Review of The Unmumsy Mum by Sarah Turner

The Unmumsy Mum by Sarah Turner

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Genre: Non-Fiction, Parenting

Cover – The Unmumsy Mum

📖 The Unmumsy Mum writes candidly about motherhood like it really is: the messy, maddening, hilarious reality, how there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach and how it is sometimes absolutely fine to not know what you are doing.

✍️ Life with small children is an amazing, eye-opening wondrous thing. An adventure I am so thrilled to be part of. However, it’s not always sunshine and rainbows and Instagram worthy pictures. It’s hard work (and often tiring). This is what this book aims to capture, the difficult sometimes bizarre times that no manual covers, making you realise that hurrah – you are not the only one feeling this way or going through this.

🗣 I often think it’s useful to see an extract of a book to get an idea of the writing style. Here is a brief extract so that you can see a sample of the writing yourself:

The calm and collected woman from Birth One failed to show up for Birth Two. She sent her twin sister instead, who was a bit of a moron.
James’s assessment of Jude’s delivery (which kind of erased the reigning ‘You did so well, babe!’ praise) was ‘You were mental. I’ve never seen anything like it.’
Throughout the labour I switched from hysterical to withdrawn. I sploshed into the birthing pool with the expectation of labouring serenely while submerged in water, but it was less than an hour before I ungracefully heaved myself out, demanding ‘something that works!’

👓 I genuinely laughed out loud whilst reading this book. I hadn’t followed the author’s blog or even heard of her work but I was recommended the book by a fellow mummy friend and what a good recommendation it turned out to be. It’s smart, funny, sassy and enlightening. Whilst reading I took pictures of paragraphs and sent them to mummy friends with LO’s the same age as mine who I thought were likely to be going through the same things too.

👫 Whilst reading the book and laughing my husband actually made the remark, they need one of these for dad’s so I went online and found him one – Man vs Toddler, which I also highly recommend. Life is just so much more enjoyable when you can laugh about it. Even more so when you can enjoy it together and swap stories.

💔 Any Negatives: I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone pregnant or thinking about trying for children. It will probably scare them off but the book is meant to be light-hearted and taken in jest.
💭 Overall View: Make yourself a big bubble bath, grab a glass of wine and read this when your kids have driven you up the wall all day. It will make you feel so much better (and if it doesn’t you still have a bubble bath and wine – so it’s a win-win).

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At the time of reviewing this book it is on sale for £4.99 at Amazon (affiliate link): https://amzn.to/3r0Rrc4

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Review of Anti-Social by Nick Pettigrew

Anti-Social: The Secret Diary of an Anti-Social Behaviour Officer by Nick Pettigrew

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Anti-Social is a diary showing the day to day aspects of being an AS officer. His insight into life with individuals (and families) with a variety of problems; crime, drugs, mental health issues, elderly, isolation, court cases, tenancy disputes and more.

I often think it’s useful to see an extract of a book to get an idea of the writing style. Here is a brief extract so that you can see a sample of the writing yourself:

14 September
Not a good day. Tim calls our team and says he has serious concerns for the wellbeing of his neighbour, as well as the wellbeing of his own kids. Tim’s next door neighbour is Anne, who’s in her seventies and lives with her son Alex. And Tim worries that if something isn’t done soon, Alex is going to end up killing his mum.
Tim tells me that Anne can be heard pleading with Alex to leave her alone and to get out of the flat. This is usually accompanied with thuds and crashes, and Alex screaming abuse at his mum.

This book is interesting, it thrusts you straight into the office of a community worker from the first page, showing sometimes the only things that will get you through the day are a dark sense of humour, prescription meds and copious amounts of alcohol and Nick doesn’t shy away from telling us those facts and the toll this job can take on your mental health. It feels like a truly honest reflection (the good, the bad and the ugly).

Cover: Anti-Social

The author offers both compassion and empathy were needed but also doesn’t shy away from the nastier individuals he comes across. He offers genuine insight into the paperwork, the funding issues, the court cases and more. There were often times on a few of his more sensitive cases when it really hits you in the gut just how hard life is for some of the individuals involved in these cases.
I would genuinely recommend this book. It’s the darker side of humanity with often the only lightness being the author’s wit. I feel anyone in the sector, particularly senior management level and above, MPs and probably the courts too, need to read this to better understand the individuals, the paperwork, and more. It’s probably the closest they will get to walking in another person’s shoes and it just might help make better-informed decisions and changes the sector needs.

I have read many books like this that give you insight into someone else’s profession (and life). Confessions of a GP by Benjamin Daniels is a similar book with some equally thought-provoking scenarios for those interested in further reading.

Overall View: Brilliant, upsetting, challenging, funny, emotional and more.

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