Jen Dixon is back!! This is the 4th installment in her Class Mom series and as always, it did not disappoint. While Jen is no longer a “Class Mom,” she is now a wrestling mom and navigates the middle school sports world and their parents! As always, this book had Laurie Gelman’s typical humor, wit, and snark.

I recommend this book to anyone looking for a good laugh! I prefer these books on audio; they are read by the author and she does a fantastic job!!! My husband loves them too and listens with me.

Thank you SO much to netgalley and Henry Holt & Co for providing me with an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this series so much, but this was probably my least favorite of the books. I love Jen Dixon, and had so many laughs, but this one just didn’t quite stick like others. In no way bad at all, just kind of meh. Narration was great as always!

I've been meaning to get into this series, so I'm really glad I did! It's quite the suburban mom novel, so completely off brand for me. However, I didn't regret reading it, and I'm considering reading the others now.

Smells Like Tween Spirit by Laurie Gelman

Read by author. I love Laurie as a narrator I feel she does a great job in bringing Jen Dixon to life.

So many LOL moments in this book! I love the Class Mom series. This book is #4! I’m not sure which one I like best but I think #1 and this one are my fav!

In this book we follow Jen as her son joins the school wrestling team. I’ll have to ask my mother in law if she can relate! As my husband was city champ in grade 9 😝

Laughed so hard when she mentions her love life and how down below is dryer then the desert 🤣

This book is a must read! Be sure to read the previous Class Mom books first!

Nothing screams “BACK TO SCHOOL” like a visit from my fictional spirit animal, Jen Dixon. I’d befriend her immediately if she lived in my neighborhood, or if our kids went to school together. She’s just the kind of mom friend that a woman needs in her life, and has all of my favorite qualities: smart, sassy, a little crass, super funny, truthful, relatable, and completely genuine. So you can only imagine my excitement when I heard that Laurie Gelman wrote another installment of her hilarious Class Mom series! Thank you for giving me one more Jen Dixon fix, Laurie! Book four is called Smells Like Tween Spirit, and it’s exactly what I needed in my life. Just like Jen’s son, Max, my daughter is also a tween and about to start middle school, so the timing couldn’t be better. My nerves are a little frazzled about this big change, so I need all of the insight and encouragement that I can get! Jen always makes me feel seen, understood, and comforted when it comes to the never-ending stresses of motherhood. As always, I love Jen’s life updates. It’s nice to know what she’s been up to, and also her husband, her two grown daughters, her granddaughter, and her parents. They’re all a wonderful group of supporting characters. If you get the opportunity to listen to this one, please do because once again, Laurie Gelman narrates! I laughed, smiled, and almost shed a tear or two while listening to this novel. Gelman is a fantastic narrator, and brings Jen to life marvelously. If you’re a parent, teacher, class mom, or PTO/PTA member, you’ll gobble this series up. Trust me.

I love a book with lovingly flawed, funny main character. Jen Dixon is this and so much more. I did not realize this was a series and would really enjoy going back and catching up with Jen's antics before now. Jen Dixon in a mother of a middle aged son and and two grown daughters. She has 2 elderly parents and her husband. Her son Max decides to join the school's wrestling team and all that comes along with that. She dives straight in and makes new friends and an enemy. Her father suffers from dementia and she and her family help he mother care for him when they can. Her daughters are starting a new health food business and Jen teaches a spin class at a local gym. The everyday life of wins and losses is played with Jen's spot on sarcasm and humor. I enjoyed this book immensely.

Smells Like Tween Spirit continues the story of Jen Dixon and family. It is light and entertaining, and kept me engaged from beginning to end. I found an end of year wrestling contest particularly laugh out loud funny.

A great novel if you don't want to think too hard, but like engaging, flawed characters who you can relate to.

Thank you to the publisher and #NetGalley for the advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

Back in Jen Dixon's world and I have to say - didn't need this book! I thought it was just ok and enjoyed parts but it didn't have the same biting humor or developing storylines from the original. The moms seemed extra catty and It was just so much wrestling talk! Thanks for my gifted copy!

I was so thrilled to continue this series. I enjoy how I get to follow her through time with her children, spin class, and sadly through a personal family loss. Jen Dixon narrates her own books which I absolutely love because i hang on to her words and humor. I was very touched by her interactions with her parents and how she resolved problems with her mother. That couldn’t have been easy to share.

Thank you Netgalley for extending me an advanced copy of this audiobook. I really enjoyed it and the opinions expressed are truly my own.

Having read all of the novels in Gelman’s Class Mom Series, this latest does not disappoint. The protagonist is a “Mat Mom” a mom cheering on her middle school son as he navigates his first year on the wrestling team. As she also juggles her adult daughter”s needs as well as her own, Gelman does a nice job of always seeming authentic. She reads the audiobook herself which is always a treat. I highly recommend! Thank you NetGalley and MacMillan audio for an advanced copy of this audiobook!

Laurie Gelman writes in the same endearing style that her other three novels were written in and I absolutely loved it! If you've ever been a class or team mom, you will definitely enjoy this book. The dynamics between moms when it comes to team snack, carpooling and competition are so relatable. Funny, light, and on the nose.

Laurie Gelman has done it again with Smells Like Tween Spirit. Jen Dixon is back to her volunteering high jinks and her family is just as hectic as ever. Yoga Pant Nation was a bit of a letdown, but this book is back to Gelman's form. The humor made me laugh out loud and I really enjoyed the storyline. There was plenty of real life issues along with lots of lighthearted fun. I listened to the audiobook, which is narrated by the author, and I loved that added element. If you liked the first two in the series definitely pick this one up!

Smells Like Tween Spirit - out this week was a fun addition to this series.
Jen Dixon finds herself on mom duties in an organized sports environment when her youngest joins middle school wrestling. Suddenly there are snacks and laundry to take care of and the other moms - some nice, some could even be real friends, some may be a bit overly competitive … if you have been in this type of setting you have seen all these characters … At the same time she needs to come to terms with her father’s slide into dementia, this more serious topic is handled beautifully, the light touch remains but the reality of grief is addressed very well.
Her own entry into her 50s and her feelings around it are also a topic that had me laughing and nodding my head !
This was fun and smart.
I listened to the audio for this one narrated by Laurie Gelman herself and it was fabulous, so many little things that made me chuckle or laugh out loud but at the same time reflective in a wise and witty way of the pressures that we put on ourselves as moms or just women in general, I liked it a lot !

This was a fun story that really plays up the sterotypes that can be found in the world of moms. It's got a lot of funny moments, and some more sincere ones to help balance everything out. Overall, I enjoyed this one. I've read one other book in this series, but I think you can read this one as a stand-alone if you wanted to.

Jen Dixon has come a long way since her Kindergarten Class Mom days, with Max now a tween is she ready to enter the world of wrestling and become a Pioneer Middle School (PMS) Mat Mom? In this latest installment Jen is helping her daughters venture into entrepreneurship, becoming a mat mom, sparring with a new rival of her own, and assisting her aging parents...basically she is still juggling it all while coming across relatable and I love that about her.

I both listened and read this one. Laurie Gelman really nails Jen's snarky attitude in her narration and I would totally encourage anyone to listen to the audiobooks in the series but be sure to start with Book 1 Class Mom to really have the full appreciation!

Rating: 4 stars

Special thanks to @netgalley and @macmillan.audio for providing me with a complimentary ALC for review purposes. All opinions are my own.

Smells Like Tween Spirit is the 4th in the Class Mom series, but the first one I've read.
I enjoyed the story and definitely laughed out loud at some parts. As a middle school teacher, I could relate to Jen's and her son's storyline.
I would recommend this to readers of humorous fiction mixed with domestic fiction.

Jen Dixon is about ten years older than me but she is a character with whom I can definitely identify. We are both moms who try to stay below the school-parent radar; like Jen, I've had to learn about parental eldercare; and even my parenting style is similar to hers. Unlike Jen, I can achieve nowhere near her level of comedy, nor do I have the guts she has to voice certain thoughts which might be best left unsaid.
Pretty much, Jen is one awesome, hilarious, very relatable mom/wife and I thoroughly enjoyed her experience as a first year PMS Mat Mom.
I will certainly be reading more by Laurie Gelman. Her clever, thoughtful writing was a treat. I found myself laughing outloud as I listened to the audiobook in the bathtub, as well as ugly-crying in bed.
And btw, her characters had some seriously funny names!
This was narrated by the author and while she doesn't really have the typical voice of a book narrator, listening to her was like listening to a friend share her story.
I received an ARC audio copy of this book thanks to NetGalley and the publisher. This review is my own, unbiased opinion.

I enjoy this series SO much! Smells Like Tween Spirit (which I instantly smell gym socks under a 12 year old boys bed when I hear the title, lol) is filled with laugh out loud humor and moments that will hit you in the feels.

Jen Dixon, which if you've followed along on her journey this far, you know she's unfiltered and delightfully funny. She's still enjoying teaching spin class, but now she's embarking on life as a MAT mom (her son is in 7th grade wrestling.)

It's a whole new world of snarky emails and chaos. There's a ton of other events that occur throughout this book, but I don't want to risk any spoilers. Many of them hit so close to home for me, especially Jen's dad, so my heart was pulled in all directions with this one.

Anyone that needs a little snarky humor in their life needs to check out the Class Mom series, and they're definitely more enjoyable if you read them in order, so grab the first one and tell me what you think!

Took me a bit to get into initially, but once I was rolling I really loved it. I'm a little younger than Jen, and the age gap between my kids is smaller, but I found so many things in her life very relatable. Definitely putting the other books in this series on to my plan to read list. Laugh out loud funny.

This story follows Mom, Jen Dixon as her son takes on middle school wrestling. While she navigates the Mat Mom's, dealing with her fathers failing health, and her job as a spin instructor. This was a cute read, but I think I might not have been the target demographic. Also I didn't realize this was book 4 in a series. I didn't feel like it affected the story, but I felt maybe other rated it higher because they were attached to the characters and I wasn't. I went into this story mostly blind and I don't think that was the way to go. I also don't understand how the title related to the story what so ever. I enjoyed the wide cast of characters and the comedy of mommy problems, but as a 30 year old with no partner or kids, I felt hard to connect with this lifestyle. I mean its middle school sports and theres a mom whose treating it like the olympics. I don't even think my middle school had contact team sports.

Thanks for the ALC in return for an honest review. This book is out now!