Take It Like a Mom Offers a Hilarious Look at Motherhood, A Perfect End-of-Summer Read

Think Bridget Jones, Rebecca Bloomwood, and Natalie (Hugh Grant's love interest) from Love Actually, all rolled into one American gal. Annie Fingardt Forster is that woman. Or, she used to be.

Once, Annie was a hotshot lawyer, albeit a slightly ditsy and somewhat clumsy one. Now, she's "just" a mom. Her husband Alex, still a lawyer in a large firm, makes the money while Annie is at home with their son Robby.

It's almost as if Annie can feel herself getting more and more out of touch. Michael, the receptionist at her pediatrician's office, offers her style advice, for crying out loud.

Then things change when Alex is laid off and forced to stay home with Annie and Robby all day. His perspective gives Annie a new look at their family. Perhaps her new life as a stay-at-home mom isn't so bad, after all?

Stephanie Stiles' debut novel Take It Like a Mom offers readers a new female mommy-hero with main character Annie Forster. She's funny, smart, and loveable. Her friends Jenn and Jen (not a stretch, especially with the twenty-to-thirty-something set; I can think of four friends named Jennifer off the top of my head), Michael the receptionist, as well as several candid family members make Annie's story feel like everyone's story.

A short-lived return to practicing law proves to Annie that she's still got it, but that just possibly "it" isn't what she wants anymore. Can being a mom be enough? Or must she have the career that matches her idea of a fulfilled life?

Stiles' debut novel not only introduces America's answer to Rebecca Bloomwood with Annie, but it's also filled with fun references to old television shows. Annie prides herself on being a Bewitched connoisseur, but Take It Like a Mom is replete with details from other great shows, including Aaron Spelling soaps and more modern hits like Mad Men. Annie lives in a television romantic comedy of her own making, a world that invites readers to sit and kick up their feet, to laugh and have a rollicking good time.

Take It Like a Mom was the perfect end-of-summer read. Light enough to read in just a few days, it offered a nice break from all the planning and organizing I've been doing to get ready for a new school year. This piece of funny chick lit is just the thing for a sweltering, poolside (or couchside) summer day.