Really enjoyed this humourous book. My boys are older now so playground politics isn't part of my life. Could certainly picture the funny situations.

Catching up writing my reviews. Been reading back to back.

This was such a refreshing book to read after lots of thrillers. A nice reading palette cleaner.

Took me back too when my kiddies were young and how at times I was constantly on the go and wrought……but happy and sometimes so stressed.

I loved one of her other books so it was fun to read this too.

When I started this book, I had no idea it was the second book in a series. When I began reading, there was a slight struggle as the “getting to know you” bit the reader gets with meeting the characters already happened in the first book. Having said that, the author does an excellent job of bringing the reader up to speed so I didn’t feel I missed out on too much. This story picks up not long after the first book and centers on Rachel Young who has adjusted fairly well to her surroundings and found her place amongst all of the other school mothers.

I have to say that I’m not surprised that Rachel tries so hard to extricate herself from all things Penelope. I absolutely could not stand the woman and was surprised that Rachel spoke to her, much less interact with her on any level. The author does a fantastic job of giving the reader a good sense of Rachel’s irritation and frustration with Penelope throughout the story and there were some moments that made me roll with laughter. I love it when the villain gets their comeuppance.

I enjoyed the side relationships with the other couples and though I didn’t care for him at first, Penelope’s ex, Rupert turned out to be pretty decent. The story moved at a decent pace and once I got through the initial confusion was very easy to follow and stay entertained.

My Final Verdict: I really like this author’s voice. She has a wonderful ability of creating characters that are easy to like as well as dislike and stories that draw the reader in so completely, the reader can easily lose themselves between the pages for several hours. I recommend this story to fans of the chick-lit genre as well as readers who enjoy reading about the underdog beating adversity and coming out on top.

These two titles are books 1 and 2 of A School Gates Comedy by Christie Barlow. Book 2 follows on directly from the end of Book 1, but I think that either could be read as a stand-alone. I was very quickly drawn into the story of the ‘playground mother’ in question and read both books in no time at all. The story revolves around Rachel Young, mother of four, who moves with her family to a house in the country at the beginning of the first book, having tired of the school gates politics in the town where they lived. She is expecting better of her children’s new school in the small village that they relocated to, but she finds the playground mafia, as she calls a certain group of mothers, are there as well. However, after all sorts of experiences, especially with a mother called Penelope, she finds that there are at least some women she is happy to call friends. These books are filled predominantly with humour and situations that many mothers of young schoolchildren may recognise. However, some more serious issues also arise and are dealt with with sensitivity. All in all, I thought these books were entertaining and worth a read.

Really enjoyable read. Good characters and a Good story. Well worth a read. Think others will. Enjoy

"Misadventures of a Playground Mother" is a sequel to "A Year in the Life of a Playground Mother", which I haven't read - yet - but I didn't have any problem to immediately feel at the heart of the story or to befriend with the characters. I've seen opinions that we should read the books in the right order to get to know the background of the characters to understand why they are like they are, but to be honest, I don't think that's necessary. Well, the only thing that we can miss is the laugh - factor, probably!

When I requested this book, I didn't realize it was the second in a series. Even being the second, only made me what to read the first. I love a book that can make me laugh, this is just the type of book I need after reading a deep psychological thriller.