Morning / afternoon / evening to my blog post visitors, today is the day I bring to you my thoughts on Jo Middleton’s debut Playgroups and Prosecco that was published by Ebury Publishing in paperback on the 2nd of May. So grab your Jaffa cakes, fizzy wine of your choice and let me tell you why I loved this read!
I was really lucky to spot Ellie Crisp’s call for bloggers for this tour, so thankyou Ellie for the opportunity and Ebury publishing for the review copy!
Jo Middleton is an award-winning blogger, mum of two daughters, eater of Jaffa Cakes and drinker of gin. She lives in Somerset with her three cats, all named after fictional detectives. Playgroups and Prosecco is her first novel.
January 3rd
Jaffa Cakes – 7. Times I was forced to watch a small child do a dance involving a dusty piece of ribbon found under the sofa – 4. Inappropriate thoughts about Zac Efron – undisclosed.
Single mum Frankie’s whole life revolves around her kids. But when your toddler has a more active social life, something has to change. Forget ‘me-time’, Frankie would settle for some adult conversation, and watching something other than the Disney channel.
The local playgroup may be ruled by Instagram mums with perfect husbands but Frankie accidentally forms a splinter group of single parents. After all, Mummy really needs a playdate of her own. (Now pass the prosecco.)
WHAT READERS ARE SAYING
‘As a mum of three I could totally relate to this novel on so many levels’ – Titian
‘Hilarious – made me laugh out loud’ – Dominique
‘Lots of funny anecdotes parents will recognise!’ – Claire
‘With shades of Bridget Jones, Frankie stumbles through life as a single mum’ – Ann
‘A very funny and realistic look at motherhood’ – Katrina
My Thoughts
Well, well what a read! As a parent of a (almost) 9 year old and two year old this diary of a slummy mummy spoke to me on so many levels including the envious scowls made a Polly perfect Instagram feeds! I was hooked from page one, I laughed / smiled so much throughout that my cheeks hurt when I finished! Anyone who has ever done a school run, whether you’re a parent, auntie, friend etc. one thing you learn early on is to hunt out a schoolyard tribe. Frankie and her fear of the perfect moms seek out her own tribe and together they’re a supportive force to be reckoned with and quite frankly, the WhatsApp type communication sparks recognition too! My point being is that Playgroups and Prosecco is the real deal although it may be fictional it hits so many nails on the head and that’s what I mainly loved about it, the realness… also, who needs to be perfect? We are all doing the best we can with what we’ve got. I felt myself nodding through this read and wanted to wail ‘hurray, it’s not just me’!! This book is just the truth of how parenting; single, co or coupled isn’t a walk in the park but; parenting is an adventure how ever many times you cringe or f**k up.
An uplifting, light – hearted and contemporary read that takes you on a yearly journey of motherhood, not censored, the continuous thoughts of ‘am I doing a good enough job?’ This book will help the reader see that we may be winging it but we are doing fine! One to read by anyone, I dare you not to laugh out loud or spit tea out of your nose! – not just parenting but love, relationships, work AND Tinder. A really easy to follow read, it felt like it was an actual diary but it was non – fiction, I was super impressed!
Thank-you Ebury Publishing for a copy of Playgroups and Prosecco in exchange for an honest review. If this read sounds like a little piece of you, you can now purchase it in a variety of formats, including e-book, paperback and audiobook here.
You can visit Jo Middleton’s blog here where she talks about the predictability of Tinder, recipies including vegan hot cross buns and everyday type rants. You can follow Jo on Twitter @MummyBlogger , Facebook @SlummySingleMummy , Instagram @SlummySingleMummy and Pinterest @SlummySingleMummy.
Catch up on the rest of the blog tour and find out what these lovely bloggers thought of Playgroups and Prosecco!
The Reading Closet 