Review: 'Confessions of a Once Fashionable Mum' by Georgia Madden (2016)

Fashion PR exec Ally Bloom got her happy ending. Okay, her marriage might be showing the odd crack, her battleaxe motherin-law might have come to stay, and she might not be the yummy mummy she’d imagined, but it’s nothing a decent night’s sleep and a firm commitment to a no-carb diet won’t fix.
But when Ally returns to work and finds she’ll be reporting to a 22-year-old airhead, she decides to turn her back on life as a professional fashionista and embrace her inner earth mama instead. So it’s out with the Louboutins and champagne and in with the sensible flats and coffee mornings with the Mummy Mafia.
From attending her first grown-up dinner party only to discover that placenta is top of the menu to controlling her monster crush on local playgroup hottie Cameron, Ally must find her feet in the brave new world of the stay-at-home mum.
Today I've got another review to share with all of you, one of a book that was a part of my TBR-pile which I've been trying my very hardest to make smaller and smaller over the past few months. I can say that we're slowly getting there and it's a great feeling to finally stick to all the promises made regarding the reading and reviewing of books released in both 2015 and 2016! 'Confessions of a Once Fashionable Mum', written by author Georgia Madden (an interiors journalist and a frequent contributor to a range of home and lifestyle magazines in Australia and the UK), was released in 2015 and I received a review copy after I was contacted by the author herself. I liked the book cover and the description of the novel sounded promising, so I looked forward to giving it a chance!
Ally Bloom loves her new baby daughter unconditionally, but after spending her maternity leave at home she can't help but feel she was not destined to be a stay-at-home-mum and is itching to get back to her job as a PR executive for a fashion label. When her mother-in-law unexpectedly shows up to help out, Ally takes her chance, but only to discover she has been replaced by a 22-year-old to whom she will now have to report, which results in Ally resigning. All of a sudden, Ally finds herself without a job and forced to give the stay-at-home-mum role a try. The Happy Mummies club she joins offers quite a few challenges, though, and Ally soon discovers being a full-time mum definitely has its own challenges as well.
'Confessions of a Once Fashionable Mum' is a witty sneak-peek into the world of the modern-day stay-at-home-mum (better known as SAHMs in the book), and an enjoyable read for both mothers and non-mothers, like myself. While I immediately liked the cover of this novel and thought the description sounded promising, I had a bit more trouble than I originally expected warming to the main character, Ally. She's not really the typical easily likeable heroine (at least not to me), but even though I didn't fall in love with her I liked her story enough to want to keep on reading. The novel basically focuses on modern-day motherhood, and the stereotypes, expectations and everything else that comes with it, all told with a good dose of sarcasm and humour.
While I did like the basic plotline of the book enough to finish it, I do have to say there were quite a few things I missed. As mentioned before I didn't particularly like the main character, Ally, but there were also no secondary characters that really jumped out at me or made a lasting impression. The storyline was entertaining, but a bit too slow-paced at times and more could have been added to make it all a bit more well-rounded. I really wanted to love this novel, but I just missed a few too many things to make this a really enjoyable read to me personally. Overall, 'Confessions of a Once Fashionable Mum' is an enjoyable and witty modern-day novel about motherhood and all the questions, expectations and assumptions that come with it; I liked it, just not as much as I initially expected I would!

Rating:7,5/10

  For more information about this book: Amazon.co.uk / Amazon.com / Goodreads

Thanks to the author for providing me with a review copy in exchange for an honest review.