Book Review: Odd Mom Out

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1tYDsk5mbhJeh86Dky8SL5zgtw_ubZf_A
Life just got life-y…

On the night that Trudy Asp discovers her ex is engaged to the same dental hygienist who’s been picking at her teeth for ten years, her daughter, Madison, suddenly announces that she too is getting married, in Europe.

Frumpy, floundering, and forced to live with her martini-swilling mother, Trudy is swamped by these revelations. And on top of it all, she’ll be wearing the second most scrutinized gown at the wedding.

Having packed on the pounds during the demise of her marriage, the idea of being eyeballed by her ex and his scrawny fiancée Zelda, is truly horrifying. To make matters worse, there’s the paralyzing fear of a transatlantic flight — something Trudy has avoided for decades.

When Zelda offers to stand in for her, Trudy is forced to confront the forces that stole her marriage and threaten to steal her daughter’s wedding too. With three months until the ceremony, Trudy must get to Europe, squeeze herself into a gown, and claim the role she wants more than anything: Mother-of-the-Bride.

Will this Odd Mom Out sink or swim? Or will she drown in a sea of humiliation?https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=176BwatGcTrkEu2T26oVAf6jezkx9vkJJ

ReviewIt doesn’t take many paragraphs before you find yourself swimming around the pity pool with poor Trudy. From living with her mum to enduring an unwanted divorce party, she’s stuck in the worst of middle age.
Trudy is recently divorced, abandoned for a woman half her age and a quarter her size. Her daughter has abandoned her to pursue life abroad. She’s stuck with her aging, critical mother in a small apartment. Her business is failing as fast as her waistline is expanding. Her one bright spot of life is a small kitten that she rescues in the first chapter. But despite a life that seems to have pancaked on the sidewalk, she decides to push through her insecurities to attend her daughter’s upcoming wedding in Croatia. She dives into self-help groups, fad diets and fashion shops. In the end, she achieves her goal and figures out there is still happiness to find for frumpy ladies over 40.
I enjoy stories of older women. I’m glad they’re getting more common. Trudy is relatable. She’s built a life that’s been yanked from her. She feels like she’s back at the start. She has enough pluck to never give up. I wanted her to find all the joy that was missing from the first chapter. 
For the most part, she finds her happy ending. The book avoids being too much of a fairy tale while still leaving Trudy better than we found her. She and her daughter create a firmer relationship. Her mother peels back her own layers to reveal how much she loves her daughter. Trudy finds a friend group that cheers her forward.
My only disappointment was the amount of diet culture steeped into the book. The last chapter assures us that she has achieved the never-ending weight loss resolution and can finally make a new one - as though we all must achieve an acceptable body size before we deserve a happy ending. As a dietitian, I was annoyed that she never found peace with food or a truly balanced life that focused on health and body positivity rather than diet culture.  I think Trudy deserved a truly happy ending with nothing holding her down.
Overall, this was a pleasant read. The characters were drawn well and I had fun romping around the world with them. I rejoiced every time Trudy had a new adventure or challenged an old belief. In the end, I felt like I was standing there cheering Trudy forward and hoping she learns to value herself fully.

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1b9ALQBVk2cKkAaKXXsiB2RidavBVmIfQ

Purchase Links

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CP1GB4V2

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CP1GB4V2

Author Bio – 

Sandy Day is a recovering chatterbox and writer of riveting slice-of-life poetry, memoir, and fiction. She has authored five books to date, with two in the works. A graduate of Glendon College, she studied creative writing under Michael Ondaatje. A lover of cheese, coffee shops, and illustrations, she lives on the shore of Lake Simcoe in Georgina, Ontario, Canada. 

Social Media Links – 

Substackhttps://sandydayauthor.substack.com/

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/sandeesnaps/

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/SandyDayWriter/

Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5103092.Sandy_Day

Amazon Author Page https://www.amazon.com/author/sandyday

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review - Dark Days

Image
  Dark Days at the Beach Hotel Can Helen save the hotel... and her reputation? Helen  Bygrove  is managing the  hotel, now that  her husband has been conscripted. Against all expectations, Helen and her team are doing marvellously, despite the shortages brought by war. Even the exacting Lady Blackmore agrees. But then the calm is shattered when poison pen letters are sent to prominent townsfolk and Helen finds herself the target of a police investigation. Is someone trying to ruin Helen, and the Beach Hotel? And can she rely on the handsome but taciturn Inspector  Toshack to help her? When her husband, Douglas, is invalided out of the war he is determined to take back control of the hotel and things go from bad to worse. How can she ever escape his bullying? Is she a fool to hope that she may have a second chance at love? Review - Purchase Link  -  https://geni.us/bXV7C Author Bio –  Francesca has enjoyed writing since she was a child, largely influenced by a Welsh mother who was good
Read more

Book Review: Death on the High Seas

Image
  Death on the High Seas Maggie and Sam take a break from the murder and mayhem of Bishops Well and embark on a relaxing mid-winter cruise across the northern seas. The brochure promises smooth sailing, good food and dazzling entertainment. Sam is hoping to sprinkle the mix with romance. But nothing goes to plan.  Maggie runs into an old lover, the mesmerising Benedict  Rawbotham , who goes out of his way to sweep her off her feet. Sam is left seething with jealousy. A mayday signal sent by a fishing boat forces the cruise liner off course. But there is something fishy about the rescued crew and Maggie insists that two young women have died on that boat. Alas, no one believes her.  Soon one of the alleged fishermen is also dead and so is one of the cruise passengers. Cordelia Conti Lang, nicknamed the Bitcoin Queen, with links to London’s criminal underworld, is found in her cabin, stabbed to death.  In pursuit of the killer, Maggie hurtles from one disaster to  another  and Sam begins
Read more

Review: Lost Solace

Image
  Lost Solace They’re called the Lost Ships … but sometimes they come back. And when they do the crews are missing, while the ships have been strangely altered, rumoured to be full of horrors. Opal Imbiana has been seeking something her whole life. It’s a secret so precious she’s willing to risk her life recovering it from a recently discovered Lost Ship, in a lonely nebula far from colonised space. She’s just one woman, entering an alien and lethal environment. But with the aid of an amazing AI companion and experimental armoured suit, Opal might just stand a chance. This blast of a book kickstarted the much-loved Lost Solace series, about an unlikely friendship between two women who keep hope alive in the darkest of times. Review In Lost Solace, Karl Drinkwater brings us an intriguing future world where humanity has blurred all the lines. AI can be so real that it’s mastered humor and cruelty. Humans feel like pampered royalty who only think they’re in charge. Both groups are well-wr
Read more