So good! ...... such a real description of motherhood in the trenches, of what it’s like to be dripping with babies and losing yourself in the process. I loved this mainly because of its high relatability and celebrity cameos. My critique comes into play for the end of the book - it’s far too fast-paced, too impulsive, too much - but maybe that’s what the author was going for? A way to mimic the sometimes scattered thinking and impulsive decision making that comes with raising young children while balancing marriage and friendships.

I really enjoyed the writing style and humor in this, but I personally usually prefer books with more of a plot to them. It was still an enjoyable read about the struggles and joys of motherhood.

Motherhood is hard. It seems like a lot of people don't talk about how hard it really is! In today's day and age, sure some chores are split between husband and wife, but truly the wife, the mom, the know-it-all, the be all, end all, knows all and takes everything on.

This book captured the real (and hilarious) life of being a mother. Being a mom to two kids, it was very relateable what she talked about and the shenanigans she went through; they made me laugh and cry all the way through. She gets it!!

It's hard not to get overwhelmed with being a mom and it's OK to ask for help and to have support as you go through this stage of your life. Because before you know it, the kids will have all grown up!

Thanks Netgalley for the ARC.

#netgalley #adultconversation

𝐀𝐝𝐮𝐥𝐭 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐛𝐲 𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐲 𝐅𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐫. Book 43 of 2020. Thanks to Netgalley and She Writes Press for the eArc for an honest review. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⁣
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April is a stay at home mom of two kids, having a very hard time. She misses the meaning she had from a career, an unhampered child free marriage, and most of all.. adult conversation. Making the decision to see a therapist specializing in mothers starts to change her perspective and her life, in unpredictable ways. ⁣
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I alternated between three and four stars for this book. If I was going on plot and story alone, it would be three stars. What saves this book is the humor. Any mom of young children will appreciate it. As a mother, so many parts resonated with me; From the struggle to poop uninterrupted, to the constant “can I play my iPad”, this was my life. We cringe with April as her two-year-old slaps her in the face and she’s judged by bystanders. That said, I think the plot was a little lacking. Most of the action and material occurred very late in the book and climaxed too quickly.⁣
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If you’re a mother of small children or want some accurate insight on what it’s like to be a stay at home mom, read this book. It comes out 5/5. ⁣
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“ 𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘧 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘬𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘰 𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘴, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘵 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦.”⁣
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“𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨-𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴.”⁣
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It’s scary how much I’m connecting with April. I’m a stay at home mom of 2 and sometimes it feels like everyone is crying at once including myself. Everyone is so sweet in saying things about your kids and how you handle everything at home, but in reality is all part of this psycho circus juggling act that I continue to fail at but have to keep going no matter what. The feelings of being overworked and overlooked are not far from what I feel on pretty much a daily basis. As a stay at home mom it’s so easy to lose who you are as a person and just be in mom mode the entire time.

So as I’ve read in some of the other reviews that the Las Vegas part of the story kind of lost them. I totally get it, but as a mom who gets to leave the house maybe once or twice a month, finding a good friend and them needing help seems like a good reason to escape for a little bit. Plus sometimes you need to see your life from the other side, that’s my feelings about why that part was there.

Overall, I really enjoyed the book. It hit home for me and not many books can do that. It put all of what I’ve been feeling of motherhood into words and that was actually really helpful and was nice to see that I'm not alone.

While reading this book I was thinking how is it that I’m sitting here half way across the world reading a book set in a different culture, different country and I’m connecting with it on so many levels

All the stuff about parenting I got it.

But after a few chapters the book lost its charm, every time April was alone with the kids and husband I connected, every time someone else came in the picture I totally lost interest

Especially Danielle, she was very annoying

And the whole June and Las Vegas episode was trying so hard to be funny but was so boring

Writing wise it was good and I totally understood April and her struggles, I also liked the ending

If that Vegas thing didn’t happen I would have probably rated the book a little higher.

Like most stories these days about moms who can’t have it all with home and career, I was really not able to fully connect with the main character in Adult Conversation. This book brought to mind a really funny show on Netflix about motherhood and how it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. What I like about this book and that show is that they both truthfully display how parenting, especially motherhood, is not what society makes it out to be. Running a household and caring for children is hard fucking work. Having 2 able bodied adults doing this together IN THEORY should make things tremendously easier. But history has shown us time and time again, that sometimes it just doesn’t. Parenting, adult relationships, and life can be messy. It can be hard. It can be amazing. Ferner does a great job with her words communicating just this throughout this story.
Even though I am a working single mom, I still could relate to a lot of the struggle that April, the main character, was having. Trying to squeeze in some self care/me time so that you don’t break into a million pieces is not always easy but it has to be done.
I lost myself after having my daughter, and that journey to rediscovery was the hardest things that I have ever done. As you get older, your free time and motivation are not always in sync so sometimes you have to strike while the iron is hot and hope that the show can still go on while you step away to try and get your shit together.
However, like the show on Netflix, Adult Conversation also left me disappointed.
This story mostly focuses on April, her 2 children, and her husband. However, there are some characters in the book that seem to be vital to her- one is her friend Danielle, and the other is June.
Based on her description of Danielle, she is black. I assumed this because she had box braids.
Danielle is what I considered to be April’s best friend, but truly her only friend in the book until she befriends June. Though April and Danielle seem to have a friendship built on play dates, brutal honesty, and care for each other’s well being, the friendship was written very one sided.
Aprils inner thoughts and commentary about Danielle and her parenting came across in a judgmental and biased tone. Danielle is the only black mom in the book, and the picture painted is one of a woman who is a blunt speaking lawyer who calls her child an mf, allows him eat junk food, and lets his behavior go unchecked. And that’s the other issue, the way Owen, Danielle’s son, is portrayed. He is written to be hard to deal with, and the word “native” was used at one time to describe his behavior. Almost every time Danielle’s son is mentioned there is commentary on his behavior, which isn’t fair because when April talks about her own children’s behavior it is always with nuance. It also seems that April’s daughter may be slightly “afraid” of Owen too. Hard eye roll.
As if that is not enough, In enters June, April’s therapist turned friend. June is a really smart, polished, and organized woman who has secret pain that April senses. Once she learns more about June, April basically becomes her ride or die with this strong desire to want to protect and shield from harm and people’s judgement...the same judgement she was giving Danielle over letting her son eat Fruit by the Foot.
This is a large part of what made it very hard for me to connect with the character because I kept feeling betrayed.
Here I was, rooting for April even though her struggle has never been mine and some of the decisions she made would have never been ones I would have, but she did not seem to do the same for her 1 black friend, the only 1 black character in the book.
There was also a comment about Snoop Dogg (yes, the rapper) having hoopties parked on his front lawn that left a terrible taste in my mouth. But since the main character and her husband live in the suburbs and listen to gangster rap, I guess that made it ok. *Sarcasm*
Anyway...
This is probably the longest review that I have ever written about a book. To say that I did not enjoy reading the book as a mom, would be a lie. To say that I enjoyed the book reading it as a Black mom would be. Many times I found myself both laughing out loud (with her) and rolling my eyes at some of the main characters frustrations and concerns.
Other than that, the story is hilarious, perfectly paced, and very honest- however, the one black friend in the book was very cringey for me.

Hilarious. This author kept it real and showed an honest portrayal of parenthood. I laughed throughout and enjoyed the entire book. I would read this author again.

3.5 stars. I absolutely LOVED the first half of this book! It was so relatable and funny. After the Costco incident with June, I lost interest. I felt like April seemed like a totally different person all the sudden. It went from relatable to far fetched and under-developed. Enjoyed it overall and would read more by this author.

Adult Conversation. It was pretty good., GREAt. I just felt the writer was trying to hard to make it funny. It just fell flat a bit.

I never really thought how difficult a mom's job can be before reading this book. Sure I knew that my mom is great for teaching me everything I know today and I was grateful for that, but not once did it strike me that it was a disgustingly painful experience.

I think everyone planning of having a child or already having a child must read this. A mother/to- be -mother would be able to relate and a father/to -be- father would understand. I personally feel that I should gift this book to my father and to my to be husband when the time comes. I loved it when the book said " who makes these rules" and I also felt a different kind of anger against my father for not helping my mom with my sister and decided that it would be for the best to not have children myself 😂. Previously, when mom used to get angry at Papa for not helping, I used to feel pity for papa because even he works. But now I understand that even work and having the option to run away from one place is also a kind of independence that stay-at-home mother's don't get.

I loved the book because it was hilarious while describing a mother's desperation and depression. But the last part felt like a scene from another book ,that part when they go to Vegas - it didn't match the theme. But I also feel that had it not been for this trip April would not have realised that there can be a settlement between letting go and accepting reality at the same time.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and I would gladly recommend it.

3.75 stars- This light book is about the struggles of moms with young children, mom guilt about time away and work, and depression and identity struggles. But it's a comedy. It gave me a little PTSD from that time in my life and I found it funny and insightful. I have mixed feelings about a latter storyline with a friend (foil for her) but otherwise enjoyed this book.

Thank you to Netgalley for the free, advance copy.

Thank you NetGalley and She Writes Press for the ARC provided.

April is a wife and mother of two, and she is drowning in the pressure. She is the project manager of her home with no one to delegate to. At the end of her rope, she seeks help from a therapist as well as broadens her support system and begins to untangle the twisted web of parenthood.

I related so much to the main character in ways both large and small. I loved April! This was a great novel and I really loved that it wasn't as mundane as most motherhood centered novels are, rather it was realistic and hilarious.

RR Rating: 5 LMFAO stars
Format Ebook*, pub. 5/5/2020
RR Synopsis: A stay-at-home mom deals with crap – both literal and figural – from her kids, her husband, and life itself.
RR POV: This book is hilarious. Since humor can be subjective, I’ll admit the author has given the main character my exact brand of it. She’s sarcastic, witty, immature at times, and often inappropriate. She’s also relatable, even to a childless woman like me. I found myself wanting to gift this book immediately to my mom friends, even though it won’t be published until May. I can’t wait to see what the author writes next.
Recommended Readers: Moms and anyone looking for a funny light-hearted read (who don’t mind an occasional F-bomb here and there).
*I received an Advanced Reader Copy from #NetGalley & #shewritespress in exchange for an honest review.

April is a stay-at-mom struggling with the choices her and her husband have made for their family after realizing that being at home with the kids may be as satisfying as she had hoped. After a quick trip to therapy, a try at recreating her small business and a crazy road trip with her therapist - she realizes that maybe her life is not as bad as she originally thought.

Cute story of a modern doing-it-all mom. Perfect for today's women with kids. Loved it.
Thanks to author,publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book. While I got the book for free,it had no bearing on the rating I gave it.

April is drowning in the job of motherhood. She had wanted to stay home with the kids, but these days, it feels like torture, which then causes extreme guilt. She hates her husband's "Dad privilege," to swoop in, be the fun guy and then head out to his adult job. She hates being the built in babysitter, so that he can work late or do whatever with his guy friends. The highlights are mom dates to Costco and Barnes and Nobel, while trying to reign in the children. Feeling like something needs to be done, April decides to see a therapist to help her work through how she is feeling. She wants to be fixed as she feels the way she is feeling is wrong and needs to be fixed. Does she need fixing or does something else?
If you are a Mom, this is a must read novel. There is no way not to relate to April and her struggles. This book goes from laugh out loud funny, to thoughtful, to tearjerker, and back again. I could relate to April so much and wanted to see her come out on top of all she struggled with. You will too.... add this to your TBR list for 2020, you will not regret it.

Thank you NetGalley and She Writes Press for the ARC provided.

This book is pretty much represent my life while become a mom for a first time, in my case I have two sons. The mom-life moments in here, happened to every mom. Lost our me time, freedom, speak kids language which fortunately understandable, multi tasking woman, but that’s mom’s life. Reading how April try to survived only for one day, makes me laugh out loud but also loved her how she able to handle Elliot and Violet in amazing way.

It is a quick read, fun, related to all moms, and yes WE ALL ARE SUPERHEROES to our children.

This book is priceless. As a mother of two I resonated with the main character so much and she makes you want to just get up and live your dreams. This book is laugh out loud funny, but also touches on the hard stuff. Loved it!

I felt more connected to the characters in this book than I have to any in a long time. Highly relatable, and a lot of fun to read, I look forward to more from SHE WRITES PRESS and from the author.