Absolutely loved this. The story was great but it was the writing that sucked me in. What a beautifully crafted book. Everyone in this story is delightfully human, mistakes and all. It’s honestly how the story and characters were handled that really make this a delight to read. I can’t recommend it enough.

With Mother’s Day coming soon, what a great release week for All the Mothers by Domenica Ruta! This book is all about motherhood, found family, friendship and support!
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It has its sad moments, but it has a lot of humor, warmth, and real life moments that make this a very entertaining read. I couldn’t help but laugh and think “been there, done that” a few times.
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Sandy has been unlucky in love, to say the least. She has a baby by a guy she met on a dating app and did not continue dating because she is not stupid. This guy gets around. In fact, Sandy learns he has a baby by another woman and soon meets Stephanie. These two women become close. I loved their friendship and the way they were there for each other, especially when they find there is a third woman and a new sibling for their kids in the picture.
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This book is extremely character driven so it is a great thing that these are such unique, captivating characters. All moms need other moms who get them and what they are going through.

Family is a word with as many definitions as there are people. Each is different and unique. Society tried to define it. Even the government has tried to define it. At the end of the day the only people who can describe a family are those in it.
Sandy and Justin are single parents to their infant daughter Rosie. While no longer a couple, both are trying their best. Sandy has her own small apartment financed by her job at a magazine. Justin lives in his mom Tara’s basement where he owns his own window washing company and chases his musical dreams with his band. Although Sandy receives erratic child support, Justin is present and does spend time regularly with his daughter.

While doing laundry one afternoon at Tara’s house, Tara accidentally lets it slip that Justin also has an 8 year old daughter, Ashley, by another woman named Steph. After much internet stalking, she finds Steph and the two women and siblings meet.

The bond between the four of them is instantaneous, unconditional and unforgettable.

This is family at its messiest, unconventional best. It’s the daily struggle to raise the kids in the best environment possible, which all too many do every day.

It is also a good book for Pride month. When Ashley decides that they want to change their pronouns and be called Ash, it is treated as an everyday occurrence with immediate acceptance. This small subplot is something you don’t normally read.

For someone who reads many, many books about family dysfunction and destruction, it is extremely refreshing to find a novel about a family coming together. This is Ruta’s second novel in addition to publishing a memoir. Highly recommend for those needing a literary palette cleanser.

Very appealing from the start of the book, with a big drag through the middle. Loved the story line: a flake of a man gets 3 different women pregnant. He gaslights them all until the day the women meet each other through social media. Soon the women are sharing a home and becoming mothers to each other's children. This was a pretty good way to combat single motherhood and I actually liked the idea. But after awhile I could only take so much of the women together. The author tried to keep it interesting by promoting a lesbian relationship and a daughter with gender dysphoria. It was out of nowhere and felt like an agenda was being pushed. Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for the complementary ARC. This review is my own opinion.

This endearing story about chosen family was tender and also made me cackle. Sandy is struggling to find love, and herself, after a whole bunch of hard life things happen when she finds out she’s pregnant. After she has the baby and learns her ex-boyfriend is a complete loser, she also learns that he has another child. Naturally, she social media stalks him until she can find the other mother and they meet in secret. While Jamie is a loser, “his taste in women is impeccable,” the mothers remark at one point and they join forces to create a dynamic, supportive family where they collectively struggle to make ends meet but thrive living life their own way.

I especially love that this story has some fictionalized elements of memoir. I attended a talk hosted by Ruta about her writing process and this style of novel and I absolutely love the idea of writing from your own life but then fictionalizing the details to create a broader narrative separate from yourself.

Justin is not a fan of commitment so when his girlfriend Sandy becomes pregnant he runs. But it turns out it’s not the first time, as Sandy soon discovers that Justin has a 7 year old daughter that he never told her about. Sandy gets in touch with the girls mother and they soon become fast friends and decide to lean on each other and help raise each other’s daughters and move in together so they can share the expenses and such. Before long another woman turns up as a baby mama of Justin’s and Sandy and Steph decid to take her and her daughter into their fold and support her as well. Then they move into her house when she develops complications after her c-section and needs help at home.
I love the found family they made for each other despite the circumstances they were in. Justin was a tool and they showed that they were strong in spite of his lack of support physically and financially.
The story tackled a lot of issues from deadbeat dads to nonbinary kids, sex workers to lesbian relationships and it kinda wandered at points but in the end it came back together with a satisfying ending.
Thanks to Random House and NetGalley for this eArc in exchange for my review.

I’m very much over men and this book is basically what they are all like now. Why even have a man when the bonds you can form with women are so much better?

I freaking loved this book. I loved the character development. The love and warmness. Such a good read!

As a mom of two young children, give me all the books about motherhood. I loved how complex and sometimes laugh out loud funny the relationships were between our three female leads. It was an interesting look at found family, the messiness of real life, and the choices we must make as mothers. I thought this was a well-executed character-driven novel, but the pacing was just off for me. There was anything "wrong" with the story, it just wasn't propulsive enough for me to eagerly look forward to the next time I had the opportunity to sit down with it, and was just "okay". I typically love a literary family novel but this one was missing some of the "ooomph" I look for to make the jump from an okay book to something poignant and transformative.

Sandy finds herself as a single mother after things fizzle out with her ex, Justin. But she is determined to keep things civil with him (and his neurotically cold mother) for the sake of her daughter. Yet a slip from his mother sends Sandy into social media where she finds out Justin has another daughter. Enter Stephanie, her daughter’s half-sibling’s mother. Stephanie and Sandy meet and hit it off immediately, much to Justin’s chagrin.

The two women move in together with their daughters, co-parenting together while immature Justin walks in and out of his daughters’ lives as is convenient for him. And then, they meet Kaya.

This was an interesting premise where women who have children with the same man bond together to support each other instead of becoming rivals. Most of the women in stories we read (or in reality) hate their ex’s exes and this was a refreshing plot. I enjoyed how they loved each other and each other daughters.

Thank you to @atrandombooks @randomhouse for a #gifted early digital copy of this novel.

I enjoyed this book for several reasons: the idea of a tribe of women raising children is reminiscent of my own upbringing. I also know the "baby man" trope and have seen it and it can be UGLY. But these ladies chose instead to come together against their common enemy: the baby daddy. It was believable if we're talking about mature adults trying to be mature parents, but a lot of time ego stands in the way. Also, f**k ALLLL the men(except Stanley) in this book, they were trash and I'm team Steph forever. I was a little unsure if Kayla was Black and Jewish because she mentions her Jewish grandmother/mother but the way she speaks sounded Black to me so that wasn't clear. If she is Black, I would have liked a little more about how motherhood was harder for her than her white counterparts just because overall Black moms are at a disadvantage in every way to white moms. Great read!

This was a little too unrealistic in my opinion HOWEVER, it was pretty heartwarming and lovely. I loved reading about the unlikely friendships that formed between the "baby mamas" and the babies too. It's nice to get a story about women/mothers supporting women/mothers. It would have felt more realistic and I would have enjoyed it better without a few of the details, but overall I enjoyed All the Mothers.

What makes a family? Some people have an extremely narrow definition - a mom, a dad, a couple kids. Other people find ways to form their own, even if it looks totally different.

Sandy is raising her daughter Rosie on her own. But when she learns that her ex also had another child - she decides she wants to meet her daughter’s sibling. She needs to meet the other mother. And is surprised to find she really likes her.

I enjoyed this story of women supporting each other and building the family they need even if it isn’t conventional. Thank you to Random House for the gifted book.

Sandy Walsh was successful by most people's standards but had a history of boyfriends. After the pandemic, her friends' weddings surged except for Sandy until Justin came along. She liked how Justin "was so relaxed about sex," and she shared this info with her girlfriends. All is going well for Sandy and Justin until she gets pregnant. Justin was no longer interested in Sandy. As it turns out, that appears to be his modus operandi. Steph and her child, Ashley, experienced the same treatment from Justin. With this commonality, Steph and Sandy become roommates, which eases financial burdens. Then they learn about Kaya and her child, Kayla, and Kaya is expecting again. Justin is the father of all of these children and pays no child support. This develops into a trio of mothers and their children with the work schedules, three school, and daycare schedules. But it seems to work until the lawsuits begin.

While the plot unfolds with sagas with a deadbeat dad, the book is lighthearted at times with friendship, romance, and family. It is a book for an "open-minded" person containing bisexuality, homosexuality, nonbinary, and gender diversity.

I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. Thanks to the publisher, Random House, and the author, Domenica Ruta, for the privilege to read this advanced copy. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

ALL THE MOTHERS by Domenica Ruta was that unpredictable and deeply entertaining read about what happens when a woman unexpectedly finds herself a mother and related through the father of her child to a remarkable woman also parenting a child by the wannabe rock star. Simply put, ALL THE MOTHERS covers the bases of what it means to be a good mother and a fully-realized woman in the world. Chaotic and wonderful, this book was the read I took everywhere to learn what happened next. I received a copy of this book and these thoughts are my own, unbiased opinions.

Thanks to Penguin Random House and NetGalley for an advanced readers copy of this book.

After a rather off-putting start, where we meet one of the main characters wearing only ankle boots and tattered panties as she sits on a lidless toilet, pumping breast milk, All the Mothers is a sympathetic satire involving two bright single women who learn their little girls have the same father. In focusing on this, it tackles an issue not often seen: single mothers, who do not marry their child’s father, and do not have the emotional, financial, or physical support from a partner.

The story also is notable for its thoughtful and respectful portrayal of same-sex relationships and a child who identifies as non-binary.

However, the book becomes a bit of a farce when they learn a third young woman also has a child fathered by the same man. All three are very attractive and talented in different ways, and they find joyful schemes for sharing strengths and facing threats. Unfortunately, that adds a layer of unreality to a book that can also provide instruction and inspiration on how to thrive when women are raising children without fathers.

I really enjoyed reading All the Mothers, although some of the characters frustrating at times, but in a relatable way! The main character is Sandy, who has had a string of bad relationships, ending with the last one getting her pregnant with no real commitment. She discovers that he has a child with another woman, and gets to know her, finding that they get along well. One thing I really enjoyed about this book is that all the characters were pretty complex, they do bad, or annoying things, but they generally have redeeming qualities too. I enjoyed the arc of this story, and also find the living situation something that more single mothers should do if it works for them!

I wasn't sure what to expect from the premise of this book. I thought it would be a story of two mothers on their own learning to live and deal with each other, grow from each other but this book was so much more than that. Being able to see Steph and Sandy develop and grow on their own but also together was quite special. In the beginning I thought the pace zipped in a way where nothing really was happening but I understand looking back maybe that was the point, that Sandy was floating through life with an unfulfilling group of friends. Her social network did nothing to add to her sense of self and slowly her separating from that helped her develop. I loved how they became a blended family. I worried that a trope of competition would grow between the women, like how society constantly pits women against each other, I worried the women would compete for best mother, best friend, best relationship to Justin but that didn't happen. Seeing these women adapt and love each other more through challenges was really heartwarming. You had such a sense of why each character was the way they were and I appreciated the minutiae that formed from the flashes of perspective switch in the third person. So glad I got the chance to read this book, have recommended it already to several friends!

Thank you to NetGalley for this free copy in exchange for an honest review. I simply loved this book! It captured my attention right from the beginning! And I couldn't wait to see how it all played out. I loved that it focused on so many women's issues big and small. The characters were amazing. I loved their depth and their humor and their instant love for each other and each other's babies because, essentially don't all babies deserve love and belonging without question. I love how families are made out of love. I loved the fierceness of their friendship and acceptance of each other. I highly recommend this book.

Thanks to Netgalley for the E-ARC. This is about 3 women Steph, Sandy, and Kaya all have kids at different stages of their lives from the same man Justin who is a complete loser and never changes through the whole story. The story navigates the lives of these women and how they choose to all be a part of each others lives so their children can grow up knowing each other which was really remarkable to read. At points this was a hard read because it was so real it was as if art was imitating art because I could picture women going thru this.

Thank you Random House and NetGalley for the ARC!

All The Mothers was a title I was invited to read, and my goodness I had no idea how transformative it would be. As a mom of a toddler, I have learned through my life experience that it truly takes a village to raise a child. Villages look different for each person, and this book was a perfect illustration of the kind of village that exists to support a child. I loved the characters and the way these moms all joined forces to become a chosen family, Such a wonderful read!

Thank you again for the ARC!