Anonymous Mom Posts by Jenifer Goldin

Standalone. Women’s fiction with comedy.

I found out about an upcoming book, “Moms Who Read Romance Novels” coming December 1 from Jenifer Goldin. The title intrigued me so much I had to check out her first book, Anonymous Mom Posts. Are you in your local Facebook group or on NextDoor? I don’t know about you, but I get a bit of a thrill when neighbors start arguing about the dumbest shit, then someone throws a “Let’s go Brandon” into a discussion about the best ice cream in my town, and it all crumbles from there lol. Posting anonymously has totally upped the crazy posts, and I have to admit, I’m here for it.

Anonymous Mom Posts by Jenifer Goldin is about the Hamilton Beach Moms Group on Facebook. Laura Perry, the group moderator wants everyone to be friends in the group but doesn’t know how to stop the fighting. When she tries to add anonymous posts to the group it got even crazier, with women posting some seriously private stuff.

“My nose bristles with irritation at the recent rash of snarky comments on the Hamilton Beach Moms’ Facebook page. Is it bringing this community together or tearing it apart? Earlier, a mom posted looking for a company that could provide “unicorns” for her daughter’s birthday. The comments were ruthless.”

Each chapter is about a different mom in the group. We have Laura, the leader. She is the local realtor and the mom of Nora, a deaf teen. Laura and her husband had the surgery for cochlear implants given to Nora when she was just a baby and now Nora is resenting it.

We have Julie Wu who is Jewish and her husband is Chinese. They just moved from Georgia, and Julie is very upset about the new abortion laws there. She and her husband had one when they first got together and she feels very strongly about being pro-choice. Her husband, however, is a conservative and she is questioning whether she can stay married to a man with such opposite political ideologies.

Isabell Whitmore is a vapid nasty snob, the evil rich bitch you love to hate, but she is covering some dark secrets that make her that way. Maggie O’Donnell thinks she just discovered her husband likes to wear women’s underwear. Indira Acharya is a married doctor who thinks she may be in love with someone else. Last is Gabriella Martinez, a family therapist who is obsessed with Star Wars (and cosplay) and whose mom is writing a blog about her sexy escapades as an older woman.

I usually have a problem keeping big casts like this straight, but I didn’t in this book. I was fully invested in every story and I love how they all tied back to the Facebook group. Anonymous Mom Posts has sort of a Real Housewives feel to it, and I’ve not read anything like it before.

Likes:

Completely unique for me.
So relatable! The random posts you read in the story are so accurate to what you’d read in your local group.
I was invested in every character’s issues.
I really loved the story about the deaf girl with cochlear implants.
I read this in one day.

Dislikes:

The Isabell drama was a bit much.

The Down & Dirty:

Anonymous Mom Posts was nothing earth-shattering, but I think it may be one of my favorite books this year. It was just so different and fun. I loved the format of starting each chapter with a post from the group (and responses). I’m anxiously awaiting Moms Who Read Romance Novels, I hope it lives up to this one!