Ellen’s life is busy enough as it is. She has two children: Jane, who, at eleven, is obsessed about becoming an Instagram star, and Peter, who like his sister is not afraid to speak his own mind, no matter how embarrassing the talk turns out to be (from informing their cousins that Santa Claus doesn’t exist to a weirdly deep knowledge of how children are made). Then, there is her husband who considers his share of the housework to be cleaning out the cupboard of all its food.
But now Ellen has joined the PTA group and is back to work full-time. Between organising school parties, cleaning the house, finding excuses to take time off work, and dealing with step-parents and step-siblings, long school holidays, and a quite eventful (and hilarious) Christmas, Ellen’s life is far from boring.
I haven’t read the first book in this series, Why Mummy Drinks, but I am definitely going to because the protagonist’s adventures are so funny. The book is narrated in the form of a diary and the author created a brilliant character in Ellen. She is realistic, likable, and so hilarious and I found myself always siding with her as she shares her feelings, her anger and frustration towards her husband (mostly), her sister, other parents, her colleagues, and, also, her children. Full of laugh-out-loud incidents, embarrassing moments, and relatable situations, Why Mummy Swears is an engaging and captivating summer read that I highly recommend you don’t miss! (NP)
Parenting blogger Gill Sims has penned a Why Mummy Drinks sequel called Why Mummy Swears.
The summary says: "It's every parents' nightmare - the start of the school holidays - and instead of sitting in the sun, reading a book over a cold, crisp glass of Pinot Grigio, Mummy has two bored moppets to attend to.
After frantically booking sports camps, child minder slots, not to mention time off work, Mummy is exhausted. But this is only the beginning...
After being dragged to join the school's PTA in the new term by an annoyingly kind-spirited neighbour, Mummy is stuck with organising the Christmas Fayre and pleasing all the overly disapproving parents. In combination with getting to know her father's surprise new glamorous (and much younger) wife, and being forced to spend more time with her narcissistic mother, life isn't cutting her much of a break. What more could possibly happen?" Why Mummy Swears is out in July 2018.
Ellen has just turned 39 and still has hopes of living the perfect, organised life. Unfortunately her two children Jane and Peter and husband Simon don’t follow the script and she often has to resort to a drink or two. Readers follow Ellen’s life over the course of the year, as she fends with relatives who stay too long, befriends the hot single dad at the school gate and creates a fun app about a mum’s life.
Set out in diary form, this is exactly how you imagine Bridget Jones as a mother. With a cast of memorable characters, it’s a very funny debut novel about family life from a mummy blogger.
Parenting blogger Gill Sims' debut novel, Why Mummy Drinks, is based on her Peter and Jane blog. The summary says: "It is Mummy's 39th birthday. She is staring down the barrel of a future of people asking if she wants to come to their advanced yoga classes, and polite book clubs where everyone claims to be tiddly after a glass of Pinot Grigio and says things like 'Oooh gosh, are you having another glass?'
But Mummy does not want to go quietly into that good night of women with sensible haircuts who 'live for their children' and stand in the playground trying to trump each other with their offspring's extracurricular activities and achievements, and boasting about their latest holidays.
Instead, she clutches a large glass of wine, muttering 'FML' over and over again. Until she remembers the gem of an idea she's had..." Why Mummy Drinks is out in October 2017.