Synopsis

Among fake Instagram pages, long-buried family secrets, and the horrors of middle school, one suburban mom searches to find herself.

Alice Sullivan feels like she’s finally found her groove in middle age, but it only takes one moment for her perfectly curated life to unravel. On the same day she learns her daughter is struggling in second grade, a call from her son’s school accusing him of bullying throws Alice into a tailspin.

When it comes to light that the incident is part of a new behavior pattern for her son, one complete with fake social media profiles with a lot of questionable content, Alice’s social standing is quickly eroded to one of “those moms” who can’t control her kids. Soon she’s facing the very judgement she was all too happy to dole out when she thought no one was looking (or when she thought her house wasn’t made of glass).

Then her mother unloads a family secret she’s kept for more than thirty years, and Alice’s entire perception of herself is shattered.

As her son’s new reputation polarizes her friendships and her family buzzes with the ramification of her mother’s choices, Alice realizes that she’s been too focused on measuring her success and happiness by everyone else’s standards. Now, with all her shortcomings laid bare, she’ll have to figure out to whom to turn for help and decide who she really wants to be.

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Review

If you were ever worried about the effect of phones and apps on kids, then look no further than this book. We get a look into the lives of three women that forged a friendship when their children were in kindergarten, but now they have hit junior high and things aren’t quite the same for any of them especially where the children are concerned. This book includes bullying, the influence of social media, hormones in teenage boys and girls, and just life in today’s world.

Outside of the mess the children get into, there is friction between these three women because of their children. Alice is very high-strung and a bit of a perfectionist. This trait does not bode well for her when her mother springs a surprise on her that is hard to digest. I did not like her mother, Evelyn, because while I understood how she felt about this situation, Evelyn was very selfish and only wanted what she wanted and didn’t take Alice’s feelings into consideration. This was actually surprising since Evelyn is a therapist. But Alice does learn something about herself and what she is willing to put up with from her family and even her job.

The kids are out of control in this book – finsta accounts (fake Instagram), bullying, sexting, and so much more. There is a lot that children have to deal with today and this book cuts to the core of those issues. While everything is resolved, it is based on reality and situations are not swept under the rug or “prettied” for the benefit of the reader.

I enjoyed the book and liked how the chapters were from different character’s points of view. I felt like we got the full picture versus just part of the story from one perspective.

We give this book 4 paws up.

About the Author

Kathleen West is the author of Minor Dramas & Other Catastrophes, which was a best book pick by Real Simple, Newsweek, People Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, and the New York Post. A teacher for 20 years before she published her first novel, Kathleen is particularly interested in the topics of motherhood, ambition, competitive parenting, and the elusiveness of work-life balance. Her sophomore effort, Are We There Yet?, publishes in March 2021. She is a life-long Minnesotan and lives in Minneapolis with her family.

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