I absolutely loved this book! I'm disappointed in myself because it took me so long to read it. As I read this book, there were tears, laughter, and some head nods and "Yes girl!"s. I love how relatable that the characters are. I also love the Mean Girls references, the playgroup moms (we all know a Jennifer and Sabrina) and have our own issues with our own mothers. LOL. If you're looking for a funny and entertaining book with all the other feels, this is your book!

What really hit home was Lauren's struggle with her ex-fiancée, Ben. I went through a divorce and a custody fight several years after the divorce was finalized where my character, integrity, and parenting skills were questioned. I was thrown through the mud and made to look like a bad person. If only my ex-husband's current wife would have stepped up like Stephanie did. I was not that lucky, but I was lucky enough to keep 50/50 parenting with my ex and keep a great relationship with my children. When I read Lauren's struggles, my heart went out to her. I wanted to tell her that everything was going to be O.K. She is the mom that everyone wants to be when they grow up!

Jude is the mom I am when I don't have kids with me. The fun, free-spirited, happy go-lucky woman. There were times I wanted to shake her and tell her that she needs to stand up for herself. It took things getting really bad, but I love her dedication and strength to be true to herself. She is a good person and needs to treat herself as such.

This book is fantastic. There are so many funny quips, sayings, and is just wonderful. I can't want to read the next book by Alexa Martin!

Thank you, NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

This book was pretty good. I enjoy her first series, and liked these just slightly less, but still a solid read.

This was my first novel about “mom life” and although I couldn’t relate to the character issues there are so many element that worked really well. Love seeing Lauren become more confident. Her and Jude friendship is the romance of this book and I appreciated that this relationship was given attention through out the book. At times it felt that the story/plot was trying too much? Is the custody battle out of nowhere really necessary? Lauren satin Hudson. Those little details were the reason for the 3 stars.

Childhood best friends Lauren and Jude decide to live together, just like they always planned. Except their teenage daydreams didn’t include Lauren’s spunky five-year-old daughter, her scheming ex, or Jude’s manipulative mother. When the two decide to start a podcast on parenting and friendship, it might be a second chance for both of them.

I read and enjoyed Martin’s football romance series. This is solidly in the realm of women’s fiction, although there’s a gentle love interest plot line, but that’s not why I liked this book less. The pieces never quite came together here. Things that seem like they should be important are discarded. I liked Lauren but was less invested in Jude’s story. Addy is a precocious plot device who always says the perfect thing at any moment. Even by the end (no spoilers), a lot of things were not wrapped up.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for the ARC to review. All opinions are my own.

I tried really hard to finish this book. Unfortunately, I could not bring myself to finish the book. I was not able to get into this story at all.

I started this one and I had a hard time getting into the book. It just wasn't grabbing me at the time, so I did not finish... I appreciate the consideration!

This wasn't quite a home run for me because I had read several OMG Amazing books recently, but it was perfectly pleasant.

I don't read enough heartwarming books about female friendship! I really needed this one.

I loved getting to know Lauren and Jude, as well as Addy. I was so invested in their stories, I didn't want the book to end. I will miss these characters!

This book is a charming, heartwarming, laugh-out-loud love letter to motherhood, sisterhood, found family, and, most of all, friendship.

Jude is a fitness instructor and Instagram influencer whose mom's soap opera and reality-show fame has helped propel Jude to the top of her social media game. Lauren is Jude's best friend since age 10 and soul sister, who got pregnant in her early twenties only to be betrayed and abandoned by her fiance, Ben. Juggling single motherhood, a full-time job, and all the wonderful and stressful challenges that accompany raising 5-year-old Adelaide (the smartest, sweetest, and sassiest gem that ever came from Lauren and Ben's relationship), Lauren has her hands full, so when Jude suggests moving in together, the idea of living with her best friend AND having a sister wife sounds great.

The road of life, motherhood, and best friends never did run smooth though, and when big challenges arise in both Lauren's and Jude's lives and a tragic situation threatens to change everything, their friendship is put to the ultimate test. Can it survive?

This book spoke not only to my mom heart, but to my friendship with my own life-long best friend, Lynette. I laughed, I cried, I fell in love with Addy, I wished a lot of bad things to happen to Ben, and my heart broke as Jude stumbled, fell, and worked her way through some very big roadblocks.

While this book has a lot of humor, Mom Jeans and Other Mistakes also tackles heavier issues, including alcoholism, racism, the dark side of social media, emotional gaslighting, dysfunctional parents, mental illness, and custody issues. Author Alexa Martin does this in a sensitive and graceful way, but if any of these topics may be triggering for you, approach this story with caution before diving right in.

I absolutely adored both Lauren and Jude, and Addy was the real MVP of this book, so if you're looking for characters you won't want to say bye to, a story that pulls you in and doesn't let go, and a book that speaks to motherhood but is also perfect for those who aren't mothers, this book is definitely for you! While this was my first Alexa Martin read, it for sure will not be my last! Thank you so much to @netgalley @berkleypub and @berittalksbooks for my gifted copy and the opportunity to participate in a wonderful buddy read!

✨Book Review✨
Mom Jeans and Other Mistakes by Alexa Martin
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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This book was the book about friendship that I didn't even know I needed. It was the first book I've ever read where it talks about the fact that your best friend can be your soulmate. This book reminded me that families and chosen families can look any way you want them to.
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I also loved the important topics that were woven throughout this book. The discussion of Black women and the racism they face in the medical field was so important. I love how much therapy was a part of this book. I loved how family trauma was discussed, and how it talked about how sometimes cutting family out of your life can be the best thing for your health.
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The only thing I wished for this book was that it lasted a little longer. A LOT happened in the last 15 percent of the book, and I wish the book had been a little longer to fully flesh out all of the changes that occurred so quickly.
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All that being said, I would highly recommend this book if you want a character-based story that discusses a lot of real and important topics.

You have your strong female characters (which Alexa does such an amazing job of creating), the friendships, life lessons and soo much more.

To top this one off you have a hilarious 5 year old (Adelaide aka Addy) and I found myself laughing out loud at so many parts of hers in this read.

Mom Jeans also shows that you do not need a man in your life to make you happy when you have so many other great people and community around you. Well I mean, her mom did come around and show her true colours.

This one will have to be put on everyone's radar.

I really loved this. It was one of the first contemporary books I've read. The strong meaning of friends was so well done and I just really enjoyed it. A great introduction to the genre for me.

Hilarious story of two best friends living together and learning to communicate. One, a single mom with a vivacious kindergartener and the weight of the world on her shoulders, the other - an influencer in the spotlight who has a hard time facing the truths in her life and deflects at every turn.

Jude and Lauren are complete opposites but have been best friends since childhood. They both find themselves with the need to find somewhere new to live but for one reason or another can’t afford to do it alone. That’s when they decide to move in together, what could go wrong right? Lauren is still reeling from the breakdown of her relationship with the father of her daughter and Jude is negotiating internet fame as a healthy lifestyle influencer, with her troubled relationship with her fame hungry mother. As time goes on, the fairy tale of girls living the dream together begins to crumble, along with Lauren and Jude’s friendship. When tragedy strikes it could spell the end of everything.

I wanted to like Lauren, I really did but I just didn’t. I sympathised with her and felt bad for the situation she was in, but I just didn’t like her! She felt so insipid and entitled to me, she was having a hard time, but played the victim far too much for me. She came across and quite high and mighty to me, clever and good and everything but life had just done her dirty. However, Jude, I loved! She was flawed and struggling but fiercely loyal and strong. I know her ‘big mistake’ was a really big mistake I just couldn’t bring myself to accept Lauren’s treatment of her. Before anyone jumps all over me for this comment, I have four children of my own! Overall, a good read with characters that got under my skin, one way or another, which has to mean good writing right?

A cute read but not a lot of substance. The Amin characters frustrated me at times so I didn’t connect fully to anyone. I liked it didn’t love it

"Mom Jeans and Other Mistakes" by Alexa Martin was a book I was hoping would be a fun escape. However, for me, it just didn't work. I can see how it may be for other people, but unfortunately, I couldn't get into it.

I always enjoy Alexa Martin's writing. It is fast paced, witty and slightly reminds me of a modern day influencer version of Gilmore Girls.

This was a story about two best friends, living together and each coming to terms with their current version of life. It was full of family drama, friend drama, love interests, career changes, living changes, and pretty much everything a woman deals with as she goes through life. Highly relatable and quirky, I enjoyed how different the two personalities were and how they meshed together. I think the ending made sense and I like how the added severity of decisions and consequences was not just mulled over.

At times fun and flirty and other times deep and consequential, Martin takes you on a ride that most women can relate to. I really enjoyed this one.

I couldn’t get into this book at first and the millennial mom and custody battle stuff wasn’t for me, but Lauren’s daughter Adelaide is perfect and I loved Lauren and Jude’s friendship. It picked up for me about halfway through and then I sped through the rest. Lauren and Jude’s relationship felt real and authentic and I liked seeing different phases of their friendship moving through different challenges and phases of life. Ultimately the connection between the podcast and the custody battle felt forced because the podcast ended up having very little to do with the custody battle and did not come up at all in any of the discussions. I also found Lauren’s relationship with her mom to be an underdeveloped storyline. That being said, it was refreshing to read a book about so many different types of relationships between women, from friends to mothers and daughters and playgroup moms, etc. I ended up enjoying this book, but feel like I would’ve connected with it more as a mom.

I enjoyed this book and the family dynamics. It deals with a Jude, who is an Instagram star, her mother, a former reality star and Lauren who wanted to be a doctor and became pregnant. Jude and Lauren have known each other since grade school, and always look out for each other, The father of Lauren's daughter is a surgeon and holds the trump cards over money and good times for their daughter. He is married and everyone loves the wife. It is entertaining to see the relationships play out and it is written in such a way you can see everyone's point of view. It is long in places but overall so enjoyable.

immediately not my vibe, maybe because i’m not a millennial, maybe because i’m not a mom, maybe because it’s simply not good.

the main characters were grating in a way that i did not anticipate.** with romance/women’s fiction the narrators’ voices are often the first thing that indicates whether i will fuck with a book or not, and unfortunately lauren + jude were…not it for me. i’m assuming they develop over the course of the story, but we got off on the wrong foot and i’m not really interested in making it right.


**in the first 5% alone we’ve already got some “haha quirky” body image/diet comments thrown around, such as jude finding it appropriate to teach her best friend’s five year old daughter to parrot the idea that “carbs are bad” when asked if she wants pancakes? maybe not wholly inaccurate to how women think/speak in our ✨society✨ but it made me instantly dislike jude’s whole “instagram fitness influencer” shtick and is just not a thing i want to read about right now.