Title: The Baby Planner
Author: Josie Brown
Review: I have five children and I have never used a Baby Planner, not that it doesn’t sound like a great thing to have, I just know that I could not afford one and most of what they do(according to the book) I wanted to do myself. I wanted to paint and sew and nest for my little ones and I think that it would have been hard to turn that responsibility over to another person, especially in one whose only purpose is to get paid.
But this is a review of the book, not of Baby Planners as a whole. The book was sweet and cute. I love the little quotes at the top of each chapter, a few of my favorites:
“Making a decision to have a child- it’s momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside you body.” Elizabeth Stone-With my oldest away at college I feel this one daily, I miss him.
“A man loves his sweetheart the most, his wife the best, but his mother the longest.” – Irish Proverb
“Children make you want to start life over.” –Muhammad Ali
The main character Katie is a strong women looking to have a child of her own and the way she goes about trying is funny and sad at the same time. I feel for the characters and their struggles, life is hard enough without adding additional people in the mix. But without my children my life would be less then it is today. I could identify with the pregnant women in this book and I laughed out loud in a few places.
I did not care for the sex, it felt out of place and too graphic for the subject matter, a few kisses and the next day would have made better reading. The book as a whole was quirky and fun to read with a good message about love making a family, not biology. I would suggest this to anyone who enjoys Chick-Lit.
Publisher: Published April 5th 2011 by Gallery (first published March 17th 2011)
ISBN: 9781439197127
Copyright: 2011
Pages: 352
Quick Review: 31/2 stars (out of 5)
Why I Read It: Its been on my shelf since May so I picked it up.
Where I Obtained the Book: I won this on a blog hop.
Synopsis: The Nanny Diaries meets The Wedding Planner in this smart, dishy novel from the author of Secret Lives of Husbands and Wives—featuring a woman who runs San Francisco’s premier baby planning company and the mommies-to-be who seek out her services.
Katie Johnson may make her living consulting with new moms on the latest greatest baby gadgets no parent should be without, or which mommy meet-ups are the most socially desirable, or whether melon truly is the new black, but the success of her marriage to her husband, Alex, depends on controlling her own urges toward motherhood.
He's adamant that they stay childless. Sure, Katie understands that he's upset over the fact that his out-of-town ex-wife rarely lets him see their ten-year-old son, Peter. But living vicariously through her anxious clients and her twin sisters' precocious children only makes Katie resent his stance more deeply.
While helping a new client—Seth Harris, a high tech entrepreneur who must raise Sadie, his newborn daughter, as a single parent after the tragic death of his wife in childbirth—maneuver the bittersweet journey from mourning husband and reticent father to loving dad, Katie’s own ideals about love, marriage, and motherhood are put to the test as she learns ones very important lesson about family: How we nurture is the true nature of love.
Author Biography: Josie Brown is the author of five novels: The Housewife Assassin's Handbook [2011, Signal Press]; The Baby Planner [2011, Simon & Schuster]; Secret Lives of Husbands and Wives [2010, Simon & Schuster]; Impossibly Tongue-Tied [2006, HarperCollins]; and True Hollywood Lies [2005, HarperCollins; 2010 Diversion Books].
She is also the author of three non-fiction books: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Finding Mr. Right [Alpha/Pearson]; Marriage Confidential: 102 Honest Answers to the Questions Every Husband Wants to Ask, and Every Wife Needs to Know [Signal Press]; and Last Night I Dreamt of Cosmopolatans: A Modern Girl's Dream Dictionary [St. Martin's Press]
As a journalist, Josie's celebrity interviews and relationships trends articles have been featured in Los Angeles Times Syndicate International, Redbook and Complete Woman magazines, as well as AOL, Yahoo, AskMen.com, Divorce360.com, and SingleMindedWomen.com.
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