I got about 30% of the way through this before realizing I would keep getting frustrated and wanting to listen to something else if I didn’t stop.

A lot of the book felt really drawn out and kept hammering the same message of the book over and over and over, the message being that moms are often isolated & we need a village. That message is the part I already knew and caused me to request this book. I don’t have a lot of time as a mom so I want the whole book to be non-nonsense, actionable steps. The first 3 hours felt like they could’ve been about a 20-30min setup. I kept trying to stick it out but then I stopped relating to the sort of drive through living she was describing in her previous life, leading me to believe I might not be the ideal target audience for the book (even though I’m an isolated mom who needs to build her village).

I’m sorry for not finishing this book. I hope my feedback is still helpful on why I DNF this one.

Honestly, I could barely get through most of this book and maybe it just wasn't for me. For someone with so many children, Wirt complains about the impact it's had on her life at every opportunity.

I wanted to root for the "find your village" impression this book gave but it spent so much time highlighting how it was so hard for her due to her own actions, yes, the friends you blew off for months are going to keep going with their lives and them welcoming you back is not due to them suddenly understanding your plight as a mum. Yes, doing the hard thing of reaching out to someone you parallel interact with multiple times a week can be exhausting but why was that the takeaway over the benefits from that hard opportunity.
Having a village can be life saving, but you need to also be the village when you can.

Thanks to netgalley for the audio arc!

MUST READ FOR MOMS! I am not the biggest non-fiction reader, but as someone who LIVED in Latched Mama clothing during pregnancy and breastfeeding, this felt like a must read. Melissa's unapologetic stories about her experience in motherhood as well as countless others was refreshing, and listening to Melissa narrate was like having a conversation with a friend. She lays out the importance of having a village in motherhood, acknowledge how hard it is to build a village, and providing tips and anecdotes on building your own village. There is something for every mom out there, whether you have a solid village or you are building one from scratch. Highly recommend.

A solid start for parents (and those wishing to build any sort of community). Becoming a parent during COVID after loss was extremely isolating and I wish I had something like this to hold my hand along the way. I appreciated the various scenarios in which to find the gaps in your village and how to address them. I never felt as if I was being told I had failed in building my village, but guided along the way.

I listened to the audiobook and Melissa's voice is very gentle - it did sound very podcast-y (if that makes sense). Easy to speed up to 1.5x for this audiobook reader, don't see an issue with anyone speeding it up more and not being able to understand. Melissa's tone was clear and strong throughout. It did feel like storytelling at times, I like those parts the best. Enjoyable either way. A lot to reflect and act on.

Thank you Grand Central Pub and Harper Audio for the ARC & ALC. All thoughts are my own.

I'm torn on I Was Told There'd Be a Village. I did get a lot of what I wanted, but I also ended up with some extra that frankly annoyed me.

When Latched Mama was mentioned in the description, I made the mistake of assuming that was just for street cred. It wasn't.
It felt like 35% of this was listening to random tangents about how wonderful Latched Mama was at first (I had my son 2 years ago and can't remember this company. I spent DAYS in bed searching for *the best* products. Do with that what you will), how innocent the author is in the complains filed by employees (wouldn't have even known about the complaints, so it was esp weird to be presented with these claims only to be told why it's inaccurate) or specific to working moms.

Some of that remaining 65% was extremely valuable, validating, informative or all of those things combined. But I'd just warn that you're getting more than you bargained for with this one—and not in a good way.

Specific to the audio, I always love when an author narrates their own book. Melissa is a great example of why that is.
Some of the intonations aren't what I would have anticipated reading the text to myself. The way Melissa is able to interpret her own words just couldn't be matched. As far as I know this is her first narration, which I wouldn't have known just listening. Her words are clear, timing is what you'd hear IRL and her volume stays consistent.

(Thank you bunches to Hachette Audio, Grand Central Publishing and Melissa Wirt for the ALC in exchange for my honest review!)