Instamom by Chantel Guertin

Kit is an Instagram influencer which snowballed after her bestselling novel about how to live a child free life. Now she has made a career in speaking events, inspiring women to make their own choices and her Instagram brand of her glamorous kid free life. So what will happen when she starts dating someone who has a kid?

There were a lot of things I liked about this book but several that I disliked. I was hooked and enjoyed the book but a lot of stuff didn’t sit well with me.

Loved: her love of books and her memories of her mom.

Liked: The realistic world of being an influencer and the lines of personal/professional life when you are a brand.

Disliked: As a mom and step mom I struggled hard with her and Will and their terrible decisions. Although I related to her struggles in dating a man with a kid, there was too much fighting and too many misunderstandings. She repeatedly tells Will she does not want to much responsibility and then literally the next conversation he is asking her to take his daughter to school.

This one might be better for readers who are not step parents as I’m sure a lot of these things wouldn’t bother someone who hasn’t been through it!

Thank you to @netgalley and @kensingtonbooks for my advanced copy! This book is out on June 29th.

I would love to hear if you follow many influencers on your personal pages or just stick with friends and family. I try hard to limit who I follow personally, but I do follow some of my favourite celebrities and Bachelorettes 😉

I loved this book! It was such a good, light read. I loved the character's and how they developed throughout the story. I would definitely recommend this book to others.

Such a great, light read. If you're curious about the impact of social media on our lives, and living up to a certain image online, this is a great read. But it's more than just that- it's a fun romance, where maybe the goals of the main characters are a little mismatched.

Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this fun book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley, Kensington Books and Chantel Guertin for gifting me an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!
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QOTD: Do you have a personal Insta first or just a Booksta?

One of the things that draws me to Bookstagram is the freedom and reward balance. You don’t have to sell your soul in contracts and planned posts in order to be a part of the Bookstagram community. Instamom gives readers a great glimpse of the dark side of social media influencing and how unauthentic it can be. Kit has created a career out of her choice to be childfree. From motivational speaking to writing a book, Kit has built a community of women who lean on each other for validation and strength. She’s a woman in her mid thirties, unapologetic about her choice to not have a mother and unafraid to fight for her stance. When she meets sarcastic and sexy chef Will, their connection is instant and white hot. Until she finds out he’s a single father and their flame is doused before it even really got going. But Will is persistent and charming and Kit is soon grappling with the life she wants and the life she’s created.
I’ll admit, this was a little angsty for me. I guess I just didn’t feel their connection enough to go through everything they did. When it was just them two, they worked great, but Will put Kit in some really crappy situations. That dinner party?? Eesh. I would’ve thrown the towel in a lot sooner and not felt bad about it. Romance aside, Kit’s story is an important one to tell! Choosing to be childfree is still a taboo subject for too many and too often people let you know what they expect from you and your body. And don’t even get me started on the.. “But you’ll adopt, right?!” people. Say it loud for the people in the back MY BODY, MY CHOICE!

Thank you to Netgalley and Kensington Books for an advance review copy of “Instamom.” It publishes June 29 and is a perfect beach read, so if you want to take it on vacation I would preorder.

Kit Kidding is a #childfree influencer who’s amassed a small empire — and hundreds of thousands of Instagram followers — by advocating for women who are childfree by choice. She’s even authored a book on the topic. But then she falls hard for a single dad who wants more kids.

I found parts of this book infuriating, but it is extremely well done. The writing is fantastic; the commentary on influencer culture is spot on, and Guertin makes it look effortless. Too often, chick lit is poorly written or just plain dumb. “Instamom” is a really great book, and it’s difficult to write about something as polarizing as a childfree influencer without pissing off most everyone. I also think Guertin’s nod to the Bookstagram community was commercially brilliant.

This book is for you if
✨ you like romcoms
✨ you are looking for a light but well-written read
✨ you are not triggered by grieving characters

The beginning got me really intrigued and predicting where the story would go. But as the story progresses, at times the two main characters become unlikeable to me, to the point where I don’t want to cheer them on. As being a parent and a step parent and trying to understand both of their characters and their intentions. I felt like the main character had a very large internal struggle with herself and needed a coming to Jesus moment early on. But the ending made up for it.

Shout out to bookstagram mentions in the book!! 🤩🤩🤩🥳🥳

This is about Instagram influencer culture.kit makes her living from posting and chooses to be child free. She meets with women about this, gives talks, and wrote a book. Life throw a kink in that plan when will enters with his daughter. I enjoyed the real perspective about the falseness of Instagram ads and photos. This wasn’t as funny or charming as the description led me to believe. It did make me think about the ads I see and people I follow. I’m in the minority on this one. Just wasn’t the warm, funny book I wanted.

Thank you NetGalley and Kensington Publishing for the ARC.

Love love loved this book! I am new to Chantel Guertin’s writing and I definitely will be reading more by her in the future.

I voluntarily reviewed this book.

On its surface, this book is about what happens when a woman who is determinedly child free and has built her entire career and online brand around that choice, meets a single dad and his 8 yr old daughter and falls for them both. Kit Kidding, a 30-something Instagram influencer, is wrestling with a career that is more and more unsatisfying, but can't figure out how to get herself unstuck from it. She meets Will, a chef and single dad at a marketing event. In spite of their rather explosive chemistry, she tries to reject any kind of further relationship with him due to his status as a parent, but the fates seem to be conspiring to throw them together. This causes Kit to finally take a hard look at her entire life and make a new plan.

The deeper message of this book is about choices, about making them in the first place, then having the courage to re-evaluate, and potentially even change them later in spite of societal pressures and messages that want you to stay in the box that you originally chose for yourself. We are all shaped by our experiences and it's unrealistic to think that we would never change our opinions or choices, yet that's precisely the message that is sent - "you must stay the course no matter what", "if you change your opinion you are a worthless and untrustworthy flip-flopper". My kudos to the author for challenging this view head-on. Life is all about growing and changing through your experiences. It would be pretty boring if we were never allowed to change.

Let’s talk about “Instamom” by Chantel Guertin - this was not the typical romance I am usually drawn to, but nonetheless I not only loved it but appreciated on so many levels. .

To briefly summarize it’s about a woman, Kit, that lives a kid-free life but then meets a single dad and she begins to change her perspective on life. It was more than just a romance between two people. There was so much self-awareness and self-discovery of the main character that there was self-love present. I’ll try not to spoil anything but I have to say that at first I wasn’t sure how I felt about Kit, but I appreciated being able to see her perspective on life (which is so different than mine) as well as her growth. By the time I finished the book, not only had I fallen in love with the single dad 😍😍😍 (my fave) but also with Kit.

3.5 stars

There’s so much to like about this book. I liked Kit’s growth, the understanding that sometimes life deals you a different hand that you initially expected and it’s okay to change. I struggled with the relationship between Kit and Will. It seemed like they fought way too much. Also, Will expected Kit to accept his lifestyle, but he wasn’t always accepting of hers. Their relationship just seemed to be missing something. But, really a thought provoking book about social media and the curated reality it showcases, the struggles of parenthood, of understanding how the past shapes your future.

Thank you NetGalley and Kensington Books for the opportunity to read a digital ARC in return for an honest review.

If I was just reading this on its own, I would say loved it, great story, awesome love story, yadda yadda.

As someone who is childfree, this book pissed me off. *spoilers below*

Kit Kidding, a childfree influencer, which like c'mon, a kidless influencer with the last name Kidding? Anyways, if you're entire career is based on being childfree, you don't just change your mind because some great guy and his kid comes along. That flies in the face of everything childfree women talk about. It just really rubbed me the wrong way. I would feel a bit better if there is an author's note or something in the footnotes if this is coming from the author's own personal experiences.

Just seeing the cover of this novel made me want to read it, but knowing what it was about also helped in that decision. In any case, I'm so glad I picked it up!

This was such a great story the entire way through. It really grabbed me right away and I had a hard time putting it down. I really liked the message that Kit brings to the table. Even though she doesn't want kids, she makes it clear that she likes them and also that it's okay for everyone to make decisions for their lives without having to be judged. Although it took her a while to learn some lessons about the way she portrays herself to the world, she was still honest with what she wanted for herself.

This novel is full of great characters and settings, and it's easy to visualize everything. I loved Kit's chemistry with Will, but it was frustrating when he expected more than she made it clear she could give. Addie was such a fun character who also seemed like a genuine kid (not too advanced for her age, but not too childish either). I liked Kit's dream that she was having difficulty making into a reality, as it was totally up my alley. I also felt bad for her when the moms in the story were mean to her and judged her without finding out the real story.

I wish there had been an epilogue; even though the story ends on a good note, it felt abrupt. I definitely want another story for these characters, maybe even from someone else's perspective? Perhaps Gillian needs her own story. Even a sequel from Kit's perspective again would be great.

Movie casting ideas:
Kit: Chelsea Edmundson
Will: Finn Wittrock
Eric: Kyle Schmid
Gillian: Amanda Righetti
Izzy: Erin Krakow
Feloise: Jamie-Lynn Sigler

I was majorly disappointed by this book. She's an influencer wo doesn't like her job nd doesn't want t kids but ends up in a relationship with a guy has has a Kid. Th is was too predictable. DNF after getting fed up.

A funny, must-read love story told for the 21st century! Kit Kidding lives her life HER way...taking her instagram pics along with way...and her journey takes her to a place she never, ever thought she would end up. This book takes you through the life of a single woman who dares to question herself and her place in the world. And I was so pleased to read that in her journey, she made sure she did what was right for her! Such an inspiring and empowering read. 🤗🤩📖👍🏼

There is much to like about this book, but I’m sorry to say it just wasn’t my personal cup of tea. That said, many reviewers have loved it. Give it a read for yourself.

My Thoughts
I saw Bookstagrammer mention this book recently and I knew I had to read it because Kit and I have something in common. Here are my pros and cons for Instamom:

Pros
1. Like Kit, the protagonist in the story, I am child-free by choice. I have definitely gotten unsolicited, and sometimes unkind, feedback about that choice throughout my life. Also like Kit, I met and fell in love with a man with children. It was really nice to read a book that I felt represented me for a change!
2. Needless to say, I connected with Kit. I loved that the story constantly reinforced that child-free by choice doesn’t mean someone hates children. That is a ridiculous assumption. Child-free also doesn’t make someone less of a woman – regardless of whether the child-free situation is by choice or not. To even suggest a person is less of a woman because they didn’t bear a child is not only ridiculous, but really quite offensive.
3. I appreciated that the romance between Kit and Will was realistic. When one person in a relationship is a parent and the other isn’t, there is definitely a learning curve regarding how to spend time together and how to respect boundaries with regard to the child/children. I thought the story depicted this well – not only showing the positive side, but some of the negative sides as well.
4. I also appreciated that the romance between Kit and Will was clean (a.k.a. not steamy). The story didn’t need graphic sex scenes and I’m glad the author didn’t go there.
5. It was interesting to live a day in the life of an Instagram Influencer. I have less followers than Kit does (by orders of magnitude!) and I already feel stress sometimes to make sure I have content posted on my Bookstagram on a regular basis – and I’m not even paid to do it! Kit’s life, while extravagant and seemingly fun, also felt artificial and unrealistic. Whether the author intended this lesson or not, it came off loud and clear that we need to remember that the mega-influencers on IG are paid to make their lives look a certain way… because someone is selling you something. You are literally viewing orchestrated commercials!! The small glimpse behind the scenes in this book was a good reminder that what you see on the internet is not always real.
6. I loved that Kit loved books!
7. The ending was perfect.

Cons
1. I liked Will, but sometimes he was a little bit clueless and contradictory regarding how he treated Kit. Nothing too bad, but I didn’t like how he responded to her career choice and I didn’t think he respected her point of view sometimes. He was such a nice guy, so his occasionally inconsistent reactions to things felt out of place.

Summary
There is absolutely nothing wrong with being child-free by choice and there is nothing wrong with changing your mind along the way either. I loved reading a book that positively reinforced my own decision to be child-free!

This book is a clean romance that I think readers will love, whether they are child-free or not. I definitely recommend it.

(Note: As I mentioned previously, I am happily child-free by choice. But I am also happily married to a man with three sons, and those three sons each have three children themselves. So that makes me a Stepmom and a Grammy, too! I’ve never regretted not having children and I’ve never regretted marrying a man with children. Our family may be cobbled together differently than others, but I love them all no differently than if they were my own flesh and blood.)

Thank you NetGalley and Kensington Books for a free eARC of this book, which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

There is something about the "tone" of this book that is keeping me from connecting with it. I'm not feeling the chemistry between Kit and Will (and honestly, while the banter part of their meet-cute was kind of charming, the way it ended left me feeling a little put off). I suspect it's Kit - whose tone and personality - is keeping me from really investing in the story. I feel like I keep reading this with a grimace on my face and - since reading is one of the only forms of self-care I indulge in - I'm going to call this one a DNF at 20%.

I sincerely appreciate the opportunity to read and review. This one just didn't work for me.

Perfect read for all of us affected by this digital age and era of social media! Kit provides a fascinating inside look into the culture of influencing, while simultaneously delivering humor, romance, and self-discovery. I truly enjoyed this story and its narration. Kit was multidimensional and relatable.

This book is perfectly paired with a glass of wine in the backyard. I will be recommending this story to the women in my life. You will not be disappointed with this summer read!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-ARC.

A huge thanks to NetGalley and Kensington for my e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. This book tells the story of Kit Kidding a social media influencer who makes money through paid promotions and partnerships and is famously known for being a child-free influencer who meets and falls for Will MacGregor a swoon-worthy, social media averse chef single dad. Kit doesn't hate children but she doesn't want any so watching her come to her own while falling for Will and his sweet daughter Addie was everything we signed up for on a cold African day. Instamom doesn't only show us the sweet breeze of romance but it also highlights the dynamics of sibling relationships, parent-child relationships, the meanness of some adults, and finding your own. The book had well-developed characters that make you feel like you have met these characters, the plot was brilliant and the chemistry between Kit and Will is undeniable *wink*. This book is so perfect for a lazy day with a glass of wine (you are welcome). I totally want you to BUY it when it comes out.