This week’s review is Happy & You Know It by Laura Hankin. One of my favorite ways to rest is by curling up with a good book. Like movies and music, all genres appeal to me, and I give all books a chance to be ‘heard’!
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Happy & You Know It by Laura Hankin
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Happy & You Know It is an entertaining read and gives the insight to how much strength it takes to forge through motherhood overwhelmed and exhausted.
Claire is a struggling musician, kicked out of a band right as it was becoming famous. Wounded, she self medicates with alcohol and wreckless sex with the men she meets at bars. During her self-loathing of hangovers and too much take-out, her cousin gives her a chance to start again with the gig as a musician for a playgroup in the Upper East Side of New York.
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The playgroup’s moms are a welcoming breath of fresh air for Claire. They warmly accept her into the group – first as the hired musician and then as a friend – and for once in a long time, Claire feels a sense of belonging. The group of moms seems to be the example of an ideal woman having it all – on top of motherhood, perfect babies, and a supportive group of friends. Even the thousands of followers on Whitney’s (the playgroup’s leader) Instagram account seem to think so, too.
Then Whitney is contacted by TrueMommy, a company that produces supplements formulated to naturally help in problematic areas such as exhaustion, weight gain, and lowered sex drive. In exchange for a free trial of their vitamins for future promotional ads, the group jumps at the chance to go back to a time before sleepless nights, fit bodies, and passionate nights with their husbands.
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Everything seems to be perfect, really too perfect. As Claire and Amara, another playgroup mom, develop a friendship outside of the playgroup, Claire stumbles upon a horrific secret of Amara’s. Because of her fondness and admiration of Amara, she confronts Amara and realizes just how deep this secret spreads into the rest of the playgroup. Slowly Claire finds herself becoming more and more entangled in the women’s lies and realizes they are not as perfect as they claim to be. In fact, one of them being downright dangerous and driven by ambition that could cost all of them – Claire included.
With the perfect amount of humor about a group of realistic moms, Laura Hankin spins an entertaining story about friendship and motherhood. It does have some unexpected twists and turns with backstabbing and secrets, but it also shows how strong motherhood makes us. It shows how moms come together in our time of need and understand the horrible truth of it all: how we try to show we have it all together while we feel as though we are split apart on the inside. But the great part? We are doing better than we give ourselves credit and we are stronger than we realize.
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‘Indoor Book Tour’ Music Video by Laura Hankin
Book of the Month Club
I enjoyed books so much that I joined the Book of the Month Club to continue receiving the latest and greatest books via mail. Some of the books are exclusive to BOTM club members a month prior to their official publishing date! Each month I’m excited about the monthly selections, and it’s tough to select just one. (And when I can’t decide on one, I can add additional books for a small add-on charge and – as always – shipping is included in the monthly membership fee.) Can’t find one you want? That’s okay, too! Skip a month, pocket the credit to spend next month, and you won’t be charged for that current month.
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Book Ratings and Reviews
Each book I review is based on my opinion. This does not mean you will agree with the review or love/like/dislike the book, too. There’s a quote that says, “No two persons ever read the same book” by Edmund Wilson, and it’s quite true!
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