have it.

What genre would you consider this?
Fiction

Overall:

If I was to nominate this book for an award it would be: Best Summer Read!

Family Tree

Family Tree by Barbara Delinsky

What was this book about?

Hugh grew up the child of two affluent people. He has always known his history, his ancestors, and in fact his father has made a living from it. Dana on the other hand was raised by her grandmother after her mother died, and has never known her father (or even who he was). She embraces Hugh’s history as her own because she has never really had one.

They couldn’t be happier – they are expecting their first child – but imagine their surprise when the child is born and has African American features. There has to be some African American blood in her from somewhere.

Of course that is when the finger pointing begins. Dana just loves her child and doesn’t understand the big deal. But feels forced to figure out her history. Her husband’s history is well known. But even within Hugh’s family hard feelings begin to be had. Hugh even doubts whether he is the baby’s father. What should be a happy occasion has turned into something much more.

What did you like/dislike about the book?

In some ways it scares me. That something that should be such a happy time can be shattered by a bunch of bigoted and evil people. I really don’t know if I could forgive my husband if he started to doubt that our first child was his, just based on what she/he looked like.

What genre would you consider this?

Fiction

Overall: B, I enjoyed it overall.

Goodnight Nobody

Goodnight Nobody by Jennifer Weiner

What was this book about?

Stay at home mom (and former journalist) Kate Klein found herself in the position she is currently in – through no planning of her own. She went from being an up-and-coming city girl to a stay at home suburban mother of three children under the age of 5. Kate is doing everything she can to fit in with the suburban mom crowd but she just doesn’t seem to get it right.

Then everything changes when one of her neighbors and mother is killed and Kate is the one that finds her. Kate cannot help but be drawn into the story – she wants to find the truth. With the help of her friend carpet heiress Janie Segal she will find everything out. Her neighbor definitely had many secrets.

When one of these secrets puts Kate back in touch with her former flame, Eric McKenna, Kate must make a decision. Is the family that she has built worth the excitement that she is missing.

What did you like/dislike about the book?

For me in some parts it was just a little slow. You never know much about the killed housewife until she died (which may be good – no time to mourn her). But it just seems odd that it is that small of a world – that they are all connected.

What genre would you consider this?

Mystery/Fiction

Overall: B-

Seaview Inn

Seaview Inn by Sherryl Woods

What was this book about?

Hannah Matthews returns to her hometown to convince her grandmother to close the family owned business “Seaview Inn”. Her grandmother is getting older, her mother has just died of breast cancer, and she herself just finished fighting it.

Things aren’t that easy though. Grandma Jennie has her own idea of how things should work out. Throw in a daughter who needs more then anything to find herself and Hannah realizes that this short trip to close things up isn’t going to work out that way.

Meanwhile Grandma Jennie has her first guest in a while, Iraq vet and doctor Luke Stevens. Luke felt the need to serve his country and by doing so his whole life fell apart. When he returns to his hometown and Seaview Inn things begin to fall in place – including a relationship with Hannah. But to continue on Hannah must face her fears.

What did you like/dislike about the book?

I really enjoyed the family dynamic in this book. This isn’t just the story of Hannah and Luke though they are forefront in the novel. This is a book about a family. How we don’t know our parents as well as we sometimes think we do. How sometimes it is good to go back to a place you couldn’t wait to leave. That secrets and mistakes can sometimes turn out to be the best things in our lives.

What genre would you consider this?
Fiction

Overall: A-

Things I Want My Daughters To Know

Things I Want My Daughters To Know by Elizabeth Noble

What was this book about?
When Barbara figures out that cancer is going to take her away from her loving husband and four daughters she knows she needs to figure out a way to tell them how much she loves them. She has been close with them for a long time and can see the mistakes they are making in life. She knows she won’t be here to protect them from the evil that is out there, the disappointments. So instead she finds a way to tell them everything she wished she could tell them in person – through letters.

What was your favorite part about this book?
This is definitely a tear jerker. I think there is someone in this book that almost everyone can relate to – the teenager who loses her mother to early, the traveler who doesn’t think she is ready to settle down in life, the married woman who wishes she could have children but it just doesn’t seem to happen and it is ruining her marriage, and finally the responsible daughter who can’t get over her own abandonment and commitment issues to settle down with the right man.

What was your least favorite part about this book?
Nothing

What genre would you consider this?
Fiction

Overall: B+

Her Last Death

Her Last Death by Susanna Sonnenberg

What was this book about?
This is a true story about Susanna Sonnenberg told from her point of view. After growing up with a mother that didn’t act at all motherly, she gets a call from her family – her mother has been in an accident and they do not expect her to live. Expectations from her family expect Susanna to immediately drop everything and go to her mother’s side. Only she doesn’t. Instead you find out what drove her to this painful decision.

A life filled with things that children shouldn’t have to go through. A mother that is highly sexed and is convinced that her children are too. A mother who is dependent on drugs and create an atmosphere where her oldest child is afraid that she should take her to the hospital. A mother who you can not trust because most of her life is a lie, and after a time she and all around her begin to believe that the lie is reality.

What was your favorite part about this book?
This book makes me very glad for the mother that I had. The life that I had. It takes a strong women to reject what she grew up in and become a caring mother who doesn’t repeat her own mother’s mistakes.

What was your least favorite part about this book?
Sometimes it was hard to read the pain that was went through. You wish no one had to do that.

What genre would you consider this?
Memoir

Overall: B

The Perfect Wife

The Perfect Wife by Victoria Alexander

What was this book about?
Widow, Sabrina has spent the last years trying to fit in with the ton. She wants to make sure that her daughter will be accepted into their strict regulations of right and wrong. Hidden under her perfect exterior though is a woman with a history of being strong and doing what she has to do – for her daughter and herself. With her daughters impending nuptials she decides to return to her exciting life and partake of an adventure. What she doesn’t realize is the Earl of Wyldewood, Nicholas has found both her wild streak and her “perfection” attractive and isn’t going to let her go alone. Can they find the Egyptian treasure and love?

What was your favorite part about this book?
I like that Sabrina has spirit (and her daughter works on getting some). Life doesn’t always deal you roses and you have to do things you wouldn’t normally do in order to live. She is willing to do that, stand up for her rights. She has a temper but it isn’t taken to an extreme.

What was your least favorite part about this book?
I have found in the past that novels that are re-released from author’s early years (before they are popular) tend to not be as good as their current novels. I have to admit that this isn’t the case here, even though I was biased towards it at first.

What genre would you consider this?
Romance

If I was to nominate this book for an award it would be: Strongest Heroine (Who also is old enough to have a full-grown daughter)

Carpool Diem

Carpool Diem by Nancy Star


What was this book about?
Executive and mother Annie Fleming is a powerhouse in the corporate world while her family life is falling apart. When an unexpected event happens she is able to return to her home life and instead direct her energies toward that. She finds out things were not as she expected them to be – because she wasn’t able to concentrate on her life at home she missed a lot.

Here 12 year old daughter, Charlotte, has an interest in soccer. Annie will do her best to make sure Charlotte gets on the best soccer team. Even if it means forsaking other parents, and finding out what it takes to be on the best team isn’t always what she wanted.

What was your favorite part about this book?
I enjoyed the look at the mother who tries to do everything and ends up only being able to do some things halfway because of it. She figures out what is important in life when given a situation that most people would be down about. This book in no way minimalize mothers that work any more then those that stay at home. It just talks (in a fun way) about how that affects the family dynamic.

What was your least favorite part about this book?
I wasn’t big on the soccer memos or the focus of that part of the book – because I found the family dynamic so much more interesting.

What genre would you consider this?
Fiction

Overall: B

The Secret Between Us

The Secret Between Us by Barbara Delinsky

What was this book about?
Deborah Monroe and her teenage daughter are on their way home when their car strikes a man walking on the road in the pitch black of night. Though Grace was driving, in an effort to protect her Deborah fesses up to being the driver.

This secret puts a wedge between the mother and daughter. It addresses how one secret can do damage to an entire family. Is what Deborah did really the best thing for her daughter?

What was your favorite part about this book?
The relationship between and mother and daughter, father and daughter, is addressed in this book. It is not a perfect relationship but still something that many have in their own lives.

What was your least favorite part about this book?
The relationship with the deceased brother-in-law just seems to be something ill-advised and not practical. It could happen but I kept banging my head against the wall wondering – “Why are you talking to him”.

What genre would you consider this?
Fiction

Overall: A-

If I was to nominate this book for an award it would be: Book that I would want to give my Mother.