Member Reviews
Loved this book terrific follow up to Class Mom Jen returns snarky funny honest class volunteer..I laughed laughed laughed enjoyed every page will be gifting this to my friends.#betgalley#henryholt&company
Jen Dixon is back!!! I loved "Class Mom" so you can imagine how excited I was to get an advanced copy of "You've Been Volunteered", sequel to the first book. Thank you NetGalley, Laurie Gelman, and Henry Holt & Company for the opportunity to be one of the first ones to read and review this awesome book!
And once again Laurie Gelman does not disappoint...I was belly laughing while reading about Jen Dixon's new adventures in being Class Mom! As I was reading the novel I kept thinking that I wish all class mom's were so much fun...I wanted to be Jen's best friend! The writing style and the witty humor in both books reminds me a lot of Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovitch. Both author are great story tellers with an excellent sense of humor. So if you are in a need of a light, funny, quirky, and sassy book, ready "Class Mom" and " You've Been Volunteered" and you wont' be disappointed! Now, I am waiting for the third book in the series....I mean there has to be another one, right?
Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read You've Been Volunteered, by Laurie Gelman, in exchange for an honest review.
You've Been Volunteered is a follow up to Gelman's first hysterical and equally humorous novel, Class Mom.
You've Been Volunteered is a crack-up out loud kind of read. Anyone who has ever been involved with a school PTA, or as a classroom mom, will surely relate. Anyone who has not yet "volunteered" for these positions, take heed and run. Yes, listen up. There is so much snarky truth to this novel.
Jen, my hero in this book, is always being challenged. She has a cancer surviving mother, children of her one, and will soon be a Grandma. As if this is not enough, Jen has agreed to be her 3rd grade son's classroom mom. What was she thinking? She'd done this hefore.
So, Jen has been down this road before. With her experience, how hard it could be, right? What she didn't plan on was being "volunteered" to run the Safety at the crosswalks program.
Jen speaks her mind. She is a no nonsense kind of gal. She is over petty patents and unreasonable teachers. Jen says it like it is, unfiltered, no regard for political correctness, and has no time for BS along the way.
You"ve Been Volunteered is a perfect follow-up Class Mom. Jen is so relatable. She's a hoot and you will laugh your way through this novel, just as you did the first. This book should be a required read for anyone considering a PTA/classroom experience. Don't say you weren't warned!
#youvebeenvolunteered #netgalley #lauriegelman
3.5 stars
I was so pumped to start this after reading Class Mom, but in retrospect I should have waited a little bit. It is still the same funny book with snarky Jen, but it's not quite as fresh and funny as the first book. This one tackles a few heavier issues: cancer, unexpected pregnancy (not a spoiler because I'm not telling you who it is), aging parents, and it takes a bit of the edge off of the humor.
Just a bit though, and there are many hilarious incidents that I totally could relate to, or at least be very glad that it was Jen experiencing it and not me.
I'd love to read another book in this series, because I want to know what happens!
If you enjoyed Laurie Gelman’s first book Class Mom, then this sequel will not disappoint! Jen is back and is as sassy as ever. She has once again taken on class mom duties and while a good portion of the book revolves around issues that come up at school, we get to know more about Jen’s home life and the relationships that she has with her grown daughters and her aging parents. Overall I would give this book a solid 4 stars.
I was excited to see that my favorite class mom Jen Dixon was back for a a sequel to Laurie Gelman's Class Mom. Jen's son Max is now is 3rd grade and she is back as class mom sending out snarky emails, trying and failing at Sign Up Genius, organizing crossing guard duty, all while navigating her husband's attempt to franchise his sporting goods store, caring for her ageing parents and navigating the complicated lives of her two twenty-something daughters.
You've Been Volunteered was definitely entertaining, but I felt that Jen and this sequel lacked a little of the punch that the first book had. There were so many plot lines and threads that I don't think they all got the attention they deserved.
Enjoyable, but not as memorable as the first book.
A second helping of Class Mom, Laurie’s new book “You’ve Been Volunteered” is a hilarious, irreverent novel. There are so many times I wished I would/ could say what Jen says. It might be “oh so wrong” but she makes me laugh every time! I love her snark and how she deals with her family/ kids/ friends/ other moms, etc. Only “negative” to this book is that I wish there were more books in the time frame between Class Mom and this one. I truly hope there are more novels from Laurie!
(Will post to Goodreads and Amazon once it comes out.)
Gelman’s second installment of her Class Mom series was a fun continuation of the first. Jen is class mom again and her kids are growing up. This story has very little to do with her relationship with her fellow class parents and almost everything to do with her immediate family, not counting her new spinning buddy. For that reason, I don’t think I would read this as a stand-alone book because a new reader would miss out on a lot of the humor. Overall, I enjoyed it and I’d love to read more from this author and from this series.
Yes finally a great book with humor touching on the feelings REAL mom's do have. I am now going to buy Class Mom and I cannot wait. I give this book 5 stars. Friendships, family, mother daughter relationships, mother son relationships, I really enjoyed this book. I never reread a book, this is one I enjoyed so much that I will reread. If you are looking for a book that will make you laugh this book will do just that.
I loved Class Mom so I was so excited to receive the sequel! This book again follows the trials and tribulations of Jen Dixon, class mom to her son’s third grade class. She is hysterically irreverent in dealing with the other parents. She is such a breath of fresh air in this era of helicopter parenting! I really appreciated the journey she took during this story in becoming a little less jaded and more accepting of others. This applies also to her relationship with her daughters and parents. I was not as interested in the story involving her husband’s business but I really enjoyed how it was resolved in the end. This was a fabulous continuation of a fun story! Hope there is a book 3!
I have had a wonderful few weeks of reading some terrific books. I processed, I cried, I reflected....then I read “You’ve Been Volunteered” and I laughed. I enjoyed “Class Mom” so I eagerly read this follow-up. It did not disappoint.
Alas, poor Jen is back as class mother and coordinator of the crossing guard program. Every step of this third grade journey is witty and funny. Jen is beset by problems, all met with incredible good spirit. With 2 problematic older daughters, parents with health problems and third grader Max, her life is very full. Her letters as class parent are absolutely funny. The other parents range from potential best friends to particularly awful.
Having taught for many years, I love the way Gelman captured every archetype that I dealt with. Oh, some of them hit mighty close to home. From the super-allergic kid to the troublemaker whose foibles his mother refuses to recognize, I’ve been there.
I’d love the chance to swap stories with Laurie or Jen. Simply a delightful read! I have one caveat, read CLASS MOM. first. I actually have it on my recommended reading list for student teachers. I hope they all learn to cope with parents in the same good humored way that Jen does.
Thank you Laurie Gelman and Netgalley for letting me stay warm and cuddle up with this charming novel!
Three and a half stars for the latest Class Mom novel, You’ve Been Volunteered, by Laurie Gelman. This novel is a fun, quick read, with a likeably sarcastic narrator, 52 year-old class mom Jen. I’m not a parent, and I’m about 20 years younger than Jen, but that didn’t prevent me from enjoying the trials and tribulations of Jen and her family. A perfect book to read in an afternoon under a blanket during the Polar Vortex.
Thanks to NetGalley and Henry Holt & Company for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
You've been Volunteered is a must read for everyone who has ever had a child in elementary school. This book is funny and an easy read. I wish my children's class parent was Jen Dixon!
I read "Class Mom" when it first came out, and I loved it! I found the story of former groupie who traded her wild ways for suburban life and a new kindergartener to be very amusing. I loved the amount of humor poured into Jen's class mom e-mails and how she navigated the school climate as a "December" mom.
This sequel falls short of the original, but I still loved it. I found Jen to still be witty and amusing, and I loved catching up with all the characters from the first book. With field trips, safety patrol, and the drama of her two grown up daughters, there is plenty for Jennifer to juggle. The freshness of the first book is difficult to duplicate though, and I would advise new readers to begin there.
I find Laurie Gelman to be a fast-paced, easy to read writer, and I think most people who enjoy women's fiction and comedy will enjoy her style.
I'm looking forward to the next class mom novel!
Thanks to the publisher, author and NetGalley.com for my ARC.
This was a fun, quick read. I especially liked the format of letters to the fourth grade parents from The narrator, the “class mom.” It was an interesting way to keep the reader updated on what had happened between letters. I always enjoy Kansas City as the setting. And Even though the ending was not unexpected, all in all, I really enjoyed this.
To start, thank you to Netgalley and Henry Holt & Co for this read! To start, I LOVED this book! I literally laughed out loud through this whole read. It felt like you were reading your best friend telling you stories about their life. I highly recommend this book for a light hearted, laugh out loud book!
So so good! I was so sad when it was over! This book is like hanging out with your best friend and hearing her stories. So many laugh out loud moments! So many moments that I definitely could relate to and some that I couldn't but could definitely imagine my friend telling me about it while we drank coffee. Lots of coffee! I tried to give that up once too and it didn't work...it's funnier to hear about it when it's happening to Jen! Thanks to #netgalley for the ARC!
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2689295230
I absolutely loved this book!! I became a huge fan of this author after reading the first Class Mom book and this sequel did not disappoint! The content was hysterical (literally laugh out loud at times!) and I really enjoyed the pace and flow of the story. I highly, highly recommend this book! If only we could all be as funny and irreverent as this awesome class mom!!
I enjoyed this book as much as I did Laurie Gelman’s first book, Class Mom. If you’re looking for a very humorous, lite read this is the perfect book for you.
Laugh out loud funny! Gelman upped her game with this sequel to Class Mom! You will cheer for our heroine Jen and laugh with her through her foibles. #realmomswin