My takeaway: Marriage is boring and pointless but it sure does make for some great sex with other people. Also, parenting is hard so just don’t do it. I mean, sure, have kids but just don’t bother with the parenting part.

Talk about an alienating read. The only similarity I share with the main character is that I am a married white woman and even I felt offended on behalf of affluent British mothers everywhere. And once I was done being offended, I was bored.

This book seems to be reinforcing negative stereotypes of stay-at-home mothers. I know a lot of people ask, “What do they do all day?” and after reading this, those people will feel justified in smugly knowing that home-makers do nothing, as illustrated by the mothers in this story. Except for Alpha Mom who is an overbearing, obnoxious, unsympathetic, success-oriented freak of nature thereby showing that mothers who over-parent and adhere to structure are worse than the devil and nobody s them. Nobody. Also, they’re closeted coke addicts.
Seriously, though, what does Lucy Sweeney, the slummy mummy, do all day? She laments how hard motherhood is and lists out her typical routine once or twice but she’s hardly reliable so you have to take it all with a grain of salt and wonder how much of her day is in her imagination and how much she actually accomplishes and why motherhood is so difficult for her, in particular.
This would have been a good moment to embark on a rudimentary chat about the birds and the bees but I just didn’t have time, she says. How? How can you not have time? You’re ironing your jeans. JEANS! The whole point of jeans is to throw them on and not care. They don’t need to be ironed and if you have time to do that, you have time to explain basic sex to your three-year-old who wants a pet sperm. And you could have run a load of laundry in that time, too. Good lord, woman!
Dude, motherhood is hard so don’t downplay it by showing the amusing silliness of an always-messy car (complete with escaped hamster. No, it’s not a Kia), the whimsical nature of frazzled mothers who forget they have kids in said car while trying to save face after running out of gasoline three blocks from the house as opposed to the neurotic mother who has a chart of activities for the entire year pasted to the living room wall, or by writing off parents who hire people to raise their children while they, the parents, enjoy a life of exercise, manicures, and pubic waxing.
These scenarios might be a cutesy way to make mothers feel better about what they perceive as their own parenting shortcomings but put together as a whole in this ridiculous package, it just reinforces the stupid stereotypes that stay at home mothers are dithering idiots, holier-than-thou mommy warriors, or money-hungry social climbers. But, again, I’m not a mom and maybe these tales of can’t-get-it-doneness vs overdone-ness vs hands-free doneness really are a panacea to the overworked, tired, always-questioning stay at home parent. Maybe moms read this and feel better about not having a clean house while simultaneously being smug over how wrong in-control moms and moms who have hired staff are.

Oh, right. Hired staff. So everyone in this story has enough money for au pairs and nannies and house cleaners and laundry service and the . Is that real life in England? Can the average middle-class family really afford help? If I could afford a housecleaner, even just once a month, I’d have one in in a hot second. Domestic assistance must be much more affordable for a single-income three child family in London than it is for a dual-income zero child family in the middle of Colorado. So, then, how is it that Lucy, who only has the luxury of an aged house cleaner who won’t do the laundry and then, later, a laundry service, is still behind in domestic chores if she can afford help? Again, what the hell does she do all day while her kids are in school?

To me, it seemed the crux of this tale was that extramarital affairs are de rigueur and apparently a good idea, to boot. That’s actually the whole point of being married, so you can enjoy infidelity. Ok, yes, I know, this is supposed to be a light and amusing glimpse into how and why adultery happens within the confines of a contented marriage and the potential consequences thereafter. I get that a bored stay-at-home mom would be enticed by an attentive (though completely less than charming) stay-at-home dad and flirting would happen and the daydreams, etc. but would it really become such a drawn-out chase full of overblown tension and self-recrimination but no obvious moments of real responsibility taking place? Maybe stay-at-home parents have a lot more time, energy, and ability to have wild flings (they must, as they obviously do nothing else all day long - all you stay-at-home parents had better be having torrid affairs with each other or else this book has lied to me) and maybe it’s true that all men want to stray from their wives as I think all the men in this story have done at some point, but...ok, no, I didn't believe any of that. Not a word. Granted, I don’t know about these things, this isn’t how my life runs. However, I do know hypocrisy, having engaged in it a time or two, myself, and this story is just rife with the stuff. Everyone is justifying having sex outside of marriage and even if they admit it’s not ok, in general there’s a valid reason these people are doing it and lying and creating drama but boy howdy, they all become so judgey when other people have affairs or, worse, when they suspect their own partners of having affairs and then they start lecturing and pontificating and I'm puking so I need to move on. So I guess my problem was less with all the screwing around outside the marriage chamber and more with the hypocrisy that went along with it. Own up, people, otherwise, shut up.

You’ll be surprised to note, I am sure, that women are helpless, hapless morons subject to the whims and vagaries of their male counterparts. Lucy left her journalism career to become a SHM and is passively engaged in letting her rather assholey colleague-in-parenting chase her and paw at her and clumsily pseudo-seduce her, Lucy’s college friend and former sister-in-law is getting over her divorce by letting her new boyfriend and his roommate share her (she goes along with it because why not? The problem here is this was not her decision, it was theirs) until she's too tired of sex and wants to go back to a one-man relationship, the other college friend, Emma, is putting her own pretty spiffy life on hold for a married man, the married man’s wife is finding fulfillment in material objects and maybe her trainer as any trophy wife would, Lucy’s mother-in-law leaves her life to start another at the request of a man...all nicely, tritely showing that liberated women who are trying to define their lives as they see fit still make most of their decisions based on what the men around them want. Also, married women cannot successfully have affairs because they can’t compartmentalize and their inability to lie would give it all away...says Lucy and her friends. Affairs are only for single women and all the men, people. Take note.

Just what makes Lucy so engaging to the sexy stay at home dad, Yummy Mummy #1, Celebrity Dad, the former fling, her two BFFs, and everyone else who adores her? I don’t get her popularity. I thought she was irritating with her self-proclaimed awareness and empathy for others while, in truth, being ridiculously self-involved, busily justifying all her mistakes and failings as something other than mistakes and failings. Nothing is ever her fault and she’ll lie her way out of any situation or, at least, spin it to her benefit. It’s not that she is confident in herself Yummy Mummy #1 (the only character I d because she was the only one who seemed to face everything honestly and with mostly-clear sight), she just wants to be d too badly by everyone, including herself, so much so that she’ll sweep any potential detractors under the rug. Of course, everyone else was horrid, as well...I guess miserable people other miserable people and Lucy was the best d because she was the most awful?

I am fairly sure this is supposed to be a tale of hilarious mishaps via a ditzy but delightful modern mommy, probably what Mad About the Boy was also supposed to be. And Bridget Jones #3, which may have actually been the impetus behind this story (I am pretending the author was all, “What ever happened to our good friend, BJ. Oh, hey, I should write a novel about a crazy but lovable dingbat who can’t get her shit together but manages to hold down a household and marriage and friends and an emotional affair but only by the skin of her teeth and an enormous dose of good luck! Hoorah!), it missed the mark because instead of being engaging and droll, this tale of loathsome characters in silly situations is actually really boring. If I wanted that, I’d watch "Jersey Shore" or something. Is that even still a show?

And that ending in which everyone has all the realizations and learns all the lessons? Most over-the-top, eye-rolling, puke-worthy finale ever.

On the other hand, the reader is good and aside from the constant repetition and the inability to stick to the linear timeline, it’s not too badly written so I can’t take away all the stars. Just most of them.audiobook bffs flat-characters ...more15 s Laura18 3

I couldn't get through this book. Because I am a stay-at-home mom I thought I would identify with this book, but no. The entire plot line about the mom wanting, dreaming and justifying having an affair left me cold. I understand that staying with your kids might not be the most exciting thing to be doing, but having an affair with someone is not how I choose to add excitement to my life and I definitely don't want to spend my the few minute I have to myself reading about someone who does. But then maybe I'm just lucky because I love my husband.11 s ShellTheBelle 51 53

A very funny and entertaining read!! Has you laughing out load at times and is very realistic with things such as the competitiveness of other parents, even in doing their child's homework so it gets a good mark!!

Quite well written, only downside, didn't really the plot line at the end with the hotel ect, didn't think the MC would actually do that.

All in all a good book and fun to read!10 s Cora Tea Party Princess1,323 856

An easy read that's an old friend - comforting and entertaining.

We all know someone who is or will be a Yummy Mummy or an Alpha Mum or a Slummy Mummy or a Sexy Domesticated Dad. We all have that friend who will be in one relationship after another and never settles down.

Perhaps this book would appeal more to a middle class audience - I cannot relate to the lifestyles at all. But to the situations and the characters? I think fondly of them.9 s Julie40 1 follower

My neighbor gave me this book and told me it was really funny and my first thought was that she doesn't know me at all. This type of book really doesn't interest me, but after reading the back (with an endorsement from Anna Wintour of all people) I figured it might be a quick, entertaining read. I brought it on a road trip and with nothing else to do, I started reading it. The whole time I was complaining to my husband about how awful it was. I didn't think it was funny at all, mostly because the scenarios that were meant to be amusing all centered on the painful embarrassment of the main character, and all situations brought about by her own laziness, sloppiness, or irresponsibility, all of which just bugged me. Either that, or they completely rang false to me. Seriously, most of this stuff would never happen. Plus I found it really false how many coincidences this woman stumbles into, especially that at every single school function the only seat available is between the same two people. Seriously?

All that said, I did read this book to the end. I didn't think I would be able to, but actually I found myself very curious about how her temptation toward adultery would play out. A lot of people seem really bothered by the inclusion of that story line in the book, but actually I felt it was pretty realistic. No marriage is perfect, and I think a lot of people have a moment of wondering whether the grass is greener with someone else. Her inner turmoil about the attraction and how to handle it felt pretty realistic to me. All the other stuff about being such a monumentally poor homemaker seemed over the top. Without the potential infidelity storyline the book would have been a total zero.

The ending was just ridiculous. Not only did it rely on an absurd number of coincidences happening all at once, but it was just stupid, would never happen, and made an otherwise unremarkable book even worse.7 s Bookguide887 58

This made a perfect summer holiday read, light and amusing with a serious undercurrent, and I identified strongly with the main character, Lucy Sweeney, a frustrated stay-at-home mum of three young children, "mothers me, the slummy mummies, the muddlers and befuddlers, the ones who don't know what to do when a spare minute comes their way because it is so rare, wearing old dresses that have stretched with us over the years." Many of her amusing antics and slatternly behaviour could have been mine a few years ago, although the flirtation with Sexy Domesticated Dad would not have been one of them, and I wouldn't have put the school wastepaper basket in my handbag, either; I'm sure the teacher would have understood.

Below the humorous surface, there are many serious comments about the role of women today. Did the feminists of the 1970s throw away their daughters' and granddaughters' right to have the choice to work at home as mothers as they are under pressure to work outside the home, and what is the cost of this? Why is bringing up children accorded so little status in modern society, and often delegated to nannies and au pairs or childcare services? Side-note of my own; is it more socially acceptable to work in childcare for other people than it is to look after your own children? If so, why? Conversation stopper: "I'm a stay-at-home mum." Fiona Neill makes a good point about the Yummy Mummy sort who let others take care of the messy domestic side of life, allowing them more time to shop, exercise and have beauty treatments. She notes that this is the modern-day equivalent of the 1950's ideal housewife, without the work involved.

Quotations I noted:
"Even though this is the first time that I have been out for almost a month, I still reproach myself. Guilt is the bindweed of motherhood, the two are so inexorably entwined that it is difficult to know where one ends and the other begins."

"There is no level playing field in the domestic point-scoring game. Women always start in the foothills, with higher to climb and further to fall. A man who changes a nappy bounds ahead, while a woman who performs the same task in half the time, using three economic movements and a quarter of the wipes, barely registers progress."

Tom "doesn't spend enough time at home to realise that children are ants without a system, constantly on the move, carrying things from one room to another and secreting them in places invisible to the adult eye." Oh yes! Only to be discovered months or years later; the essential part of some toy or apparatus, the part without which it won't work. Or the key to a box containing the indispensable bit. Or a piece of food which will be covered in mould by the time you retrieve it. Been there, done that.

Fortunately, a reassuring note from Lucy's psychologist brother for those of us who are not always perfect mothers and housewives:
"better to veer on the side of chaos than be too controlling... Behind an anxious child there often lurks a neurotic parent. Being a good mother depends on defining the right dose of devotion. Too little and the child wilts, too much and it is stifled." A sigh of relief, and vindication of my own style of parenting.

First reviewed here: http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/8...ireland4 s Karli216 1 follower

I kind of hate to put 4 stars on such a light and silly book but I really did it and found it to be much more clever than I had thought that it would be. Hailed a "The Bridget Jones of Motherhood" I expected the silly and exaggerated circumstances of being stay-at-home-mom, however there was a lot of wisdom too. I found myself saying, "yeah, yeah, I do that too" or "oh yes I have totally thought that too".

Lucy gets herself into situations that we all have...
taking the kids to school in her pajamas
losing her keys and getting locked (IN)
washing the kids hair with baby powder

But then there are some deeper and more thought provoking situations she gets into as well...
Having a crush on another parent
Reliving her single days too often in her head
Running into old boyfriends
Weighing what to tell her husband and what not to...

This light-hearted ridiculous novel about being a mother really had some depth. I recommend it to any parent, especially ones that have days when they wonder how they got into this mess...

4 s Vicky Ziliaskopoulou622 113

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???? ????, ????????? ???????, ?? ?? ?????? ????? ??. ????????? ????4 s Eline459 47

DNF 40%

Ik lees zelden een boek niet uit, ook al vind ik het minder goed. Dit verhaal was voor mij veel te oppervlakkig. Een te grote herhalende klaagzang over het huishouden met kinderen niet aankunnen. Daarnaast stoorde ik me enorm aan de verschillende bijnamen voor de andere personages. Dit boek was niet mijn ding.chick-lit romans2 s Helena Wildsmith371 9

I found it quite hard to rate this book. On the one hand it was trashy, unbelievable and most of the characters, especially the main one, were totally unlikable. On the other hand there were several moments that had me laughing out loud and it was a quick, fun and easy read. As a stay-at-home Mummy myself I found I was able to relate to some of Lucy Sweeney's emotions but definitely not her actions as they seemed cruel and cold rather than comedic.2 s Katy Sherman22 6

Brilliant, smart and funny

You would never expect a piece of mom-lit to turn out as a sophisticated essay about marriage and motherhood. Slummy Mummy comes quite as a surprise, being not only smart, witty and extremely funny, but the most important of all, giving astonishingly precise account of a woman in her midlife crisis. As the heroine's pedantic husband put it, the midlife crisis is "discontent with the status quo, restlessness, questioning decisions that you made years ago, thinking you've grown apart from your husband, wondering whether happiness lies with another man". And Lucy Sweeney makes a long way from fantasizing about another man to making a decision about the future of her marriage.

The book is not dedicated exclusively to adultery. Ms.Neill provides amazing observations about the nature of being a mother, about the responsibilities, difficulties and rewards of motherhood. Lucy's life is a nightmare of sleepless nights, chronic fatigue and endless flow of domestic routine, and yet there's a rare sparkle of such overwhelming feeling that may only be felt towards a child.

..."I feel time passing sand slipping through my fingers. Perhaps it is good that we remember only fragments of their childhood as we grow older. Otherwise, the loss would be too great to bear."...

Lucy's fears, worries, anxiety, loneliness and exhaustion are not her own. It all sounds so utterly familiar, as if someone overheard your own thoughts and shared your own experience. And yet, the Slummy Mummy does not hold a tiny bit of depression. As if Lucy Sweeney pondered on one of the big-sized dilemmas of her life "To laugh or to cry" and finally voted for the former.
chick-lit favorites fiction2 s Carolyn30 13

This book is proof positive that you don't have to a book to take something away from it.

There was no discernible plot, which made this book hard for me to read. By page 50, after I was repeatedly made aware that having small children creates anarchy in the home. That stay-at-home mom and main character Lucy had repeatedly lost her credit card lost its charm after it had been mentioned three times. At page 100 I found myself skipping over large clumps of narration because I'd simply lost interest. Neill seems to want her readers to find Lucy endearing, in a Bridget Jones sort of way, but her chronic disorganization and inability to tell her kids "no" was just plain annoying. Lucy's supposedly best friends were so judgmental that they reduced me to reciting cliches: I wouldn't wish those people on my worst enemies. All of the characters were flat. No one evolved.

The only positive was that reading it made me aware of my own disorganization. Although Lucy was too extreme to be believable, I could see how not having the structure of a job or volunteer work or even a hobby can make one disorganized. I work from home part time, and, on the side, I care for my small children, do all the laundry and shopping, cook 5 days a week, take the kids to school and daycare, arrange play dates, taxi my oldest to gymnastics twice a week and my youngest once a week, etc. I admit, I sometimes miss appointments and leave things undone.

Would I recommend this book? No, I wouldn't.2 s Karen446 26

Oh, FFS. The main character was annoying, her friends were annoying, her children were annoying, her husband... OK, you get the picture. A ridiculous farce with about as much emotional honesty as a kiwi fruit.gave-away magazine-freebie2 s Lisa196

An enjoyable read,though I did think it ended quite abruptly.2 s Lindsay NixonAuthor 21 books775

4.5 stars

I loved this--so fun! Perfect for a distraction or "beach read" It's Bridgit Jones (if she was married with three kids) and the cast from Big Little Lies (without the murder).

Gah, so good and rejuvenating.

SUMMARY: Lucy is a stay-at-home-mom to three kids. She's chronically late, losing her car keys, and covered in something sticky. She's not the "yummy mummies" at her kids' school who show up on time, with tight yoga/pilates bodies, amazing hair and makeup and children who are well behaved, clean, and A+ students. Lucy can't quite figure out how to get it together and everyone, from her OCD-perfectionist husband, MIL, and friends all have solutions for her a la "you need a system" "you need to be organized" "you should create a schedule and stick to it" (She rolls her eyes).

You spend several months with Lucy and her life--including getting to know her MIL (who has found love in her 60s), her two best friends, one of whom has been having an affair, and the other parents at school including "celebrity dad" (an American actor--I think it's supposed to be Brad Pitt) and "domestic dad" who both seem drawn to Lucy, leaving her to wonder if she should spice things up in her life...1 Jacqueline 100 3

Well I finished it but it confirmed to me these books are not my thing.

Some small parts of parenthood I could identify with and did make me smile but nothing else. Maybe because our circles are so different I mean she was a producer on newsnight?

fiona-neill1 Hannah Polley637 9

I enjoyed this book but I was screaming at the character most of the way through. How anyone can be that disorganised is beyond me. I was also really frustrated with her for involving herself with the dad on the school run. She was obviously a loving mother but she didn't seem to think about her children with that.

I am not sure that Lucy should have been with Tom as they both cheated on each other early on in their relationship. But they seemed to have a nice life and I felt Lucy could have been more content.

I really enjoyed the Celebrity Dad character and Yummy Mummy No.1. Shame on Guy and Sexy Domesticated Dad.

I was really disappointed with the ending. I would have d a final scene between Lucy and Tom working things out. But still a good book. chick-lit fiction fiona-neill1 Jodie33 1 follower

Excellent read. Entertaining from beginning to end. Loved how real the "Slummy mummy" is.1 Erin LynnAuthor 39 books117

I have read this book so many times over the years, and I always get something different out of it. On the outside, Slummy Mummy is a humorous tale of a restless wife, but at the core, it's a story about the way our perceptions of ourselves shift as we navigate life, marriage, children, and everything in between.1 Merredith1,021 22

It's no surprise i picked up slummy mummy from the noe valley library. they bill it as a bridget jones diary for moms. i'm not a mom, but it was pretty funny. here is a woman who has given up her career as a producer for a big news show in england to be a stay at home mom. obviously in order to have risen so high in her career, she was good at it. she is not good at being a stay at home mom. she loses the keys, the car, the credit card, doesn't pay the bills, can barely keep the kids getting to school and back. she is totally scattered and flighty. i feel this is how i would be if i were a mom. i never can understand how they are able to get everything done!! her husband is a very methodical man and quite the opposite of her, and the whole book is focused on her wanting to cheat on him with one of the dads from the school. Apparently, in this book and in many tv shows i've seen lately, no one takes school busses anymore, everyone has complex school dropping off rules and the parents have these whole pto clubs where they make parties and such. this never happened when i was a kid! or, maybe it's just cuz we weren't rich and went to public school. the other moms all have lots of hired help, but our slummy mummy is trying to do it all herself, cuz they're not really rich. anyway, good book, felt deep sympathy and empathy for this scattered woman, i'm always forgetting things the way she does, so i really understand. i was not a fan of her cheating, but i was a fan that she hung out with friends, who were not mommy saints, but stayed out all weekend partying and such. the ending was just a clusterf*ck really and made no sense, a hurried attempt to horribly tie things up. chick-lit1 Helen653 6

It's not laugh out loud funny, it's just a bit pathetic. I feel the same about Bridget Jones and I Don't Know How She Does It, although I know many people love them. There are moments when I think, yes, that's just what it feels :
"Now, faced with the prospect of my youngest child starting Nursery three mornings a week, it is time to rebuild myself, but I can no longer remember how the pieces fit together ... Somewhere in the domestic maelstrom I have lost myself. I can see where I came from, but I'm uncertain where I am going."

But with each moment of recognition of Life As A Mum, there are more moments when I want to tell Lucy to take a teaspoon of cement and harden up. I have no tolerance for people whose life is a disaster if they never try to do anything about it. I books that teach me or books that take me away, not books that show me my own life, but with extra stupid stuff thrown in. Seriously, if your husband is going away and you have 3 kids to get to school in the morning, fill the petrol tank before he goes. Put some sandwiches and dinners in the freezer in advance, and stick a whiteboard on the fridge so you can remember when the art project is due. Don't wear your doofusness a shabby badge of honour. Don't look at the potential train wreck in front of you and drive towards it in case it might be fun.

I'm done. This book is going on to my "life's too short" pile.2013 abandoned1 Jen991 94

If a book can leave you grinning from ear to ear while in rush hour traffic, the author has done her job creating hilarious and realistic scenarios. I laughed so often with this, as others have said, Bridget Jones' esque look at parenthood. I have so much more confidence in myself as a future mum: if this mum can do it, so can I! Messy car, locking oneself out of one's house, texting the masses instead of one person...ah, humerous parenting.

Many folks have stated their discomfort with the focus on infidelity, and I am usually one to bemoan the treatment of such a serious issue. However, I think that this book handles it in just the right way. Those involved in affairs aren't happy, nor are they viewed as honest. The author also acknowledges that happily committed folks can still feel temptation and attraction, and that those feelings have to be dealt with. They don't always have to be acted upon, and that's something that is often missing. The attraction usually turns into a torrid affair. Nothing in the relationships in this book is torrid. The affair that exists is troublesome and unfulfilling. The desire that exists is happiest in the mind. Communication is key. (and while I think the husband is a complete oaf, it's clear that the two have something with saving.)

Nutshell...British wife/mum humor: a brilliant break.audio fun_female_fluff1 Katy138 19

I got this book from a book store bargain bin a few years ago and just read it this summer. This was not written a "bargain bin" book. Fiona Neill has a great tone & flow and it was written very well. Slummy Mummy is funny, but also has a serious moral dilemma with questions about marriage and infidelity with a variety of views so I would classify it as a comedy/drama.
Although I saw the comedy of it, I wasn't laughing out loud, but I think that was because I was finding so much in common with Lucy Sweeny (although she even makes me look organized) and have even been dealing with some of the same internal questions as she was. I spent moments feeling so embarrassed for her, moments routing for her, moments being her, and couldn't wait to find out what her decisions/actions were going to be.
In the end, Neill did a classy job of bringing it full circle with a nice ending that can teach us all a lesson. There were a few references to stores or items that I was not familiar with since I live in America instead of England, however, it did not effect the story or comprehension at all.
I think this book would make a great movie or sitcom series. I would definitely recommend it to my other overwhelmed mommy friends. Hey, if we don't have rotting apple cores in our purses, we're doing pretty good. 1 Sunny118 15

In many ways, I'm embarrassed to have read this. In my defense, it's written by a Brit journalist who writes a column in the London Times and I *thought* it might provide some intelligent and funny perspective on modern mothering.

I was wrong. I'm not a fan of chick lit in general, though I make an exception now and again, and this is just chick lit dressed up as mommy lit. The problem is it tries to be both somewhat substantive on occasion (delving into the complications relationships face after children) but also tries to be Bridget Jones. It never gets quite substantive enough on the first count and, well, it's not funny enough to be the latter. Neill tries hard to set up comical situations, but they end up coming off as either forced or defunct (a number of funny set-ups lead nowhere, ending up making the lead character just look an idiot).

I guess it might make an okay beach or bathtub read if you really weren't that invested, but why bother?1 Hannie1,233 22

Het boek leest wel redelijk vlot, maar toch vond ik het niet heel geweldig. Er zit veel herhaling in het verhaal. Het onvermogen van Lucy om het huishouden en de opvoeding van de drie kinderen voor elkaar te krijgen als moeder. Ook komt haar verliefdheid op een van de vaders die ze op het schoolplein ziet steeds terug. Als het boek dunner was geweest, was het leuker geweest. Hoewel het boek wel grappige elementen heeft, heeft het ook een wat klagerige ondertoon. Dat maakte het boek minder leuk om te lezen. Ik zou het mensen dan ook niet aanraden. Vandaar dat ik het maar twee sterren heb gegeven. Ik heb het boek nog redelijk snel uitgelezen. Ik heb het uitgelezen, omdat ik toch wel benieuwd was hoe het zou eindigen. Het einde is ook leuker dan gedacht. Toch wilde ik het vooral uit hebben, zodat ik aan een nieuw boek kon beginnen. Welke dat wordt, weet ik nog niet. Wel hoop ik dat die niet zo tegenvalt als deze. 2-sterren 2016 chicklit-feelgood ...more1 Stacy252 11

This is one of those books that I wish I hadn't put off for so long before reading it. Lucy reminds me of a mixture of Bridget Jones and Becky Bloomwood in the sense that whatever embarrassing thing that could happen to her pretty much will happen to her. I listened to most of this book while working and had to stifle my laughter many, many times. Adultery is a huge part of the book, but even most of that is full of hilariousness.

I can't remember the last time I read a Fiona Neill book, but I remember really liking the one or two books of hers that I've read, and now I want to read them all.

Aside from Lucy, of course, my other favorite character is Celebrity Dad. He was the source of a lot of laughs outside of Lucy. And I adored her children, not only were they cute as hell, but they cracked me up too.

This is one to seriously put at the top of your list!audiobooks chick-lit five-star-ratings ...more1 Heather480

Pretty funny...if you're a mom. I could definitely relate to many of Sweeney's anecdotes, stories and struggles regarding motherhood. I think it was longer than it needed to be, and a bit choppy. There were some chapters separated by months, others by only hours. (I think the author wrote a newspaper column, maybe that's why?) I have to admit that Sweeney's consideration and struggle over having an affair with a dad from her kids' school was distracting...although it had funny moments, I guess my own personal opinions and values regarding this subject gave it a negative overture throughout the book. I did not the ending, wrapping up way too quickly, and not very conclusively. But overall, this was a fun, easy read that I enjoyed.20091 Julie68

I'd to give this five stars, but then I'd know for sure I was completely hormonal (due to current pregnancy). Hence I think why I enjoyed this book so thoroughly. Although it is inconceivable to compare the quality of writing and depth to something Atlas Shrugged or To Kill a Mockingbird, it is easy to say this story offered gentle diversion and relativity for me at this point in time.

If you're a mom and searching for light reading without the total simpleton trash factor, this is a fun, engaging read. If you're looking to analyze and grow via your next reading choice, don't bother.1 Ramona131 5

I just finished this book last night. It was so good. So funny. So witty. I actually snorted out loud at one point. I think every Mom should read this. Seriously. Without giving too much away, it is about a Mom of 3 kids who is just trying to stay afloat. She hides credit card bills and parking fines from her husband. She cannot control the laundry pile. She contemplates an affair with a stay at home Dad whose kids go to the same school as do hers. Her car is a dump. And she always gets herself out of the most precarious situations. I think there is a little bit of her in all of us Moms.1 Marianne 263

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