The Baby Diaries (2013)

Kiki and Thom are only just getting used to married life when they discover she is pregnant. Although they had hoped to have children, it was not something they had envisioned right now - well, apart from on the one night on their honeymoon when they had drunkenly decided to start trying for a baby. They quickly have to come to terms with being parents as their lives are about to change forever. From non-alcoholic cocktails to breast pumps, nightmare sonographers to explicit antenatal classes, Kiki charts the couple's journey to parenthood in a year-long journal, culminating in their baby's half-birthday. While the focus on pregnancy in the first half of the book was really candid and strong, I felt that the second part of the novel, after the baby's birth, loosened its focus and the child-rearing became less prominent. Although this will perhaps be taken up again in the next book of the series, I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed because the pregnancy had been handled so adeptly. Nevertheless this book is really funny and entertaining, and I loved the diary-style and script-like dialogue. (JC)

The Wedding Diaries (2012)

After Kiki's fiance Thom pops the question, Kiki chronicles the path to the altar in a diary. When her publishing company take on a celebrity wedding book, Kiki has to cover the wedding (and the hen do, and the run-up...). As Kiki starts to descend into bridezilla territory, all her wedding plans start to disintegrate. Will there even be a wedding by the end of the diary? Written in diary style, it does take a little while to get into the flow of the book, especially the dialogue. But after the first month I started to enjoy the style. I'm sure that anyone who has either planned a wedding or known anyone with a hint of bridezilla will be able to relate to this entertaining and funny story, the first in a trilogy. (AB)

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