I received an ARC (advance reader copy) from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a somewhat helpful book on responsive parenting. Some good advice/tips that I hadn't heard/read before.

The book addresses the emotional rollercoaster that parents often find themselves on, providing practical guidance on how to handle the challenging moments of parenthood with grace and resilience. Laithland tackles topics such as mom guilt versus mom shame, controlling one's emotions, and helping children navigate their own emotions. Through a series of hilarious yet all-too-real scenarios, she creates a sense of camaraderie among readers, reminding us that we are not alone in our struggles.

Bad parents never wonder if they are doing a good job! Just by picking up this book shows that you are a good parent and want to be an even better parent.

I've been watching Gwenna on Tik Tok for years. I've always been struck by her humorous, but practical parenting tips.

This book was a fantastic read. I didn't feel the judgy-mcjudginess that I feel while reading other parenting books. Her tone was of a close friend sharing their secrets to another close friend. Can I be besties with Gwenna?

This is not a hoity toity book. Thank goodness! Not only will you get usable advice, you will also be entertained.

Loved every second of this book. I have been following Gwenna since this beginning. When I saw the book on netgalley I was so excited. I already preordered the book which does t come out til March 2024. It’s the best non-parenting book. I love that she shares what works for her and always tell you that she is not a professional. I have been putting her opinions to use and the ones that I have used so far have worked for me and my family also. I highly recommend this book to everyone.

This beautiful little book is unpretentious, comedic, sad at times, and thoughtful. Gwenna is painfully honest, and beautifully insightful, and you will finish this book wishing she was your friend. I know I did…

This has some good tips that can be easily attempted (and for free!). She's big on trial and error and I like that. I did find this to be a little wordy but she covers a lot of ground. This would be better in physical format and I plan to buy my own copy so I can highlight passages that I know will work in my household. Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC

What a cute and refreshing take on motherhood and raising little kids. We’re all just out here doing the best we can, and Gwenna Laithland is right there with us. Snarky, sarcastic, funny, and down to earth, Momma Cusses is perfect for fans of I’ll See Myself Out and You Are a F*cking Awesome Mom!

Thank you to Gwenna Laithland, St Martin's, and NetGalley for providing me with an advance copy of Momma Cusses! The thoughts expressed in this review reflect my honest opinion.

I have followed Gwenna Laithland's Instagram account, @mommacusses, for a few years now, and it's one of my favorite accounts to follow. Gwenna presents awesome parenting advice, along with anecdotes from her own experience as a mother, with a biting sense of humor. Her videos are funny and relatable, and they make me smile every time they come up in my Instagram feed. When I learned that she was writing a parenting book, I jumped to request an advance copy!

However, as Gwenna herself reminds the reader several times throughout the text, she is not an experienced writer. Although the book Momma Cusses features the same great advice and funny content that she displays on Instagram and TikTok, it flows much more naturally in that medium. The tangents, asides, and stories-with-an-eventual-point are easier to follow and the humor shines more clearly when one can see and hear Gwenna conveying them. In writing, her approach comes across as long-winded and scattered.

My favorite aspect of Momma Cusses was not actually the parenting advice at the end of the stories, but the stories themselves. Gwenna notes at the beginning of the book that her book isn't intended to be a memoir, but that she needs to share some of her own story in order to explain her insight. However, the stories are what bring life to this book. The advice that Gwenna shares, while solid, is better expressed in her videos or in parenting books written by the likes of Janet Lansbury or Faber and Mazlish. I found myself zoning out in the sections that gave advice because I'd heard it all before, and better expressed in these other contexts, but I was glued to the page when Gwenna shared her own stories.

As a parenting book, this is only okay. While there's nothing wrong with the content, if a friend asked for a gentle/responsive parenting book recommendation, this is not one of the titles that I would jump to suggest. I do hope that Gwenna keeps writing, though. While her technique could be improved, she has a story to tell and I do believe it will be a great one!

I was familiar with Momma Cusses from social media, where she is hilarious and relatable in her content. I was excited to see her ARC available on Netgalley!

My partner and I are trained in trauma-informed parenting and have a child with extra support needs. This means that parenting books can be really tricky for me. Momma Cusses was just about as good for me and my parenting as any other book I’ve read. Will I use all of it? No. Was it entertaining and empathetic and did it allow me to reflect on how we’re parenting and whether it aligns with the parents we hope to be? Absolutely.

Gwenna is my kind of funny, and her book is thoughtful and helpful. I definitely recommend this one for other parents!

This was an interesting parenting book. The author makes it clear she doesn’t have any ABCs after her name, which I liked. She didn’t preach to you or speak clinical. She was relatable and funny while also throwing out helpful tidbits.

I received an advanced copy of this book via Netgalley.

I was no stranger to the author, Gwenna Laithland, I follow her on Instagram and Tiktok. Her humor and unparenting advice is not only hilarious it is 100% relatable. Reading this is a breath of fresh air that this parenting Sh*t is hard. It was a great read, I would love to hear the audible version with her witty sense of humor. I recommend it to all moms, for reference my kids are preteen to adult and grand kids.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you NetGalley.

If you weren't aware, the author of this book is tiktok famous. She's quite funny, and I enjoy her videos. So I was excited to find this!

This isn't your typical parenting book. This is meant for those of us "less than perfect" parents... those of us messy, chaotic, but great mamas.
It was a breath of fresh air reading this book. I've read other parenting books in the past, and i often leave them feeling like a bit of a failure as a mom.

So worth the read.

Thank you #netgalley for the advance reader copy of "Momma Cusses" by Gwenna Laithland. My kids are now teenagers so only a small portion of this book helped my currently. However, I do have nephews and nieces who are younger and the ability to reflect on my years of parenting. Little did I realize, I was practicing gentle parenting in many situations. Gwenna does an incredible job of guiding parents on how to parent. She's hilarious, realistic, and gives amazing advice. A few times I thought to myself - dang, that would have really helped in some certain situation. While she does not profess to be an expert, I wholeheartedly disagree. She knows what she's doing and if you really listen to her you can not only make your children into good citizens, you can save yourself a lot of grief. She understands the need for parents to also have their own lives and space. And when they can't find that space, she gives solutions that help get a little bit of that space back while still caring for your children. She's emphatic that you are not a doormat - this flies in the face of what I was told to do and be when my kids were little 17 years ago. And I'm so glad to see that someone is putting it out there. Being a good parent does not mean making sure your kids never cry. 


She really helps lift up parents by telling them that there's no shame in not wanting to play and it's ok to get irritated but be responsible in how you display it. And she keeps it really funny by turning the hair raising drive you nuts scenarios into a rehash in part from a kid's perspective with hilarious language to describe what happened and how to deal with it. 


It all comes down to the words of wisdom which were not imparted to me when my kids were little: responsive parenting still allows you to say "no". It's NOT permissive,  it's responsive. 


#netgalley #gentleparenting #responsiveparenting

I follow @mommacusses on TikTok and I was extremely excited to have the chance to do an early read for Gwenna’s book. First of all, I love that the forward is written by her oldest child, Abbi. That was a cute personal touch! Gwenna’s writing is refreshing, honest and relatable just like her videos. The whole book felt like I was having a one on one conversation with a friend. This is not the same cookie cutter parenting book you always see. I didn’t feel like I was being judged straight out of the pages by a perfect parent like I have with other parenting advice books. Gwenna is raw, real and so honest. I love every page and paragraph of this book. Thank you Gwenna for writing for us imperfect parents!!

Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Essentials for sharing this digital ARC with me in exchange for my honest review.

So, I love Gwenna Laithland on tiktok, and I enjoy her videos very much. However, due to the age gap between my child and her children, I could not relate to some of the parenting tips and/or stories that Gwenna mentioned. It's a decent book, but I just don't think that it was for me at this point in my life. Maybe I'll pick it back up later on once my children are older.

Another thing, it was super LONG WINDED which I tend to dislike with books, and felt like a lot of it could be omitted. It's not a bad book, and while it's relatable in some aspects it's not in others.

She's not a parenting expert, and she mentions that throughout the book. So it's like taking some of these tips here and there for what you think you will need while trying to raise children.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I like that the author has many tips for parenting but often states that we each know our families best and what works for her family might not work for yours. I also really liked that she has summaries at the end of each chapter which I thought was a very useful addition to a non-fiction parenting book. This is one book I'll definitely need for my shelf.

To anyone who has littles, their own or grands...I cannot recommend this book enough. Being a kid is harder than we remember. Being a parent is harder than we expect. While Gwenna is just some middle-aged mom with a social media following who accidentally hit it big on TikTok, this book is remarkably fabulous! Have you heard of gentle parenting? Well, Gwenna prefers the term “responsive” parenting because it feels like the opposite of “reactive” parenting. Responsive parenting your kids looks like responsive parenting yourself first. (Like Cesar Milan trains the human, not the dog.) Equally important is helping children accept, expect, and successfully embrace their own emotional states. This book is full of amusing scenarios of epic fails and monumental wins all supportive in our journeys to become effective parents. Validating their emotions while regulating yours, allowing them to explore their own boundaries, experience natural consequences, and of course saying no. Responsive parenting is not permissive parenting. Even as a responsive parent you can and absolutely should tell your child no. Reading this book will have you spewing your drink through your nose from laughter and reading awesome examples on how to handle The Big Feels, tantrums and setting boundaries. As a parent and an educator, I highly recommend this book for everyone.

Such an honest and hilarious book! Gwenna finds a way to capture the ultimate parenting experience with sarcasm and wit making it so much fun to read! A must read for every mom who Is not sure if she/they is doing enough!

Oh my goodness I freaking love Gwenna!
I Momma Cusses by Gwenna Laithland she keeps things real! And I loved that!
Reading this parenting book it didn’t feel like it…. Instead it felt like I was listening to a friend of mine. And that is why I consumed this book in two days tops.
Her writing style just took hold and I was sucked in.
Her humor and wit was an added bonus.
She made me feel like I wasn’t alone or crazy.
Her advice I took to heart and really listened to what she has to say.
I hope she continues to write more books like this because this Momma needs them!
I have never took to a parenting book like I did this one!
Thank you Gwenna Laithland for creating this!

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Thank You NetGalley and St. Martin's Essentials for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

As a long time TikTok follower of Gwenna and mom to a toddler- I can safely say this is a book I didn’t know I needed. As any parent would we did lots of research on how to “best” parent your child. Absolutely nothing was as fun to read as this. This book is a warm hug from a mom friend. Never condescending. Always understanding