#BookshelfSpotlight-‘The Bad Mother’s Diary’ by Suzy K Quinn

About the book…

”How can something as natural pregnancy and childbirth mess your body up so badly?”

It’s a Sunday afternoon, you’ve done all the things and are now looking for a light read, something to make you laugh and just take you to another place…let me point you in the direction of the latest #BookshelfSpotlight-‘The Bad Mother’s Diary’ by Suzy K Quinn from Eye Books!

It’s out now on Kindle Unlimited, ebook format and is available for pre-order in paperback format for a September release via Eye Books website.

*Enjoy a 30% off discount when using the Eye and Lightning Website throughout August with code RACHELREADIT*

Juliette is a new mother, but life isn’t going the way she’d hoped. She doesn’t live in a cottage with roses around the door. She doesn’t own a rolling pin. And Daisy’s out-of-work actor father still hasn’t proposed.

While Juliette sobs her way through sleepless nights and nappy changes, Nick drinks Guinness and plays computer games. Meanwhile, his helicopter mother is always on hand to find fault – with Juliette. At least when Nick pops the question, things will look up…won’t they?

With a supporting cast including Juliette’s over-honest mother, potty-mouthed grandmother, militant hippy best friend and handsome-but-scarred hotel magnate Alex Dalton, the first in Suzy K Quinn’s hilarious, bestselling Bad Mother series is a sassy, uplifting, addictive treat.

I absolutely 5 star recommend this read-maybe I have been reading too many horror novels, murders and thrillers lately because this was such a breath of fresh air, it was wonderful to catch myself properly laughing out loud(although I think my kids who I woke up would disgagree…and the man in the queue behind me at the Co-op who cast a disgusted glance my way because I was reading and being a bit too loud SUE ME FOR GRABBING EVERY MOMENT FOR READING!)

Ahem. I digress…this is exactly what I expected it to be, you pick it up and dive on in . The diary format makes it so readable, enjoyable, short chapters keep the story fresh and rolling whilst you have no real sense of a back story beginning. Juliette is exactly as she is written on the page. As it’s a diary as well, you get that feeling of a confessional, an intimacy with Juliette right from page one. She has a jobbing actor boyfriend who she is hoping will propose/wise up to the fact that he has responsibilities in the form of new born daughter Daisy.But with a suffocating mother in law in the form of Helen, who just happens to drop by a million times a day, how can Juliette begin to find her own feet as a parent, when the person who should be helping her is being given a hard pass on duties by his own?

Trying to reassert control over her own body, she takes up running but keeps literally falling over and  into business magnate Alex and as they spar and dance their way around each other, Juliette has to decide whether to give up on trying to get her baby’s father to step-up or take a chance on someone else. And in the middle of this all is baby Daisy, assorted family and friends all weighing in with their opinions…

What I loved about the book is how refreshingly honest and disarming it is-one of the best scenes is Juliette dividing her bathroom into the things that she used pre preganncy and her necessities post-pregnancy. There is a real pathos to the expectations that society places on new mums versus the reality.It seems like everyone has their shit together except you and it is tough, it is brutal, you lose all sense of self in that time period.

It’s a moving and brilliantly realised book which tackles fears, insecurities, wants and needs. It’s the best women’s fiction book that I have read since the last Marian Keyes and I can 100% say that it made me spit more coffee out than ‘Bridget Jones’ Diary ever did. Frank, dissarming and hilarious, I cannot wait to read books 2 and 3-if you sign up to Suzy’s newsletter there is a free introductory novella introducing Juliette and her family so you can get a taste of what ‘The Bad Mothers’ series is all about!

About the author…

Suzy K Quinn is a British fiction author, and writes in three different genres: psychological thriller, comedy and romance.

She was first published by Hachette in 2010 with her debut novel ‘Glass Geishas‘ (now Night Girls), then self-published a romance series, the Ivy Lessons, which became an international bestseller and a #1 Kindle romance bestseller in the US and UK.

After her second daughter was born in 2013, she self-published the’ Bad Mother’s Diary‘ series, which also went on to become a #1 Kindle romantic comedy bestseller.

Suzy K Quinn’s novels have been translated into 7 languages and her books have sold over ¾ million copies worldwide.

Suzy lives in Wivenhoe, Essex, with her husband Demi and two daughters, and travels to Mexico every year to write and study Mayan story telling.

Suzy loves her family, friends and readers, but when pushed to add more to the list, she also loves travelling, food and alcohol.

Links-https://www.suzykquinn.com/

Twitter @SuzyKQuinn

 @EyeAndLightning