Goodreads Mobile | see what your friends are reading

Aug 08, 2008

Beverly rated it:

I loved, loved, loved this book! A friend recommended it to me, and I was hooked almost immediately! It has been a long time since I read a book in less than 24 hours - I just couldn't put it down. I am trying to figure out which part of the book I connected with the most, was it the middle school mean girls, or the mom's friendships affected by their daughters friendships, or the 'politics' of pta moms..., maybe it was all of it, which is why it was so believeable. This book could ring true More...

4 comments like (3 people liked it)

May 31, 2008

Erin rated it:

When I was half-way through this novel, I loved it. By the end, I was kind of disappointed and a little bewildered.

This is a story about a mother, Lydia, who has to learn to maintain relationships with her friends when said friend's children begin to mistreat her daughter at school. I was intrigued by this dynamic - mostly the reality that somehow, all women, at heart, still want to be "popular", no matter what their age. The mothers in the story become too wrapped up More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 17, 2009

Chels rated it:

I really enjoyed this book, but I'm sure it's due to the fact that I'm about to have a girl. It deals with the dynamics of a mother and her friends, who also happen to be the mothers of her 12 year old daughters friends. (I hope that made sense.) It made me think about things that I'm sure I will be facing in the next 10 or 11 years when my daughter hits the pre-teen phase - like popularity, clothes, self-image, ect.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 30, 2008

Tracy rated it:

As a parent of school-aged children with friends, I could really relate to the struggles of the main character. She tries to do whatever she thinks is best for them by getting them into the right schools, onto the right sports teams and getting them together with the right friends. The main character was given a good balance between getting too involved in her children's lives and letting them make decisions for themselves. It is such a power struggle for parent's today regarding parenting an More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 24, 2010

Mimi rated it:

With this book, I discovered a new genre that I really enjoy and hope to read more of. I am not sure what to call it. The book is about a mother. She's a stay-at-home mother of two and still married to her husband, living in suburbia, managing the household, dealing with carpools, etc.

The books begins with her daughter entering middle school. To be prepared, the mother read many books about teenage girls, and they all warned her about the evils of the popular girls or Queen Bees. Im More...

2 comments like

Aug 06, 2008

Florascrap rated it:

I found this book to be very engaging and well-written. As the mother of two girls (who are not yet school-aged), I found some sound "advice" in the author's message to not get too wrapped up in the petty school-aged drama and to focus more on the marriage that will be left when the kids are out of school. Some of the author's descriptions were very on-point. This was more than chick-lit in my opinion and the end resolved most of the issues she covered to my satisfaction.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 09, 2009

Jenny rated it:

I read this book on pure whim - plucked it off a shelf in the library. For a light, airy read, it was good. Tells the story of the trials of "tween"-ism through the eyes of the mom. Makes you realize you may not have gotten away with as much as you think you did.
I think most of the reason I enjoyed this book was it's location - DC and vicinity. Seidel details many popular locations and it's fun for a local to follow the journey through the city and nod knowingly everytime s More...

0 comments like

Feb 05, 2011

Nicole rated it:

This book could've had a lot going for it. I read the summary which was what pulled me in-the whole tween drama from the mothers perspective. What I didn't foresee was the fact that the mother and her acquaintances were such prisses that no one could relate to. I felt that everything was overdramatized and the fact that the narrator had to keep reminding the reader that they were rich, yes they werepissed me off. The one time I felt somewhat empathetic towards the narrator was when she goes to H More...

0 comments like

Jan 21, 2009

Diane rated it:

This books delves into the cliques that develop so early in childhood, and the impact on the excluded children and also their mothers whose happiness is so vested in the children's. Good read.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 21, 2009

Sandra rated it:

What I learned the most from this book is that I am so happy that my friends are this anal about our children or their school. We help at the school, but we don't obsess about it!

I also learned or remember that this is the way girls could be at our schools when i was growing up. There were the Populars and sometimes you could feel left out of activities that you so wanted to go to but may not have had the right hair, the right clothes etc... Until we moved to Ocala I can honestly say More...

0 comments like

Dec 18, 2011

Amy rated it:

I surprised myself by picking this up at the library but I have read a real variety of books this year. I guess an odd sort of high school politics chick lit novel from the perspective of the mum (should I say mom?) just gives me another odd genre to include in my wide selection, although I'm not sure what genre I WOULD call it, actually.

I surprised myself again by getting into this. The story of a teenage girl who gets shunted out of her popular group of friends by a newcomer is an More...

0 comments like

Jan 15, 2010

apple rated it:

Lydia is a mother with two children and is very involved in the happenings at their school along with her three best friends. A new student at the school creates problems when she deliberately starts excluding Lydia's daughter. Over the course of a year everything changes but it seems that it might be harder for Lydia than anyone else.

A good read and has some interesting things to say. Some people might even see hints of themselves in there and rethink the way they behave.

More...

0 comments like

Dec 24, 2008

Sharlene rated it:

Loved this book. A must read for any mother of a preteen/teenager or middle school teacher. Amazing!!

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 02, 2009

Silvana rated it:

It was a delightful novel to read. I am so glad I came across this book. It was humorous and clever.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 26, 2011

Patti from Charlotte rated it:

Though I enjoyed much of this read because of its many similarities to my own life over the years (stay-at-home mom who feels the need to overly volunteer, links between the middle school-aged peer groups and the adult ones), I did not enjoy it whole-heartedly. As well as the mother-daughter relationships were portrayed, I felt that of the private school structure was still pretty stereotypical, with the head of division never really 'drawn in' well. That said, the overall premise was so good More...

0 comments like

Sep 20, 2011

Rita rated it:

This book seemed like a light read. It is about teen-age girls and their friendships and how important popularity is, including how it effects their parents. It also is about how women can involve themselves so much in the school/social lives of their daughters - that changes in their child's relationships - also mean changes in the adult's relationship (which centers around the other school parents and the fundraising, etc. that happens at school).

It is a very thought provoking book More...

0 comments like

Mar 12, 2009

Leah rated it:

I was in the mood for trashy lit, and this didn't deliver. But it is a nice romp through the world of motherhood with a preteen girl. I have yet to live this out, but I do remember being a preteen girl, and the author does a good job of capturing the randomness that seems to make the girls popular. The author hits on some of the main plot problems herself, the main one being that all the girls in the group are the eldest or onlies, when in real life there would be at least one or two, probably t More...

0 comments like

Jun 29, 2007

stephanie rated it:

it was definitely a kind-of low point for my beach-blonde endeavors, but i suppose that's kind of to be expected given how happily surprised i was by so many earlier books.

it's a quiet story, about a ex-lawyer, now stay-at-home mom, and the sixth grade year for her young daughter.

it tries to be a story of popularity and what it means, and what effects being popular and unpopular have, how fluid the concepts are in middle school, how things look from both sides. it gets More...

0 comments like

Jun 18, 2009

Laura rated it:

Hadn't heard of this book therefore no expectations, just found it on the new books in at the library. Surprisingly I was so impressed with Seidel's fictional story which read as a sociological study of girls and mothers. Sure there were stereotypes, but that was so affirming in recognizing how to "cope" with similar personalities and situations as the mother of a girl. Seidel's descriptions observations were stinging, humorous and poignant in a non-sappy way. I will recommend this More...

0 comments like

Mar 26, 2010

Whitney rated it:

I don't know why I picked up this book at the used bookstore. Looked interesting I guess. It was nice to take a break from the murder mystery novels that I usually read. The characters were interesting and most certainly ones you could relate to. I could totally see moms behaving like that. As well as the teenage girls and middle schoolers in general. There wasn't anything profound about this book, better as a lazy summer read.

0 comments like

Apr 20, 2011

Danie rated it:

Lydia discovers at the beginning of the school year her daughter is one of the popular girls, that is until a new girl in town joins their group and forces her daughter out. This follows the lives of well to do soccer moms and does a decent job showing how mothers want to intervene on behalf of their daughters and keep their distance at the same time.

0 comments like

May 22, 2009

Kimberly rated it:

surprisingly enjoyable ... it is another chick lit book, but it was from a mom's perspective on rearing a queen bee, and i thought the plot was pretty interesting, but maybe because i just like gossip. the title is from jane austen's emma, which immediately hooked me, but there's really no other reference to austen in the rest of the book, which is okay.

0 comments like

Jan 12, 2011

Patty rated it:

I enjoyed this book a lot - former lawyer mom who sews and has a husband who is gone a lot... (wait, that's MY life!) I think I enjoyed it because the protagonist was a lot like me. I enjoyed the friendship story going on simultaneously between middle school girls and their moms, as well.

And I almost didn't read this one because it's cover and title didn't grab me.

2 comments like

May 08, 2009

Jenlbot rated it:

There were parts in this book that felt like I was the main character, more than any book I've ever read! (How she felt about recently becoming a stay-at-home mom, having a hubby that is rarely around) For that, I really-really loved this book! The story, was okay. It was a little ho-hum for me, but gave some good insight about a being a mother of a tween and not having your children define who you are.

0 comments like

Mar 06, 2010

Alyssa rated it:

Ugh- trite. I made myself finish this book so I could write an honest review about it. I lived in DC for three years and the people that this book is about the people I stayed away from (not that they would have come near me, but you know what I mean). The heroine of this book was difficult to identify with. She seemed very "woe is me" about a lot of things, when she really didn't have much to be concerned about. This book seems to highlight helicopter parents and how all of their More...

0 comments like

Feb 24, 2009

Rachel C. rated it:

This book is centered around four go-getter moms and their preteen daughters. I think I'm exactly the wrong age to read this book, being too old to identify with the daughters and too young to identify with the moms. I just couldn't get invested in the drama.

0 comments like

Jan 04, 2012

Courtney rated it:

Mom gets ultra-involved in her kids' private school in DC, then decides it's a bad fit and puts them in the school that President Obama's girls go to. I wish IRL it was that easy to get your kids to switch schools.

It's a good book, especially for moms with girls.

0 comments like

Jun 07, 2011

Tracey rated it:

Nice fun quick summer by the pool read. Even though it takes place in an elite private school setting a lot of those moms can be seen in our middle class neighborhood...with paper plates and barbecues instead of china and fundraisers.

0 comments like

Feb 01, 2009

Arctic rated it:

Starts out wittily enough but quickly devolves into a neurotic pity party that makes the plots of Desperate Housewives seem like poetry.

Also, I'll remember this book as the one that made me want to stick to classics for the rest of the year...

0 comments like

Jun 09, 2010

Dahven rated it:

At first, I thought this book was trivial, but I came to believe that this was the Jane Austen of carpool politics, writing of the social life and private concerns of private school mothers.

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

reviews