Social media humorist Laditan's fiction debut is cute and funny, and will strike a chord with moms everywhere. Ashley is totally relatable, and her exploits could be those of nearly any woman who strives to be "as good as" everyone else. The book takes much too long to get past the phase of Ashley not measuring up to everyone around her, which makes the tale more depressing than it should be. Overall it's a worthwhile read for every mom who feels like a failure and needs to know she's not alone.
When Ashley Keller stepped away from her career to be a stay-at-home mom to her daughter Aubrey, she didn't realize it would be quite as difficult as it turns out to be. Her days are exhausting, and although she adores Aubrey, Ashley feels like she cannot figure out how to pull it together. Ashley's idol is mom-blogger/author/perfect mom and wife Emily Walker. Ashley tries to emulate Emily, and is excited to find out she is accepted into a "Mommy Boot Camp" run by Emily to help improve her skills. Yet again, Ashley doesn't feel like she does things as well as everyone else, but she is going to try, even if it means sacrificing her principles just a bit.

Hilarious and relatable, this book will surely be reread again and again. Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this title

I love everything she writes. This book is funny but truthful. Helps to feel that there are others of us out there that can look at parenting as a job full of love but also hard as hell.

I got a copy of this book from Netgalley. I am just going to come right out and say i, I did not love this book. I was sorely disappointed to find between the pages a spiritless novel . I struggled to find it entertaining. Reading it felt like a chore and I couldn't make myself finish this book.

Unfortunately could not get into this at all.
Is a shame because the main character was quite relatable in some aspects.
However in others she was way over the top and every time she went out and dropped a couple hundred pounds on her latest fad, it started to make me cringe.
Also the mommy blogger person she seemed to love was phony af.
Not for me unfortunately.

In mommy world there are always divisions: working moms vs. stay at home moms, breastfeeding vs. bottle, etc, etc, into infinity etc. The main character in this novel is a barely showering, unorganized, messy mom who wins better mommy boot camp a contest put on by a Pinterest perfect and fabulously famous mom. This was a fun read with some truly LOL and "been there" moments, but was also full of cringe-worthy situations and a fairly predictable outcome.

Confessions of a Domestic Failure was an absolute trainwreck. I kind of mean that in the best way possible though. I started reading, and said to myself several times that I was just going to put it down, it wasn't for me. I mean, seriously, what adult woman could be that stupid and helpless? Yet, it was written in such a keen snarky fashion that I just kept on turning the pages.

I came to realize that it was the ultimate satire of how "hard" it is to be a mother. Now don't bash me. It's hard as hell and I get that. I just have never been able to easily empathize with those who seem to make it harder on themselves. If you're so broke and caffeine deprived, why walk all the way to the cafe to get your fix when in the last chapter you talked about your perfectly good coffee pot at home? The sleep deprivation however I understood on a whole different level.

As I continued to read, as much as I didn't want to like her, I couldn't seem to hate Ashley either. I could see her in so many of the moms I've encountered, and that maybe gave me a little more understanding of the reasons they act as they do. Definitely not more patience, but more understanding at least.

Bottom line is that this read like one of those stupid spoof movies. Airplane, Top Secret, Men In Tights, that sort of genre. It was a comedy that was almost painful but still I couldn't stop reading and laughing. Definitely worth a read, but that's about it.

Every parent MOM (sorry, dads!) can relate to the feelings of being overwhelmed & second-guessing every parenting decision they’ve made. If you are one of these moms, you will LOVE Confessions of a Domestic Failure by Bunmi Laditan. Admittedly, she may have exaggerated some incidences for the sake of humor, but I’m sure that some of Ashley’s escapades have actually happened to somebody out there!

     Although my first child was born 22 years ago, I can remember feeling a lot like Ashley Keller did in this book. Especially the conflicting emotions that come with being a mom—looking at your precious baby, a gift from God, whom you’d take a bullet for, mixed with--what do I do now? Everything I do is wrong! Will I ever get to eat/sleep/shower in peace again?! Ashley also suffers from comparing herself to others…and we all know how self-righteous SOME people can be! Couple that with the other everyday stresses—what to make for dinner, financial woes, trying to keep the spark alive in your marriage, blah, blah, blah and it’s enough to drive a person over the edge.

     Ashley gets the opportunity to become a “perfect” mom when she enters a contest on a TV show. She competes with other moms (formally this time, in the contest) to improve every aspect of her life. As you can probably predict, hilarity ensues—well worth the read! There are also touching times in the book, afterall, many of Ashley’s experiences are legitimate and Laditan expertly verbalizes what we’ve all felt at one time or another. I am happy to say that the book has a happy ending, maybe not the expected ending, but a happy one nonetheless. Great summer read, laugh out loud funny at times!

<http://freshfiction.com/review.php?id=63347>

Confessions of A Domestic Failure by Bunmi Laditan is a really cute, funny, fast paced book that moms everywhere will enjoy. I wrote a more in- depth review over at LifeMinuteTV on it, but I’ll tell you that I can relate to finding it impossible to live up to perfect mom standards.

Here’s the synopsis:

There are good moms and bad moms—and then there are hot-mess moms. Introducing Ashley Keller, career girl turned stay-at-home mom who’s trying to navigate the world of Pinterest-perfect, Facebook-fantastic and Instagram-impressive mommies but failing miserably.

When Ashley gets the opportunity to participate in the “Motherhood Better” bootcamp run by the mommy-blog-empire maven she idolizes, she jumps at the chance to become the perfect mom she’s always wanted to be. But will she fly high or flop?

With her razor-sharp wit and knack for finding the funny in everything, Bunmi Laditan creates a character as flawed and lovable as Bridget Jones or Becky Bloomwood while hilariously lambasting the societal pressures placed upon every new mother. At its heart, Ashley’s story reminds moms that there’s no way to be perfect, but many ways to be great

BEST BETS
The 7 Women’s Fiction Best Bets of May 2017

SCARLETTLEIGH
The Man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them
Mark Twain

Are you going to take advantage of this month’s list of good books? Of course, good is subjective—but every base is covered in this month’s selection. There are books to challenge the way you think; books that incorporate a sweet romance; book that are pure escapism; and books that celebrate starting over—even when the heroine of the book doesn’t think she ready for that. Grab your favorite beverage and your sunscreen and take some advantage of some “Me” time.

The Garden of Small Beginnings by Abbi Waxman
(Amazon | B&N | Kobo)

Lilian Girvan has been a single mother for three years—ever since her husband died in a car accident. One mental breakdown and some random suicidal thoughts later, she’s just starting to get the hang of this widow thing. She can now get her two girls to school, show up to work, and watch TV like a pro. The only problem is she’s becoming overwhelmed with being underwhelmed.
At least her textbook illustrating job has some perks—like actually being called upon to draw whale genitalia. Oh, and there’s that vegetable-gardening class her boss signed her up for. Apparently, being the chosen illustrator for a series of boutique vegetable guides means getting your hands dirty, literally. Wallowing around in compost on a Saturday morning can’t be much worse than wallowing around in pajamas and self-pity.
After recruiting her kids and insanely supportive sister to join her, Lilian shows up at the Los Angeles botanical garden feeling out of her element. But what she’ll soon discover—with the help of a patient instructor and a quirky group of gardeners—is that into every life a little sun must shine, whether you want it to or not...
Strengths: Humorous voice; Appealing characters; Uplifting and emotionally satisfying starting over story
Measure of Love: Teaspoon
Mood: Poignant and lighthearted
Why You Should Read this: The author captures the dich0tomy of moving forward, but reluctant to let go of the past perfectly. Great combination of character growth, romance and rewarding ending!

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
(Amazon | B&N | Kobo)

Meet Eleanor Oliphant: She struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she’s thinking. Nothing is missing in her carefully timetabled life of avoiding social interactions, where weekends are punctuated by frozen pizza, vodka, and phone chats with Mummy.
But everything changes when Eleanor meets Raymond, the bumbling and deeply unhygienic IT guy from her office. When she and Raymond together save Sammy, an elderly gentleman who has fallen on the sidewalk, the three become the kinds of friends who rescue one another from the lives of isolation they have each been living. And it is Raymond’s big heart that will ultimately help Eleanor find the way to repair her own profoundly damaged one.
Smart, warm, uplifting, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine is the story of an out-of-the-ordinary heroine whose deadpan weirdness and unconscious wit make for an irresistible journey as she realizes. . .
The only way to survive is to open your heart.
Strengths: Atypical heroine & hero; wonderful exploration of good & bad parents; Unique storyline; Uplifting ending
Measure of Love: Dash
Mood: Poignant
Why You Should Read this: Unpredictable and engrossing!

All the Best People by Sonja Yoerg
(Amazon | B&N | Kobo)

Vermont, 1972. Carole LaPorte has a satisfying, ordinary life. She cares for her children, balances the books for the family’s auto shop and laughs when her husband slow dances her across the kitchen floor. Her tragic childhood might have happened to someone else.
But now her mind is playing tricks on her. The accounts won’t reconcile and the murmuring she hears isn’t the television. She ought to seek help, but she’s terrified of being locked away in a mental hospital like her mother, Solange. So Carole hides her symptoms, withdraws from her family and unwittingly sets her eleven-year-old daughter Alison on a desperate search for meaning and power: in Tarot cards, in omens from a nearby river and in a mysterious blue glass box belonging to her grandmother.
An exploration of the power of courage and love to overcome a damning legacy, All the Best People celebrates the search for identity and grace in the most ordinary lives.
Strengths: Complex characters; Compelling storytelling; Uplifting ending
Measure of Love: Dash
Mood: Poignant
Why You Should Read this: Wonderful exploration of a taboo topic with realistic scenarios.

The Simplicity of Cider by Amy Reichert
(Amazon | B&N | Kobo)

Fall in love with The Simplicity of Cider, the charming new novel about a prickly but gifted cider-maker whose quiet life is interrupted by the arrival of a handsome man and his young son at her family’s careworn orchard by the author of The Coincidence of Coconut Cake and Luck, Love & Lemon Pie.

Focused and unassuming fifth generation cider-maker Sanna Lund has one desire: to live a simple, quiet life on her family’s apple orchard in Door County, Wisconsin. Although her business is struggling, Sanna remains fiercely devoted to the orchard, despite her brother’s attempts to convince their aging father to sell the land.

Single dad Isaac Banks has spent years trying to shield his son Sebastian from his troubled mother. Fleeing heartbreak at home, Isaac packed up their lives and the two headed out on an adventure, driving across the country. Chance—or fate—led them straight to Sanna’s orchard.

Isaac’s helping hands are much appreciated at the apple farm, even more when Sanna’s father is injured in an accident. As Sanna’s formerly simple life becomes increasingly complicated, she finds solace in unexpected places—friendship with young Sebastian and something more deliciously complex with Isaac—until an outside threat infiltrates the farm.
Strengths: Appealing setting; Multi-generational characters; Sweet Romance
Measure of Love: Tablespoon
Mood: Poignant & Lighthearted
Why You Should Read this: If you in the mood for a prickly heroine, and engaging hero with an artless son then this book is a perfect fit!

Meet Me at Beachcomber Bay by Jill Mansell
(Amazon | B&N | Kobo)

When Clemency meets the brilliant Sam Adams, she could just about fall in love with him—if he weren't married. Three years later, Clemency has settled into her cozy home village of Cornwall to focus on her career. Everything is smooth sailing until Sam upends her entire life...by showing up as her stepsister's boyfriend.
Caught in the midst of a love triangle, Clemency has to pretend she's never met Sam...and choose between the love of her life and the bond of sisterhood.
Strengths: Multiple HEA storylines; Engaging characters; U.K. setting; HEA
Measure of Love: Tablespoon
Mood: lighthearted
Why You Should Read this: Because it is a perfect Chick-Lit escapism book. Light & humorous!

Confessions of a Domestic Failure by Bunmi Laditan
(Amazon | B&N | Kobo)

There are good moms and bad moms—and then there are hot-mess moms. Introducing Ashley Keller, career girl turned stay-at-home mom who's trying to navigate the world of Pinterest-perfect, Facebook-fantastic and Instagram-impressive mommies but failing miserably.
When Ashley gets the opportunity to participate in the Motherhood Better boot camp run by the mommy-blog-empire maven she idolizes, she jumps at the chance to become the perfect mom she's always wanted to be. But will she fly high or flop?
With her razor-sharp wit and knack for finding the funny in everything, Bunmi Laditan creates a character as flawed and lovable as Bridget Jones or Becky Bloomwood while hilariously lambasting the societal pressures placed upon every new mother. At its heart, Ashley's story reminds moms that there's no way to be perfect, but many ways to be great.
Strengths: Sardonic Humor; Motherhood challenges; Imperfect Heroine; HEA
Measure of Love: Dash
Mood: Lighthearted
Why You Should Read this: Pure entertainment along with a great use of humor to challenge our societal expectations of motherhood.

Ginny Moon by Benjamin Ludwig
(Amazon | B&N | Kobo)

Meet Ginny Moon. She’s mostly your average teenager—she plays flute in the high school band, has weekly basketball practice, and reads Robert Frost poems in English class.

But Ginny is autistic. And so what’s important to her might seem a bit…different: starting every day with exactly nine grapes for breakfast, Michael Jackson, her baby doll, and crafting a secret plan of escape.

After being traumatically taken from her abusive birth mother and moved around to different homes, Ginny has finally found her “forever home”—a safe place with parents who will love and nurture her. This is exactly what all foster kids are hoping for, right?

But Ginny has other plans. She’ll steal and lie and exploit the good intentions of those who love her—anything it takes to get back what’s missing in her life. She’ll even try to get herself kidnapped.

Told in an extraordinary and wholly original voice, Ginny Moon is at once quirky, charming, heartbreaking, and poignant. It’s a story about being an outsider trying to find a place to belong and about making sense of a world that just doesn’t seem to add up. Taking you into the mind of a curious and deeply human character, Benjamin Ludwig’s novel affirms that fiction has the power to change the way we see the world.
Strengths: Fascinating main characters; Unique insights into different type thinking;Uplifting ending
Measure of Love: N/A
Mood: Poignant and lighthearted
Why You Should Read this: While not truly women’s fiction, Ginny Moon is a fascinating character, and this book will definitely keep you turning the pages. Original and compelling read!


http://www.heroesandheartbreakers.com/blogs/2017/05/best-womens-fiction-for-may#comments

I love Bunmi Laditan's sense of humor but this book bordered too far into absurdity for my tastes. Ashley Keller is a moron of Shopaholic proportions, unable to do anything at all grown up, spending money recklessly and basically constantly complaining about everything and lying to everyone. Motherhood is hard and often hilarious, but I just found the main character so unlikable I couldn't get into this book. I liked the skewering of the perfect Pinterest-y moms but I just couldn't find myself rooting for Ashley. She needed to ask for help and stop reacting so much to everything. It was OK.

Some will love this book, some will not. I loved this. It makes me feel better about my own life. I have always said I wanted to be Martha Stewart without the jail record. This book makes me realize that I do not always have to be perfect. I do not have to always get it right. I do not always have to compare myself to everyone else's picture perfect life shown on FB, Instagram, etc. This lets me know... relax. We can all be a domestic failure, and that is okay.

A lot of mothers would have you believe that they're super women. You see the Facebook posts, the Pinterest pins, right? They really look like they have it all together. Seeing humble brags in your timeline on a regular basis when you're struggling can lead to a crisis of conscience. If they can do all that, why can't I? Because you're not Wonder Woman, Super Woman, Magnificent Mom or any other perfect caricature floating around the internet. Ashley Keller learns that lesson the hard way in the hilarious new book from Bunmi Laditan.

Most readers will know Laditan and her funny style of writing from her tweets at @HonestToddler. In Ashley, she's created a smart woman with a great husband and a good career until having a baby threw a wrench in it all. Now she's striving to be Martha Stewart. Competing against mothers from around the country to spend a weekend with the mother of them all, buying furniture she doesn't need (and can't afford) to impress people she doesn't even know, there's a lot going on.

As Laditan takes us on a journey, she covers all of the emotions and turmoil that can come with being a new mom. Though she does it with humor, the message she sends is real. You don't have to be perfect to be a mom, you don't even have to try to be perfect. Everyone makes mistakes, moms included. It's all in how you recover from them.

This book came out at such a great time - close to Mother's Day when many Mom's are about ready for their special day of celebration (whatever that looks like for them). I highly suggest getting a copy for your Mom friends and sisters (you know, if you have any). This book and the main character, Ashley, will have you laughing out loud one minute, nodding with agreement and crying with understanding the next. It's everything a first time Mom could want in a book to make them feel like they are not the only hot mess out there.

Here's the deal - I love how this book takes a Mom who idolizes a perfect media empire Mom and teaches her that not everything is at it seems, not everyone has to live up to unrealistic expectations. I love that Ashley keeps trying to better herself, but in the end realizes life is messy. I love that she struggles with the everyday just like most of us do. I think this made her such an easy to relate to character for me.

Confessions of a Domestic Failure nailed it with the hilarious situations that Ashley gets herself into, while trying to live up to the hype and expectations of the perfect Mom. I think after reading this book you'll realize, much like Ashley, that it's not necessary to be do Pinterest-perfect crafts, make homemade meals and baby food, or throw yourself to the wolves Mommy Group Goddesses for approval - just to be a good and capable mother. I think there is an unwritten pressure to be something we're not and this book gives you the okay to realize we're not all like that. It's okay to be tired, to be so in love with your baby that chores slide, and to enjoy motherhood without added expectations that we be just like everyone else.

The relationships that Ashley has with her husband, her mother in law and her own sister help make her feel authentic. Honestly, I want to be Ashley's friend. We could start our own Mommy group where we wear day old yoga pants, our babies are still in yesterdays sleepers and we eat donuts for the sugar rush (I don't drink coffee) and share horror stories about answering the door with no pants on or baby puking in the Walmart checkout line. This would be my tribe!

As a long-time follower of Bunmi Laditan on Facebook, I knew more or less what to expect with Confessions of a Domestic Failure. If you are new to Bunmi's writing, you're in for a treat. Bunmi is refreshingly honest and funny, and although this book is a work of fiction, it mirrors her personal sentiments about the ridiculous expectations of motherhood and how the race to be the "perfect mom" is the biggest crock of all.

Confessions of a Domestic Failure is about the type of mom that I was (cough, cough, *am*) when my babies were younger. Basically, it's about a hot mess of a mom who loves her baby fiercely, but is so sleep deprived and so zombie-like that she can't seem to remember which way her pants go on in the morning (aka, night... because, you know, she slept in those same pants).

This book is funny, so funny and so like my own experiences that I wanted to laugh, cry, and cringe all at the same time. It is a combo motherhood solidarity book and a comedy of errors, and I think that it will really hit home with all of the overworked, exhausted, lonely, smart moms out there. I got exactly what the author was doing with this story, and I was pumped to go along for the ride.

Truth be told, I think I would have liked this story even more if I wasn't so familiar already with the author. A lot of the book sounds like stuff that Bunmi talks about on a daily basis, which is great (and I love her for it), but it wasn't as much of that "new" or a surprise factor for me.

Still, I love Bunmi's voice and I think she should absolutely keep cranking out these types of stories. Moms, like myself, will eat them right up.

*Copy provided in exchange for an honest review*

Social media humorist Laditan's fiction debut is cute and funny, and will strike a chord with moms everywhere. Ashley is totally relatable, and her exploits could be those of nearly any woman who strives to be "as good as" everyone else. The book takes much too long to get past the phase of Ashley not measuring up to everyone around her, which makes the tale more depressing than it should be. Overall it's a worthwhile read for every mom who feels like a failure and needs to know she's not alone.
When Ashley Keller stepped away from her career to be a stay-at-home mom to her daughter Aubrey, she didn't realize it would be quite as difficult as it turns out to be. Her days are exhausting, and although she adores Aubrey, Ashley feels like she cannot figure out how to pull it together. Ashley's idol is mom-blogger/author/perfect mom and wife Emily Walker. Ashley tries to emulate Emily, and is excited to find out she is accepted into a "Mommy Boot Camp" run by Emily to help improve her skills. Yet again, Ashley doesn't feel like she does things as well as everyone else, but she is going to try, even if it means sacrificing her principles just a bit.

Reading this book brought out a lot of emotions that I really didn’t expect. One of the more interesting emotions was anger. Anger that social media/TV has brought us ALL to think that we are all failures, not just mother’s. At everything. (Remember Martha Stewart?) I never thought my attempts at homemaking/gardening was good enough after I saw her on her program!

Now we are doing the same thing with mother’s, and social media is preying on their insecurities. It’s quite sad when you think about it.

However, this book did make me laugh (a lot!) and then get angry when Ashley started with her trying to hide things from people, and David was really not much better.

It was wonderful to see that these paragons of motherhood where not the perfect icon’s that everyone thought they were.

This is a light humorous read that is just perfect for bringing to …well wherever moms can go to get a few hours peace and a nice glass of wine!!!
I really liked the HEA since it was practical and not as cliched as it could have been.

*ARC