Alice Sullivan seems to have it all together in life. She’s got a great job, her house will soon be in Elle magazine, and her kids are doing great…or so she thought. Her son Teddy seems to be having behavior issues & her daughter Aidy is having trouble with her reading. Can she get things together?

This one was such a good story! I think many people will find Alice’s character really relatable. I am not a mother, but I still found things about Alice that I could relate to. I appreciated how the POV switches between characters, and allows you to experience the story from multiple characters. Multiple POVs aren’t always the best in books, but it was done well in this one. Overall I really enjoyed this one and it gets 4 stars.

As a mom who has a child going to middle school next year, this one gave me the heebie jeebies and made me nervous. All the points of view were a bit jarring at times and I just wanted to slap some of the parents. Overall it was a really fast read and it definitely was on the money for the things our kids face.

Things are going along swimmingly for Alice Sullivan, but one day when she learns that her daughter is having trouble with her work in second grade, and then her son is accused of bullying, her perfect world goes awry.
Alice, who treasures her “perfect” life, must face the fact that her son is also creating fake accounts on social media and doing other questionable things, is ostracized by women she thought were her friends. After all, a “good mother” can control her children.
And then, her mother reveals a family secret that goes back more than 30 years. Alice is devastated.
The lesson Alice must learn is that success in raising a family can’t be measured by what her friends think.
A good read!

Here’s another #momlife book recommendation for you! Especially for those of you with middle schoolers! Eeek! I honestly fear middle school more than I do high school. My daughter will be entering the fifth grade next year, and I am TERRIFIED for what follows after. Only one more year of elementary school left for her. I’m already crying. In Are We There Yet? by Kathleen West, the author tackles so many important themes for this age group: bullying, social media, behavior issues, friendship fallouts, and peer pressure. It really opened my eyes to the dangers of cell phone usage at this age. For instance, kids are making fake Instagram accounts that they hide from their parents, called “Finsta” accounts. Ummm, what? I’ve never heard of that term before. My gosh, I am SO in the dark. I feel like an old lady. Like I’ve said before, I need all of the advice I can get when it comes to parenting tweens and teens. West doesn’t just focus on the kids either. We get a good look at how a child’s behavior and actions can cause strain to the parent’s friendships and relationships as well. The entire family’s social standing is at stake, and riddled with judgement, finger-pointing, and blame. West’s latest is timely, relatable, and extremely thought-provoking. Are We There Yet? is available now, and I highly recommend it!

From Kathleen West, the author of MINOR DRAMAS & OTHER CATASTROPHES, comes ARE WE THERE YET?, a drama-filled novel about three families stuck navigating the ins, outs and unbelievable aspects of middle school and middle age.

Alice Sullivan finally has parenting, marriage and her career figured out. Her children, preteen Teddy and second-grader Adrian, are both happy and bright; she and her husband, Patrick, are still going strong; and she has just booked partner-making coverage for her design firm in Elle magazine, right on the tails of taking on a high-profile client. Even better, when life throws a tiny curveball her way, she has her best friends, Meredith and Nadia --- both mothers of her son’s classmates --- to help her talk things over with wine and laughter.

But after a cheery coffee date with Nadia one morning, Alice learns that her daughter is not reading at the appropriate level. To make matters worse, her son has been struggling with junior high friendships and has resorted to bullying. As Alice races to and from her children’s schools, she misses an important client meeting, calling into question her priorities at work. How did she not notice her kids falling behind and getting into trouble? And, more importantly, how will she pull her family together, especially with the other moms watching, judging and posting about every mishap on the NextDoor app?

As Alice’s well-maintained life begins to crumble, we hear from the children at the heart of the issue: Teddy, who has started a rivalry with Tane, a former outcast turned teenage heartthrob, and Meredith’s daughter Sadie, whose crush on Tane has thrown her friendship with Teddy into a tailspin. As the kids take questionable photos, post them to their Finstas --- that’s “Fake Instagrams” for those of you who aren’t raising teenagers --- and elude their parents’ careful phone monitoring, a very public feud between Teddy and Tane emerges, and everyone at Elm Creek Junior High is taking sides. With their jabs and betrayals leading the drama, their parents’ relationships start to crumble as well.

Rounding out Alice’s midlife crisis is her mother, Evelyn, who has a secret all her own: she has recently reunited with the daughter she gave up for adoption at 19. As a therapist and generally well-rounded person, Evelyn knows she cannot keep this news from Alice forever. Still, as she watches Alice lose control over her life, she knows she cannot add to the drama. But as the teens, parents and grandparents of Elm Creek are about to find out, nothing stays hidden for very long --- not Finstas, crushes or even secret daughters.

As the dramas play out at school, on apps and in homes, Kathleen West alternates chapters between the perspectives of Alice, Meredith, Teddy, Evelyn, Sadie, Nadia and Tane, exposing their sides of the story, as well as their individual motivations and judgments. Each character is fully realized and perfectly flawed, and I have no doubt that every reader will find someone to root for (I’m totally #TeamSadie for what it’s worth). Rife with misunderstandings, back-stabbings and plenty of heated gossip, ARE WE THERE YET? is both sharply observed and surprisingly heartfelt, not to mention hilarious at just the right times. From graffiti featuring hot pink genitalia (or “rocket ships,” as one naive mom claims) to juvenile pranks and outlandish outbursts, West’s keen examinations of parenting, social media and teenage life are perfectly balanced by a warm wit that keeps her narrative sincere and oh so relatable.

For a novel as steeped in social media hazards as this one, I love that West never completely vilifies apps like Instagram and Snapchat, noting that it is just as important to protect your child as it is to make sure that they are not missing important friendship interactions. More to the point, West often pokes fun at the parents in her book, never completely mocking them, but reminding her readers that we all feel in over our heads at certain points, and that sometimes it means more to talk to a fellow mom than to read a book about what the “perfect” parent might do. Her portrayal of the dangers of social media is sharp and clear-eyed, but also nuanced and forgiving. Who among us hasn’t stayed up all night Facebook-stalking an ex or posting too many poorly captioned Instagram photos?

Be warned that there are a lot of characters here. Rather than trying to keep them separate, I went all in and assumed that the book would take me where I needed to be. Though the drama moves fast, West is careful enough in her characterizations that you’ll have no trouble following along after a few chapters or so. You’ll come for the eye-rolling “I can’t believe she did that” drama, but you’ll stay for the believably unbelievable dysfunction, the genuine characters, and the reminder that --- whether you are in middle school, middle-aged or middle of the road --- we’re all in this together.

Perfect for readers of Emma Straub, Meg Mitchell Moore and Joshilyn Jackson, ARE WE THERE YET? is progressive, engaging and downright fun.

This book is a great entry in a genre that I call "Mom's Behaving Badly." It's a quick and entertaining read but also has substance and thought provoking ideas about parenting, family, fitting in v. making your own way, and the challenges of social media. Recommend!

OH, I have such a love hate relationship with this book. Sadly, I gave it two stars for a few reasons.

The writing style is very much like Jane Rosen or Liane Moriarty; multiple POVs, tons of characters, and family drama. BUT, there was absolutely no storyline. Outside of learning about these characters, I was missing the string that I was supposed to follow that kept this group of people tied together. (And you cannot expect me to believe that string was supposed to be the random graffiti everywhere.) The only reason I didn't DNF is because I was waiting for it all to come together in a big bang. *Spoiler alert; it didn't.

Here is where the author won me over:
If you are a parent to a pre-teen, or teenager, this book is for YOU. It so beautifully wrote about motherhood and the relationship families have now. It tied in social media PERFECTLY and gave such a realistic view of what is it like to be a kid today. It included texting drama, snapchat, finstas, and even grading portals. It really was such a job well done. I have never seen someone write so realistically about how kids use snapchat, until this book. The overall themes I took from the book did really stick with me and left me with a lot of thoughts when I finished. Especially about parenting and how we move into a future that includes so much technology.

Overall, I really do have such a hard time recommending this book because I would never recommend this to someone who isn't an avid reader. This is why I think books get a bad rap, there is just no point to the story. It's almost like when you watch a movie, and it ends and your like, "I don't get why that story needs to be told"

Side note: one of my biggest pet-peeves of a book is when the title has NOTHING to do with this story, and this book is totally that.

In 2020, I read a crazy amount of books. I doubt I will ever top the amount I read!

I’m trying to read as much as I can and just plowed through some of the best novels I have ever read. I didn’t think another year could possibly compare, but there is an absolute plethora of books that are SO GOOD coming out now and in the next few months.

I cannot stop reading! As soon as I finish one I pick up another.

Here are TWENTY books that you will want to read as soon as they are published.

These are books that will entertain, make you think, make you laugh, some will have you biting your nails in suspense. Take a look now and let me know what you will be reading!

2. Are We There Yet by Kathleen West, read if you enjoy family drama.
Among fake Instagram pages, long-buried family secrets, and the horrors of middle school, one suburban mom searches to find herself in a heartfelt and thought-provoking novel from the author of Minor Dramas and Other Catastrophes.

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.

Out now!

Told in many different voices, Are We There Yet takes us into the world of middle schoolers and their parents. It takes a deep dive into social media and what that does to kids. It looks at how parents are trying to do it all perfectly and yet, that really isn't possible, is it? They all have their secrets. They all have their worries and their opinions. They all have a look they want to put out into the world. Everyone wants to keep up with the Joneses and everyone doesn't stop to really look at the big picture. Things happen that make a couple of the parents really have to stop and look at what they are doing or not doing for their kids. I enjoyed how things came to their conclusions. Nothing was just a pat answer.

Thanks to Netgalley and Berkley Publishing for a copy of this book.

Are you a parent? As a mom, I feel like I had so many feels that connected with this title, especially having a teen in this crazy world we live in - you just never know what could happen in the virtual space combined with peer pressure. It's not just teens either, there's something about feeling like you have to find your place in the community, at work, within your own family & that's something that West conveys SO well with her writing style.

What I loved most about this title was how West made it so easy to connect with and relate to each of the types of characters and how they reacted to what was happening in their lives. While we may disagree or not like one of them, we know someone that acts just like them, or can imagine how WE would react - it made this book one that left you thinking about yourself, about those around you & I loved discussing it with two different book clubs & the wide variety of reactions we each had to this book.

Thank you to Berkley + NetGalley for providing me the eARC to read and review in exchange for my own personal thoughts & opinions, this one was certainly one with a lot of those!

This book was full of family drama. I enjoyed the writing style telling the story from multiple perspectives. It had adults and teens to tell a story about parenting and the influence of social media in teens' lives. I had to keep reading to see how it all unfolded. Thank you to Netgalley for this review copy.

Junior high is a complicated time for young teens’ relationships, and their mothers’ relationships too. The three moms featured in this book were used to doing everything together, but the changes their kids were going through seemed to be the catalyst for the mom connections to change as well.

Oh, what a day to be Alice! She starts out thinking her biggest concern is that she’ll have to cut her conference with her second grade daughter’s teacher short in order to rush to a career changing work appointment. In the first few minutes of the brief conference, her phone rings repeatedly from her son’s school. That’s just the beginning of everything falling apart, and it may take months or longer to put it all back together.

The characters in this book all felt sort of stereotypical, but that didn’t make them any less real. Unfortunately for the moms, most of their reputations and relationships were quite dependent on their kids. The kids were 12 or 13, and were starting to have more of their own choices to make. Their choices started changing everyone’s idea of who they and their moms were.

Overall, I’d give this book 3 out of 5 stars. The author could definitely portray convincingly what being a mom of a junior high aged kid can be like. This book would be an enjoyable read for those who like fiction, especially involving families.

I can see why people like this book, but the whole thing fell flat for me. The plot was predictable, and I didn’t connect with any of the characters. The moms all felt one-dimensional; the kids were not interesting; the dads were nonexistent/duds. I’m a middle-aged, relatively affluent mom with a daughter in middle school, so this book and the plot should have resonated with me, but it missed the mark.

I’ll try another book by this author, but this one was not for me.

My Highly Caffeinated Thought: An engaging, honest, and at times humorous look at parenting in today's world.

ARE WE THERE YET? is the second book I have read by West and let me tell you, they keep getting better. The way the author opens up the world of parents, teachers, and kids lays it all out there. This book, as her previous one, deals with timely and important issues in a way that is entertaining and enlightening.

It may come as a surprise to many that I truly enjoy West’s books so much because I am not a parent nor do I have the real-life experience of dealing with teens daily. However, a good story is a good story. I love the way the author has given all the characters their own chapters so the reader can get inside of the minds and inner workings of each. Though you would think it would get daunting having so many perspectives, it doesn’t. The narrative is richer for it.

West’s ability to weave together the social issues teens are dealing with, the struggles parents are facing, and handling the craziness of life, in general, is top-notch. Her quick-paced writing style and wit will no doubt have you flying through West’s sophomore novel.

Kathleen West made me laugh, made me cry, made me call my best friends and apologize for some events of the past. In short, Are We There Yet gave me all the feels. Alice Sullivan has a lot going on. Her husband is frequently away from home, her relationship with her kids isn't quite as solid as she believed, and, to top it all off, she has a sister she never knew about. Alice handles it the way we all would, which is sometimes not all that well, and I absolutely loved her for it, Do your yourself a favor and put this one in your cart, and then share it with your friends after you finish!

When I became pregnant with my son one of my first rules has been that I will try really, really hard to not judge other mothers. I mean, obviously, unless they’re beating them or doing something else overtly bad for the child. Being a mother is hard and this book gave me a preview of what being a mother to a tween/teen is going to look like. 😲😧😯 Oh, social media and poor adolescent decision making...

Alice’s life is turned upside down when she realized one day, back-to-back, that her two children are far less than perfect and the older one is actively in some deep shhhh...

I’ll admit there were times when I shook my head at Alice, but again, I try really hard not to judge. You truly can’t judge another person/mother until you walk a mile in her shoes.

There’s an old saying that goes something like: if we all poured out our problems onto a table and watched/listened to other people pour theirs out, we’d quickly grab our own back off the table and run back home knowing we had nothing to complain about.

If you’re into family drama, are looking for a novel regarding tween/teen parenting...look no further! I really enjoyed this one; I would’ve read it much more quickly if I hadn’t had real life, motherly duties constantly interrupting me. 🤪

Solid ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫, maybe even ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ .

Are We There Yet? Was interesting women’s fiction and family drama about mothers struggling with their kids’ precarious junior high transition. It was about parenting, new age, impulsiveness, misuse of phone and social media, insecurity, overprotectiveness, dysfunctional family, and friendship.

TW- bullying, child pornography

Writing was engaging and gripping that hooked me to story from the beginning. Short chapters made me flip pages faster than I expected. It was multiple third person narrative that made it easy to know each character better.

It started with Alice’s perfect life spirally out of control when she got warning from her friend Nadia about Teddy, finding out her 2nd grade daughter is behind in her reading levels and getting the emergency call from assistant principle about disciplinary actions against her son for bullying classmate. To make things worse, her boss was giving her hard time, her mother unloaded family secret that shattered her confidence and security, and husband being away most of the time because of job made her helpless and clueless how to handle all the problems alone. I was curious to find out how Teddy’s impulsiveness would impact Alice life, what she would do about her mother’s secret, and how she was going to solve problems in her life, where would she get help from and who would stand alongside her in time of crisis.

This was character driven, realistic, relatable and reflective story that mainly focused on Alice but we also see life of her friends, Meredith and Nadia– Three mom best friends who had different style of parenting- and how their life changed on seeing misbehaviour in their kids as they entered junior high.

All characters were flawed and interesting. They weren’t written to be likable but to understand their situation, mindset, mistakes, and how they rectified it. All of them had their own voice, were different from each other, and it was amazing to see how they connected, fought, and developed over the course of story and how they made me feel differently about all of them as story progressed. Sometimes they made me agree with them, like them, blame, dislike and feel sorry for them. I have mixed feelings for Alice’s mother and Patrick. All secondary characters played amazing role in story.

Alice was too busy in her interior business partnered with her boss to properly focus on what her kids were actually doing in life. She was happy as long as their grades were good and they were until she had that interview with second grade teacher of Adrian, her daughter, and dreadful call from her son Teddy’s school. I felt for her doing everything alone with husband never at home until weekends- carpooling, taking care of kids, job that kept her busy, boss who didn’t understand life of mother, and then all troubles coming from all sides. It sure wasn’t easy thing for her and yet she managed. Her relationship with her husband was mature, his absence irritated her but they never had big fight about it. She went along, tried to make her mother happy even though she wasn’t ready with her mother’s secret. He emotions about her kids and everything that was going on were realistic.

At the same time, I also agreed with her friends and mother about her being selfish. I don’t think she was doing wrong in giving a little more priority to her job, she had right to individuality, but she was selfish in making everything about her image as mother, how it was making her feel, and what others thought about what her son did than getting at root of the problem. She thought worst of her child on finding out he was a bully. It made me laugh when she thought he was criminal and would end up in jail before college! She was overreacting most of the time and was being childish than thinking things rationally. But I could see myself frustrated in her situation as well. I admired how she didn’t wait to make changes in their routine, took steps to make things right, tried to talk to Teddy, took all the help she could get and even apologised for her behaviour.

Meredith was most arrogant helicopter mother. While I did feel a bit for Alice, I never liked Meredith from the beginning. She was too controlling and pushing. She thought she knew her daughter, Sadie, best, and she was most aware mother who read all articles about parenting and talking Sadie about it, instilling perfectionism and making sure Sadie excelled in academic and other activities. I could see her perfect imagine was going to break soon with secret Insta and Snapchat accounts. As a mother, I stood by her side and could feel how hard it might be to go through what Sadie, Tane and Teddy did but I didn’t like her ‘not my child’, ‘my girl can’t do that’ persona on finding what Sadie did and tried to turn Sadie’s fault in victimization and badmouthed Alice.

Teddy was most impulsive among all kids mentioned in this book. At first, I hated him. He was jerk and mean, was keeping bad companies in name of friends ,and was going after Tane out of jealousy. He was rude and unremorseful that made me think Alice and Patrick were at fault as they clearly lacked conversations as a family. What he did to Tane and Saddie was surely worst thing. But he didn’t even know what might be the consequences, definitely didn’t think long. He was lost child who needed therapist and both parents. Once he got into therapy, saw what his actions was doing to people, his parents, and faced punishments, changes in him were great to read.

First Tane and then Sadie suffered because of Teddy’s poor behaviour but that weren’t free from faults. Sadie too didn’t think about what she was doing and what might be the consequences. She and Teddy weren’t that different in that matter. I didn’t like Tane getting out of it lightly. He was worst of them all and made feel sad for Sadie.

Nadia was most likable person in whole book. I loved her for warning Alice every time her son, Donovan, told what was going on in school involving Teddy. Donovan was troublemaker from the beginning and I felt for Nadia when Alice and Meredith didn’t understand her situation and in fact talked behind her back about her parenting, feeling relieved for having perfect kids. Her feeling of vindictiveness was genuine and at the same time she supported Alice and stood up for her when Meredith turned her back. I wish there were more chapters for Nadia. We don’t know her as closely as other two moms.

I liked the way author presented mothers’ insecurity, teenage life, child psychology, therapy, parenting and its impact, social media and technology. What I could see from this story was, there is no right way of parenting, even controlling parents couldn’t control what their kids were doing nor could see the changes in their kids and lacklustre parenting also didn’t help the kids. Parents were right to monitor things their kids were doing on social media but kids are definitely smarter when it comes to technology. It’s important to discuss things with kids, make them aware of their actions and its consequences, cons of social media and what misuse of it can cause than just controlling things.

I could see most of twist and turns coming. There wasn’t big surprise and yet I enjoyed reading the story of these three mothers and their relationship with their kids and each other till the end. End was perfectly feel-good and uplifting.

Overall, Are We There Yet? Was fast paced, engaging, and very reflective women’s fiction. It was a perfect book club read and readers can find so many things to discuss about. I highly recommend this book to fans of family drama and women’s fiction.

(Thanks Berkley and Netgalley for a free digital copy in exchange for my honest review). The story centers around Alice, mother of two, interior designer, whose carefully constructed world starts to crumble when her son is involved in a bullying incident at school. Plus her daughter is falling behind in reading, her husband is away on business, her boss is stealing her thunder, and her mother has a family secret to reveal. I SO related to Alice who wanted desperately to do it all and to do it all well. The novel balances multiple points of view seamlessly, giving the reader a look at several styles of motherhood, as well as the experiences of the teenagers involved. A super well-written and thoughtful look at modern motherhood, female friendships, family, and forgiveness, this would make a wonderful book club choice. Highly recommended for anyone in my stage of life — raising kids in this digital age. I promise this will give you lots to chew on.

I love reading books about motherhood, especially with characters that provide a reminder that motherhood is HARD and that none of us are perfect. This book definitely does that! The book follows three moms and their preteens as they deal with behavioral issues, the impact of social media, and the fallout of a cyberbullying situation. Even though it deals with very serious topics, it is a very satirical and entertaining look at modern parenting.

The story did feel slow to me and I did struggle to get invested in the characters. Even though I wasn’t fully invested, I did enjoy the different POVs of the moms and the teens. I think the author did a great job of reflecting on the parents’ worries and the teens’ immaturity and lack of life experience. I also feel like there were some things that were unresolved and that I would have liked to have seen fleshed out a little more, but overall it was an entertaining and thought-provoking read and I enjoyed it.

I would recommend this book to book clubs, to readers who enjoy family/parenting dramas, and readers who liked The Gifted School.

Thank you so much to Berkley Pub and Netgalley for the gifted eARC in exchange for my honest review. I loved reading this one with the #BerkleyBuddyReads #BerkleyWritesStrongWomen #BBRAreWeThereYet group and we had an amazing discussion!

I love love love family comedies. I just loved Minor Dramas and Other Catastrophes and was giddy to get a copy of Are We There Yet? By @kathleenwestwrites. It was just as good as I had hoped. It is the story of a few moms living in Minnesota, dealing with all of their own stuff when their 12 year old kids are involved in a fake Instagram (Finsta for those in the know) scandal. The chapters alternate between the moms and the kids in a seamless way allowing me to see every possible side of the story. And let me tell you, the anxiety and guilt of the moms is spot on. The juggling world of working moms trying to balance kids and spouses while maintaining friendships, working out, keeping up appearances and just staying sane feels all all too familiar to me. Plus, the entire concept that you make friends when your kids are little and those friendships change course when the kids grow is so poignant. Throw in angsty tweens making foolish decisions and it is a perfect storm of humor, gut checks, love, forgiveness, and really just the joys of being a parent. I laughed, I cried, I had a moment. All of it. All the feels.
Not to mention that the stories about the soccer team that is something I am very well versed in. @kathleenwestwrites is not only an autobuy for me, now that I see how she writes about moms, I think we should be best friends.