The Mum Who Got Her Life Back by Fiona Gibson Blog Tour

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for The Mum Who Got Her Life Back by Fiona Gibson. I have a review for my stop.

We had a fab time reading this, I love when you come across a book that is just right to lift you when certain things are going on in your life. I also was so happy to have a tub of quality street in the house lmao!




The Mum Who Got Her Life Back by Fiona Gibson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - just over a day

Pages - 400

Publisher - Avon Books

Source - ARC Review copy

Blurb from Goodreads

The laugh-out-loud Sunday Times bestseller is back and funnier than ever! Perfect for fans of WHY MUMMY DRINKS.

When her 18-year-old twins leave for university, single mum Nadia’s life changes in ways she never expected: her Glasgow flat feels suddenly huge, laundry doesn’t take up half her week, and she no longer has to buy ‘the Big Milk’. After almost two decades of putting everyone else first, Nadia is finally taking care of herself. And with a budding romance with new boyfriend Jack, She’s never felt more alive.

That is, until her son Alfie drops out of university, and Nadia finds her empty nest is empty no more. With a heartbroken teenager to contend with, Nadia has to ask herself: is it ever possible for a mother to get her own life back? And can Jack and Nadia’s relationship survive having a sulky teenager around?

A gloriously funny and uplifting new book perfect for fans of Gill Sims and Jill Mansell.



My Review

Meet Nadia, mother to twins who are up out finally out the house, Alfie is finally off to uni and the nest is finally empty. Nadia comes across the fabulous Jack and sparks up a romance, finding the joys and freedom of an empty house and dating again. When Alfie drops out of uni and comes home Nadia has to juggle her role as girlfriend, mother and find her place between her ex and his partner whom Alfie seems to have no issue opening up to. Molly is the other twin but doesn't play a huge part at all, our main characters are Nadia, Jack, Alfie and flashes of her ex partner and his misses Kiki.

Nadia is embracing the HEN - Happy Empty Nester, I am sure many a parent can relate to this and as a non parent even I could appreciate it. Going from full on parenting to actually being about you again was a nice change of pace for me, also some fab comedic moments and social awkwardness that a think we can all appreciate or relate to.

The book goes between Nadia and Jack, each having their own chapters, thoughts and moments. Jack has an ex and a teenage daughter with some genuine issues that tackle real life struggles without going too far in depth. It keep the book grounded and real, jocular, emotive, relationships, working life, every day issues and some of the obstacles facing a couple starting off together mid life with all the baggage getting to that age brings.

Nadia in one hand is brilliant, early 50s, does nude modelling for an art class and the response that brings from her kids. Her job, her family woes especially dealing with the partner of her ex who of course is younger, a skin specialist and loved by her kids, ha rage! Jack works in a charity shop and is a sweet chap looking out for his colleagues, totally oblivious to unwanted attentions, trying to be a good dad and deal with an old emotive wound from his past. It is a great wee cast of characters and much as I liked Nadia when it came to Alfie I wanted to shake her although she admits herself she maybe coddles him a bit too much.

The book made me want to visit a charity shop, skelp into quality street at ridiculous o'clock. Try out that with a butternut squash to see if it is a real thing (you have to read yourself to find out, no spoilers here). Hug a dog and visit Lush to buy a ridic amount of stuff I don't need (I do love Lush to be fair but we all know what it is like buying excess crap we don't need!). I really needed a wee book like this, funny, serious, different, relationships, family, humour - just a wee something different. I have read this author once before and I will need to nosey and see what else she has that I have missed. 4/5 for me this time, despite it being a mum I reckon everyone can appreciate this wee book for what it is, had work not got in the way I likely would have sunk it in one sitting.

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Confessions of A Bad Mother by Stephanie Calman

Confessions Of A Bad Mother by Stephanie Calman
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - in and out over 10 days

Pages - 324

Publisher - MacMillan

Source - given by a friend

Blurb from Goodreads

Funny, acutely observed, frighteningly honest and drawing on her own and hundreds of other mum's real experiences, Stephanie Calman serves up the perfect antidote to all those books that tell you that your children must be perfect, and to all those Stepford mums and kids out there who look as if they just might be: perfectly groomed, perfectly behaved and perfectly brilliant. The reality, as we all know, encompasses sleepless nights, no sex for years, baby sick on your best cashmere cardy, the terrible twos and then, just when you thought it was safe to go back in the sitting room, terrible teenagers whose only means of communication is the slamming door or the grunt.



My review

Two kids fighting, milestones, the impact they have on your relationship, the impact on your life. Here is the no holds barred account by one mother on her journey, pre motherhood, pregnancy and when the journey of her children taking over her life.

There is a fair bit of humour through her tellings but I imagine a fair few people will be raging, annoyed, upset at some of the banter throughout. She gives a stripped account of her failings, how she and her o/h cope with tantrums, their own relationship after the kids. It is parenting stripped bare, the things a lot of parents would never admit to, thinking, saying, feeling.

For me I think some of it has flashes of humour that if it was snippets in a weekly magazine it would be, for me, better received. As it is a book I felt some of it a wee bit uncomfortable reading and as a non parent I am sure that sounds judgey. I laughed at bits some parents would wince or be enraged at, I get the humour and the whole taboo of admitting your kids aren't 100% perfect nor is she the perfect parent. I think the honestly will generate love and hate from camps in equal measures depending on your view point.

It is a funny, brutal and honest book and whilst I didn't love it I know so many will. Parenting with a light shone on it, I think a lot of parents will read it and whisper ha it isn't just me or blow a gasket thinking people actually think/talk about/to their kids like that. I don't know how I feel about it to be honest, I don't hate it, I don't love it. Some days I read and really liked bits of it, some days I really didn't. A lot of it I think is tongue in cheek and if you take it for what it is you will like it, some have loved it. I think 2.5/5 for me this time, absolutely check it out, see which camp you fall into.

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