Review: 'Mother of the Year' by Karen Ross (2014)

'I often think my mother would prefer colonic irrigation to hanging out with me...'
Beth Jackson is a national treasure, celebrated for her television shows and winning the Mother of the Year Award three times in a row.
Only, her daughter just wishes that Beth would be more like a normal mum...
On the 27th of February, Karen Ross’ debut novel ‘Mother of the Year’ was released. It was difficult to miss the cover of this one with its gorgeous light blue background, big pink cupcake and glittery sparkler; simply based on the cover I knew I had to read this book! Besides that, I checked out Karen Ross’ author page and I fell just a bit in love with her when I read the first of ten facts about her: “I’m a writer because no-one will let me manage Tottenham Hotspur.  However, we go through managers so quickly, I live in hope that it will be my turn soon.” She already made me laugh out loud with her website, so I had high hopes for her novel. Thankfully, I received a review copy of ‘Mother of the Year’ and had the chance to discover Karen Ross’ writing!
Twenty-four-year-old Juliet Jackson, also known as JJ, leads quite a steady life: she has been together with her adoring boyfriend Rob for years (and hopes they will make the next step soon), has a job as a copywriter within the advertising world, and happily lives together with her roommate and friend Theodora. However, all of a sudden, JJ’s life is turned upside down. She starts doubting whether the advertising world is for her, her boyfriend decides to give up his good job in order to start his own juice business, and her roommate suddenly turns her room into the workplace for her new artistic creation. JJ is forced to move back in with her parents; something she is not too excited about because her mother is not your average mum. JJ is the daughter of Beth Jackson, a famous UK celebrity, who is well-known for her weekly columns in which she has shared every personal detail of the Jackson family for the past twenty-four years. JJ has never understood her mother and instead just tries to stay away from her as much as possible. Yet, living together in the same house is going to make this quite tricky...
Such a surprising read and definitely in a positive way! I expected a fun novel about a mother-daughter relationship, but this book is much more than that. It’s addictive, it’s fresh… I didn’t want to put it down and was really engrossed in everything that happened to the main character, JJ/Juliet. The story is told from two perspectives which provides the reader with a look into JJ’s and Beth’s lives and their thoughts and reasons for their actions. I thought both JJ and Beth were great characters, just like the support cast. 
JJ has a lot to deal with: her boyfriend and his new business, her doubts about her job, her move into her parents’ home, her relationship with her mother. This resulted in a constantly interesting storyline with several unexpected and entertaining twists and turns; I wasn’t bored for even a second. Karen Ross’ writing is brilliant and funny and I already look forward to her future novels. ‘Mother of the Year’ is an addictively funny, fresh and thoroughly entertaining read; a definite must-read for any chick lit or women’s fiction fans!

Rating:

          9/10   For more information about this book: Amazon.co.uk / Amazon.com  / Goodreads    Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a review copy in exchange for an honest review.