It's my stop on the blog tour for The Mum Who Got her Life Back by Fiona Gibson. This book is already out in ebook and comes out in paperback on Thursday-exciting! You can click here to order your copy now. Don't forget to check out the other stops on the tour for more reviews and exclusive content.
When her 18-year-old twins leave for university, single mum Nadia’s life changes in ways she never expected: her Glasgow flat feels suddenly huge, laundry doesn’t take up half her week, and she no longer has to buy ‘the Big Milk’. After almost two decades of putting everyone else first, Nadia is finally taking care of herself. And with a budding romance with new boyfriend Jack, She’s never felt more alive.
That is, until her son Alfie drops out of university, and Nadia finds her empty nest is empty no more. With a heartbroken teenager to contend with, Nadia has to ask herself: is it ever possible for a mother to get her own life back? And can Jack and Nadia’s relationship survive having a sulky teenager around?
Review: I really enjoyed this book right from the word go. The books is split into multiple parts as well as chapters within those parts and each part begins with bullet points of advice for parent who've children have left home to go to university or other reasons. These pieces of advice are absolutely hilarious and yet I could definitely recognise that they were true to life, but they involve and absorb you in the story right away as well as providing a little bit of light change from the main storyline of the book.
This books follows Nadia and her life after her children leave to go to university and then again after the both come back for the summer. I really liked Nadia as a character because she is down to earth and works hard for a living. She has twin teens and a partner whom she has had an amicable separation from. This book then changes narrative every other chapter and we also get to hear from Jack. Jack manages a Charity shop and he also had an amicable separation from his partner and has a teenage daughter-I wonder what could happen when these two meet? I like the fact that Jack is involved in charity work but also thinks about his own life and his own family.
One of the things I loved most about this book was the setting. It is set in Glasgow and that is just my favourite city in the world. I loved all the other references to Scottish towns and cities and spending time with the characters moving around Glasgow either on foot or on the subway-it was great fun being back there. I read the majority of this book on a flight between Denver and Los Angeles and so it was lovely to have a little taste of my favourite place in such an alien place to me.
I think that, as I mentioned above, the storyline is definitely true to life and some of the frustrations that both these characters go through and the highs and lows they experience are definitely things that other people in similar positions might feel. There are funny moments, sweet moments and sad moments throughout this book and it is definitely structured to be a page turner that takes you between those moments seriously. Even if, like me, you are not a mum, I think you will find humour and truth in this book and enjoy spending time with Nadia in Glasgow as much as I did.
Being a mom whose kids sometimes send me up the wall and tickling the bricks, I would pick this up just based on the title alone! I'm with you, enjoying books set in Scotland, so that would seal the deal for me. This book sounds really fun!
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