Maureen Lipinski

I really would have liked this story more if the author, Maureen Lipinski, had spent more time setting up the backstory of our main character and secondary characters. That through me so much while reading. At one point I did go back to Amazon to make sure I wasn't missing a first book or something. But nope, this is the first book in the series. Since I read the sequel right after finishing this, I realized that book (Not Ready for Mom Jeans) ended up causing me to dislike the first book more than I did and dropped this down to three stars.

The main character is Clare Finnegan who has been married for several months at the start of this story. Clare and her husband Jake (who I can't even remember his name at this point...shows how much he stuck with me--I did go back and look it up though) are flying home from Vegas and thanking the gods they don't have kids. Of course the gods smile and then Clare ends up getting pregnant by accident (birth control antibiotics = not a good idea to have relations). Clare and Jake go through a series of emotions since they are in their late 20s and were not really thinking of children yet. They do proceed with the pregnancy and go through the ups and downs of expecting their first child while dealing with their families, friends, and jobs.

For the most part I found this book slightly funny. Clare has a unique voice. She is an event planner and also a blogger. Apparently a blogger that gets 20,000 views a day (I feel like that is unheard of) with her providing details to her readers about her day to day life. I wish that we had gotten some excerpts from Clare's blog or anything that showcased her writing, since I was flummoxed why she would be so popular. There are allusions to her blog taking off, but that is one of the weird passages that this book contains that makes you believe there is another book before this.

The secondary characters just fit character types. Clare's two best friends Reese and Julie (who haven't spoken in like a year after some blow up during Clare's bachelorette party) are the type A super mom/wife and the party girl. She hangs out with them while also judging them. I also ended up not caring for Jake too much since he made cracks about Julie and her upbringing. Apparently if you live in a mobile home you are white trash and that's that. God. Forget not caring about him, he and his sanctimonious family sucked.

The writing was so-so. As I said there are whole passages alluding to things that Lipinski writes about that in a way that makes it seem you should already know about these things. It drove me up the wall and took me out of the story every time. I was wondering if this book came with a prologue and even went back to the title page at one point and worked me way through again.

The book takes place in Chicago and I really wish we had gotten more flavor of the town in this story. One reason why I love Jen Lancaster and Stacy Ballis's book is that they make Chicago come alive. The only settings you read about are Clare's workplace, her apartment with her hubby, and Reese's home.

The ending has Clare delivering her first child and wondering what is next.… (meer)

"I am over books that fat shame and act as if working mothers are the devil" (my title for this review).

Sorry for the long title, but this book had me ticked from beginning to end.

So this is just going to be a rant about this book, a sequel to "A Bump in the Road". We follow Clare and the first year of her newborn daughter Sara.

Clare is an asshole throughout this book. Sorry. I don't have tolerance for characters who fat shame. I also hated the whole debate about stay at home moms and working mothers.

Clare apparently is the only woman in the world who has to deal with whether she stay at home with her daughter or work. You will be happy to know that Clare judges her mom (who is dealing with breast cancer at this time) for working and liking it. Clare and her sister both moan about how they didn't have nice leisurely times as a family cause her mother was working all the time.

Where's Clare's father in all of this (who cares cause fathers are not important so sayeth this book) who is still working? Apparently it doesn't even process in Clare's freaking brain that her dad could have stayed home or yeah her husband could too. This whole thing becomes most of the plot of the book cause Clare is upset about Sara going to daycare and when her husband gets a promotion (and they buy a house) they apparently now have money for her to stay at home....in the suburbs of Chicago...and he works in IT. I maybe laughed at this whole thing. This book was written in 2010, this is after the economy took a damn dump. Who are these people going let's go to one income and not have to worry about things at all?

In the middle of that mess we have Clare upset she put on weight after her daughter was born and she can't get rid of it. She talks about never exercising, but wanting to lose weight and calls her "fat pants" her Miss Piggy Pants and when it comes up about her not being able to wear a two piece bathing suit anymore, she muses she can just sit next to the fattest person the beach cause no one would give two thoughts to her.

EXHALE

I also realize that Clare did some fat shaming in the last book, I just didn't even process it. Everyone she dislikes in these two books are overweight. She hates her co-worker Annie (who she calls Mule Face) and her sister in law and goes into how fat/heavy both of them are every time they are brought up.

I just ended up disliking the main character and her BS Sophie's Choice about whether to stay home or work. In the end the problem magically gets solved for her (eyeroll again) and they lived happily ever after.

It doesn't help this book is repetitive beyond belief and Clare's sister is a jerk, and though her two best friends are not mortal enemies anymore, there's barely any scenes with the two of them.… (meer)