Beast Mom

The cover of this book caught my eye, and then I read the description. It sounded hilarious and relatable.

And it was. This was such a frustrating joy to read. So many moments that I connected with as universal experiences among women. I too wanted to punch Mr Terrence in the face.

I appreciate when books also are real about character growth. No one is perfect, and no one shows a 180 in personality. It's satisfying when books don't end in unrealistic happiness, but in something messier and authentic.

And the ending very obviously is setting up for a sequel; which I'd read without hesitation! Harry is a delight to live in her head. And we get enough closure and enough mystery that it's both rewarding to finish and enticing to want to read a followup.

At times, the message of the book gets a little too preachy and stalls the plot. Harry's tangents could be edited down a little to keep the pace of the story going.

And it does take a while to get where it's going. The plot moves very slowly until Harry becomes the beast, picks up a bit, and then is back to going slow until the last 50 or so pages.

But. I would and already have recommended this to a friend. I loved so much about this story!!

Oh, this is a total romp for every person--not just woman or mom--who has been infuriated by misogyny, racism, classism, ageism, and/or being taken for granted. In the world of the novel, placental tissue has morphed, evolved, changed, and given parents in a one town super powers. Harry Lime, mother of three, becomes an enormous, ape-like creature when enraged by the local White men on the school board, and as she learns to control her power, she finds that she's not alone--others have gotten powers too--all of them different. Followed and watched by governmental officials, a violent men's-rights group, and having to deal with her husband's and her own depression, the grooming of her daughter and her daughter's friends by a coach, and her younger kids' pre-school's passive-aggressive lunches policies, Harry and her friends make plans to stop the groomer and the men's-rights group while keeping their powers a secret. Although I do wish there'd been recognition that transmen and nonbinary people can have children and thus have placentas also, this book is for anyone who has wanted revenge--or at least some justice--served-up superhero style.

This was unique and entertaining, some of the pacing was slow in the middle which made it harder to stay engaged but I also found it very relatable as a mom and a woman who will often smile even when I want to rage at people.