I had hopes for this novel by Laura Hankin; hope that the novel would have strong characters that I could connect with, since the premise is one of a mommy play group. I struggled to connect with the moms though, at last settling that I could perhaps connect with Claire, though I felt it was a forced connection.

I appreciated Claire was hyper aware of all the oddities from the moms in this playgroup, and in the end Amara was one that finally came around to be admirable. I just struggled to connect with the characters and the choices each woman makes. No judgement, it just wasn’t for me.

I felt at times the swearing in the novel was too much. I do not consider myself a prude in that respect, but I felt it was sprinkled at inopportune times in a effort to reach a different readership demographic.

The only somewhat surprise element was Gwen, and even then I just kept feeling sorrow for her children and disgust of her as a character.

Claire is an out of work musician whose former band just exploded on the charts. When her finances start looking bleak she takes a job leading a music class for a Manhattan play group full of gorgeous, rich, competitive, and rich stay-at-home mommies. That's when things get weird.

Happy & You Know It is partially a treatise on how hard it is to be a mom and partially an indictment of "super-mommy" culture. But then it's also a full of drug use, illicit affairs, and secrets. SO MANY SECRETS. It's like if Sex and the City took place in a playgroup with a high instagram following.

I couldn't put it down.

I really enjoyed the complexities of the characters. At first, they seemed one-dimensional but as you read further you learned why they are the way they are and the many secrets they are trying to hide.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Claire gets kicked out of a band and is forced to sing for elitist mom playgroups in order to earn a living. Although she gets off to a rocky start, she bonds with several of the women only to face betrayal. The ending is a but unrealistic, but very satisfying.

A down and out musician, Claire, takes a job leading singalongs for a playgroup made up of rich, privileged women and their babies. But of course Claire soon discovers that the women and their lives are not as perfect as they appear on the surface. Smart, entertaining novel that refreshingly had no romance element! Very enjoyable!

I thought I might be reaching my saturation point for witty takes on privileged playgroups and Instagram moms -- but this novel was a pleasant surprise. Observant, entertaining, and delightfully unpredictable, with characters I came to like (or like to hate) and an ending that was satisfying without tying everything up in too neat of a bow. A quick and mischievous read -- I'll be looking for more from this author!

Happy and You Know it is a FEISTY page turner filled with laughter and darkness. How a book can encompass both of these things is beyond me but the author successfully added this unique flair and I am THRILLED about it. While reading, I was frantically turning to pages to see what would happen next and I didn't want to put the book down. That my friends is how all well written books should be. Grab this book!

Actual Rating: 4.5 stars
Full review to come closer to release date on the blog!

A great read! Even though I am not a mother, I could relate to the characters very easily and found them very entertaining. The story and the characters felt very realistic. I loved how easy and capturing the story was as well. 4.5 stars.

This book had some nice little twists in it. It was a little slow at times and overall had me thinking about life as a new mom in a big city. How isolating it is and the added allure of having unlimited funds to do things doesn't seem so appealing when you have a small child.

Happy and You Know It is a fun, easy read about a mommy/baby playgroup on the UES of NYC. With an interesting cast of characters, all with their own secrets, you alternately root for and against them. An interesting twist and an even more interesting ending. I recommend.

Very entertaining and readable - plot is not meant to be believable, so the over top coincidences & resolutions didn’t bother me. Characters could have been drawn a little better, but all in all this is a fun read.

Engaging, quick read. I enjoyed the characters and the plot that cracked the veneer of the ‘perfect’ rich.

Claire lost her gig with a band right as they hit it big. She is down on her luck and in need of a job. So when a upper class mommy group needs a singer? She is on it!


Once she gets into these women's lives she realizes that maybe they aren't just the upper class housewives that she originally thought. (view spoiler)


This book is just pure fun. Especially if you a nosey, catty heifer like I am.


Then plot twist...I actually started to like a few of these women.


Booksource: Netgalley in exchange for review.

LOVED this book. Seriously, what a great read. I read the entire thing in one sitting because all the characters had some depth, relatability, and issues that I could see why they had even if I didn't live their lives...and what a fun story--Claire was in a band that kicked her out just before they blew up. She now has to sing for a playgroup with a group of moms who has some hidden issues. And it's magical how the stories intertwine, how the secrets unveil themselves and how it all comes together. I loved this book and would highly recommend--it has so much relevance to the culture of mommy shaming, perfection, motherhood as a whole, being single and wanting to be a mom (or not)...amazing.

There's lots of domestic fiction out there that especially appeals to moms, but Hankin's focus on the musician pulled into the mommy group is a fun twist on the genre. Claire's former band is hitting it big without her and she starts playing music to children to make ends meet. When she gets sucked into the mama drama of some NYC moms who seem to have it all - Insta-perfect babies, hot hubbies, and expensive real estate - she realizes her missed shot at fame is the least of her problems.

Cute and fun read about a mommy playgroup and their new hired entertainer. There is some slightly deeper side plots regarding the singers past, as well as various issues among the moms (and the very real topic of how hard is it to be a mom in this day and age). While the book was lightweight, it kept me hooked and reading until the end.

A Peyton Place for the Upper East Side mommy set, this story about a recovering rock singer and the parents of the children she leads in the Hokey Pokey is full of jealousy and intrigue. The characters are surprisingly rich for a takedown of the wealthy members of an infant and toddlers playgroup.

I didn't bookmark anything--or Adobe Digital Editions didn't save them, just as likely, so I don't have anything specific to cite. I'm troubled that the Bluefire Reader seems to lose graphic content (e.g., characters' text messages). Adobe has a slow page turn, which flashes white when you're reading on a black background like I typically do. I wonder if I can open those files in Libby???

I like that it's not a romance, but the protag gets laid.

There is something about a good, strong "Women's Literature" book that deeply appeals to me, and this definitely lived up to all I hoped it to be. As a mom, J could relate.to the recurrent theme of not being ENOUGH, not doing ENOUGH. This was an engrossing, well written novel about well off mommies behaving badly, keeping secrets, and betraying the ones we love. An easy read and an even easier sell.

This book was such a fun twist on the bored housewife theme. The book centered around a group of rich mothers who held playgroups weekly. These playgroups were not your typical group in that each time they hired their own singer/guitarist to sing songs for the children. This is when Claire is brought into the group. She is an outside perspective that begins to notice a few fishy things... Overall good book.

Wow, are there people like this out there??? What a group of insecure, materialistic but totally human women. A lot of situations to learn from here! Having said all that, I enjoyed it!