Meet the resident funster!

Snarky Jen Dixon is back with an all new adventure. Join Jen as she navigates parenting her son, Max, who joins the middle school wrestling team. Jen not so subtly ingratiates herself into the mat moms crew of PMS (Pioneer Middle School). She also keeps busy by running her spin class and getting to know all of her regulars, helping her adult daughters open a healthy sandwich shop, throwing an epic Halloween party, babysitting her dad who has dementia, being a grandmother to Maude, and trying to get her libido back!

The Class Mom series in not to be missed! If you are looking to laugh out loud, this is the one for you!

Click here to view my review of Yoga Pant Nation https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4102354461

I especially enjoyed this latest window into Jen Dixon’s life. I absolutely love The Dixon clan and all of their idiosyncrasies. The books are best read in order, but can also be read as individually.

Laurie Gelman, please keep writing more books in the Class Mom series! The fourth book, Smells Like Tween Spirit may be the best one yet!

4.5/5 stars rounded down

Thank you to NetGalley and Henry Holt & Company publishing for the ARC of Smells Like Tween Spirit in exchange for an honest review.

This series is a hoot! I was excited to receive an advanced copy from NetGalley and Henry Holt & Company. It will be published August 2. Jen is at it again! As introduced in the first book, Class Mom, she is a volunteer super star and new-ish spin instructor. This time the Mat Moms are the recipiants of her humorous emails when her tween son Max joins the wrestling team. And boy, the descriptions of middle school wrestling are hilarious and you can just smell the sweaty stench! I love the humor in Gelman's writing. It takes the obvious and spins it into something you haven't thought of before.

This book has a lot of serious layers into it as Jen deals with middle age, aging parents, and parenting. Jen is a real character, that is flawed, and says what she thinks to everyone-- to her mom, fellow wrestling moms, and spin students-- her intentions are good and she eventually gets on the right track. Enjoy the ride! 4.5 stars rounded to 5.

There is a lot of talk of dementia, so be advised if that's a trigger.

This fourth book in the Class Mom series is a fast and light read with some serious topics mixed in. If Jen Dixon was real, I’d love to be her friend, but I wouldn’t be overly eager like her wanna be friend Lynnie.

Jen’s son Max joins the wrestling team at Pioneer Middle School (PMS) and Jen becomes a “mat mom.” Her emails to her fellow mat moms are sassy and amusing, as well as her encounters with them. Jen is a sounding board and referee for her two grown daughters, babysits her grandchild, volunteers for her son’s wrestling, and watches out for her parents all while teaching spin class and trying to get to know her spin class regulars. I’m exhausted for her, but she takes it all in stride. There’s some excellent character growth in this book! If you’re looking for an entertaining read, look no further.

Laurie Gelman’s Class Mom series are really fun books. I enjoyed the first three and loved this one just as much. It was a quick, light read. Jen is a great character, strong and funny. The story is humorous and heartfelt. All in all, a great read.

I get so excited every time I see Laurie Gelman has written another book in this series! Always a quick read with a main character I really like and would love to be friends with in real life. Despite that this book deals with the theme of aging parents and family drama, it does so with humor & love. Can't wait to see what adventures come in the next book!

I was so happy when I hear Jennifer Dixon was coming back for book 4. Her character and her family are so fun to follow along with.
Laurie’s writing is quite descriptive and humorous. Her stories are easy to follow along with and I like that they can be read as a stand-alone.

I hope there is a book five!!

Laurie Gelman never disappoints - you are guaranteed to laugh out loud when reading the Class Mom series. Jen Dixon is such a great character - she says the things we often want to say but never would. All the characters are fun and interesting and very real. I hope she continues this series and I highly recommend Smells Like Tween Spirit. Thanks to NetGalley for the digital ARC.

I was so excited to see this book pop up and knew I wanted to read it right away. Laurie Gelman brings us right back into Jen's life as she navigates the struggles of an adult with adult children (and non-adult children, and elderly parents, and a grandchild!), while also trying to figure out her own life. I really enjoyed getting to "meet" the people in Jen's class and learn more about the characters that inhabit the story. I won't say that this was as easy and up-beat of a read as the prior two books, but I still really enjoyed it.

4/5 Stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Henry Holt & Company for providing me with an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a great addition to the first three in this series! It wasn't as good as the others, but it was still really good and I'll keep reading Gelman in the future!

A follow up to Yoga Pant Nation that is filled with humor, insight, and a good look at what happens when 55 meets a competitive group of wrestling moms.

📖My Thoughts📖

I really enjoyed this book! It was entertaining, an easy and fun read, and honestly just an all around good time! This is the forth book in this series but is fine as a stand-alone. If anything, I’m just that much more compelled to read the first three, especially if they’re anything like this one! I don’t know why I haven’t read anything by Laurie Gelman before this, but that’s definitely going to change! The storyline just flowed and was the perfect pace. Definitely one to add to your tbr list of you don’t have it there already.
Thank you Netgalley, Laurie Gelman and Henry Holt and Company for the opportunity to read and review this great book. Set your calendars for the release of this bad Larry! You don’t want to miss it! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

⚠️trigger warning: this book contains mention of the loss of a loved one as well as a fair amount of talk about dementia ⚠️

Laurie Gelman's series about Jen Dixon (the Class Mom series) are just fun books to read. Light, quick and just the right amount of humorous snark, I devoured this book in about a day and a half. I didn't want to stop reading!

Smells Like Tween Spirit had moments of seriousness, however, to offset the humor but they in no way slowed the book down.

Recommended for a light read!

I loved this book - it had the perfect mix of really funny and smart with real emotions and situations all of us face as parents, partners, friends and adult children. Highly recommend - a perfect summer read. It’s part of a series but you’ll be fine reading as a stand-alone —— and then you’ll want to go back and read the rest. Thanks to Henry Holt and Co for the advanced copy. Loved it.

Laurie Gelman never fails to make me laugh with her Jen Dixon character, with this book’s focus being her role as mother of a middle school wrestler. My favorite excerpts in the book were her emails and email replies to other moms. Her “jokester” style, especially compared to fellow mat mom Franny, had me rolling. The book hits on themes all families face outside of just parenting, including menopause, marriage, aging parents, the trials and tribulations of starting a business, At it’s heart this book is about family relationships and I appreciate that the author explores these with humor and honesty.

Thank you to NetGalley and Henry Holt and Company for allowing me to read this ARC!

Always a fun read, Laurie Gelman's books get the mom experience. I hope she will write more books in the series...the storylines are ready for more. Thanks for the arc.

Fans of Gelman’s Class Mom series won’t want to miss the fourth installment of Jen’s hijinks as she becomes a “Mat Mom” for her son’s (super smelly) middle school wrestling team.

This was a quick and funny read that works as a standalone, but would make more sense after reading books 1-3. I love Jen’s snarky humor and totally relate to how she uses it to cope with difficult situations.

I have been a big fan of this series and was so happy to see there was a new one. I love following the main character as her son grows up. Her snarky sense of humor is right on point as are the milestones in the grade levels. I hope we can look forward to at least a few more novels in the series. I honestly loved this installment the most. Now that Max is impede, we get to hear more about Jen and the rest of the family. I also enjoyed the new cast of moms with the foray into wrestling. An easy, enjoyable read that will bring a smile and a laugh. Thank you NetGalley and Henry Holt & Co for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I loved the previous books in this series and this book didn't disappoint me. Jen thinks being a mom to a middle school age child means she is off the hook being a the classroom mom. Now she finds herself in uncharted territory being a mat mom for her son's wrestling team. What follows is nothing short of hilarious.

I absolutely love Jen Dixon and I hope we haven’t seen the last of her and the rest of the Dixon clan.
This is the fourth book in The Class Mom series and it is just as entertaining as the previous three books.
This book will make you laugh out loud as our heroine, who started off with a five year old in the first book of the series, is now dealing with a middle schooler who has taken up the sport of wrestling, with all her usual snark and sarcasm.
Thank you NetGalley and Henry Holt Company for allowing me to receive an ARC of this title.

Special thank you to Henry Holt & Company. and NetGalley to allowing me to read and review this digital ARC of Smells like Tween Spirit.

I mean - the cover - how could you not want to read this book LOL - plus the title brought me right back to the 90s. When requested though I did not know this was part of a series by Laurie Gelman - but I felt this book was a good stand alone too.

This book is FULL of humor and laugh out loud moments that will keep you entertained, even if youre not a mom of a middle schooler. But if you are a mom, with sports driven kids, I think you 'll love it even more!

Main character Jen Dixon is also involved in her kids lives, from PTO to class mom and beyond. He snarky personally is so likable as she navigates her middle school son while also being a mom to two adult kids and a grandma too! Its about being balanced during all these life events.

You can't help but relate and fly through this fun read! I think I will go back and read the two before it!