Reviewer: Samantha
I received a review copy
Summary:
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.
Review:
I loved how this book was set up. Mele enters a cookbook contest and finds inspirations for the recipes from her own life and also from friends. We go through the application process with her, and her answers to some of the questions are quite hysterical. But each chapter gives us more insight – on Mele, her life as a single mom, the struggle to fit in at the playground, and her love life. We also get insight on a few of her friends and their struggles as a mother, wife, and friend. It all cultivated to very intriguing and enjoyable novel. Funny yet real, humorous yet honest, and a solid read throughout.
