On the one hand, this book definitely hits on the experience of being a teenager with a successful working mom. Even though it's been over a decade since I was a teenager, I could still see glimpses of teenage angst in Emily. I'm sure if my mom reads this book, she will find glimpses of herself in Jessica as well. However, it was also very frustrating to read much of the time, as a main part of the story is hearing the inner monologues of struggles between mother and daughter, and the same problems over and over. I found myself getting bored at times because it just felt like "Yes, I know, being a teenager is tough, and being a mom is tough, and communication is hard. How many more pages before something happens?"

I think those in the thick of it (moms with teenagers) may enjoy this book more, as it may feel like a balm to the never-ending angst of your teen.

Abbi Waxman is just my kind of author, I adore her style and would read anything she writes, aight unseen. I don’t need to read the description or see the cover, I’m already sold as long as her name is attached. She’s an incredibly witty author and there’s always a playful quirkiness in her books, this was no exception.

Last year I fell head over heels for The Bookish Life of Nina Hill and now I have two new characters to love in mother/daughter duo Jessica and Emily. You hear from both women in alternating chapters and the author captured both personalities so well. Road trips can be fun, but they can also be hard, and so can mother/daughter relationships especially when the daughter is a moody teenager. Add in the stress of being on a college tour with a bunch of strangers and things can be tense. Both women were so relatable especially in terms of how they reacted to situations and bumps in the road, they just felt super authentic and like genuine, real life people and not just characters in a book. Definitely recommended to add to your summer reading list, it was funny, smart and heartfelt.

I became a huge fan of Abbi Waxman’s writing and her sense of humor when I read The Bookish Life of Nina Hill last year, so I couldn’t wait to get my hands on a copy of her latest book, I Was Told It Would Get Easier.

I fell in love with this book as soon as I started reading it and realized it was about a mother and daughter taking a road trip to visit colleges and especially as soon as I felt the tension between them. I love those complicated relationship dynamics and couldn’t wait to dive in and learn more about what was going on with these two. Jessica and her daughter Emily used to be very close, but as often happens when our children enter their teen years, things get a little more challenging, and in this case, mother and daughter have gradually grown apart. Jessica is really hoping this college tour will give them a chance to bond; however, Emily doesn’t even know if she wants to go to college so she isn’t overly invested in the trip and doesn’t know how to tell her mom that college may not be for her. Emily is also completely distracted by a potential scandal that seems to be unfolding at the private school she attends. This all makes for an even more strained mother-daughter dynamic as they embark on this trip.

While Jessica and Emily’s emotional journey is definitely at the heart of I Was Told It Would Get Easier, the novel is also filled with Waxman’s trademark humor, especially when it came to the actual college tours, which sometimes went completely off the rails in the most amusing ways. The cast of secondary characters was very entertaining as well, filled with a nice mix of characters I loved and even a couple that I loved to hate, which is always fun. I also enjoyed watching Emily and Jessica interact with other kids and their parents. Waxman’s mix of heart and humor kept me turning the pages, as did the dramatic hints of some trouble brewing at Jessica’s workplace as well as that school scandal Emily seems to be obsessing over.

Abbi Waxman definitely has another winner on her hands with I Was Told It Would Get Easier. I whole heartedly recommend it to anyone who enjoys heartwarming and humorous reads and stories that focus on mother-daughter relationships.

I enjoyed the alternations between Jessica and Emily’s points of view & felt this allowed me to get to know these characters a little better. I did however have a hard time with connecting with either one of them. Overall though I did feel this was a cute and quick read. This one gets 3.5/5 stars which I’ve rounded up to 4.

A lighthearted story of the college admissions process and the joys of being and raising a teenager. It was a quick read that told the story of a mother and daughter who are trying to stay connected despite constant misunderstandings.

I feel like I wasn’t the target audience for this book, which most likely added to me not enjoying it that much.

This book is the story of a 45 year old mother and her 16 year old daughter as they go on a one week college tour. It is told from alternating point of views between the bother and daughter which adds to the storyline.

The writing was light and had a lot of humor. I was glad I was reading on my kindle so I could look up word definitions as there were many “SAT words” being thrown around.

I enjoyed the first half much more than the second half. When the big mystery surrounding the daughter was revealed completely lost me and sealed the 2 star review. It was so incredibly far fetched that it made me roll my eyes and sigh at the absurdity.

I tried to overlook some of the inconsistencies and aspects that made the core of the story seem unrealistic, but there were too many for me to do that. How am I to believe that a B student who isn’t involved in ANY clubs or extracurriculars would be on an expensive one week tour of colleges on the opposite coast of the US? Especially when a few of those colleges are Ivy League and others are very prestigious. She didn’t even tour the colleges in her own state first! Or really even talk with her mom if she even wanted to go to college.

And then, while they are on this expensive tour they play hooky multiple times?

I enjoyed the growth of the mother daughter relationship, the focus on fighting sexism in the workplace and how a Kesha song was referenced in the first chapter, but sadly those positive aspects weren’t enough to outweigh the other inconsistencies.

3.5 stars. Thank you to Berkley Pub and Netgalley for a gifted copy of this book. All opinions of my own.

I LOVED Nina Hill because I felt like it was a book about me as I'm sure most book lovers thought the same. This one was good but I didn't connect as well with it because I don't have a teenager yet.

What I loved:
- Abbi Waxman's sense of humor. The snarky dialogue is great, especially between Jessica (the mom) and Frances (her best friend)
- Jessica - love a strong badass female who stands for what she believes in. Go Jessica!
- Dual POV - I love being able to get inside each character's head and I found it fascinating to see Jessica and Emily's different perspectives on a conversation or situation. I think Abbi really nailed it with Emily's POV. I don't have a teenager yet but I'm scared.

What I didn't love:
- While I enjoyed the dual POVs, I found some parts a little repetitive.

Overall, a great coming of age story that explores the relationship between mothers and daughters.

Abbi Waxman is one of my go to author’s since her hilarious debut A Garden of Small Beginnings. I’ll admit to being slightly disappointed by her last two novels that although good were not as funny as the first. I Was Told It Would Get Easier came through with both funny scenes but also quite tender ones that had heart and made me really like these characters.

Now, I’ll admit, when I was the age of Emily Burnstein my parents didn’t take me on a college tour, they were just excited I got accepted to any! I did find the relationship between Jessica and Emily quite familiar, as I’m sure a lot of reader’s will. Emily was a typical 16 year old girl with all the sass and hormones, and a mother who was bewildered by how to bond with her daughter. I really liked both of their characters and how over the course of a week they managed to find common ground and even ended up understanding each other a little bit better.

The love interests! Yes, there was a cute boy on the trip who Emily crushed on and their budding relationship was sweet and also pretty funny. Did Jessica have a love interest? Well, there was this one scene with an ex from college that was too hilarious. We all look back on those guys fondly, don’t we? Jessica had her hands full with this one, but thankfully Emily was there to keep her on the straight and narrow.

There were a lot of fun characters in this novel, some of whom you will recognize if you’re like me and have read all of the previous novels by this author. It’s not just a mother-daughter bonding book, there were kooky happenings, drunk mom dancing, and even a bit of crime solving! I really enjoyed all of the hijinks, but even more I loved the heart. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❣️

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review and it was honest!

This book by Abi Waxman was the second of hers I have read. It’s a mostly breezy, fun read about a mother/daughter relationship on a college tour trip just before the daughter is about to head off into adulthood. But Waxham selves into some serious questions along with the humor and there are a couple of plot twists that make the reader keep guessing. Overall, I enjoyed this book. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this early release copy in exhange for my honest opinion. 3.5 stars

A light, comedic take on a mother-daughter college tour trip - featuring old friends, old flings, and some serious family dynamics!

I Was Told It Would Get Easier. was light-hearted, while still tackling the big existential questions of a seventeen-year-olds life - what do you want to be when you grow up? Where do you want to go to college?

Emily is asked these questions by every adult she meets, and her mother's reaction is literally her worst nightmare. Jessica, on the other hand, cannot get over how hard it is to raise a teenager, isn't it supposed to get easier as they get older. Jessica and Emily are a mother-daughter duo who I loved getting to meet on this wild ride. I really related to both main characters, as someone who went through the college process 8 years ago and as an older sibling to someone who is going through it right now.

Waxman, who's 2019 summer hit The Bookish Life of Nina Hill, is one of my favorite authors that tackles major family issues in an easy-going way. I am already excited to see what comes next from her.

3.5! This was a cute coming-of-age, mother-daughter story! I appreciated the relationship between Emily and Jessica and how we got to see both sides of it through Waxman's telling of the story through both people. I wish the characters would have been a little more developed, as there were a TON of very flat, one-dimensional characters.

I LOVED how we got to see what happened to Cassidy and then were left wondering why. I also loved how Emily and Jennifer came to terms with their relationship, but it wasn't made perfect like a fantasy storybook, as that isn't real life.

Overall, a very cute book!

When I read The Bookish Life of Nina Hill I was impressed by how much I enjoyed both the story and the writing. For that reason, reading Abby’s new book was a no brainer.
However, I did not know how to expect from the book since it is quite different from Nina. We have a mother, a daughter, and a road-trip that can potentially go wrong in a second. Nevertheless, there was no need to worry because the story is funny, light, and fresh and had really cool characters.
I liked Jessica Emily equally, they were both funny and strong characters. I enjoyed reading their different perspectives, the alternate POV’s, and their thoughts and feelings. It was quite interesting to get an idea of the struggles of a teenager nowadays (I am not THAT old but it is certainly different from when I was a teenager), and the way it can change the dynamics of a mother-daughter relationship. It also helped me realized than being a mother is not an easy job and that there are some things that we, as kids, can forget about our parents and their feelings.
The secondary characters and side stories were interesting too and it was nice to read about colleges and all.
Overall, I truly enjoyed the book, it was amusing and I would definitely continue reading Abby’s books.

This is a great book for anyone who is about to have a child go off to college, or has had kids go to college or has gone to college themselves, in other words, everyone will enjoy this fun mother-daughter friendship story. A hard-working single mom takes her high school junior daughter on a college tour and lots of stuff happens. Great twists and turns, thoughtful yet will keep your mind off of what's going on in the world today!

A great read that helps get into the mind of a teenager daughter and her mother. Traveling the East Coast looking at colleges helps to tear down the gaps and reconnects their relationship.

Thanks to @NetGalley for my ARC of I Was Told It Would Get Easier - the book comes next week on June 16th!
I Was Told It Would Get Easier is the story of Jessica and her daughter Emily. Jessica is a high-powered lawyer who works a lot, and Emily is her 16-year-old daughter who is a TEENAGER; the two embark on a week long college tour together. Their mother-daughter relationship is the main “conflict” of the book. This is one of those books where nothing major happens, but all the minor things that happen keep you reading. These are honestly my favorite kinds of books - they feel like real life. I don’t need a BIG PROBLEM to be interested in a story. I really enjoyed this - it was a quick read for me! If you liked The Bookish Life Of Nina Hill (which I loved!), check this one out too!

Having recently read, snort-laughed, and spit-taked my way through Abbi Waxman's "The Bookish Life of Nina Hill," I requested her whole backlist from the library and this ARC of her latest title (out next week, June 16). The library books haven't come in yet but thanks to digital ARCs, I got to read this one almost immediately. Such a different feel from Bookish Life! "I Was Told It Would Get Easier" (brilliant title) is a hyper-realistic contemporary mother-daughter story, whereas Nina's tale is more like a geeky, almost-manic-pixie near-rom-com. Very different but both very good, with unique characters and familiar techniques to pull the reader into the story.

Successful lawyer and single mom, Jessica, isn't sure why things seem so strained and awkward between her and her 16-year-old, Emily. She tries to give Emily space but would like to recapture some of their earlier closeness and hopes that signing up for a tour of top East Coast colleges will give them a chance to reconnect. Emily would just like to take a break from school drama and school work and, well, school really. She isn't stoked about college touring, isn't really sure she wants to go to college at all, but she's happy to get away. And maybe even happy to have her mom to herself a little (if she can actually pull herself away from her very smart, important lawyer work).

The dual (and sometimes dueling) points of view of mother and day, the tour itinerary, and some past and present relationship/colleague/friend drama provide the structure of the story. The heart, however, is found in the way Jessica and Emily navigate the pull of their strong moral compasses and society's pressures while trying to know each other anew and relearn how to communicate with each other. Woven throughout are themes of work vs. life, different intelligences, healthy friendships, women in the workplace and how #metoo moments can be manipulated into tools against them, generational divides, and parenting teenagers.

Quietly humorous, sweet but realistically fulfilling, and full of both teenage angst and parent-of-teenager angst, "I Was Told It Would Get Easier" is the well-written mother-daughter contemporary fiction road-trip book I never knew I needed.

This is a fantastic mother-daughter story, one of the most realistic I've read. It brings up tough issues and doesn't gloss over or glorify parenting.

Jessica and her 16 year old daughter Emily travel from Los Angeles with an organized group to tour East Coast colleges. Neither of them is sure what to expect from the trip or what they want out of it. We get alternating views from both women, which shines a light on how differently they interpret their interactions and relationship. It's a funny book, the writing is casual and the characters' individual voices come through loud and clear. Abbi Waxman is ridiculously great at creating characters and situations that are true to real life. It was an overall fun reading experience, and emotional at times as well.

I highly recommend this one for readers of contemporary fiction.

Jessica takes her daughter Emily on an official group college tour, for a group of private school overachievers. Originally from L.A, the tour takes in all the Northeast colleges. Hoping to better their relationship, Jessica and Emily are on quite an adventure, with laughs and tears along the way. I enjoyed the author’s take on raising teenagers, which was right on the mark. I recommend this book and thank Netgalley for the ARC.

This is the second book of hers that I have read and loved.
The voice of the characters are so relatable. The way she describes physical gestures and sets scenes really brings you into the story.
I love all the characters, even if I don't really like them, lol!
I've ordered Abbi Waxman's other books to read, and I can't wait!

This book is entertaining, fast paced and very funny. Even better, it gets you thinking about an issue that so many families face; intense academic pressure and super competitive parents. Told in alternating viewpoints by mother and daughter, this book takes place during the span of a one-week college tour. A great younger generation beach read.