BOOK REVIEW// HOW TO PARTY WITH AN INFANT BY KAUI HART HEMMINGS

After finishing Falling by Jane Green ( see rant/review here ) I almost, almost hit the dreaded reading slump.

You know - that slump that comes after reading a book you particularly hated, or really enjoyed, that makes it super hard to pick up the next one.

And then I had the opportunity to read an early release of How To Party With An Infant by Kaui Hart Hemmings.

I was immediately excited to read this book after reading the description. They had me at, she wrote The Descendents. I haven't read the novel version of Descendents yet- but I loved the movie, and after finishing and loving How To Party, I definitely want to circle back and check that one out.

How To Party with an infant was charming, relatable, and a welcome comedic respite in the sometimes terrifying desert that is mommyhood.

Description from goodreads.com  
The new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Descendants—a hilarious and charming story about a quirky single mom in San Francisco who tiptoes through the minefields of the “Mommy Wars” and manages to find friendship and love.

When Mele Bart told her boyfriend Bobby she was pregnant with his child, he stunned her with an announcement of his own: he was engaged to someone else.

Fast forward two years, Mele’s daughter is a toddler, and Bobby and his fiancée want Ellie to be the flower girl at their wedding. Mele, who also has agreed to attend the nuptials, knows she can’t continue obsessing about Bobby and his cheese making, Napa-residing, fiancée. She needs something to do. So she answers a questionnaire provided by the San Francisco Mommy Club in elaborate and shocking detail and decides to enter their cookbook writing contest. Even though she joined the group out of desperation, Mele has found her people: Annie, Barrett, Georgia, and Henry (a stay-at-home dad). As the wedding date approaches, Mele uses her friends’ stories to inspire recipes and find comfort, both.

How to Party with an Infant is a hilarious and poignant novel from Kaui Hart Hemmings, who has an uncanny ability to make disastrous romances and tragic circumstances not only relatable and funny, but unforgettable.

What I Liked
I really enjoyed reading this book! It definitely had some LOL moments for me. I have spent my fair share of time on the online mommysphere, playgroups, etc so all of the catty, awkward, and also sometimes super fulfilling moments of interacting with other moms- super relateable. I could relate to each of the situations the characters found themselves in.

The book is a little irreverant, but not overly so. It's all so funny that any time I might have felt like a lined was crossed, I was laughing through it and didn't think twice about it.

This book has a really unique and awesome flow that really sucks you in. The book is from the perspective of Mele, who is a food blogger writing a cookbook. Mele uses the stories her friends tell her to inspire her food blog. So creative and fun. I loved the way the story flowed between Mele's experiences and the hilarious and sad stories her friends told her.


What I Didn't Like
 For the most part, I loved the book but there were two minor things that I disliked.

The love story at the end did feel a teensy bit rushed but I did still enjoy reading it. The other was that the format was a little confusing - but that might be cleared up in the printed version vs the kindle version. I had a hard time telling where in time we were - sometimes Mele is answering questions from the cookbook contest questionnaire, and then the story would flow so seamlessly into something that had happened in the past or future that it was hard to follow at the time. That might be a me problem, reading while taking care of a 9-month-old makes it a teensy bit hard to focus - I feel like Mele would understand ; )

I definitely recommend this book to moms or anyone familiar with the seedy underworld of mommyhood. Click the link below to find a copy at your local library.

Many thanks to Berkley Publishing Group for giving me an advanced copy of this book to read.
While the book was free, as a girl who is "all about the library" ( where books are always free) - you can be sure that all opinions are mine!